Tuesday, May 26, 2015
What is it?
The Army Personnel Recovery (PR) Program provides a commander-drive approach to prepare individuals for potentially isolating incidents and executes the recovery and reintegration of isolated personnel (evaders and captives). The program also prepares individuals, units, and commanders and staffs to conduct personnel recovery operations.
What has the Army done?
The Army promulgated Army Regulation 525-28 (Personnel Recovery) to provide guidance on organizational responsibilities in executing the PR program; designated the Combined Arms Center as the Force Modernization Proponent for PR and identified PR training requirements. Directed a commander-driven PR program that requires commanders to develop policies and procedures to report, locate, support, recover, and reintegrate Army personnel who become isolated.
The Army also directed the establishment of personnel recovery coordination sections at division, corps, and theater-levels, and personnel recovery officers at brigade-level to facilitate the recovery of isolated personnel prior to capture, and developed the personnel recovery management software program to provide and manage digital isolated personnel reports for Soldiers and civilians.
Why is it important to the Army?
Potential enemies are sophisticated in their manipulation of social and traditional media and will use propaganda to try to exploit Soldiers on the international stage if they become captured; we must deny the enemy this advantage. The Warrior Ethos states “I will never quit” and “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” Soldiers who become isolated are still in the fight and must trust in their fellow Soldiers to recover them and have confidence in their own abilities to survive and resist enemy exploitation.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
The Army continues to improve its personnel recovery program by developing training tailored to specific unit requirements. Communication devices are being acquired to provide Soldiers the means to report their isolation. Doctrine is being established to ensure Army integration with joint and inter-agency activities to recover Army personnel.
Resources:
Subscribe to STAND-TO! to learn about the U.S. Army initiatives.