Rescue and recovery operations in a variety of situations are a vital component of the United States Army mission. Being able to function under hostile or austere conditions needs to be experienced on a regular basis to authenticate readiness.

In light of recent natural disasters within the Pacific region, aviators and Soldiers from 1st battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment conducted an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise on the north side of Ladd Army Airfield on Fort Wainwright this week.

The EDRE is a 72- to 96- hour training exercise designed to validate the unit's capabilities and prepare for contingency operations throughout the Pacific area of responsibility.

In this exercise, Soldiers from 1-52 were tasked with taking apart three CH-47F [Chinook] model aircraft, as well as the packing of all the equipment required to maintain these helicopters and sustain their crews for both operational and maintenance requirements.

"This exercise is a validation of our equipment and our crews, it allows for us to breakdown and pack up equipment to load on aircraft and ensure that our procedures are sound," said Capt. Michael Jeter, 1-52 AVN assistant operations officer.

"This is a very maintenance-dependent mission. Our guys are assembling the CH-47's with only the tools and equipment they brought with them," said Jeter. "This will allow our Soldiers to train as if we were actually deploying in support of humanitarian or contingency operations throughout the Pacific."

In November, the 1-52 returned from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan is support of Operation Enduring Freedom.