"The world has changed profoundly, and we need to adjust our Armed Forces," are the words of Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announcing important changes in the Italian military personnel. One of the challenges will be the age of the Non-Commissioned Officers. The current one is in fact too high. "We have to be clear and say that this type of armed forces and the service that we are going to create in the next few years will probably no longer be able to afford an average age of 49 in non-commissioned officers," said Crosetto, “Because if what we are going to ask of the armed forces changes, the selection will also have to change, the average age will have to change, the way we treat one part of the civil service will probably have to change. Because being a soldier and asking someone to be committed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to be willing to go from one part of the world to another, and putting one's life at risk is - Crosetto recalled - different from doing any other public or private job”. Crosetto recalled that "the Army is composed of about 65 percent of military personnel whose average age is between 30 and 50 years; in particular, NCOs, who represent the largest part of operational units, reach an average age of 40 years”. Too old for a modern army.