[CTSARA] THIN LINE

[John Gagnon]

Bill:

First of all, thank you, Jon, for all you did at Field Day and said about Field Day to Bill.  

Now, Bill... I am a good example of one of those members of SARA that doesn't make very many of the meetings (I teach on Thursday night).  On, occasions, however, when I've been free of class, I attend, and have lectured on Military Field Communications in Iraq, recruited members for ARES (I, being an OES) and also starting the thinking about a Rapid Response Team for SARA.  In many ways, though, I am not a great member for being unable to attend all meetings and missing many fine speakers.

But... I have never failed to report to Field Day and do whatever I can for the cause.  This year, I put up tarps and roped off others.  I logged contacts for the operator in the 20 M tent and I also made contacts as operator on 20 M.  Most importantly, I brought my $500 Oxygen unit and my $5,000 defibrilator with me as well as bandages, splints, etc. for any untoward accident, illness or injury that might have occured to a member.  I guess I wasn't really needed that much because I only bandaged one person's hand (he had cut himself).  Hey... I WAS there!!!  I might have done more than pull plugs when the first bolt of lightening struck, and actually treated someone for a lightening strike.  Gee, I guess I might have been important after all.

See, Bill... you have to BE places in the club to see SARA operate.  You have to ATTEND meetings to hear speakers (something I truly regret).  You have to JOIN the BOARD if you want to make change.  You have to BE A PART of the repeater committee if you want to do more with the budget and the repeater than has already been done.  You have to GET speakers or arrange to SPEAK yourself on any topic related to Ham radio.  You have to BRING yourself to Field Day and make certain that NOTHING prevents you from going to Field Day short of you or your family's need for medical attention... STAT.  If you want to help others, JOIN ARES.  Gee... if you want to TALK in a group, then join in on SUNDAY night.  If you are such an active guy, how come I've never heard of you or your callsign (I monitor 146.655 and 146.775 all day when not seeing patients (oh yeah.. I'm some kind of doctor).

Gee, Bill.  Maybe you're just too busy for all this.  I can understand.  I have a private practice and work 7 hours a day doing that.  I teach some evenings and do 2 to 3 hours of that (including on Weekends but I took the day off for Field Day).  I Direct the CI / HUMINT TEAM for counterintelligence collection and product development for the JCS, CIA, FBI, DHS, DIA... I do this 7 nights a week, often to 0200 hrs.  I am also hired as by CRI (Crisis Response International) in which I am the Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence and teach Ethical Interrogation Methodology.  I wrote a book on Counterintelligence last year for publication this year and am writing one now on Interrogation for publication next (I've been published 22 times and in 3 languages).  I worked 9/11 as an EMT but also as a Radio Operator.  I volunteered all my knowledge and equipment to work Katrina... well, you get the picture.  

Oh, I'm sorry, there's more.  There's my being a Master Diver Trainer (Summer months are very busy here), a Karate Instructor (6th Degree Black Belt in Isshinryu Karate), karate competitor and team leader (won a couple of trophies and medals since the first of the year), a CPR / AED / O2 / First Aid Instructor, a Medic First Aid Instructor, an Instructor for the National Safety Council, an Emergency First Responder Instructor, a paid and Certified Supervisor for others in my field, an active member of the Military Intelligence Corps Assn. at Ft Huachuca, an active member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers... in fact, I am a member of over a dozen different orgs and clubs of which SARA is one.  How do I find the time to do all this.  Wow.  Golly.  I must be capable of multiple simultaneous translocation.  

No, no and no... I just give my heart and energy to everything I believe in.  I believe in SARA and its work and I believe in the friendship of my fellow members, all of whom knew who I was and called me by name when they saw me at Field Day.

I'm sorry... I forgot to mention that I am an amputee, cancer survivor with adhesions throughout my abdomen, missing the heel of my right foot, have degenerative disk disease and esophageal reflux all of which I felt a great number at times during Field Day along with phantom limb pain exacerbated by standing and doing physical labor.  It didn't matter.  Sara mattered more.

Yours TRULY,
John, N1EOF