text: Planning for Personnel Recovery
  personnel recovery guidance, there is no set format. ISG focuses on awareness, accountability, rapid
  reporting of isolating events, actions to take when isolated, and link-up procedures.
  Awareness
  3-26. Soldiers need objective means to determine if they or members of their unit have become isolated.
  ISG includes criteria that define isolation in a given situation. Commanders set isolation criteria based on
  the commander’s personnel recovery guidance, which they refine for use at the appropriate level. The
  criteria consist of a short list of factors specific to the situation. Commanders ensure isolation criteria are
  concise, direct, and easy to interpret. Fewer criteria are more easily remembered under stress.
  3-27. Isolation criteria are simpler to define for air and vehicle crews forced to divert from their missions
  by enemy action or mechanical malfunction. Isolation criteria are more complex for ground operations,
  where separations from friendly forces and contact with the enemy are often a duty requirement.
  3-28. Individuals determine if they or members of their unit have become isolated by analyzing the
  situation against isolation criteria established by their commander. Based on the commander’s isolation
  criteria, Soldiers or other covered individuals implement ISG. Examples of isolation criteria include the
  absence of nearby friendly forces or the inability to communicate with expected organizations. Other
  examples include—
  * No communication with their unit or higher headquarters, by any means, for the time specified
  in the ISG.
  * No contact with fellow unit members for the time specified in the ISG.
  * A forced or precautionary aircraft landing in hostile territory.
  * A ground vehicle becoming separated from the rest of the convoy under observation in hostile
  territory.
  * An encounter with unexpected enemy, hostile, or criminal forces.
  Accountability
  3-29. A commander’s personnel recovery guidance emphasizes the priority of maintaining accountability
  and recommends appropriate procedures and tools. Commanders require frequent, standardized reporting
  using formats such as the Personnel Status Report as outlined in FM 6-99. When appropriate, commanders
  and staff use technical applications for monitoring, such as Blue Force Tracking. In this way, they obtain
  passive feedback on the location of individuals on air and ground vehicles. Using such applications also
  helps commanders and staff monitor the risk of isolation. However, top-down monitoring does not relieve
  individuals of responsibility for their own protection and awareness of their situation.
  Rapid Reporting
  3-30. Closely related to accountability is rapid reporting of isolating events. ISG addresses how isolated
  persons will attempt to contact their unit—or recovery forces—and how units will report isolating events to
  their command. Topics related to reporting include use of ground-to-air and ground-to-ground signals. The
  signals component of ISG typically addresses the use of radios, distress beacons, and other electronic
  devices. ISG may specify visual signals. To facilitate accurate reporting of isolating events, ISG may
  prescribe specific items of equipment Soldiers will possess, such as maps of the AO. If Soldiers carry
  distress beacons, the ISG directs when to activate them. In the field, a low-tech solution is frequently just as
  effective as an electronic solution. Visual signals such as flares, signal lights (strobe lights, chemical light
  sticks, and flashlights), colored panels, glint tape, reflective mirrors, signal fires, and the use of natural
  materials (stones, snow, or vegetation, depending on the terrain and weather) augment electronic signal
  means.
  Actions to Take When Isolated
  3-31. Soldiers identify their situation as an isolating event based on the isolation criteria in the ISG. When
  the criteria are met, they implement the actions recommended. ISG normally requires isolated persons to
  try to return to friendly forces unassisted, even if the situation and conditions on the ground require a