so i've been doing the weekly ARES nets for about eight months now and went through ICS-100 and 200 online, did a couple of simulated emergency tests which honestly felt kind of low-key and not super realistic. anyway our county got hit with some pretty bad flooding last week and our EC activated us for real for the first time since i joined the group.

i thought i would be more prepared but there was a lot of stuff i just wasn't ready for mentally if that makes sense. like the net control was great and things were organized but it was way busier than a SET and i kept second-guessing myself on message handling. also wasn't sure when it was appropriate to ask for clarification vs just passing traffic and hoping i got it right.

did anyone else feel kind of overwhelmed the first real activation? im not talking about the radio stuff, more like the whole situation in general. curious if thats normal or if i need to do more drills or something

yeah that feeling is completely normal, don't stress about it. first real activation is always different from a SET no matter how many drills you do. the SET is kind of like a fire drill where everyone knows it's a drill and subconsciously treats it that way. when it's actual flooded roads and actual EOC staff asking for actual information it hits different.

message handling under pressure is something that just takes reps honestly. one thing that helped me early on was writing everything down even when i thought i'd remember it, and if i wasnt sure about something i'd ask for a fill right then rather than letting it go. net controls during a real activation expect that, they'd much rather you ask than relay bad info to an emergency manager. the clarification thing you mentioned - always ask. always. bad traffic is way worse than a 10 second delay to confirm a detail.

sounds like you did fine if you got through it. debrief with your EC if you haven't already, that's where the real learning happens after an activation.

i remember my first one, it was a shelter support deployment maybe 5 years ago. i was so focused on not making mistakes on the radio that i almost forgot to actually listen to what people were asking for lol. weirdly the radio part was fine it was everything around it that felt weird, like where do i stand, who do i talk to when i'm not on the radio, that kind of thing.

your SET experience does help more than you think it did though. trust that.