So I finally got activated for an actual ARES deployment last month during the flooding we had in the county and I wanted to write up some thoughts while its still fresh because I wish someone had told me some of this stuff before I showed up.

First off the training exercises really dont prepare you for how much sitting around there is. Like I had done all the SET exercises and the weekly nets and I thought I had a pretty good handle on things but when we actually got called in to support the EOC it was a lot of hurry up and wait. Which I guess makes sense when you think about it but still.

The biggest thing that caught me off guard was ICS. I mean we do ICS 100 and 200 in ARES training but actually being inside a real activated EOC and figuring out your place in the structure is different from a tabletop. The EC was great about integrating us but I could tell some of the served agency people didnt really know what to do with us at first.

Anyway I guess my question is - for those of you who have done multiple real activations, does it get easier to just kind of slot into whatever role is needed? Or do you always feel a bit like you're figuring it out as you go?

yeah it absolutely gets easier but honestly you never fully stop figuring it out on the fly, thats just the nature of emergency comms. every activation is different because every emergency is different and the served agency has different needs each time.

what helped me the most was doing more ICS training beyond the basics - 700 and 800 are worth doing even though they feel like overkill for a ham. once you understand how the whole system is supposed to flow, you can figure out where you fit a lot faster. also just volunteering for every exercise you can, even ones outside your county. i drove two hours to do a hospital drill last year just for the experience and learned more in one afternoon than from months of nets.

the sitting around thing never really goes away though, fair warning. bring a book or something to do with your hands for the slow periods, it helps keep you sharp when things do pick up.

This is really helpful to read, I've been in ARES for about 8 months and haven't been activated yet so I honestly wasn't sure what to expect. We've done a few SIMCOM exercises and one SET and it does feel kind of abstract sometimes. Good to know the ICS piece is real - our EC keeps pushing us to take those courses and I keep putting it off but maybe I should actually do it before the next exercise.

Did you end up using HF or mostly VHF/UHF during the deployment? Our group mostly trains on 2m but I'm wondering if I should be working on my HF setup too just in case.