Change: A Move to the Future

This is my first address to the total ARES membership within the Missouri Section since taking over as your SEC in late Aug 2008. I hope to have this dialogue (among others) each January as long as I serve in the SEC position. The main goal of this dialogue will be to talk about where we have been, where we are now, and a look to future goals. Since this is the first of this type of address it will be a little longer than future ones. I would like to address the following areas: Positions of Responsibility/Leadership, Recruitment/Retention, Training, Interoperability, and goals for a 3 year plan.

Positions of Responsibility / Leadership – The first thing that I did when asked to take this position was to find out exactly what was involved. The catch all phrase “is appointed by the Section Manager to take care of all matters pertaining to emergency communications and the Amateur Emergency Radio Services (ARES®) on a section wide basis” was a mouthful, however as you will see it involves a basic premise which we all must follow. Our responsibility is not to ourselves to serve any type of personal goals, but to our membership of dedicated amateur radio operators who look to their AEC/EC for guidance, direction and a purpose for their actions. I, as your SEC, take full responsibility for all that happens within the Section, whether it be good or bad. It is my responsibility and leadership that should filter down to our DEC’s and give them the guidance, training, and tools to be better leaders and be prepared to take care of any type of situation in their District. As your SEC my promise for 2009 is simple. I will make every effort to meet with personally each DEC, and if possible do so in conjunction with an event in their area. I would hope that at these events that the DEC encourage maximum participation by their EC’s and all other membership to include those amateur operators who do not belong to any organized group. I also encourage that the DEC/EC’s invite leadership from other organizations so that we can discuss, plan, and implement ways of working together as to not duplicate the effort. Look at our ARES-MO.org website for a listing of events that I will be attending. This list will be constantly updated so please check on a regular basis.

Recruitment / Retention – The first item on my 2009 agenda which can also go with my previous topic is to recruit and retain leadership as AEC/EC/DEC’s especially in areas that currently have none. Each and everyone of you are recruiters. We start as Elmers and mentors to help new people join the amateur service. Some enjoy the world of DX and contesting, however there are others who want to give something back to the community. These are the folks that we want to groom and encourage to get involved. It may be as simple as a Skywarn spotter to running complex nets in a EOC. Recruitment is a never ending process, however just as important is the retention of these new members. We as leaders must be up front as to what we are looking for, the purpose of the group and the training requirements to remain a member in good standing for the group. There will be further discussion with DEC’s in the future to refine these requirements for members to remain in good standing. Your training program as stated above will go a long way in your retention goals.

Training – In order for training to be effective it must be informative, serve a stated purpose, and generate interest to learn more. In the past as an AEC and then ADEC I have witnessed, as well as conducted, many training meetings. I would encourage everyone to have completed the ARRL Emergency Communications course Level I for amateur radio. Keep in mind this already is recommended training for EC’s and above as well as Level II for DEC’s and above. I have been fortunate to have been involved with the ARRL Emergency Communications courses since their inception and have seen many revisions and changes for all three levels. I realize that some of the course material is dry and in some cases may not reflect the situations we face, however as a baseline document this is a good guide to generate lesson plans and training that can incorporate local procedures and protocols. Change since post 9/11 has been very dramatic in the amateur community. The days of just showing up when needed are long gone as spoken by our ARRL Emergency Preparedness manager Dennis Dura K2DCD, who as some of you know participated in the response for the World Trade Center event. Since post 9/11 many organizations, especially commercial, have taken root saying that they can provide Emergency Communications. We as the amateur community must prove ourselves to our served agency’s. One of these ways is to be organized, train, hold exercises, and most of all have a good attitude to work with our served agency. Remember we work for them and not the other way around. It is because of this that we must adapt and train in areas that our served agency’s require. Besides the ARRL courses we must also be familiar with NIMS training. This training is free and can be found on the FEMA website for their Independent Study program. I encourage all members to be trained for IS-100, 200, 700 and 800b. We must be able to “speak” the language being used in today’s Emergency Response environment. There are other training programs given by the Red Cross, National Weather Service and local emergency Management. I will be working very closely with the DEC’s in 2009 to see how their training program is progressing and will give assistance that I can when needed.

Interoperability – To some interoperability means having radios that can talk to all concerned with ID’s recognized by all and having a representative of each organization at an event to show solidarity. To me interoperability comes down to a basic premise. This premise is to use the appropriate resource to accomplish the mission. As stated in my Leadership section I encourage and welcome meetings with other leadership of other communication resources. These resources include Red Cross, Salvation Army, RACES, REACT, MARS, and Civil Air Patrol. Each one of these organizations brings to the table a unique structure of their own. This is not to mean that we must use each and everyone of these resources in every event that happens, rather we need to implement our state communications plan (which is under review and will be revised) , look at where we have shortfalls and see if these organizations can pick up the slack and augment what we do. This is a two way street and I would like to think that these organizations will review their plans and where we can provide assistance it will be asked for. Again I encourage all DEC/EC’s to make contact with local leadership of these organizations. All agreements should be sent up the chain of command for review and approval. I plan on making contact with my counterparts in the surrounding states to see where we can become partners in mutual aid agreements when the situation warrants.

Goals – I have given this a great deal of thought and knowing that not everything can happen overnight and there are some areas that may be more resistant to change propose the following in a three year plan.

During the first year I want to fill in the holes in our leadership positions to include an assistant at each position. I will ask for and collect contact information on all of our leadership positions so that I can get to the right person at the right time in a critical event. I would ask and will give assistance if required for each DEC to guide and train EC’s to prepare, and exercise mutual aid procedures. These procedures should be made to initially help different jurisdictions within the county. Please do not forget our other communication organizations when planning for procedures on mutual assistance. All AEC/EC/DEC’s complete ARRL Emergency Communications Course Level I. A goal of thirty per cent of their membership should also complete this course. A rewrite of the ARES state communications plan should be accomplished by mid-summer.

During the second year I want to keep building on our leadership positions. To keep working on resource books to show all procedures, protocols and agreements that each county/district has in place. This helps me when briefing leadership not only in ARRL, but more importantly State and local officials who may be resistant to using us. I have stated many times that I will go and talk to anyone about the amateur service and the benefits of using this valuable resource. All DEC’s complete ARRL Emergency Communications Course Level II. Sixty percent of the membership should have Level I completed. Each EC shall plan for one major exercise, other than the SET, in which mutual aid procedures are used. DEC’s will hold one major exercise, other than the SET involving the district.

The third year should be a year of housekeeping on our procedures in keeping our resource books up to date. DEC’s are encouraged to complete the ARRL Emergency Communications Course Level III and EC’s are encouraged to complete Level II. Ninety per cent of membership should have Level I completed. DEC’s will hold one major exercise, other than the SET, to test interoperability (using other comm resources) and test mutual aid procedures between Districts. A future goal will be to have a statewide SET, however by the third year I am looking at having one area of the state involving three districts to have a mutual SET exercise.

Ladies and Gentlemen these are my goals, wishes and hope for the next three years. All personnel that have comments or recommendations are encouraged to send these thoughts up the chain of command. I thank you for all the hard work you have done in the past and looking forward to working along side and providing leadership for the Missouri Section in regards to emergency communications.

Sincerely,
Dennis W. Gedeon KB0NHW
ARES SEC
MO Section