Incident Command

I started this post in early May, but forgot finish it until now...oh well!! Better late than never, right? :)

During my EMT Course, two of my required certificates, were about Incident Command Systems-both on National and Local levels, and how teamwork, good communication, and preparation are imperative for successful operations.

While studying, I had a mini revelation, which I thought I'd share.
3 crucial parts of the Command system are:
Chain of Command - referring to the orderly line of authority within the ranks of the incident management organization.
Unity of Command - Which means that all individuals have a designated supervisor to whom they report to at the scene of the incident.
Unified Command - In incidents involving multiple jurisdictions, a single jurisdiction with mulitagency involvement, or multiple jurisdictions with multiagency involvement, Unified Command allows agencies with different legal, geographic, and functional authorities and responsibilities to work together effectively without affecting individual agency authority, responsibility, or accountability.

Now think about this for a minute...
Chain of Command...doesn't that sound an awful lot like how family systems are set up?
Unity of Command...Who is our 'designated supervisor'?? Who else but Jesus Christ?!?
Unified Command.... Sounds a bit like marriage to me! We need Unity in our marriage--a oneness, a coming together of 2 separate people, with 2 separate pasts and growing ups, who meld all of that into one.

Wow!!! I don't know about you, but this was inspirational to me!! I find it so amazing how often God ties 'everyday things' into His ordained way of living...
Looking a little deeper into Unified Command, we find:
When an incident occurs within a single jurisdiction and there is no jurisdictional or functional agency overlap, a single Incident Commander is designated with overall incident management responsibility by the appropriate jurisdictional authority.
The designated Incident commander develops the incident objectives that direct all subsequent incident action planning. The Incident Commander approves the Incident Action Plan and the resources to be ordered or released.

As an incident expands in complexity, Unified Command may be established. In a Unified Command, individuals designated by their jurisdictional or organizational authorities (or by departments within a single jurisdiction) work together to:
- Determine objectives, strategies, plans, resource allocations, and priorities.
- Execute integrated incident operations and maximize the use of assigned resources.

Advantages of Using Unified Command
In multijurisdictional or multiagency incident management, Unified Command offers the following advantages:
- A single set of objectives is developed for the entire incident.
- A collective "team" approach is used to develop strategies to achieve incident objectives.
- Information flow and coordination are improved between all jurisdictions and agencies involved in the incident.
- All agencies with responsibility for the incident have an understanding of joint priorities and restrictions.
- No agency's legal authorities are compromised or neglected.
- The combined efforts of all agencies are optimized as they perform their respective assignments under a single Incident Action Plan.

Now, doesn't that sound just like marriage, and even has roleplaying tied into it!! The Incident Commander is the Husband, as the head of his home. He's given the ultimate responsibility for his home, by his authority (God), to lead his wife and family wisely, to state the family's objectives, to approve plans, and to authorize/approve when resources (money, time, etc) are to be used.
As women, we are called to be our husbands' helpmeets (Unified Command??), to help encourage him in Godliness, and as it is appropriate, to be their most trusted advisors, besides God in helping to create the objectives for our families. We are also often the ones to help carry out the plans our husbands create.

One of my mom's favorite thoughts is: The husband decides what he wants done that day (lays down the command), but the wife is the one who carries it out, and decides when and how and by who it is to be done in that day (lays out the laws). Therefore, a child really should not go to his father (or visa-versa) and get permission/command something to be done, without checking in with the mother first, because she is the one who has to make sure all the million and one things are done each day, in their proper order. :)

For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

~ Matthew 8:9-10 ~