EMC021 ARES and ACS/RACES 1/6 
To:   Emergency Management Agencies via Amateur Radio
Info: Communications Volunteers in Government Service
Info: Amateurs U.S. (@usa:Information), ACS, CAP, MARS, RACES
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS), the volunteer
      communications reserve of the State of California 
      Governor's Office of Emergency Services  

EMC021 - ARES and ACS/RACES - 1/6  for Release 4/1/96

By Bill Pennington, WA6SLA, ARES DEC and ACS Radio Officer.          
              
"Query: Can ARES organizational personnel provide an effective,
professional ACS/RACES organization?

Response: Yes. Of course! Many Amateur Radio Emergency Services
(ARES) organizational personnel nationwide are doing it. But it
doesn't just happen. While there are those with outstanding
records, there are others that either have failed and are failing
to do meet that standard. Why? Well, let's look at some reasons.

It seems that the "club syndrome" (usually perpetuated by a those
that don't want to change with the times and needs of the served
agencies), along with dated indoctrination materials in the
Amateur community, are the biggest problems.

In the flow of events in the Amateur radio world, clubs (which
are great social organizations) were first, followed by club
affiliation, and later, ARES entered the picture.     

Notwithstanding their enormous value, some clubs have actually
(albeit rarely) denied the use of their repeater for emergency
use by an ARES or ACS/RACES organization. That, in turn, caused
extensive resource management problems and in some cases, where
a club repeater was the only resource, termination of the
response along with disenchantment by a public service or public
safety agency, which led finally to the demise of the emergency
communications unit. 
 
Some organizations don't work for any agency, they just exist.
Oh, they do the parades and the marathons but no one calls
on them to respond to an incident. Maybe they are happy with
that situation, but the many queries indicate that participants
are deeply concerned about their lack of use; and want to get
involved with, and work for an agency, as does the ACS/RACES." 
 
Continues next week.

Also see our ACS Web page: http://www.garlic.com/oes
FTP archive:  ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/incoming
Origination Stn: W6WWW@KM6PX.#NOCAL.USA.NA.  BBS 916-262-1657.
EOM EMC021