TRAP stands for Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel. The US Marine Corps uses the term for a tactical mission to recover personnel, aircraft and equipment. Prepared aircrew and ground forces are task-organised for the mission. A TRAP operation can use surface or air means and can take place in either a benign or a hostile environment.
Which forces carry out a TRAP mission
A Marine Air-Ground Task Force, or MAGTF, provides the air and ground forces needed for the mission. It may designate a TRAP force in advance for a possible recovery contingency. The ground element is based on an infantry company or elements of that company, with the capabilities required for the task and the prepared aircrew.
The force is tailored to the people and material to be recovered. An aircrew able to walk presents different requirements from injured personnel or people trapped in a damaged aircraft. Alongside protection and transport, medical care and technical rescue capabilities may be needed. If equipment is also to be recovered, its type and quantity must be considered when selecting forces and transport assets.
What must fit together during recovery
Preparation covers the location of the personnel and aircraft, the enemy threat, specialist capabilities and the available means of inserting and extracting the force. Alternative pickup assets and locations, expected time on the ground and a reserve also enter the plan.
TRAP operates within the five tasks of personnel recovery: Report, Locate, Support, Recover and Reintegrate. Reporting and locating provide the information on which the ground force bases its support and recovery actions. Subsequent reintegration falls outside the infantry company's own mission.
Which practical skills are trained
Training combines PR fundamentals, the development of shared standard operating procedures and mission planning with practical work involving aircraft and rescue equipment. An Expeditionary Operations Training Group, or EOTG, trains designated TRAP forces for these tasks. Aircraft familiarisation addresses the capabilities and limitations of the platforms involved. Collective drills connect this knowledge with loading and unloading personnel and equipment, and coordination between ground forces and aircrew.
Another focus is the practical use of rescue tools. One training example involves aircraft rescue and firefighting specialists opening a simulated damaged airframe. Medical capabilities for treating casualties also belong to the range of TRAP mission tasks.
In combined scenarios, the force practises coordinating mission planning, aviation support, communications, protection and logistics. This includes determining which aircraft capabilities can be used for pickup and transport. After the mission, participants discuss the problems encountered and use the experience to improve their subsequent collective preparation.
Distinction from SERE, CSAR and personnel pickup alone
SERE prepares the person at risk of isolation for survival, evasion, captivity and contributing to recovery. TRAP concerns the forces employed to carry out the recovery. The Marine Corps also participates in combat search and rescue; TRAP is its own term for the mission described here, rather than a universally interchangeable name for CSAR. Its explicit inclusion of aircraft and equipment extends the scope beyond picking up a person.