diff --git a/roles/main_infra/defaults/main.yml b/roles/main_infra/defaults/main.yml
index f7c39b7..6edcb21 100644
--- a/roles/main_infra/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/main_infra/defaults/main.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ aws_profile: "default"
 dynamodb_table: "poa-terraform-lock"
 bucket: "poa-terraform-state"
 terraform_location: "/usr/local/bin/terraform"
-region: "us-east-1"
 prefix: "test"
 vpc_cidr: "10.0.0.0/16"
 public_subnet_cidr: "10.0.0.0/24"
diff --git a/roles/main_software/tasks/main.yml b/roles/main_software/tasks/main.yml
index 8af4f1f..177da3c 100644
--- a/roles/main_software/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/main_software/tasks/main.yml
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
 
 - name: Fetch environment variables (via access key)
   set_fact: 
-    chain_env: "{{ lookup('aws_ssm', path, aws_access_key=aws_access_key, aws_secret_key=aws_secret_key, region=region, shortnames=true, bypath=true, recursive=true  ) }}"
+    chain_env: "{{ lookup('aws_ssm', path, aws_access_key=aws_access_key, aws_secret_key=aws_secret_key, region=aws_region|default('us-east-1'), shortnames=true, bypath=true, recursive=true  ) }}"
   vars:
     path: "/{{ prefix }}/{{ chain }}"
   when: aws_access_key is defined