[KYHAM] KEN Training For July: ARES; America's Minutemen (and Women)

[Ron Dodson]

Scheduled to air on the July 12th KEN Net.
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ARES; America's Minutemen (and Women)

There can be little doubt that the outcome of the American Revolution 
against the British might have been different without the help of those 
known as "Minutemen".  Ready to fight at a moments notice, these hardy 
souls (the names of many may never be known for certain) forged 
themselves a place in American history during the 18th century and 
helped secure for us the nation in which we all live. Wars come and go.  
Times change, but the need for those ready to respond to crisis at a 
moments notice does not. Like many other responder agencies and 
organizations, ARES is a volunteer organization comprised of those who 
dedicate themselves to being ready to wage "war" on any disaster with 
little or no notice in today's world. TRAINED/PREPARED amateur radio 
operators in ARES/RACES and MARS have time and again made a great 
difference in the outcomes of many disasters through the years.

While our forefathers of the 18th century used muskets, we use or radios 
to combat the elements and all to often the mishaps or worse yet, 
misdeeds of segments of mankind, all in the name of our fellow citizens, 
our country, cities and towns across America. Be it an ice storm, 
tornado or hurricane, lost person, aircraft crash, chemical spill from 
an accident or a deliberate terrorist attack; members of the Amateur 
Radio Emergency Service, RACES and MARS use our special abilities in 
service to help rectify the situation. The key to the success of it all 
is in knowing what to do (and more importantly, NOT DO!) to accomplish 
the task at hand in a cooperative effort with other agencies and 
governmental entities.

Training and exercising are the keys to achieving this goal.  Training 
of the hands-on variety is on the upswing now in many areas as Community 
Emergency Response Teams or CERT's are being formed in counties where 
there is enough interest to create them. Many EMA's are having classes 
for everything from weather spotting and damage assessment to Haz-mat 
Awareness and Operations Level and Search and Rescue courses. The 
American Red Cross regularly offers training in many areas such as 
damage assessment and shelter operations. Training is available online 
for those who have odd schedules or would like a little background 
before doing the classroom scenario. For ARES or RACES members just 
getting started or wanting a refresher we have a free Ky ARES online 
course at  http://www.kyham.net/kyares/kytest.html  which gives you a 
foot in the door with basic concepts of everything from organizational 
structure and preparedness planning to being a net control operator.  
ARRL has three more courses which can be pursued online  
http://www.remote.arrl.org/cce/ .   The Emergency Management Institute 
(EMI) of Emmitsburg Md. has many free home study courses available at 
http://trainin73,g.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp .  I highly recommend 
the following, as a minimum, for anyone wishing to be involved in any 
type of emergency response work; 

IS-2 Emergency Preparedness, USA 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is2.asp>
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is2.asp>IS-3 Radiological Emergency 
Management <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is3.asp>
IS-5 Hazardous Materials: A Citizen's Orientation 
<https://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/Exams/is5tst.htm>
IS-10 Animals in Disaster - Module A Awareness and Preparedness 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is10.asp>
IS-15 Special Events Contingency Planning for Public Safety Agencies 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is15.asp>
IS-55 Household Hazardous Materials - A Guide for Citizens 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is55.asp>
IS-120 An Orientation to Community Disaster Exercises 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is120.asp>
IS-139 Exercise Design <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is139.asp>
IS-195 Basic Incident Command System 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is195.asp>
IS-271 Anticipating Hazardous Weather & Community Risk 
<http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is271.asp>
IS-275 The EOC's Role in Community Preparedness, Response and Recovery 
Activities <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is275.asp>
IS-292 Disaster Basics <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is292.asp>

and for AEC's, OES's, EC's and DEC's, I also recommend the Professional 
Development Series:

    * IS-240 Leadership & Influence
      <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is240.asp> 
    * IS-241 Decision Making and Problem Solving 
      <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is241.asp>
    * IS-242 Effective Communication 
      <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is242.asp>
    * IS-244 Developing and Managing Volunteers
      <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is244.asp>

While the above seems a long list, it is actually not that tough and 
will give you a broad base of understanding of many aspects, concepts 
and terminologies that you may encounter when serving as a communicator 
in an ARES, RACES or MARS capacity. No, it is not our place to run a 
response operation; but if you can begin to understand why things are 
done in a certain way, the dangers (and safety precautions) and other 
issues involved, it will make your life a lot easier and increase your 
usefulness to served agencies when working some type of a response.  
When the chips are down, knowledge is a major element in success of 
response and recovery operations.

Exercising with your served agencies can be a big issue as well. 
Mistakes are meant to happen in drills and exercises! That's how we 
learn NOT TO MAKE THEM in a real-time response. Exercising can open the 
door to improvements in training, equipment and emergency plans/SOP's.  
If offered a chance to participate in an exercise, do so and learn from 
the experience. There are many types of exercises and this is why the 
EMI Course IS-120 Community Disaster Exercises and IS-139 Exercise 
Design were included above to give you an understanding of the different 
ways we can exercise to be more ready for the next disaster.

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
If our radios are the weapons of today's ARES Minutemen/women, then 
training and exercising must surely be the ordinance (bullets and 
shells). Would you be the soldier who marches off to "war" without 
his/her only means of defense???

73,
Ron Dodson, KA4MAP
SEC Ky