Change: A Move to the Future

This is my first address to the total ARES membership within the Missouri 
Section since taking over as your SEC in late Aug. 2008. I hope to have this 
dialogue (among others) each January as long as I serve in the SEC position. The 
main goal of this dialogue will be to talk about where we have been, where we 
are now, and a look to future goals. Since this is the first of this type of 
address it will be a little longer than future ones. I would like to address the 
following areas: Positions of Responsibility/Leadership, 
Recruitment/Retention, Training, Interoperability, and goals for a 3-year plan. 

Positions of Responsibility / Leadership - The first thing that I did when 
asked to take this position was to find out exactly what was involved. The 
catchall phrase “is appointed by the Section Manager to take care of all matters 
pertaining to emergency communications and the Amateur Emergency Radio Services 
(ARES®) on a section-wide basis” was a mouthful, however, as you will see, it 
involves a basic premise which we all must follow. Our responsibility is not 
to ourselves to serve any type of personal goals, but to our membership of 
dedicated amateur radio operators who look to their AEC/EC for guidance, direction 
and a purpose for their actions. I, as your SEC, take full responsibility for 
all that happens within the Section, whether it be good or bad. It is my 
responsibility and leadership that should filter down to our DECs and give them 
the guidance, training, and tools to be better leaders and be prepared to take 
care of any type of situation in their District. As your SEC, my promise for 
2009 is simple. I will make every effort to meet with personally each DEC, and 
if possible do so in conjunction with an event in their area. I would hope at 
these events, that the DEC encourage maximum participation by their ECs and all 
other membership to include those amateur operators who do not belong to any 
organized group. I also encourage that the DECs and ECs invite leadership from 
other organizations so that we can discuss, plan, and implement ways of 
working together as to not duplicate the effort. Look at our ARES-MO.org Website 
for a listing of events that I will be attending. This list will be constantly 
updated, so please check on a regular basis.

Recruitment / Retention - The first item on my 2009 agenda, which can also go 
with my previous topic, is to recruit and retain leadership as AECs, ECs and 
DECs, especially in areas that currently have none. Each and every one of you 
is a recruiter. We start as Elmers and mentors to help new people join the 
amateur service. Some enjoy the world of DX and contesting, however there are 
others who want to give something back to the community. These are the folks that 
we want to groom and encourage to get involved. It may be as simple as a 
Skywarn spotter to running complex nets in an EOC. Recruitment is a never-ending 
process, however just as important is the retention of these new members. We as 
leaders must be up front as to what we are looking for, the purpose of the 
group and the training requirements to remain a member in good standing for the 
group. There will be further discussion with DECs in the future to refine 
these requirements for members to remain in good standing. Your training program, 
as stated above, will go a long way in your retention goals.

Training - In order for training to be effective, it must be informative, 
serve a stated purpose, and generate interest to learn more. In the past, as an 
AEC and then as an ADEC I have witnessed, as well as conducted, many training 
meetings. I would encourage everyone to have completed the ARRL Emergency 
Communications course Level I for amateur radio. Keep in mind this already is 
recommended training for ECs and above, as well as Level II for DECs and above. I 
have been fortunate to have been involved with the ARRL Emergency 
Communications courses since their inception and have seen many revisions and changes for 
all three levels. I realize that some of the course material is dry, and in 
some cases may not reflect the situations we face. However, as a baseline 
document, this is a good guide to generate lesson plans and training that can 
incorporate local procedures and protocols. Change since post 9/11 has been very 
dramatic in the amateur community. The days of just showing up when needed are 
long gone, as spoken by our ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager, Dennis Dura 
K2DCD, who as some of you know, participated in the response for the World Trade 
Center event. Since post 9/11, many organizations, especially commercial, have 
taken root saying that they can provide emergency communications. We, as the 
amateur community, must prove ourselves to our served agencies. One of these 
ways is to be organized, train, hold exercises, and most of all have a good 
attitude to work with our served agency. Remember we work for them and not the 
other way around. It is because of this that we must adapt and train in areas 
that our served agencies require. Besides the ARRL courses, we must also be famili
ar with NIMS training. This training is free and can be found on the FEMA 
Website for their Independent Study program. I encourage all members to be 
trained for IS-100, 200, 700 and 800b. We must be able to “speak” the language 
being used in today's Emergency Response environment. There are other training 
programs given by the Red Cross, National Weather Service and local emergency 
management. I will be working very closely with the DECs in 2009 to see how their 
training program is progressing and will give assistance that I can when 
needed. 

