JP 3-50 National Search and Rescue Manual Vol I - US Navy

2. Unified command simply means all agencies involved with the
SAR effort jointly:
a. Determine overall incident objectives.
b. Select strategies.
c. Plan and integrate tactics.
d. Maximize use of resources.
3. Consolidated action plans list objectives and strategies and
include an organizational chart, divisional assignments and
incident maps. The plans are updated for each operational
period.
832 Action Plans
A. The first consideration is search urgency which is influenced
by subject profile, experience and equipment, and by weather and
topography.
B. Once urgency is established, information to plan search
strategies is collected and analyzed, including the subject's
personality traits and last known position, and elapsed time since last
observation of the subject.
C. Certain actions require immediate implementation once the
urgency of distress is known. Many of these actions will continue
throughout the search mission building on leads obtained, and possibly
generating new information.
1. Investigation should be started to determine the subject
profile and gather other clues. The investigation should
continue throughout the mission and, if clues indicate,
investigative effort increased.
2. Determine the outer perimeter of the search area by locating
the last known position and computing the distance the subject
could have traveled. Mission personnel should be assigned to
this perimeter to preserve clues and confine the subject to
the known area. Confinement should be maintained through-out
the search. Using devices such as signs, flags, sirens or
whistles can help the subject locate the searchers.
3. Two to three person teams that are clue conscious and equipped
to operate independently for 24 to 48 hours should check
hazards and high probability areas within the search area.
4. If available, persons highly trained as trackers should be
called in immediately, while tracks and other clues are still
fresh. The area should be protected until the tracker
arrives.