Caserma Ederle
[1] The Vicenza Military Community is composed of soldiers, family members, civilians and retirees with a small number of airmen and sailors also stationed there.
The current formations which form part of the camp include:[2] Soldiers assigned to a tour of duty at Caserma Ederle are normally permitted to bring family members when being reassigned there upon a Permanent Change of Station.
Single or unaccompanied junior enlisted soldiers live primarily in barracks located on the post itself, or in leased government quarters in the local community.
Under provisions of the agreement with Italy, Camp Darby was the initial reception station for soldiers, equipment and supplies returning from Austria.
As a result, U.S. troop strength was cut in half; equipment from disbanded U.S. units was turned over to Italy; and Italian Army personnel were assigned to the USASETAF general staff to assist with unique bi-national responsibilities.
A member of NATO's Allied Mobile Forces (Land), the 4/325th ABCT was the right flank element of the European front during the late Cold War and was deployable by parachute to anywhere in the region.
The 3/325 ABCT (Blue Falcons), occupied Caserma Ederle during the late 1980s as a contingent of the Army's Southern European Task Force.
The primary missions of SETAF during the 1980s were the defense of the eastern Alpine passes in anticipation of a Soviet invasion, and command/control of the nuclear weapons stockpiles still located in northern Italy.
In addition to the infantry units, SETAF operated a major depot at Camp Darby in conjunction with the 8th Area Support Group.
The political reorientation of Europe in 1989 and 1990 resulting from the end of the Cold War caused major revision of U.S. and NATO military priorities.
With the drastic reduction of the threat of general war, SETAF received new missions for regional tactical operations as command and control headquarters for U.S. Army and joint units.
The 8th Area Support Group's depot operation developed into the maintenance and issue of theater reserve stocks organized in unit sets sufficient to fully equip a heavy brigade.
A reorganization to command structure created USAG (United States Army Garrison)-Vicenza to handle the (non-combatant forces) installation activities of Caserma Ederle.
The new base annex was planned to be located on the disused civilian Dal Molin Airport, roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) from Caserma Ederle.
The succeeding government, led by Romano Prodi, initially opposed the expansion, but eventually agreed to the extension plan.
