USAG Italy: The 173rd Airborne's Home in Vicenza
In Vicenza, the Palladian city in the Veneto of northeastern Italy, U.S. Army Garrison Italy is the home of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the Sky Soldiers, the Army's contingency response force for Europe and Africa and the U.S. Army’s only airborne brigade forward stationed in Europe. The garrison spreads across Caserma Ederle, which also hosts the Southern European Task Force headquarters, and Caserma Del Din, the newer post built to consolidate the brigade. This is the largest American Army community in Italy, thousands of paratroopers, support Soldiers, and families, many of them living out in the Veneto towns an hour from Venice, in a place where the brigade trains hard and the command keeps a close eye on its own.
A paratrooper facing a serious charge in Italy is up against a command that knows the whole brigade is watching, and that is no time to settle for the nearest available lawyer. Court martial defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, and Italy has become a regular stop for the firm since the move to Tampa. We fly in and try the case, because what matters when your career is on the line is trial experience, not a short drive to the gate.
The Paratrooper Who Ran Toward the Ambush
The 173rd's standard was set by Sky Soldiers like Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, who fought with the brigade in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. On the night of October 25, 2007, his squad walked into an L-shaped ambush, and in the first seconds a wall of fire cut them apart. As Giunta moved up he saw two insurgents carrying off a wounded friend, Sergeant Josh Brennan, and he ran straight at them through the fire, killed one, drove off the other, and pulled Brennan back to his own lines. He became the first living service member since Vietnam to receive the Medal of Honor. That instinct to run toward the worst of it to get your people back is the standard we bring to a case at Vicenza.
Why Soldiers at Vicenza Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, and Soldiers fly us in from all over the world because of our trial record. The military justice system is not built to find the truth; it exists to preserve good order and discipline, and an airborne command will make an example of a Soldier to keep the brigade's standards sharp. A serious case is investigated by Army CID, and for sexual assault and other covered offenses the decision to refer charges to a court martial no longer belongs to your command but goes to an independent Special Trial Counsel. Your Trial Defense Service counsel may be capable but carries a heavy caseload inside the same system, which is why Soldiers serious about winning bring in their own counsel.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at USAG Italy
The charges below are the ones we see most often at USAG Italy, not the only ones we defend. If you are facing a different UCMJ allegation, we handle that too.
Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses (UCMJ Article 120 / Article 134). These allegations route to an independent Special Trial Counsel now, and the command treats a report as established before the investigation is finished, all the more so in a tight airborne community where a case draws attention fast. These cases demand counsel who will run an independent investigation and contest the case rather than let the allegation stand in for proof, because a conviction means confinement, a federal record, and a place on a sex offender registry.
Domestic Violence and Assault (UCMJ Articles 128b and 128). Domestic violence under Article 128b is charged as aggressively as any offense in the UCMJ since the Office of Special Trial Counsel took these cases over. It covers a spouse, an intimate partner, or a family member, and it treats strangulation or suffocation as its own charge that the government can bring even with no visible injury. A qualifying conviction also triggers the federal Lautenberg firearms bar, which can end an Army career because a Soldier has to be able to carry a weapon. We also defend assault under Article 128, where self defense is a recognized defense.
Larceny and Government Property (UCMJ Articles 121 and 108). An airborne brigade is issued a great deal of sensitive equipment, from weapons and optics to jump and communications gear, and accountability is taken seriously. The government treats missing gear, an item that cannot be reconciled, or property that walked off as larceny under Article 121 or wrongful disposition of military property under Article 108, but a shortage on a hand receipt is not the same as theft, and the government still has to prove the state of mind required by the charged offense: intent for larceny or fraud, or negligence where Article 108 permits it, not just that something cannot be found.
Drugs and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 112a and 134). Drug cases often turn on the chain of custody and the government's burden to prove any use was knowing and wrongful. A Soldier is subject to the UCMJ off duty, so a night out in Vicenza, a weekend over in Venice, or an incident off base that goes wrong comes back to the command. A serious off base matter in Italy can also be taken up by the Italian carabinieri and prosecuted in an Italian court, on a separate track from your command, so get counsel involved before you talk to anyone.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
We do not pretend that every paratrooper who calls us is innocent. What matters is how serious the case is, not your rank. If a matter is genuinely minor, your Trial Defense Service counsel can handle it, and we will tell you so honestly. But when the case is serious, everything is on the line at once: your career, your retirement, your good name, and your freedom. A court martial conviction is a federal criminal conviction, and where the sentencing parameters apply the confinement range is set by the offense, two and a half to ten years for sexual assault and ten to twenty for rape, with a departure requiring specific facts in writing, on top of a possible punitive discharge and, for a covered sex offense, sex offender registration. That is why you fight. The court’s jurisdiction and the convicted offense determine which sentencing rules apply; some offenses use separate sentencing criteria rather than these ranges.
If you are facing an investigation or court martial at Vicenza, reach out for a free defense strategy session. We will tell you exactly what you are facing and how we would defend it. The government is already building its case. The only question is whether anyone is building yours.
FAQ
Army CID wants to interview me at Vicenza. Do I have to talk to them?
No. You are not required to sit for a CID interview or answer their questions. Under Article 31b of the UCMJ you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and you can invoke both at any point, including before the interview begins. CID is collecting evidence, not giving you a chance to explain, and it takes very little to be titled as a subject, a label that follows you for years. Decline, ask for counsel, and call a defense lawyer before you give any statement.
Something happened off base in Italy. Could the Italian authorities get involved too?
They can. Under the agreement that governs U.S. forces here, the Italian authorities can claim jurisdiction over off base conduct, so a serious matter can be investigated by the carabinieri and prosecuted in an Italian court on a separate track from the UCMJ case your command is pursuing. Investigations in the two systems may overlap, and what you say to one can affect the other, so do not give a statement to anyone until you have talked to a defense lawyer. The SOFA allocates primary jurisdiction and limits a second trial for the same offense; overlapping investigations do not mean that both countries may freely try the same charge.
My command couldn't get a court martial, so now I'm facing a GOMOR. How do I fight it?
Start with the rebuttal. You typically have only a handful of duty days to answer before the imposing general decides between a local filing and a permanent filing in your record, which carries much greater career risks. The command reaches for a GOMOR precisely because it is administrative, where a standard far lower than a court martial may permit action after the Special Trial Counsel defers, subject to the applicable restrictions. A permanent filing can lead to an officer board of inquiry or enlisted separation review, so the rebuttal is an important early opportunity, and it has to be argued with evidence, not written as a plea for sympathy. An acquittal does not automatically authorize a second attempt through separation: enlisted rules restrict separation based on acquitted conduct, while officer rules differ. The exact status, disposition, and governing regulation matter.