so ive been in ARES for about 14 months now and up until last week it was all just nets and tabletop exercises and me sitting at home wondering if any of it was actually useful. then the county EOC called us up for the flooding situation we had and i finally got to actually do something real.

honestly it was a little overwhelming at first. like we'd done the ICS training, i have my ARRL EC-001 and 002 certs, practiced message handling on the weekly nets, all that stuff. but when i showed up at the EOC and there were actual emergency managers looking at me expecting me to just... work, it felt different. good different but still jarring.

what i wasnt really prepared for was how much waiting there is mixed in with bursts of actual traffic. and also how important it is to know your own equipment inside and out because nobody has time to help you troubleshoot your radio when things are moving. the served agency people dont know what an HT is and they dont care, they just need the message to get through.

anyway just wanted to share that for anyone who's been doing the training and wondering if it translates. it does, mostly. the nets really do help. but i'd say practice sending formal NTS traffic faster because under pressure my brain just slowed down for some reason.

anyone else have a first activation story like this? curious what caught you off guard

yeah that gap between training and real activation is something nobody really warns you about enough. i've been EC for our group going on six years and i still see it with every new member who gets their first real callout. the muscle memory from nets is there but the mental load of an actual event adds this whole other layer.

the waiting thing is real too. i always tell new members to bring something to do during downtime but also be ready to drop it instantly, because traffic can come in waves. snacks help more than people expect honestly.

the ICS stuff really does click better once you've seen it in action at a real EOC. suddenly all those org charts make sense when you're standing in the room and the operations section chief is actually talking to you. glad your first one went well, sounds like you handled it.

this is making me want to actually get more involved with our local ARES group. ive been to like two meetings and then kind of fell off. do you have to have the ICS certs before they'll let you activate or is that something you can do while you're getting started? i took the 100 online but thats about it