Interoperability - To some, interoperability means having radios that can 
talk to all concerned with IDs recognized by all and having a representative of 
each organization at an event to show solidarity. To me interoperability comes 
down to a basic premise. This premise is to use the appropriate resource to 
accomplish the mission. As stated in my Leadership section I encourage and 
welcome meetings with the leadership of other communication resources. These 
resources include Red Cross, Salvation Army, RACES, REACT, MARS, and Civil Air 
Patrol. Each one of these organizations brings to the table a unique structure of 
their own. This is not to mean that we must use each and every one of these 
resources in every event that happens, rather we need to implement our state 
communications plan (which is under review and will be revised), look at where 
we have shortfalls and see if these organizations can pick up the slack and 
augment what we do. This is a two way street and I would like to think that these 
organizations will review their plans and where we can provide assistance it 
will be asked for. Again, I encourage all DECs and ECs to make contact with 
local leadership of these organizations. All agreements should be sent up the 
chain of command for review and approval. I plan on making contact with my 
counterparts in the surrounding states to see where we can become partners in 
mutual aid agreements, when the situation warrants. 

Goals - I have given this a great deal of thought and knowing that not 
everything can happen overnight and there are some areas that may be more resistant 
to change, propose the following in a three year plan.

During the first year, I want to fill in the holes in our leadership 
positions to include an assistant at each position. I will ask for and collect contact 
information on all of our leadership positions so that I can get to the right 
person at the right time in a critical event. I would ask for, and will give 
assistance, if required, for each DEC to guide and train ECs to prepare, and 
exercise mutual aid procedures. These procedures should be made to initially 
help different jurisdictions within the county. Please do not forget our other 
communication organizations when planning for procedures on mutual assistance. 
All DECs, AECs, and ECs should complete ARRL Emergency Communications Course 
Level I. A goal of thirty per cent of their membership should also complete 
this course. A rewrite of the ARES state communications plan should be 
accomplished by midsummer.

During the second year I want to keep building on our leadership positions. 
To keep working on resource books to show all procedures, protocols and 
agreements that each county/district has in place. This helps me when briefing 
leadership not only in ARRL, but more importantly State and local officials who may 
be resistant to using us. I have stated many times that I will go and talk to 
anyone about the amateur service and the benefits of using this valuable 
resource. All DECs should complete ARRL Emergency Communications Course Level II. 
Sixty percent of the membership should have Level I completed. Each EC shall 
plan for one major exercise, other than the SET, in which mutual aid procedures 
are used. DECs will hold one major exercise, other than the SET involving the 
district. 

The third year should be a year of housekeeping on our procedures in keeping 
our resource books up to date. DECs are encouraged to complete the ARRL 
Emergency Communications Course Level III and ECs are encouraged to complete Level 
II. Ninety per cent of membership should have Level I completed. DECs will hold 
one major exercise, other than the SET, to test interoperability (using other 
comm. resources) and test mutual aid procedures between Districts. A future 
goal will be to have a statewide SET, however by the third year I am looking at 
having one area of the state involving three districts to have a mutual SET 
exercise.

Ladies and Gentlemen these are my goals, wishes and hope for the next three 
years. All personnel that have comments or recommendations are encouraged to 
send these thoughts up the chain of command. I thank you for all the hard work 
you have done in the past and looking forward to working along side and 
providing leadership for the Missouri Section concerning emergency communications.

Sincerely,
Dennis W. Gedeon KB0NHW
ARES SEC