so I finally got my first real activation last weekend, not a drill but an actual callout for the flooding over in the eastern part of the county. I've been doing the monthly nets and the SET exercise last fall but nothing quite prepares you for the real thing I guess.

got the page around 6am saturday and had to hustle over to the EOC with my go-kit. main thing that threw me off was they had us on a different frequency than what we normally use for training because there was some interference issue on the primary, and I had to dig around in my memory for the alternate. lesson learned, I'm going to laminate a freq card and stick it right on the radio from now on.

also the ICS stuff they always hammer on in training actually mattered. like I actually had to check in with the served agency liaison and log everything properly. felt weird at first but once things got busy I understood why the structure exists. anyway just thought I'd share since I know a few folks here are newer to ARES and wondering what an actual activation feels like. it's low-key a lot of hurry up and wait but when you're needed you're really needed.

that frequency thing would have gotten me too honestly. our EC keeps telling us to program all the alternates and I keep putting it off, this is a good reminder. glad it went okay overall. what kind of go-kit were you running? I'm still trying to figure out what's actually essential vs what's just nice to have.

yeah the ICS thing clicks real fast once you're in an actual activation. I remember my first one years ago thinking all the check-in and logging stuff was just bureaucracy but when the EOC coordinator is asking for a status update every 30 minutes and you have nothing written down it gets real uncomfortable fast. sounds like your group runs a solid program. a lot of ARES sections around here have been struggling with keeping trained operators engaged between activations, which is the real challenge imo. the hurry up and wait is just part of it, served agencies appreciate that you showed up more than people realize.