text: Chapter 3
  3-192. PR missions are a combat task and may require the seizing and holding of a defined area of terrain
  for a specified time. Commanders must have available resources to ensure security for the isolated
  personnel as well as the recovery team through all phases of the PR mission.
  PERSONNEL RECOVERY METHODS
  3-193. Army Aviation’s role in PR is in the execution of pre-established procedures and well-rehearsed
  operations to report, locate, support, recover, and reintegrate isolated personnel. There are four methods of
  recovery used by Aviation forces to support the ground force commander or to recover their own personnel.
  3-194. Unassisted recovery comprises actions taken by isolated personnel to achieve their own recovery
  (sometimes referred to as self-recovery). An unassisted recovery typically involves an evasion effort by
  isolated personnel to get back to friendly forces or to a point where they can conduct a successful link-up
  with friendly forces or be recovered via another method. Army Aviation units train and equip all
  individuals to self-recover in the event recovery forces cannot execute other recovery methods due to
  weather, threat, or operational necessity. Isolated personnel may have the most complete knowledge of
  their situation and use individual training to evade enemy forces, awaiting the opportune time to return to
  friendly control. An unassisted recovery may depend on the condition of the isolated personnel and the
  situation at the location where they are isolated. A wounded, injured, exhausted, or disoriented isolated
  personnel, one endangered by enemy forces, or one without the proper equipment, may be unable to self-
  recover. If possible, isolated individuals communicate if they cannot conduct unassisted recovery to alert
  the responsible command to begin planning for an immediate, deliberate, or external supported recovery.
  3-195. Immediate recovery is the sum of actions conducted to locate and recover isolated personnel by
  forces directly observing the isolating event or, through the reporting process, determining isolated
  personnel are close enough for them to conduct a rapid recovery with the forces at hand without detailed
  planning or coordination. Immediate recovery aims to locate isolated persons, keep them under direct
  observation, and recover them before the enemy understands the situation. Immediate recovery assumes the
  tactical situation permits a recovery with the forces at hand, and those forces have a clear enough
  understanding of the situation to accomplish the mission. It also assumes that successful recovery occurs
  without excessive casualties to the recovery force, without unduly imperiling the isolated person, and
  without endangering the unit’s overall mission. Unit commanders initially plan to conduct PR operations in
  support of their own missions within the scope of immediate recovery efforts. Army Aviation provides
  rapid movement capability for quick reaction forces under control of the unit initiating immediate recovery
  efforts. Immediate recovery efforts begin as soon as an isolating event is identified and authenticated.
  Isolating events may require rapid action to prevent potential capture and exploitation of the isolated
  personnel. When the enemy situation or mission objectives do not allow for immediate recovery, unit
  commanders may elect to transition to deliberate recovery efforts.
  3-196. Deliberate recovery is the sum of actions conducted by Army forces when an incident is reported
  and immediate recovery is not feasible or was not successful. Weather, enemy actions, isolated personnel
  situation, current operations, and recovery force capabilities are examples of factors that may require the
  detailed planning and coordination of a deliberate recovery. Commanders conduct deliberate personnel
  recovery like any other deliberate operation, using the military decision making process and appropriate
  preparation. The operation can be a mission specifically to recover an isolated person or a specified or
  implied task in another mission.
  3-197. External supported recovery is the sum of actions conducted when immediate or deliberate
  recovery is not feasible or was not successful. It is either the support provided by the Army to other joint
  task force components, interagency organizations, or multinational forces, or the support provided by these
  entities to the Army. CAS, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, support, and airborne C2 are
  examples of capabilities that may be required from different components to execute an external supported
  recovery.
  3-198. The selected type of recovery is based upon mission variables and additional commander
  considerations. Within the close area, and especially in vicinity of the line of contact, the immediate
  recovery in the form of a movement to contact is common. A recovery in the deep area typically takes the