so i finally got activated for a real event last weekend, been doing ARES training nets for about 8 months now and this was my first actual deployment. it was for a pretty big half marathon in the county, nothing crazy like a hurricane or anything, but still it was real traffic and real coordination with served agency folks.

i have to say it was a lot different than the training nets. on the nets everything is kind of orderly and you know roughly whats coming, but out there with the race director and EMS and everything going on around you it felt a bit chaotic at first. i was stationed at one of the water stops about 4 miles from the finish and had to relay medical status updates back to net control. my EC was great and had briefed us pretty well but i still felt underprepared for some of the informal stuff, like how much you just kind of stand there waiting and then suddenly its busy for 5 minutes then quiet again.

anyway i guess im just wondering if that feeling of being slightly lost goes away after a few more activations, or is there stuff i should be doing in between events to get more comfortable with ICS and how it all fits together. i have my ICS-100 done but never got around to 200 or 700. does that stuff actually help or is it mostly just box checking for some groups

that feeling absolutely goes away, or at least it gets a lot more manageable. first few activations are always a bit like that, you're running the radio AND trying to figure out where you fit in the whole operation at the same time. after a while the radio part becomes automatic enough that you can actually pay attention to what the served agency needs without feeling like you're juggling.

and yeah do the ICS-200 and 700, it genuinely helps. not because you'll be running an incident command post anytime soon but because it gives you a shared vocabulary with the EOC folks and EMS coordinators. when someone says they need you at the staging area versus the forward command post you actually know what that means and why it matters. some ARES groups require the 200 and 700 before they'll put you on certain activations so worth knocking them out anyway. IS-800 is also worth doing if you have the time, takes maybe an afternoon.

sounds like you did fine though. standing at a water stop for 3 hours with 5 minutes of actual traffic is about 80% of what ARES events actually look like, so you basically got the authentic experience on your first time out.

congrats on the first one. races and marathons are actually really good starter events imo because the served agency relationship is pretty low stakes compared to something like a real weather event or an EOC activation. good place to get your feet wet without the pressure.

the ICS stuff - honestly depends on your group. our section takes it pretty seriously and you need at least 100 and 700 to be on the deployment list but ive been in other areas where nobody ever asked. i think its worth doing regardless just so you understand the chain of command side of things. nothing worse than showing up somewhere and not knowing who you're supposed to be reporting to or how to pass a message properly up the chain.