so i finally got activated for a real ARES event last weekend, county emergency management called us up because of the flooding situation we had going on, and honestly it was nothing like what i practiced in the nets. like i thought i knew ICS forms, we did them in training, but when youre actually sitting there at the EOC with someone handing you a paper and saying get this to the shelter coordinator my brain just kind of froze for a second.

ended up being fine, my EC was right there and kind of walked me through the first couple handoffs. we were running simplex on the local 2m calling frequency for most of it since the repeater went down at some point - never did find out why, maybe power issue at the site. had one net check-in from a guy three miles out who was barely readable so we had to relay through somebody closer.

the thing that surprised me most was how much of it was just waiting. like hours of nothing and then suddenly everyone needs something at once. anyway i dont want to ramble too much but just wanted to share since ive been reading threads on here for a while and people always make these activations sound really organized and smooth. its messier in real life lol. anyone else have a first activation story like this?

yeah that waiting then chaos thing is pretty much exactly how every activation ive been on goes. you almost have to train yourself to stay focused even when nothings happening because the moment you let your guard down thats when traffic starts stacking up. the ICS form thing is real too - there's a difference between filling one out at a table in a training room and doing it when someone is hovering and stressed out. glad your EC was there, thats honestly what the EC is for in those first few activations.

the repeater going down mid-event is more common than people want to admit. we had the same thing happen during a severe weather watch two years back, site lost commercial power and the backup battery wasnt fully charged. after that our group started doing a simplex fallback plan as part of every pre-activation briefing. might be worth bringing up at your next ARES meeting if you havent already.

this is really reassuring to read honestly. im studying for my general right now and ARES is kind of the whole reason i got into ham radio in the first place - my uncle did it for years. im a little nervous that when the time comes i wont remember anything. sounds like the training nets are worth doing even if the real thing is different