The Comm Unit, RADO & AUXCOMM
The All-Hazards Communications Unit, what a RADO does, and how AUXCOMM volunteers plug in.
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The Communications Unit, and where you fit
On a NIMS/ICS incident, communications are run by the Communications Unit, led by the Communications Unit Leader (CUL, known nationally as COML). Under that leader sit roles like the Radio Operator (RADO), the Communications Technician (COMT) who keeps gear working, the Incident Communications Center Manager (INCM) who runs the comm center, and AUXCOMM auxiliary communicators. Trained volunteer operators — including licensed hams — are a recognized part of this structure. The skills you build here map directly onto it.
What a RADO actually does
A RADO staffs the Incident Communications Center, monitors and passes radio and telephone traffic, makes notifications, and documents all of it. RADOs also help coordinate 'incidents within the incident' — the medical evacuation or new emergency that erupts in the middle of an operation. The role reaches across public safety, wildfire, marine, aviation, and HF environments, and into base-station operations for EOCs, hospitals, and dispatch centers. Whatever the setting, the core stays the same: pass traffic cleanly, document accurately, stay calm.
The RADO course and Position Task Book
The All-Hazards RADO course is delivered through state programs under the DHS/CISA framework. It's hands-on and performance-based — you demonstrate the tasks rather than sit a written final, and an evaluator signs your Position Task Book (PTB) as you prove each skill. Common prerequisites are the FEMA independent-study courses: IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800. Knock those out online first, then practice the radio and the logging before you attend.
Plugging into the state: AUXCOMM, ARES/RACES
States run their own emergency-comms structures, and a sharp operator knows how to plug into them. Your state emergency management agency (for example, GEMA in Georgia) typically partners with a state AUXCOMM program — the auxiliary-communications position recognized in ICS since 2019 — to staff the State Operations Center and official deployments, while ARES and RACES amateur operators feed information up from the local level. A volunteer operator who speaks ICS and plain language can interoperate with all of them. When your state offers AUXCOMM, ICS-300, or RADO classes, take them — that's where your training meets the wider response community.
From RADO toward CUL
RADO is the foundation of the Communications Unit; it isn't the ceiling. With experience and the right ICS coursework (typically through ICS-300 and beyond), the path climbs toward Communications Unit Leader. The CUL builds the ICS-205 communications plan, directs every comms resource on the incident, and answers for the whole picture. Set RADO as your near goal and CUL as the horizon. Each net you work and each log you keep is a step along that line.