"Impeto e ardire"
On 1st September 1941 it was constituted in Tarquinia (VT) as 2nd Paratroopers Regiment based on a Command, a 47/32 Cannons Company, 5th, 6th and 7th Paratroopers Battalion. It was included in the new Paratroopers Division with the 1st Paratroopers and Artillery Regiments. On 10th March 1942 also the 3rd Paratroopers Regiment was added. On 27th July 1942, for the employment in northern Africa, the Great Unit was named 185th "Folgore" Infantry Division and the regiments were renumbered. The 2nd Paratroopers Regiment became 186th "Folgore" Infantry Regiment.
On 6th November 1942 the Regiment was decimated by the battle of El-Alamein and the few survivors were included in the 285th training Battalion that was dissolved in May 1943, after having fought in Tunisia and in the last conflict in Takrouna. Thirteen Golden Medals to Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Paratroopers testify the valour showed by the "Folgore men" during the operations of the Regiment.
After the war the paratroopers unit were reconstituted and the glories of the 186th Regiment were inherited by the 5th Battalion of the 1st Paratroopers Regiment. The Battalion became independent with the reorganization in 1975 as 5th "El Alamein" Paratroopers Battalion and it received the War Flag of the 186th. In 1982 it participated in the "Lebanon 2" mission in Beirut and in 1991 in the "Airone" Operation in Iraq.
On 16th September 1992 the 186th "Folgore" Paratroopers Regiment was reconstituted. Until December of the same year it participated in the "Sicilian Vespers" Operations in Palermo and since 28th December it was moved to Somalia to participate in the "Ibis" Operation. Later it also participated in several operations for the Public Order in Homeland as well as Peacekeeping operations abroad.
The War Flag was decorated with a Golden Medal to the Military Valour, gained in northern Africa, and two Silver Medals to the Army Valour (one for the "Ibis" mission in Somalia where the Paratrooper Pasquale Baccaro, awarded with a Golden Medal to the Military Valour for Memory, died during the crushes on 2nd July 1993; the other one for the "Decisive Endeavour" Operation in Kosovo where it faced the crushes on the Kosovan territory between 17th and 18th March 2004, with extraordinary courage).