Good evening, Army MARS members and guests from Navy-Marine Corps and
Air Force MARS, and fellow amateurs monitoring this net.
I begin this evening with four very brief but important points about Round Two of
the MARS 101, which I called MARS 101.1 in my CAM 16-2009 on Wednesday. This
MARS 101.1 Training will begin on 5 July.
One—If you are one of the members who didn’t complete the first round, your
continued membership in MARS depends on completing it now. Don’t let me down—
nor yourself.
Two—This course requires effort, but it can’t be that hard if 96.9 per cent of those
who took the exam passed it on the first round. In fact, five percent got perfect scores.
So prepare, perform, enjoy.
Three—We know it’s summer, and every effort will be made to accommodate the
required training to the other demands on your time during this season.
Four—To those 759 or so members who have already passed this mandatory
training, I say please come back the second round. There’s some new material, and
besides, your participation is needed and will be welcomed as part of the Interactive
Instruction for the new students. Some of you may be needed as mentors for those
trying to fit the training in around vacations or other commitments. So, I ask you to HBO
or HSO fellow members who want to remain relevant to Army MARS and CONUS Civil
Support.
I have these five items this evening:
1—Fresh Approaches for the 101 training.
2—Texas MARS updates jointness
3—Making the Connection with ARNORTH.
4—Frequency Changing in an Emergency
5—Thanks to the Tiger Team
MARS 101—the New Model
The next round of MARS 101 training is not just a summer re-run. I want to
emphasize that. We learned a lot during Round One. The guidance for trainers has
been redone and expanded, and they have picked up plenty of insight on their own.
Also the course units have fresh material along with changes inspired by experience in
the first round.
I hope to see one other difference, and that’s the trainers jumping on current
news and information to keep the training relevant. That input might be something
mentioned on the chief’s net. It might be a current emergency situation. It might be a
contribution by one of the members with special expertise. Initiative is important in all
that MARS does, but it’s particularly important here. The only caveat as far as I’m
concerned is that the interjected subject matter must really be on message, and that it
doesn’t crowd out the required basic content of the unit.
Just by coincidence, my net this evening includes three examples of precisely
what’s meant by pertinent added input for the 101.1 nets. Trainers please take note.
And in the field when you encounter similar examples, I want to hear about it for
inclusion in future nets.
A New jointness Concept
The very first operation of the 2009 hurricane season for Texas Army MARS was
a very real challenge minus the hurricane.
As part of this year’s Defense Interoperability Communications Exercise (DICE),
the state of Texas inaugurated a new response organization called the Communications
Coordination Group (CCG). The CCG has the job of integrating all disaster
communications from the federal level on down and that includes MARS.
What made it interesting was starting up the CCG for the first time in the middle
of simulating a major hurricane along the Texas coast. The new organization’s mission
was to inventory all the available communications assets, then organize and assign
tasks as required by the Incident Management Team. That’s approximately equivalent
to the Communications Section we learn about in NIMS but with the details filled in.
For the DICE exercise Texas Army MARS fielded six Emergency Response
Teams including one to the State Operations Center. The six teams’ job was providing
backup comms. Meanwhile the non-deployed members generated exercise traffic.
The Defense Interoperability Exercise is a national affair conducted by the U.S.
Northern Command, and the Texas MARS team successfully exchanged traffic with the
NORTHCOM Exercise Director at Ft Monmouth NJ.
There was lots of interoperability. State Director Dave Martin cited collaboration
with ARES representatives and participation by Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps
MARS members. OK Army MARS pitched in by taking over some NCS and MARS 101
training during the five-day exercise.
State director Martin commented in his AAR: “Most all teams carried amateur
VHF/UHF equipment to the exercise and coordinated with amateurs operating with
ARES. It is very important that this type of equipment be included in go-kits.” But other
equipment will need to be added for similar direct communication on public safety
frequencies.
On the lessons learned, Dave cited these: “Almost all deployed members and teams
reported some kind of equipment failure. However, in almost all cases the problem was
resolved with alternate equipment, repairs or other substitutions. This again proved that
all deployed MARS personnel must be prepared to adjust and adapt to constantly
evolving conditions.”
Also this: “Not enough stations volunteered to perform net control duties. Many of
the usual volunteer NCS were deployed and unavailable.”
Thanks Dave, and thanks to your members for setting a splendid example.
What’s most impressive to me, and I hope will be noted by all leaders, is that Texas
MARS was there for the launching of this important step forward in achieving jointness.
As you point out—and I quote—“This gave TX Army MARS several excellent
opportunities to demonstrate MARS capabilities to many participating agencies and
visitors.”
