NE Division Conference ‘13

1. NE Division Conference ‘13 AFMARS Interoperability Jim Edmonds/AFN2XC

2. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Air Force MARS Interoperability • Internal – Among Air Force, Army and Navy/Marine Corps MARS • External – MARS working relationships with DoD components and DSCA agencies as well as with ARES and RACES

3. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Internal interoperability among MARS services • Driven by continuous communications among the Chiefs of the three MARS services • Continued through communications among the Tri-Service MARS Directors regarding joint planning for training, exercises and actual events

4. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Implemented through • Open communications among staff personnel at state and region levels • Joint training nets & liaison among ECOM nets • Joint Base Support and Deployment Teams • Representation at conferences, exercise planning meetings, after action reviews, etc.

5. NE Division Conference ‘13 • External interoperability with DoD Components, ARRL organizations (ARES) and FEMA (RACES) • Driven by DoDI 4652.02 to provide contingency back-up radio communications support to DoD as well as DSCA agencies • Recognizing ARES and RACES as sources of local information and “ground truth” for MARS Spot Reports and EEIs

6. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Implemented through: • Daily operations of AFMARS Phone Patch Net which supports DoD, DHS and NOAA for emergency comms, prolonged SAR and DR Ops and for morale calls • AFMARS nets providing on-the-air HF comms training opportunities for DoD airborne and ground-based units

7. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Support provided by Base Support Teams • Participation in joint military/civilian exercises and actual events • Representation in local and state Disaster Preparedness planning organizations • Establishing liaisons with ARES and RACES groups to monitor field reports as an additional source of information for MARS EEIs and Spot Reports

8. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Function of AFMARS on an ECOM Net • Relay messages • Collect and report local disaster assessment info • Sources of information: • Direct observation • Field reports from ARES and RACES

9. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) • ARES is organized under the ARRL primarily to support NGOs for Health & Welfare traffic • ARES typically supports NGOs such Red Cross • ARES activates at the request of the NGO and under the direction of the ARES County Emergency Coordinator (EC)

10. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) • RACES is organized under FEMA • RACES typically is tasked to support county, state, and federal Departments of Emergency Management • RACES activates at the direction of the County or State Director of Emergency Management

11. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Recent Developments • Pacific Endeavor-13 Exercise 25-26 August • Simulated collecting ham radio earthquake disaster reports from “Pacifica” (Nepal) and relaying to the DoD’s All Partners Access Network (APAN) for disaster relief mission planning • 60 stations participates using primarily PSK31 to communicate on low power through poor propagation

12. NE Division Conference ‘13 • Colorado Flooding 9 September (ongoing) • ARES operators are in every EOC and most Red Cross and town evacuation shelter • Ham radio handling medical and H&W traffic to shelters and isolated towns • Boulder County has deployed 2 Remotely Piloted Aircraft carrying Amateur TV transmitters for search & rescue operations

13. NE Division Conference ‘13 • 65 hams have deployed to become the “eyes and ears” for their communities • In such a situation, information passed on the ARES and RACES nets could be the basis for MARS EEIs and Spot Reports

14. NE Division Conference ‘13 Questions?