"Today's celebrations with which all members of the Carabinieri - military and civilian; on duty and on leave; of every order, degree, role and level of responsibility - they find themselves united and cohesive in celebrating their 208th annual foundation with just pride, they are an indispensable opportunity to renew our applause and our gratitude as Italians to this military police force in general competence and permanent public security service unique of its kind for history, tradition, organizational structure and versatility of use. " - so the Undersecretary of State for Defense Senator Stefania Pucciarelli in participating in the traditional celebrations of the Carabinieri Arma feast, set since 1920 on the emblematic date of 5 June, which summarizes the genesis of the Carabinieri of 13 July 1814 - the Royal Patents with which the first military unit with police duties is established, the year from which the counting of the Foundation Annual starts - and the commemoration of the granting of the first Gold Medal for Military Valor to the Bandiera dell'Arma, on the same day of June 1920, paid for the commitment of the Carabinieri in the Great War.
"From the very beginning - continued Undersecretary Pucciarelli - Arma dei Carabinieri is synonymous with absolute fidelity, total self-denial, an emblem of legality and great capillarity on the territory - still confirmed today by over four thousand stations, often the only point of reference for many small communities, with which extraordinary proximity to the citizen is guaranteed and to their needs, with the ability to collect qualifying information for national security -, which is combined with the ability to update and remodel themselves in relation to the needs of constantly changing contexts, as demonstrated by the current organizational configuration of the departments, characterized by a broad transversality of skills and specializations. "
Since March 31, 2000, ordinarily placed directly under the Chief of Defense Staff with the rank of Armed Force, the Arma dei Carabinieri guarantees Italy an insolvency work of great value even in modern advanced defense operations in which it is involved in the national military sector increasingly. In state contexts where, at the specific request of the relative institutions, it is necessary to intervene with training, consultancy and assistance functions to reinforce or restore control and management functions of sovereign spaces - the so-called Military Capacity Buiding operations - the soldiers of the Arma are more and more often called to intervene in support of colleagues in the Army, Navy and Air Force to create or train suitable local defense and security forces, essential for a return to conditions of effective stability. The figure of the Carabiniere of the Military Support Units (MSU) who has been employed for years in modern cooperative security operations, as is the case for example in Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia or Djibouti, fits into these contexts.
"The weapon - concluded Pucciarelli - it is a solid organization, strong in a luminous wealth of principles, values, deeds and traditions which is the patrimony of the Defense and of the entire nation, in which every Italian recognizes a model of legitimacy, closeness and attention to the needs and sensitivity of citizenship.
Not surprisingly, each of us sees in the Uniform of the Carabiniere a certain and constant garrison of legality. An institution made first of all of people; professionals who feel perpetually 'in service', attentive and patient listening points who know how to be part of the community in which they are immersed while always remaining impartial arbitrators, ready to deal every day with the most degraded contexts, in a continuous eternal adaptation to evolution of criminal and social phenomena; most of the time in silence and away from the spotlight, but decisive in making the difference for the ordinary citizen and for the nation. "