so i joined my local ARES group about 4 months ago and have been going to the monthly nets and the occasional training session. i passed my general last year and been licensed for about 18 months total. anyway our EC just sent out an email saying theres a county-wide emergency communications exercise next weekend and he wants all members to participate if they can.

i said yes obviously but now im kind of nervous. i dont really know what my role would be even be during something like this. like do i just show up with my HT and wait to be told what to do? i have a 50w mobile rig in my truck too if that helps. i honestly dont know if i should bring a go bag or what. the email was pretty vague about logistics and i dont want to look clueless when i get there. anyone been through their first activation drill and have advice on what to actually expect?

yeah your first one can feel a little overwhelming but honestly most tabletop and field exercises are pretty forgiving, especially if your EC knows its a mix of experienced and newer members. the main thing is just showing up and being willing to listen. bring both radios if you can, the mobile rig in the truck is a big plus because a lot of newer folks only have HTs and sometimes you need the extra power to hit a repeater reliably from certain spots.

a basic go bag is a good idea even for an exercise, just get in the habit. water, notepad and pen, charged batteries, maybe a printed copy of the local repeater frequencies and any ICS forms your group uses. speaking of which if you havent looked at ICS-100 and ICS-200 online, worth doing before the weekend. FEMA has free courses. your EC will probably assign you a role like runner or radio operator at one of the served agencies. just do what youre told, log everything, and ask questions after the net is clear. youll be fine, everyone remembers being the new person.

dont stress too much about it honestly. i remember my first drill i showed up with like three radios and a bunch of gear i didnt even use lol. the thing nobody told me was how much waiting around there is. its not like the movies. you might spend an hour just monitoring a frequency waiting for traffic. bring something to sit on if its outside and maybe a snack.

the ICS stuff the other guy mentioned is real though, your group probably operates under that structure and knowing basic terminology helps so you dont feel totally lost when people start talking about the EOC or net control. but honestly just go, participate, take notes on what confused you and bring it up at the next meeting. thats kind of what the exercises are for anyway.