Our military vets and members are probably very aware of term SALUTE. An acronym standing for Size Activity Location Unit Time Equipment.
How many? 25 guys. what are they doing: staging mobilization area. location: abandoned farm two miles east of the airport (lat/long or grid if available) Unit: who are they, police, national guard, looters? Time: of Observation not time of the report. Equipment: cargo trucks, AR/m-16 rifles? VHF/UHF portable radio?
Try your best to get as much information as possible. Report as soon as possible or at least in a timely manner and stay vigilant
I'm a sucker for acronyms..
Basic intelligence gathering 101. There may come a time when this will be absolutely essential. Anyone read any of James Wesley Rawles novels? He describes this process in detail, and creates a fictional "Intel Collating/Dissemination Unit" in the context of Decentralized Command Structure...as in no central command structure at all. Just operations of small independent cells making use of intel gathered and reported from the individual cells. OpSec is an interesting question here: the units maintain their own individual opsec but there is a centralized intel clearing house. Interesting...
I thought I put it out there in general because some don't know what to look for in certain situations. When I first started driving the term was G.O.A.L Get Out And Look, so yup I looked, but wasn't sure what I was supposed to look for other than is anything behind me. I later found I could understand exactly what I needed to do when I took in the whole situation, not just directly behind me.
Situational awareness. Plus in a not the end of the world senario, you could pass information and actionable intelligence to LEOs rescue operations, etcetera.
This forum is absolutely awesome. Thanks to all of you for passing along your knowledge. Comms are an area where I lack the most. In a few months hopefully I'll be able to get more involved with this vital aspect of being prepared. I will certainly absorb all your shared knowledge. Bear people...stay safe.