In 2013, the European Defence Agency’s Project Team Personnel Recovery (PT PR) initiated an EU “Personnel Recovery Controller and Planner Course” (PRCPC) Cat B Project. The project initially aimed to train staff to man Personnel Recovery (PR) positions at unit level or in a Personnel Recovery Coordination Cell (PRCC) or in a Joint Personnel Recovery Centre (JPRC) within a national or multination HQ.
The European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC), based at Poggio Renatico Air Base, Italy, has closely cooperated with this EDA PRCPC project since its creation, in July 2015. As mutually agreed, EPRC conducted the 19th edition of the Joint Personnel Recovery Staff Course (19th JPRSC) at the Hungarian Armed Forces Air Command & Control Centre in Veszprém (Hungary) from 30 Apr – 10 May 2019, last edition of the course under this EDA project.
The course hosted 20 students from 9 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Sweden) and instructors from EPRC and EU nations as Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom) in an excellent example of Pooling and Sharing.
This last iteration of the course under the EDA umbrella has proven to be an effective way of how EPRC can support nations willing to host the course once the project is finished and the course content is given to the EDA Member States, as this is the goal of this EDA CAT B project “PRCPC”.
Qualified personnel have obtained the basic skills and knowledge to operate as a PR staff member in a JPRC/PRCC, and are now looking forward having opportunities to enhance their training within a European Union, NATO, or a national staff, in the execution of operations or exercises.