Courtesy Photo | Last November, Giovanni Zanon (not pictured) took part in a temporary duty...... read more read more
By Chelsy Lyons U.S. Army Garrison Italy Public Affairs
Vicenza, Italy—Mechanical Engineer Giovanni Zanon can be found in his office on the Caserma Ederle military post on most days. But for one week in November of 2022, he found himself working in Vaasa, Finland. Zanon was one of many local nationals employed on at U.S. Army Garrison Italy to recently take part in new temporary duty opportunities for Italian civilian workers.
Zanon, who has worked as an engineer on Ederle and its neighboring military post, Caserma Del Din, for the last 10 years appreciated the benefits of the opportunity. “It’s a way to improve your skills because you are meeting face to face instead of in front of a computer,” he says of his recent training opportunity which consisted mostly of hands-on exercises with the same sorts of tools, parts, and pistons that he uses every day on the job.
While TDY is more common for military personnel, it’s not as frequently available for civilian workers and local nationals employed on the base. Many departments are increasingly viewing TDY as vital to team building, skill enhancement, and professional development for their people.
The energy department is not the only one on base to recognize the value of temporary duty assignments for their civilian workers. For example, the Resource Management Directorate recently sent Maria Carolina Casali, a budget analyst, TDY to further her knowledge base. Joining the growing list of host nation employees going TDY is, Alessandra Dionisi and Sergio Castilla, two administrators with emergency services, who recently returned from TDY in the United States. In the past fiscal year they have taken part in the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) training program in San Antonio, Texas, as well as training for police administration in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
“Following the right training gives you a lot of tools,” says Dionisi of her U.S.-based training. “It exposes you to a different way of doing things.” In addition to learning new tools and expanding their professional network, Castilla and Dionisi both emphasized that the training’s in-person characteristic promoted motivation, team building, and professionalism in ways that online training does not.
Silvia Trevisan, the administrative officer in the Resource Management Office traveled to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas last November where she participated in the Civilian Education System course. She was the only host nation employee attending, which created an opportunity for both herself and her American counterparts to learn from each other’s perspectives. Her training helped her to gain experience in areas where she was not comfortable before, such as public speaking and managing contentious coworkers.
While online training enhances the knowledge base, these in-person experiences create unique opportunities for local nationals to focus more on interpersonal skills and building professional networks in environments that challenge their perspectives and enhance their job performance.
“Step by step we increase our skills, our capabilities,” says Zanon reflecting on his time in Finland. Zanon is looking forward to next year when the Caserma Ederle Department of Energy returns to Scandinavia for the next phase of their training.
| Date Taken: | 06.23.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2023 08:09 |
| Story ID: | 447812 |
| Location: | VICENZA, IT |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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