KNW-169
Emergency Deployments…
Its Not Just Talking On The Radio
Written 02/2021 by Walt Sepaniac, N5TQ, Harris County TX ARES
As ARES team members, we train in communications a lot: in weekly Nets and during Special Events and SETS in which we participate.
This training provides us a wealth of valuable skills which we rely upon as we serve in deployments. Nets let us practice how to program our radios, test how well our equipment can hit the repeaters, how to operate in a directed net and how to use complex digital modes. Events allow us to learn how to deploy to a location, how to set up and operate portable or mobile stations, how our equipment works together, how effective our antenna solutions are and how to cross-band radios to extend our range. We learn how to communicate in real-time with events going on around us, how to make important observations, how we will react to emergencies and priorities and how to properly inform Net Control of a situation like a medical emergency during a marathon.
In addition, our served agencies ask us to obtain formal training in FEMA’s Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS). We need all of this training to perform well as emergency communicators. You can’t just show up to the scene of a disaster, pick up a microphone and talk without all of this training and practice!
One of the most important aspects of our deployments, whether events or actual emergencies, is the planning and documentation process. We will not be successful, either individually or as a team, if we don’t plan effectively. Without a good plan, we may be setting our team members up to fail which will reflect badly on those agencies that rely on us for their comms.
Many criticize the Incident Command System as “just a bunch of forms.” Nothing could be further from the truth! The forms are an important way to make sure that there is a solid plan underpinning the deployment, that it’s fully thought-out and that it is communicated to members in an effective way. By operating within the plan, each of us becomes a force-multiplier to achieving the goals of the deployment and the acceptance by the agencies we support.
In addition, forms collect important information about what happened and when during a deployment so that leadership can go back and analyze it later and suggest improvements for the next one. One of our forms, the After Action Report, summarizes that information.
Here are some of the forms we use to plan a deployment, and which you’ll see and use when you participate:
- The Incident Briefing (ICS 201) provides the Incident Commander and staff with basic information regarding the incident situation and the resources allocated to the incident.
- An Incident Action Plan (IAP) documents incident goals, operational period objectives and the response strategy. Please be sure to read it thoroughly to understand all its details.
- The Incident Radio Communications Plan (ICS 205) provides information on all radio frequencies and radio system assignments.
- The General Message (ICS 213) is used to send any message or notification to incident personnel that requires hard-copy delivery.
- The RRI Amateur Radio Welfare Radiogram used to communicate welfare messages to and from civilians across the nation and World (less often but important).
- The Activity Log (ICS 214) records details of notable activities at any ICS level including single resources, equipment, Task Forces, etc. These logs provide basic incident activity documentation, and a reference for any after-action report. ARES members should always carry an ICS 214 in their go-kits and immediately use it to start a log of your activities during a deployment. Also remember that anything you write down will become a matter of the public record as well as that which you SHOULD have written down.
- The Communications Log (ICS 309) records the details of message traffic and is used by either an individual or a Net Control Operator (NCO). These logs provide the basic reference from which to extract communications traffic history.
- The After Action Review (AAR) form summarizes the assignments, the major activities and any needed changes for ‘next time’.
After the incident concludes, you should take the time to submit an After-Action Report (AAR), whether or not it was requested, in which you gather and record your thoughts about what worked and what didn’t; important information which will be used in future plans. While it may not be required, it may be for ‘the real thing’ so you should be familiar with it.
You will find all of those forms and others in Winlink Express, an application with which you should be intimately familiar…EVERYBODY can send Telnet checkins or submit Telnet forms without special equipment so use these opportunities to prepare.
Practice makes perfect. Participating in events can help familiarize you with equipment, power systems, antennas and the all-important communication in real-time with all the distractions going on all around you and with documenting the event and your efforts. Again, using Winlink Express provides opportunities to practice creating and sending ICS Forms which will help you understand the plan for the deployment and your part in it and you are strongly encouraged to learn and use it.
Before we close, let me use this opportunity to remind you that deployment during a disaster, even locally to an EOC, firehouse or street corner, is serious business and you need to develop plans for yourself and for your family. Please take trainings such as KNW-134 Family First and KNW-141 Evacuation Grab And Go Kit seriously.
That concludes tonight’s training. Are there any questions, comments or suggested additions to this material?
Thanks, this is (callsign) clear to net control.
Send corrections, modifications, updates or suggestions to k5prs@aol.com
Modified on 02 Dec 2025 by Paul Smith, k5prs