Rescue Airmen train as one force in eight-day pre-deployment exercise Operation Iron Covenant

DVIDS – News – Rescue Airmen train as one force in eight-day pre-deployment exercise Operation Iron Covenant

Rescue Airmen train as one force in eight-day pre-deployment exercise Operation Iron Covenant

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

07.29.2026

Story by Airman Najzee Kuzu 

355th Wing

DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. — U.S. Air Force Special Warfare Airmen participated in Operation Iron Covenant, a culminating exercise designed to strengthen personnel recovery capabilities and prepare rescue forces for deployment through realistic, scenario-based training. The exercise evaluated the readiness of rescue teams tasked with recovering isolated personnel in contested environments while reinforcing the coordination and decision-making required during combat rescue operations.Operation Iron Covenant serves as a final validation event for deploying Air Force Special Warfare forces, challenging Airmen with terminal area scenarios that replicate the complexity of real-world missions.

“In 29 years as a PJ [pararescuemen] I never once trained like this before a deployment,” said Chris Albrandt, retired U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. and the exercise director. “We would do our part, the [HH-60] 60 crews would do theirs, the [C-130] 130 crews would do theirs, and we’d meet in the theater and figure out the seams under real pressure with real people on the ground. This exercise found those seams here, in July, where the cost of finding them is a hard conversation instead of a casualty.”

Designed to mirror the demands of modern combat, the training assessed both individual proficiency and team effectiveness under realistic conditions. By exposing participants to dynamic scenarios, the exercise strengthened their ability to adapt to changing situations while maintaining mission focus and operational effectiveness.“Everybody trains to go get somebody else,” Albrandt said. “Almost nobody trains for the day the enemy comes to you and you have to fight, package your own wounded, and get off the ‘X’ while you’re still running a recovery mission. Fleeing the base is the evolution nobody enjoyed and everybody needed.”

Throughout the exercise, rescue airmen and operators worked alongside aircrew to practice the coordination required to locate, secure and recover isolated personnel. The integrated training emphasized communication, trust and teamwork, ensuring every participant understood their role in executing successful personnel recovery missions under pressure

Operation Iron Covenant also provided an opportunity for leaders to evaluate tactics, techniques and procedures while identifying areas for continued improvement before deployment. The realistic scenarios reinforced the importance of repetition and continuous training in maintaining a combat-ready rescue force capable of responding to a wide range of operational challenges

“A PJ can be technically perfect and still fail a mission if the handoff between the aircraft and the ground team doesn’t work. That handoff is the thing that kills people, and it’s the thing that almost never gets rehearsed until you’re doing it for real. We built eight days specifically to rehearse it,” Albrandt said.As a culminating readiness event, Operation Iron Covenant reinforces the Air Force’s commitment to preparing Air Force Special Warfare personnel for the demands of combat rescue and personnel recovery missions. Through realistic, integrated training, rescue airmen and operators continue to refine the skills, coordination and adaptability needed to recover isolated personnel and support combat operations wherever the mission requires.

“Anybody can be sharp on day one,” Albrandt said. “We wanted to see them on day six, after they’d already had a bad night, when the radios aren’t cooperating and the casualty count is higher than the seats available. That’s the version of them that shows up downrange.”

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