Chief of Staff ISAF

Major General Marco BERTOLINI was born in PARMA on June 21st, 1953. From 1972 to 1976 he attended the Military Academy in MODENA and the Application School in TORINO. In 1976, upon completion of Special Forces qualifications, he was commissioned, initially as detachment commander and then as company commander, at the 9th Assault Battalion "Col Moschin" in LIVORNO, the only Special Forces (“Incursori”) unit in the Italian Army, where he stayed until 1983. After Staff College in CIVITAVECCHIA (from 1986 to 1987 and from 1989 to 1990), he was posted to the General Army  Staff in ROME (Operations and Training Branch). He returned to the 9th Assault Battalion "Col Moschin" as Battalion Commander from 1991 to 1993 and then, following 4 years as Chief of Staff of "FOLGORE" Airborne Brigade, he became the Regimental Commander of the 9th Assault Regiment "Col Moschin". In 1999 he was the Commander of Parachute Training Centre in PISA, where he stayed until 2001. He was then appointed the Deputy Cdr  of  the "FOLGORE" Airborne Brigade. From 10th of September 2002 to 28th of July 2004 he was the “FOLGORE” Airborne Brigade Commander.

From the 29th of July 2004 to the 26th of September 2008, he was appointed as Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command in Rome.

Major General BERTOLINI took part in several operational deployments abroad including:

• from September 1982 to June 1983 in LEBANON, as Special Forces Company Commander. His company patrolled the whole Italian area of responsibility;
• from December 1992 to June 1993 in SOMALIA, as Commander of 9th Assault Battalion "Col Moschin", operating in Mogadishu and in the whole Italian area of responsibility;
• from June 1996 to April 1997 in BOSNIA, as Multinational Brigade North Chief of Staff in Sarajevo, including interesting areas such as Pale (Serbian-Bosniac capital city), Socolac, Rogatica, Visegrad and Gorazde;
• from December 1998 to April 1999 in FYROM, Extraction Force Chief of Staff, Multinational Division level unit, with tasks to recover OSCE personnel deployed in Kosovo before the NATO’s intervention in Federation of Yugoslavia.
• From 4th of June until 18th of September 2003, he covered a dual role as Italian Senior Officer and National Contingent Commander of Italian Land Forces in Afghanistan (Operation “ENDURING FREEDOM” and ISAF).

During his career,  General BERTOLINI was awarded with a Cross of Officer of the Italian Military Order, the Cross of Military Valour, Gold Cross of Merit of the Italian Army, Silver Cross of Merit of the Italian Army, Cross of Officer of the Italian Republic, Military Bronze Cross in Lebanon, Army Gold Cross in Somalia, Army Silver Cross in Bosnia and the Cross of the Italian Republic.

He is married and has three children.