The Task Book is a working document that enables those ARES® communicators electing to participate in the ARRL training plan to track and document their training plan elements as they are completed towards the various levels of increasing proficiency.   Click the link below for the tracking forms available in both PDF and Word format.

Required training

FEMA - IS-100c Introduction to the Incident Command System, ICS 100  **

FEMA - IS-0700b An Introduction to the National Incident Management System  **

FEMA - IS-0200c Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response, ICS 200  **

FEMA - IS-0800d: National Response Framework, An Introduction  **

ARRL - Introduction to Emergency Communication

** Required for admittance to an Emergency Operations Center (EOC),
a Public Service Answer Point (PSAP) or any other facility where the
ARES member might interface with government or emergency personnel.
These are collectively known as the "CORE 4" courses.

Optional Training

FEMA - IS-22 Are You Ready?  An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
PLEASE NOTE:  FEMA has appareently changed their format on the IS-22 Course and presents it now as a 204-page PDF document.

FEMA - IS-802 ESF #2, Communications HAS BEEN RETIRED!!

Advanced training (optional)

SKYWARN - Storm spotter classes are conducted by the National Weather Service.

ARRL - Public Service and Emergency Communications Management for Radio Amateurs

Red Cross - First Aid/CPR/AED classes and Emergency Preparedness information.

New (and Revised) FEMA Courses

Several new courses have been added to the FEMA site that are available free and online.  There are also some courses that have been revised and may be worth taking over again.  Many of these involve the various Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and their relationship to the Incident Command System (ICS).

For a complete list of these courses, click on the FEMA Training Site.

A)    Most courses provide a link to your certificate moments after the course is successfully completed.  If you don't request your certificate at that time, then you will have to follow the process in paragraph B below.

B)    To obtain a certificate for a course already completed, you can contact the Independent Study Program’s Customer Support Center at (301) 447-1200 or email independent.study@fema.dhs.gov.  One of their Customer Support Representatives will look up your student record, verify your course completion and issue you a certificate via email.

If you are emailing your request to independent.study@fema.dhs.gov, please provide your full name and the mailing address their office would have on record; this information is used to locate your training record in their database.

Please be sure that you have added independent.study@fema.dhs.gov to your approved senders list with your email client.

Register your training certifications

See the Membership Page for instructions on registering your completed training for ARES.