Tips for Preparing for Expeditionary Operations

Kelly McKinney asked Chat GPT to provide a Crisis Management Algorithm. I added the exact prompts into MS COPILOT. Here are the results. Blue Sky Phase (Pre-Crisis) 1. Crisis Envisioning and Planning   - Identify Potential Crises: Natural disasters, cyber-attacks, health emergencies, etc.   - Assess Resource and Consequence Challenges: Information flow, available resources, possible impacts.   - Draft Possible Scenarios: Create a library of realistic crisis scenarios. 2. Team Identification and Convening   - Identify Key Individuals and Groups: Roles such as communication, logistics, medical, security.   - Recruit Additional Members: Based on specific crisis needs.   - Schedule Training Sessions: Immersive crisis scenario simulations. 3. Development of Crisis Response Plan   - Establish Tactical Operations: Identify parallel and simultaneous operations.   - Assign Leads for Each Operation: Designate responsible individuals and groups.   - Create Flexible Response Guidelines: Document detailed yet adaptable procedures.    4. Team Readiness and Monitoring   - Establish 24/7 Monitoring: Set up systems to keep watch for any crisis signals.   - Information Gathering Systems: Develop methods to collect and assess initial signals.   - Crisis Simulations and Drills: Regularly conduct practice scenarios. Gray Sky Phase (During Crisis) 1. Signal Detection and Assessment   - Monitor Signals: Continuous observation of potential threats.   - Immediate Response: Gather detailed information upon detection of a signal.   - Initial Assessment: Evaluate if the signal could lead to a crisis. 2. Incident Management Team Notification and Activation   - Notify Incident Management Team: Use all available means (email, text, etc.).   - Convene Incident Management Team: Ensure team is quickly assembled.    3. Emergency Operations Facilitation   - Operations Meetings:     - Initial Briefing: Share situational awareness.    - Status Updates: Regular reports from individuals and groups on their operations.    - Address Issues and Needs: Identify obstacles and unmet needs, propose solutions.   - Tactical Execution: Oversee and support the execution of emergency operations. 4. Continuous Review and Adaptation   - Continuous Monitoring: Keep assessing the situation and adjusting the plan.   - Coordination and Communication: Ensure seamless coordination among team members.   - Resource Management: Efficiently allocate resources as per needs.   - Documentation: Maintain detailed records of decisions and actions taken. 5. Crisis Resolution and Debriefing   - Crisis Resolution: Keep operating until the crisis is resolved.   - Post-Crisis Review: Conduct a thorough review to identify lessons learned.   - Update Crisis Management Plan: Incorporate improvements based on the review. By following this algorithm, your crisis management team can efficiently manage crises, ensuring preparedness before they occur and effective action during their occurrence.

Hope is not a plan. Don’t plan for what’s easy—plan for what will break you. When it comes to emergency management, my philosophy is simple: Think Big. Go Big. Go Fast. Be Smart About It. This isn’t theory. It’s what works when everything else is falling apart. 1. Think Big Plan for the disaster you can’t handle—not the one you can. Too many plans are written for the expected. You’ve got to plan for the event that could crush you. If you only plan for the average storm, the big one will wipe you out. But if you plan for the worst, you can always scale back. Example: If a Category 5 hurricane is possible, don’t base your plan on a Cat 2. Assume the power's out, roads are gone, comms are down, and you’re on your own for days. Can you still operate? 2. Go Big Lead with overwhelming force. Don’t wait to be asked. Disasters move faster than bureaucracy. By the time the official request comes in, it may already be too late. Don’t wait to assess. If it’s bad, move. You can always scale down. You can’t recover lost time. Example: If there’s a fast-moving wildfire or flash flood, surge fire crews, helicopters, trucks—before the paperwork. You can send them home later. But you can't rewind the clock. 3. Go Fast Speed beats perfection. Move now—adjust later. You’re never going to have perfect situational awareness. Waiting for full clarity gives the disaster time to grow. In a crisis, the biggest risk is moving too slow—not making the wrong move. Example: Don’t wait for a confirmed casualty list before launching search-and-rescue. If people are trapped, get boots on the ground. Speed is life. 4. Be Smart About It Use your experience, your partners, and your data. Throwing resources blindly isn’t leadership. You’ve got to think while you move—use what you know and who you trust. You don’t have unlimited fuel, people, or equipment. Make every action count. Example: Tap mutual aid early. Bring in the private sector. Use volunteer networks. This isn’t about control—it’s about coordination and impact. Putting It into Practice Exercises: Don’t run easy drills. Stress the system. Break it. That’s how you find the gaps. Policy: Build in logistics and authority for early action. If you’re waiting for approvals, you’re already behind. Messaging: Be clear. Be fast. No sugarcoating. Culture: Build teams that move fast, take initiative, and trust each other. Bureaucracy kills momentum. Bottom Line Disasters don’t care about your process. They don’t wait for consensus. You either act—or people die. So: Think Big. Go Big. Go Fast. Be Smart About It. That’s how you save lives.

No one likes to think about worst-case scenarios; especially, while traveling. However, being prepared can make all the difference in an emergency. On a trip to Namibia, Africa, I was working with a group of motorcycle riders that were planning an expedition across the country. I asked, who knows where the local hospitals are and what capabilities they have? Out of the group of ten, not one of them had looked that up ahead of time, yet they were ready and willing to embark on this adventure that had a high risk of injury from a motorcycle accident. “What is your plan if someone crashes on their bike and gets seriously injured?” I asked. One of them responded, “we’ll call for help with our cellphones.” I asked, “Does your cellphone work where you’ll be going?” They did not know, and the answer was no. Their cellphones, even with a local sim card, would not work in the areas they are traveling through. Identifying issues like these before you go, can mean the difference between life and death in some cases. In the area we were at in Africa, they only had one major trauma center and it was located hundreds of miles from where we were at. Likewise, there were only a few other smaller clinics, also separated by hundreds of miles with no other medical facilities in between. Prior to us identifying these concerns, the expedition team was planning on embarking on their journey with no form of communication other than their cellphones and no personal medical kit. Thankfully, our team did a detailed mission planning session with the group, and they had a very successful trip riding through the African desert. While traveling, everyone should familiarize themselves with emergency procedures and contact information for local authorities, medical facilities, and embassy or consulate services. Check out the recent blog I wrote for Defense Strategies Group for more travel safety tips. https://lnkd.in/guD5qABg