COM-01 · Lesson 5 of 5

PACE Beyond Communications

Transfer the framework to all critical planning domains — then build your group’s comms plan

The Framework Transfers Directly

The four-tier structure of PACE — pre-decided sequence, specific failure triggers, documented and distributed, tested before you need it — applies without modification to any planning domain that requires redundancy. What changes is the systems in each tier. The logic is identical.

A family or group that has internalized PACE for communications can extend it to evacuation, water, power, medical, food, and leadership in a single planning session. The questions are always the same: What do we use normally? What is our first fallback? What is independent of both? What works when everything else is gone? When exactly do we move from one to the next?

Applying PACE to Critical Domains

Capstone Exercise: Build Your Family or Group’s PACE Communications Plan

This exercise produces your group’s actual, usable PACE communications plan. Work through it with your family or group — not alone. Every person who may need to activate any tier should be present and must agree to the plan before it is final.

Step 1: Identify Your Communications Relationships

List every relationship your family or group needs to maintain in an emergency. Most families and groups have at least three:

• Local — household members, immediate neighbors, or people within 1–3 miles
• Regional — MAG members, trusted contacts across the county (10–50 miles)
• Out-of-area — family welfare check-in, contacts 100+ miles away

You will need a separate PACE plan for each relationship. Build the local plan first — that is the plan you are most likely to need first and most often.

Step 2: Inventory Your Equipment

List every communications device your family or group actually owns or has reliable access to. For each one, determine:

• What system does it use? (cell, GMRS, amateur VHF/UHF, HF, satellite, app-based PTT)
• What infrastructure does it require? (cell tower, repeater, internet, satellite)
• What license or subscription does it require? (none, GMRS, Technician, General, satellite plan)
• What is its realistic range in your terrain?
• Who in your family or group can operate it without assistance?

Step 3: Build the Stack — Local Plan

Using your equipment inventory and the system reference from Lesson 3, assign systems to each tier for your local communications relationship. A realistic example for a GMRS-licensed group with one or more Technician-class amateur operators:

Step 4: Write the Failure Triggers

For each tier transition, write the specific, observable, time-bounded trigger. Use the companion guide worksheet. Do not accept vague triggers. Test each one: could any member evaluate this trigger independently, without calling a leader, in the middle of the night?

Step 5: Document, Distribute, and Schedule Tests

• Complete the PACE Plan Worksheet in your companion guide (Part III)
• Create a laminated wallet card for every family member or group member with tier, frequency, and trigger
• Schedule your first four tests: one per tier, one per month for the next four months
• Record results in the Tier Test Log (Part III of companion guide)

The PACE Mindset

Redundancy without a plan is clutter. A group with four radios and no PACE plan will improvise when the first one fails. A group with two radios and a tested PACE plan will communicate.

Every time a new system enters your group’s kit, ask: where does this go in the PACE plan? Every time you run a drill, include one scenario where Primary is unavailable. That habit, practiced consistently, is what keeps your PACE plan from becoming a shelf document.

PACE is not limited to communications. Every critical planning domain — evacuation, water, medical, power, leadership — benefits from the same four-tier logic. You have the framework. Apply it everywhere.

Building Out From COM-01

A tested PACE plan is the foundation. The courses below address the layers that sit on top of it — how to operate on those tiers securely, when to transmit at all, and how to integrate your communications posture with your broader preparedness readiness.

The Full Framework: PREP-CON → COMCON → PACE

PACE is the execution layer of a three-tier planning framework. Understanding how the layers connect gives your group a complete operational picture.

PREP-CON sets the overall threat context, from Blue Sky (5) to Black Sky (1); it is the input that drives your COMCON assessment.

PREP-CON (Preparedness Conditions) is the highest-level assessment: what is the overall threat environment? PREP-CON 5 (Blue Sky) is routine. PREP-CON 1 (Black Sky) is active catastrophe. Your PREP-CON level drives how much pre-positioning and monitoring your group should be doing.

COMCON’s five levels run from Normal Operations (5) to Total Collapse (1); each level tells the group which PACE tiers are still in play.

COMCON (Communications Readiness Condition) is the communications-specific status. It takes the PREP-CON context and applies it to your comms infrastructure: at COMCON 5 you are on Primary; at COMCON 1 you are on Emergency only. Declaring a COMCON level is how your group communicates its assessed position in the PACE cascade.

PACE (this course) is the execution layer: the specific systems, frequencies, failure triggers, and test schedule that implement whatever COMCON level your group has declared.

The relationship flows one way: PREP-CON sets the threat context → COMCON translates it to a communications status → PACE specifies exactly what system you operate and how you transition. The PREP-CON article and PLN-05: COMCON complete the picture. COM-01 is the execution foundation.

Course Complete

When you’ve answered this lesson’s knowledge checks, all five lessons of COM-01 are done. Return to the Course Map to collect your certificate of completion, and keep the companion guide with your group’s plan: the worksheets and the Tier Test Log are what keep a PACE plan from becoming a shelf document.