so we had our first real activation last weekend, county requested ARES support for a pretty bad storm that knocked out a chunk of the cell infrastructure in the eastern part of the county. ive been doing monthly nets and training exercises for almost two years now and i gotta say nothing really prepares you for the real thing, even the drills that felt pretty realistic.

the EC had us deployed to two staging areas and the hospital, i was at one of the staging areas running HF back to the EOC because the repeaters were getting hammered with traffic and we needed a secondary path anyway. ended up being on for about 6 hours straight, my logging got sloppy toward the end not gonna lie, but traffic moved and everybody stayed in contact so i guess that counts as a win.

for anyone whos been on the fence about joining ARES or doing the ICS training - just do it. the ICS stuff especially felt kind of pointless when i was sitting in front of my computer watching videos but when youre actually at a table inside an EOC and the emergency manager is asking for a status report in a specific format, you really get why they care about that stuff. anyway just wanted to share, curious if others have done activations and what tripped you up the first time

congrats on getting through your first activation, those first few hours are always a bit of a blur. i remember mine was a flood event probably 8 years ago now, i was so worried about messing up a message that i was practically sweating over every single word. the logging thing is real - when youre tired and traffic picks up things slip. we actually added a dedicated logger role to our group after an activation where the op was trying to handle everything solo and the paperwork was a mess afterward.

the ICS point you made is spot on. i had guys in my group who dragged their feet on IS-100 and 200 for years and then the county asked us to integrate into their command structure for a wildfire support op and suddenly everyone was scrambling to get current. emergency managers really do speak that language and if you cant fit into their system youre more of a liability than an asset. glad it went well for your group

this is really good to hear, im still pretty new to ARES and havent been through anything real yet. been doing the simplex and linked repeater drills and honestly sometimes they feel a little... staged i guess? like everyone knows its a drill and the urgency isnt there. good to know the ICS training actually clicks when it matters, i kept putting off the online coursework but maybe ill knock it out this week