Finance Soldiers sharpen expeditionary skills at local Carabinieri site
LONGARE, Italy — Vicenza-based finance Soldiers recently proved their readiness during a realistic three-day Financial Support Team situational training exercise at Santa Tecla, a full-featured training site managed by the Carabinieri, Italy's national military police force.
The Aug. 31-Sept. 2 STX placed 30 Soldiers from Bravo Company, 106th Finance Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st TSC, in an environment designed to replicate the challenges of finance operations in complex settings, bridging classroom instruction with hands-on field application.
“The intent of this operation is to simulate tactical finance support in a contested or stability-oriented environment,” said Capt. Nicholas J. Zilhaver, Bravo Company commander. “That primarily means conducting expeditionary disbursing of funds and defensive operations. Santa Tecla gives us the ability to do both.”
Tactical Realism and Proximity
Perched on a hilltop roughly seven miles south of Caserma Ederle, Santa Tecla features urban infrastructure mirroring small towns, villages, and division support areas. For finance units—whose mission, as Zilhaver notes, centers on “using money as a weapon system” to enable tactical commanders and sustain operational endurance—the site fills a critical local gap and provides a high-value local resource for units stationed in Vicenza.
“Within Vicenza, there are a limited number of training areas suitable for our needs,” Zilhaver noted. Beyond terrain realism, the location resolves long-standing logistical hurdles.
“One of the things I love about coming here is that you don’t have to drive one or two hours with a Carabinieri escort,” said 1st Sgt. Michael L. Lafuze, Bravo Company’s senior enlisted leader. “Here, we’re within 15 to 20 minutes of Ederle. If we forget something or need additional support, we can just turn around and go get it. There’s no logistical challenge whatsoever, and it fills a need for a local training area that Vicenza has never truly been able to provide.”
Lafuze added that the proximity transforms cadence: “We’ve now found a site we can come to weekly or monthly for any type of training, to continue to perfect our skills.”
Expanding Capabilities
Training scope pushed beyond traditional administrative tasks into foundational fieldcraft, including defensive tasks, fighting-position construction, security operations, and simulated threat responses.
Leadership noted that the venue allowed personnel to validate tactical decision-making before transitioning into dismounted operations from Humvees and counter-UAS tasks focused on spotting, reporting, and defeating aerial threats.
Deepening Host-Nation Cooperation
The exercise showcased the strong bilateral rapport with Carabinieri hosts at the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units training site, who coordinated access, provided facility support and assisted with minor infrastructure hurdles such as circuit breakers.
“They’ve been phenomenal through the entire process,” Lafuze said. “They answered our questions, gave us a great tour when we came out to review the site, and every single building was open to us.”
1st Lt. Janine Broxson echoed the sentiment: “Every time they come around and open the gate for us, they’re very friendly. They’ve been wonderful to work with.”
Looking Forward
As the three-day mission wrapped up, leadership viewed Santa Tecla as a foundational template not just for Bravo Company, but for broader multi-unit readiness across U.S. Army Garrison Italy.
“We really hope we can build a partnership not only for our unit, but for other units at USAG Italy,” Lafuze said. “This area can help strengthen cooperation with Italian units as well.”
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