Connecting Up with ARNORTH
Region 1 Director Bob Mims recently had two notable visitors at his home station,
AAA1RD just west of Cape Cod, MA. They were members of ARNORTH’s Defense
Coordinating Team (DCE) from the FEMA regional headquarters at Boston which
covers the six New England states.
Mr. Jay F. Daley is the senior operations analyst and SFC Eddie Brinkley the
communications NCO on the Defense Coordinating Officer’s staff. Daley recently
retired with the rank of Colonel after 28 years active duty, his most recent post Chief of
Staff of the MA National Guard.
The visit came about after Bob followed through on my comments on this net
regarding the importance of direct relationships at the state and region level. He
tracked down the DCO, COL James Stanley, via the Internet and e-mailed him
personally to propose collaboration. The visit on 10 June followed.
Bob’s AAR says neither visitor had been aware of MARS HF and digital
capabilities. He added: “I gave them a tour of my station, explaining the digital, voice
and phone patch capabilities, [and also the] mobile station which is set up for VHF, HV
voice, MT-63 and Pactor II.” Then Bob got a tour of the Emergency Communications
Vehicle (ECV) which the two DCE men arrived in, a large SUV equipped VHF, UHF,
TV, cellular repeater and satellite dish--but no HF.
Mr. Daley messaged afterward: “We were both impressed with your
communications capabilities as well as commitment of you and your regional volunteer
force . . . We plan to include you in our future communications planning, training and
exercises. Please stay in contact . . . “
I realize our list of acronyms and abbreviations is getting long, but these new
ones are important. ARNORTH is the Army component in the chain of command to
which Army MARS reports.DCO is the ARNORTH representative at each of the 10
FEMA Region headquarters during emergencies. . DCE is the team, and its
organization bears some resemblance to the typical Army unit HQ—DCO (COL),
deputy (LTC). Operations section (MAJ), Plans section, Commo section and Admin.
They’re our partners now on the military side, and our regional link to FEMA.
What Frequencies to Use in Dire Emergency?
Here’s a question that came to me some time ago: If an assigned frequency is
totally unusable due to propagation or interference what’s the policy on switching to
an unauthorized frequency to handle emergency traffic?
There is a simple answer: If the emergency genuinely involves the safety of life
and/or protection of property, the stations involved may use any frequency that works.
In the real world, though, there are practical considerations. With a major
emergency underway, many stations from different services may have essential traffic.
That makes it advisable for MARS stations to use MARS frequencies if they can. There
may be transmissions from other emergency services that are inaudible locally. Also,
there is a large difference between exchanging several very urgent messages and
completely taking over an unassigned frequency to operate a net continuously.
Experienced operators need no repetition of the guidelines of best practice, but
for use in training nets here are some suggestions: Make sure the issue really is an
immediate life-or-death situation. Always minimize. Listen carefully before transmitting
and let up the mic key frequently during transmission in case anyone is attempting to
break. And never fight for control of the frequency; that way no one gets through.
Bottom line: The FCC states it clearly enough in its rule 97.403 for amateurs: “No
provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of
radiocommunication at its disposal” when safety of life and protection of property are
involved.
Thanks to the Tiger Team
It is fitting that I take this opportunity to thank the Tiger Team for their superb
efforts to make the MARS 101 Training Program a resounding success. They worked
hard, fast, flexible, did I say fast? And they enabled 759 Army MARS members to
demonstrate their continued commitment to Army MARS and our nation. I’m duly
proud of the Tiger Team and the 759 of you who completed this high intensity task.
Now I want to bestow special thanks to Region 1 Director and Tiger Team leader,
Robert “Bob” Mims. Bob led, mediated, cooperated, mentored, teamed, maneuvered,
sculpted, made the hard decisions and otherwise enabled the diverse and
geographically separated Tiger Team to produce a superior MARS Road Ahead and
MARS 101 document suite. There is no way Army MARS would be positioned to
effectively morph to meet the changing challenges we face without Bob’s superb
leadership. THANKS BOB!!
Before we move on from the MARS 101 Training, let me give a nod to the Army MARS
trainers throughout every region, who have played a large part in the success of the
program. I remind the entire Army MARS team to use every resource available to you,
including Chief Net Notes, to keep your training current.
Conclusion . . . some of you may have been wondering why I’ve not been too visible
or responsive of late and why I’ve not held a Chief’s Net in the past month – well, you
likely have noticed in the numerous press reports, that the DOD is creating a
CYBERCOMMAND, called USCYBERCOM. I’ve been engrossed in that endeavor
from the Army’s perspective.
As we prepare for and rest up over the 4th of July Holidays, please remember and tipyour-hat to those military men and women who serve today around the globe to provide
the freedoms each American has enjoyed since 4 July 1776. Have a happy and safe
Fourth of July weekend. CAM Out.