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Author Topic: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015  (Read 50207 times)

WD8DBY

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MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« on: September 17, 2015, 01:26:04 PM »

MARS Exercise to Simulate a Coronal Mass Ejection;
Collaborate with Amateur Radio During Aftermath


Beginning the week of 8 November, MARS will participate in a
quarterly contingency HF exercise in support of the Department
of Defense (DOD). MARS is tasked with being the primary interface
between the DOD and the amateur radio community for
National Security/Emergency Preparedness events.  The exercise
scenario will simulate a CME event and focus on actions that
radio operators should take prior to and following a CME event.

Training objectives for this exercise include:

- understanding what a CME is and how much forecast lead time
can be expected prior to the CME.

- what effects are associated with a CME and what precautions
should radio operators take prior to the CME to protect equipment

- Following the CME, operators will begin assessing the affects
that resulted from the CME and begin reporting this information

- Interoperation with amateur radio operators and groups to
assist in assessing and reporting on the affects of the CME event.   

Amateur radio operators, ARES, RACES, SATERN, etc are encouraged to
participate in this exercise; if you're group is interested in participating,
please email: 

mars.exercises@gmail.com with your contact information.

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WA4JK

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2015, 01:10:20 PM »

I sometime wonder why the need for government to inject another cog in the wheel between the front line and the rear. Why would we ARES/Races and the like need MARS in the middle..I think we have proven more than occasionally we can speak the kings English enough to suffice the delivery of Support.
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NK7Z

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    • Amateur Radio: RFI help, Reviews, Setup information, and more...
RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2015, 04:07:19 PM »

I sometime wonder why the need for government to inject another cog in the wheel between the front line and the rear. Why would we ARES/Races and the like need MARS in the middle..I think we have proven more than occasionally we can speak the kings English enough to suffice the delivery of Support.
Looks like MARS is working directly with DOD to me...  No one is between MARS and the Government...  Oh, you mean between ARES and the government...  You would have to ask the DOD that question.  The DOD seems pretty clear on who they want to work with here...
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Thanks,
Dave
Amateur Radio: RFI help, Reviews, Setup information, and more...
https://www.nk7z.net

WA4JK

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2015, 09:00:29 AM »

I do not believe you can point to a single real emergency where the armature had to wait on an intermediate communication group to get on station to send traffic to any agency.
That may happen when the State or Federal Agency's get in place and start to establish communication back to a normal flow which often turns in to a total mess and disruption.
The amateurs proved in 9/11 and Katrina they were very able to send messages to and from with common readable formats effectively without all the pass through agency's and there must use formats and systems in place.
The simple fact is when the what for hits the fan they will gladly use what ever is at hand and prefer it directly from the horses mouth and not wait for filtering or delays. They certainly will not tell the functioning operator, Oh but we can't take your message or have you relay one because our SOP says we must use MARS, ARES or Races.
It sounds good to the agency who spouts it is so, but in application it will not happen.
Just my thoughts yours may differ...73's
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N1EN

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2015, 03:27:38 PM »

The simple fact is when the what for hits the fan they will gladly use what ever is at hand and prefer it directly from the horses mouth and not wait for filtering or delays.

I don't know how things work in your corner of the country, but up here in Southern New England when there is weather that the forecasters are looking for "ground truth" reports, the forecasters generally don't go to the amateur community at large.   

Instead you get a NWS-vetted volunteer collecting reports from the Skywarn nets, taking reports, filtering out excess information (e.g., the "nothing to report" reports, or the one or two folks who like to go on and on and on and ... when all that's wanted is a windspeed, snow depth, a report of hail, etc.).

Now, if every amateur were trained to be brief, to present information in an expected format, etc. then maybe such filtering wouldn't be needed.  But that's not something every amateur is interested or which can be expected of every operator given the wide range of interests in our hobby.
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WD8DBY

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2015, 04:03:09 PM »

I sometime wonder why the need for government to inject another cog in the wheel between the front line and the rear. Why would we ARES/Races and the like need MARS in the middle..I think we have proven more than occasionally we can speak the kings English enough to suffice the delivery of Support.
Looks like MARS is working directly with DOD to me...  No one is between MARS and the Government...  Oh, you mean between ARES and the government...  You would have to ask the DOD that question.  The DOD seems pretty clear on who they want to work with here...

I do not believe you can point to a single real emergency where the armature had to wait on an intermediate communication group to get on station to send traffic to any agency.
That may happen when the State or Federal Agency's get in place and start to establish communication back to a normal flow which often turns in to a total mess and disruption.
The amateurs proved in 9/11 and Katrina they were very able to send messages to and from with common readable formats effectively without all the pass through agency's and there must use formats and systems in place.
The simple fact is when the what for hits the fan they will gladly use what ever is at hand and prefer it directly from the horses mouth and not wait for filtering or delays. They certainly will not tell the functioning operator, Oh but we can't take your message or have you relay one because our SOP says we must use MARS, ARES or Races.
It sounds good to the agency who spouts it is so, but in application it will not happen.
Just my thoughts yours may differ...73's

Gentlemen,

I appreciate your feedback on this topic.  ARES and RACES support to City, County, and State governments is well documented.  What this exercise is focusing on is that from a DOD perspective, there is no direct relationship from DOD to amateur radio operators...that is where MARS fits in; MARS operators are the DOD interface to the larger amateur radio community.  MARS members are amateur radio operators who have gone through additional training to operate on DOD spectrum and therefore are perfectly suited to serve as the interface between DOD and amateur radio operators operating in the Amateur Radio Service, serving as an ARES member or operating under the authority of the emergency Management Coordinator in RACES.

