NE Division Conference ‘13 AFMARS Interoperability Jim Edmonds/AFN2XC

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

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

NE Division Conference ‘13 - Implemented through 1. Open communications among staff personnel at state and region levels 1. Joint training nets & liaison among ECOM nets 1. Joint Base Support and Deployment Teams 1. Representation at conferences, exercise planning meetings, after action reviews, etc.

NE Division Conference ‘13  External interoperability with DoD Components, ARRL organizations (ARES) and FEMA (RACES) - Driven by DoDI 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

NE Division Conference ‘13 - Implemented through: 1. 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 1. AFMARS nets providing on-the-air HF comms training opportunities for DoD airborne and ground-based units

NE Division Conference ‘13 3. Support provided by Base Support Teams 3. Participation in joint military/civilian exercises and actual events 3. Representation in local and state Disaster Preparedness planning organizations 3. Establishing liaisons with ARES and RACES groups to monitor field reports as an additional source of information for MARS EEIs and Spot Reports

NE Division Conference ‘13 Function of AFMARS on an ECOM Net  Relay messages  Collect and report local disaster assessment info - Sources of information: 1. Direct observation 1. Field reports from ARES and RACES

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)

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

NE Division Conference ‘13 Recent Developments  Pacific Endeavor-13 Exercise 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

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

NE Division Conference ‘ 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

NE Division Conference ‘13 Questions?