KIEV – Giulia Schiff, a 23-year-old former air force pilot has enlisted voluntarily to the Special Forces of the International Legion in Ukraine to fight in the war, despite her expulsion from the Air Force after she lost a legal battle against physical harassment, as told by the Ansa news agency.

Schiff has make it known publically that she was bullied and hazed as a student at the Academy of Pozzuoli. According to the complaint presented in 2018, “during the initiation rite, a tradition that is repeated after the first solo flight in the base of the 70th Wing of the Air Force of Latina, there was ‘real physical aggression.’” Colleagues pushed and beat the young pilot, banged her head against the wing of the plane and threw her into the pool when she tried put up resistance.

 After a long legal battle, the Council of State rejected her appeal, which resulted in Schiff being expelled from the Air forces.

 Despite this, Italia 1 said, “she has not given up on the dream to be able to help others, deciding to leave in a 'baptism of flight’ to join soldiers from all over the world to the conflict lands.”

 The young Venetian pilot has been in Kiev since the beginning of the military conflict and she is the only woman in the legion. After only a few days of training she took part in the first military missions, gun in hand, around the capital of Ukraine. The exact location cannot be disclosed for security reasons.

 Italian television program ‘Le Lene,’ is following Schiff for the duration of the mission, with the first episode having been aired Wednesday on Italia 1 during prime time.

Ak-ln