Enhancing cooperation among Amateur Radio's emergency service organizations was the subject of a groundbreaking conference November 20 in Castle Point, New York. On hand were Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) leaders. While informal cooperation is nothing new to ARES, RACES and MARS members--many of whom participate in all three organizations--the focus of the Castle Point gathering was on launching more formal regional and national collaboration. ARRL Field Organization/Public Service Team Leader Steve Ewald, WV1X, said he was pleased to be able to participate.
"I thought it was an excellent meeting, and it should lay a foundation for further cooperation between ARRL and our Field Organization and MARS," he said afterward. Ewald also used the occasion to call attention to the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses and the tuition grants available for radio amateurs completing them. Joining him under the League banner were ARRL Field Organization appointees Pete Cecere, N2YJZ, the Eastern New York Section Manager, and Tom Carrubba, KA2D, the New York City-Long Island Section Emergency Coordinator.

Newly designated New York Army MARS-ARRL Liaison Officer Richard Meirowitz, WA2ELE, organized the session, and New York MARS Director Steve Pertgen, W2FXJ, chaired the meeting at the Castle Point Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Keynote speaker was Army MARS Eastern Area Coordinator Robert Hollister, AAA9E/N7INK, from Ft Huachuca, Arizona (and the author of "A Portable NVIS Antenna," which will appear in the January 2005 QST). He expressed the hope that MARS management and ARRL would join forces to pursue the goal of interoperability. To jump start that initiative, Hollister provided an overview of the US Department of Defense (DoD) MARS program and its emphasis on providing emergency communication support to a wide variety of military and government response agencies.

In September, Hollister asked MARS stations and nets to coordinate with ARES/RACES and local ham radio operators to assist in handling hurricane-related health-and-welfare traffic. Amateur Radio and the military already collaborate informally each May during the Armed Forces Day communications tests, when hams and military stations engage in crossband contacts. Several pilot operations also have employed ARES/RACES members in past Army Reserve exercises at the local level.

Among proposals was a suggestion to seek FCC permission to conduct year-round interoperability training and emergency operation. It also was proposed that the amateur community assist MARS in providing early warning notification of emergency situations--so-called "Essential Elements of Information" messages--for relay to the DoD and the Department of Homeland Security.

Following Hollister's briefing, MARS Eastern Area Emergency Operations Chief John Scoggin, W3JKS, of Wilmington, Delaware, discussed last summer's nationwide Grecian Firebolt 2004 (GF-04) Army Signal communication exercise--the biggest MARS drill ever. At Pertgen's suggestion, Meirowitz tested the feasibility of MARS-ARES-RACES collaboration during GF-04, and ARES volunteers from eastern New York took part in the exercise, which involved a homeland defense/homeland security scenario. Meirowitz called it "a small but successful joint effort." Ewald noted that the Grecian Firebolt exercises were similar in nature to the ARRL's Simulated Emergency Test each fall.

Hollister suggested that ARES/RACES participation in the next annual Army Signal exercise be worked out on a state-by-state basis. Also proposed was the designation of additional MARS-ARRL liaison officers at the state level.--Bill Sexton N1IN