Understanding Emergencies
The foundation of Integrated Skills Group, Understanding Emergencies is the lens through which we view every potential problem and find solutions. Start Here.
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INTEGRATED SKILLS GROUP
Integrated Skills Group is a network dedicated to building skill to help individuals prepare for emergencies. At ISG, we believe that all people benefit from building skills that help protect their family and communities in times of crisis.
ISG is 100% user supported. Our goal is to bring you the highest quality content, free of distracting advertisements, and we offer monthly subscriptions for individual consultation and training via our Patreon.
Core 4 Concepts
Start here to build your foundation.
Responder Zero
Before those with the authority to help, those who choose whether or not they have the capacity to help are on scene. If your time comes, will you be an asset?
The “Core Four” of EDC
EDC is a worn out, tired topic, but we discuss four items you can have nearly anywhere that will help you be an asset in any circumstances.
The Strength of the Pack
Introduction We think of ISG as a “pack” or community, an homage to Rudyard Kipling’s famous “The Law of the Jungle“, in which he wrote: The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.” What is strength? How do we assess such a thing, and how can…
Recent Articles
Carry the Fire: Author’s Notes on Rethinking Emergencies
Introduction Flashback: ISG had been a public entity for a year or two after Gino and I met, and people started making a request. They’d ask “why not make this into a book?” After all, if there was a real emergency, access to the internet might be down. The idea of having a physical reference…
Cold Weather 101
Weather being a common and important topic at ISG, we are likely overdue for a series pertaining to cold weather. Whereas a tornado or hurricane can set in Type 1 and Type 2 events, winter itself can resembled a Type 3 event, even for portions of developed countries. Past and current addresses of our contributors…
In Defense of Small Talk and The Malthusian Catastrophe
Introduction The other day I was sitting in a coffee shop listening to people talk. As much for the pulse of the local scene as for the coffee, and I casually eavesdropped on a conversation at another table: “I hate small talk, I just want to talk about the deep topics of importance.” It’s entirely…
Engineering Strong Children for Hard Times
Introduction In the world of disaster management, the most impacted populations are the most underserved. When it comes to self defense, almost everything is tailored to the adult male, and very rarely does serious conversation spill over into discussion on “hey, what happens to our families?” Given the ongoing reality in Ukraine, we have yet…
A Primer on Practice
Training is the mantra. All mouths in our community utter it in ritualistic unison. Whether that be through study, instruction, or drilling — you certainly will not find any among ISG that dissent with the dogma. Each of us who’ve been published here have been, at some point, both teacher and a student alike. Training…
How to Drown Proof your Soul: The Importance of Hope
Introduction – Hope vs Hopelessness As I sit down to write this, the world outside my windows seems mad. Utterly, hopelessly, incomprehensibly mad. You may see that, too. It seems like most people these days can sense that something, if not everything, just feels off. While it’s not the main focus of our public aspect,…
The ‘Useful’ Truth
Since the publishing of Tactical Social Media, I haven’t been able to shake that atmosphere of thought. Perhaps part of me knew that I hadn’t pieced together all the parts of the mystery in a way that struck definitively towards the heart of the matter. There was a good dichotomy set for which we could…
Hurricane Ida: An Insider look at the Disaster
Introduction Hurricane Ida rolled in on August 29th, 2021, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina. The last time a storm this strong made landfall, I was sitting a hotel room, waiting to go to MEPS the following day. Within a couple months, I’d be in Biloxi, looking on some of the most ravaged…