In this exercise, MARS members will be tasked by the DOD to interface with amateur radio operators to obtain situational awareness information at the local level in and around the affected areas, then send that information back to DOD.  This mission is a team effort that promotes cooperation and coordination between MARS members and the larger amateur Radio Service in order to be successful. 

v/r

Paul
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WD8DBY

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2015, 02:15:40 PM »

MARS Exercise to Simulate a Coronal Mass Ejection;
Collaborate with Amateur Radio During Aftermath


Beginning the week of 8 November, MARS will participate in a
quarterly contingency HF exercise in support of the Department
of Defense (DOD).

For anyone interested in reading the publicly releasable operations order for this MARS exercise, please go to the below URL:

https://sites.google.com/site/armymarsportal/home/announcements

If your organization is interested in participating in this exercise, please send a note to:

mars.exercises@gmail.com

v/r

Paul
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W1MSG

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2015, 05:28:06 PM »

Why is it on a Google web site and not the Official Army MARS site..

Hmmm Freelancing  ??

http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/
« Last Edit: October 08, 2015, 05:30:17 PM by W1MSG »
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N9VMO

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2015, 01:20:33 AM »

I sometime wonder why the need for government to inject another cog in the wheel between the front line and the rear. Why would we ARES/Races and the like need MARS in the middle..I think we have proven more than occasionally we can speak the kings English enough to suffice the delivery of Support.

With a response/attitude like that, it is no wonder that ARES/RACES membership is down and their leadership is looked upon as dictators.  You gave the exact response I would have expected from my local ARES/RACES group and the reason that I and a lot of my friends in the local ham community, won't have a darn thing to do with them.

Maybe if you would come down off of your high horses, you would realize that the attitude that you display with that type of response is driving your membership down/away.

And this attitude is not a new thing.  I heard this same type of response 30 years ago when I was a kid and my father was involved and subsequently left the ARES/RACES program...because of this attitude.
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W1MSG

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2015, 05:53:57 PM »

Why is it on a Google web site and not the Official Army MARS site..

Hmmm Freelancing  ??

http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/

Paul don't you think it would be better to use the Official site rather than make a google site with gmail contacts ??

http://www.usarmymars.org/home/announcements

It would make us retired Army folks a lot less suspicious of postings..
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WD8DBY

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2015, 12:15:47 PM »

Why is it on a Google web site and not the Official Army MARS site..

Hmmm Freelancing  ??

http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/

Paul don't you think it would be better to use the Official site rather than make a google site with gmail contacts ??

http://www.usarmymars.org/home/announcements

It would make us retired Army folks a lot less suspicious of postings..

Not to air dirty laundry but since you asked...we are using google to host the usarmymars.org website because we do not have full editorial and content control over the MARS page on the ".mil" site.  We are working with the HQs webmaster to correct that issue but until then, we will continue to host on "usarmymars.org" to ensure that accurate and up to date information is posted. 

Paul
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W1MSG

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2015, 07:03:28 PM »


[/quote]

Not to air dirty laundry but since you asked...we are using google to host the usarmymars.org website because we do not have full editorial and content control over the MARS page on the ".mil" site.  We are working with the HQs webmaster to correct that issue but until then, we will continue to host on "usarmymars.org" to ensure that accurate and up to date information is posted. 

Paul
[/quote]

I can only imagine ... Thanks for the clarification !
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WX4O

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2015, 01:50:42 PM »

MARS has become antiquated and obsolete. I was in Navy and Army MARS for over 20 years.
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WD8DBY

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2015, 03:25:20 PM »

I was in Navy and Army MARS for over 20 years.

Thanks for your Service to the DOD!

v/r

Paul
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KA3YAN

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RE: MARS Exercise the Week of 8 November 2015
« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2015, 07:03:44 AM »

MARS has become antiquated and obsolete. I was in Navy and Army MARS for over 20 years.

I guess with that attitude it's probably good that you've moved on.  The MARS services are experiencing new life and new missions supporting the DoD and homeland security in general.  If all you want to get out of it is a bunch of old timers reminiscing about the good old days (like you probably get to do on the 75 meter nets), MARS is not the place for you.  There's no doubt that crotchety old men are averse to change, but those guys will get pushed out of the way in time.  I'm sure they'll show up here complaining about how bad MARS has become.

I can hear them now....

"Heck, did you know that MARS isn't even using amateur modes on the MARS freqs anymore?  We're being forced to learn a military mode and now they've pushed CW to the back of the pack.  Everyone knows CW is the original digital mode and it'll get the message through when nothing else will.  Who cares of the military doesn't use CW!"

Know what I mean?

Brad
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