[SFDXA] rmy MARS Seeks Partnership with ARRL, ARES

[Bill]

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        Army MARS Seeks Partnership with ARRL, ARES

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    10/10/2013
    Representatives of the US Army Military Auxiliary Radio Service
    (*MARS* <http://www.usarmymars.org/>) met with ARRL staff at League
    Headquarters October 2 to discuss ways the two organizations might
    collaborate in emergency response activities. Army MARS Region 1
    Director Bob Mims, WA1OEZ, headed the delegation. Mims, who is also
    manager of the Army MARS National Net, said most of the discussion
    centered on how ARRL Headquarters and the Amateur Radio Emergency
    Service (*ARES* <http://www.arrl.org/ares>) could interact with MARS
    during its national-level test of backup communications set for
    early November, and going forward.
    “For the exercise the ARRL Headquarters expressed interest in
    activating their MARS station at W1AW — AAN1ARL,” Mims said.
    Discussions are still underway regarding the roleAAN1ARL and ARES
    would play in the November exercise. Army MARS has invited Air Force
    and Navy-Marine Corps MARS to take part in the joint national
    communication exercise that will measure the auxiliary force’s
    capabilities, should normal communication systems be disrupted
    throughout North America.
    Joining Mims were MARS Southern New England Emergency Operations
    Officer John Weinland, N1ATB, and MARS members Jon Perelstein,
    WB2RYV, and Matt Hackman, KB1FUP. The MARS contingent met with ARRL
    Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, ARRL Emergency
    Preparedness Assistant Ken Bailey, K1FUG, and W1AW Station Manager
    Joe Carcia, NJ1Q.
    Mims relayed to *Army MARS Headquarters*
    <http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/%E2%80%8E> at Fort Huachuca,
    Arizona, Corey’s suggestion that local ARES nets could provide
    assistance during the November exercise by generating and relaying
    messages. Army MARS says the exercise is aimed at demonstrating
    conventional traffic-handling abilities. The test will run November
    3-5, and a joint Army/Air Force/Navy-Marine Corps team responsible
    to the US Department of Defense for homeland security will monitor
    the 48 hour exercise.
    Army MARS Program Manager Paul English, WD8DBY, says that while Army
    MARS is the lead service in the exercise, it is looking forward to
    participation from the other MARS services as well as from the
    Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System (*CFARS*
    <http://cfars.ca/home-eng.html>).
    “In order to properly evaluate our ability to provide this
    coverage,” English explained, “there will be a series of messages
    sent from DOD and the Army MARS Headquarters, Network Enterprise
    Technology Command (NETCOM), to MARS members requesting various
    pieces of information such as weather observation reports from
    airports around the country, requesting local news items of interest
    from areas around the country, and also requesting information on
    the status of utilities around the area.”
    The exercise would culminate a year-long series of escalating
    preparations by Army MARS for responding to complex emergencies — a
    natural disaster or terrorist attack — that might crash or
    compromise the Internet, telephone, and national news and media
    networks across the US.
    ARRL has asked the MARS contingent to provide points of contact at
    least within each of the FEMA regions or possibly a couple of
    different contacts in the various MARS groups.
    Subsequent to the meeting at League Headquarters, ARRL Southwestern
    Division Vice Director Marty Woll, N6VI, paid a visit on October 8
    to Army MARS Headquarters in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Woll says he
    enjoyed an extended conversation with Army MARS Chief of Operations
    David McGinnis, K7UXO.
    “David was very complimentary of the radio amateurs who work at the
    station,” Woll said, “and he expressed great interest in
    opportunities for MARS and ARRL to work more closely together.”
    Woll points out that the MARS HQ station can handle nearly a dozen
    simultaneous HF links, “and we employed one of them to hold an
    impromptu 18 MHz contact with W1AW,” he added. He arranged the
    contact via more conventional means — the telephone — adding that he
    and W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, enjoyed a brief
    conversation on the air as the staff looked on. Woll said McGinnis
    expressed interest in possibly arranging such contacts on a periodic
    basis and said he’d like to better acquaint the amateur community
    with the role and functions of Army MARS.
    McGinnis recounted that he and Woll discussed conducting regular
    checks with W1AW, using both Amateur Radio and MARS circuits, and
    quarterly drills on both circuits. Woll, who’s also an ARES
    assistant District Emergency Coordinator, was in Arizona to speak to
    the Cochise Amateur Radio Association (*CARA* <http://www.k7rdg.org/>).
    MARS is a US Department of Defense-sponsored program with *Army*
    <http://www.army.mil/>, *Navy* <http://www.navy.mil/>, and *Air
    Force* <http://www.af.mil/> branches. The program consists of
    Amateur Radio operators who are interested backing up the US
    Department of Defense’s communication requirements when normal
    channels are disrupted in disasters or emergencies.