so i finally got activated for the first time last weekend, our county had a pretty serious flooding situation and the served agency (local EOC) needed some extra comm support while their systems were getting sorted out. ive been part of the local ARES group for about 8 months now and done maybe 4 or 5 training nets but this was the first real deal.

overall it went fine i think, net control seemed happy with how things went and i didnt make any major mistakes that i know of. but i realized pretty quick that theres a difference between running a training net on a tuesday night and actually being at a served agency trying to figure out what they need from you. like nobody really explained to me ahead of time that the EOC coordinator might not actually know what they want from us or how to use us effectively. i ended up kind of just sitting there for the first hour waiting for something to do.

anyway my actual question — is that normal? like do other ARES groups do specific training around how to interact with the served agency side of things, not just the radio procedures? feels like thats a gap in our training but maybe im just missing something that was covered before i joined

yeah that waiting around thing is completely normal and honestly one of the more frustrating parts of emcomm that nobody warns you about. ive been doing ARES stuff for going on 12 years and the served agency relationship is almost always the weak link, not the ham operators. most EOC staff have a vague idea that ham radio exists and might be useful but they've never actually had to use it in a real emergency so they dont know how to plug you in.

the better ARES groups i've seen do joint exercises with the served agencies specifically so both sides learn to work together, things like simulated message traffic, practicing how to hand off info, that kind of thing. some groups have a liaison role where one person basically acts as the translator between the EOC people and the radio operators. if your EC isnt already doing something like that it might be worth bringing up. not in a critical way just like hey i noticed this gap what do you think.

the fact that you were paying attention and noticed it after your first activation is a good sign honestly. a lot of newer folks just feel relieved it was over and dont think much about it

that sounds like it went pretty well for a first activation tbh. i was way more nervous on mine and definitely made some procedural fumbles on the air that i still cringe thinking about lol

the served agency thing is real though, our group actually added a whole section to our training about it after a similar situation came up. we do at least one tabletop exercise a year now where we sit down with the actual emergency manager and just kind of talk through scenarios. its not glamorous but it helps a lot. worth asking your EC if thats on the radar for your group