Good luck in your MARS endeavor, you're gonna need it. I too joined Army MARS awhile back, but had less than a pleasureable experience. They issued me a callsign, and sent me a list of frequencies, nothing more. They never explained what they do, what they expected of me, etc. I never received any training materials either. I received a few newsletters, written in their non-understandable gibberish. They had my name, addy, and phone on their website, but the info was incorrect. I tried numerous times to send them the correct info, but they never changed it. I also sent numerous emails to the local "High Mukety-Muk", requesting info on training, but never received any replies. About 6 months later, I received an email saying my membership was being terminated for non-participation. Non-participation in WHAT. Again, nothing was ever explained to me, nor did I ever receive any training materials or info about what I was supposed to do. This perturbed me, so I again emailed the local High mukety-muk for an explanation. He stated that he would get me re-instated, and send out all of the training materials that I needed. This was about 2 years ago, and to date, I still have not received anything from Army MARS.
Do they really still exist, and do they really perform a function, or is it just a ruse? It's anybody's guess.