or vc presentation for ares leadership final version
DESCRIPTION
Presentation on participation in Oregon Vital Connections by OEM ARESTRANSCRIPT
“You Amateurs are AMAZING”
OEM ARES AndOregon Vital Connections
Oregon Vital Connections 2012
ARES and the Oregon
Vital Connections
Exercise
What was OR Vital Connections? A federally sponsored communications
interoperability exercise
Promote communications interoperability between Local, Tribal, State, Federal, & DOD emergency responders
Simulated a NIMS response (local, state, federal) to a large scale event
Full ICS structure
What was OR Vital Connections?
• Goals From the Briefing Document:• Radio Communications
1. Reach back communications to home station (All Agencies)2. Perform daily communications with Communication Coordination Team3. Exercise, test, and evaluate the ability to utilize HF, VHF (LO- High), UHF, 800, Trunked communications.
4. Exercise MARS, RACES, ARES networks5. Radio Bridge and Patches
a. Exercise, Test, Evaluate the ability to patch across multiband frequencies (agency to agency)b. Troubleshoot interference or cross-connection problemsc. Test and Validate ACU 1000 to ACU 1000 ROIP
OR VC 2012Exercise Goals Continued
• Training1. ICS 205 Overview (COML identification, responsibilities)2. DOD/JISCC/Mobile Comm/State and Local Comm Capabilities
• ICS1. Establish/Create Incident Action Plan2. Identify COML, complete ICS 205, 205a3. Adjust ICS 205 to integrate additional resources4. Develop ICS 205 addendum to depict Change in Event 5. Identify Participant Agency personnel, complete ICS 204
• Information Sharing1. Test and evaluate capability to connect to Common Information Sharing Site (HSIN, DCO, JABBER, USNORTHCOM OPS PORTAL)2. DOD/NG/Local forces to connect to OR State Common Information Site (CIS)3. ORNG shares operational info with subordinates, adjacent, and higher command4. Evaluate data flow through channels5. Send email via WINLINK HF
What was OR Vital Connections?
April 12, 2023 5
UNCLASSIFIED
Our Participation was Significant
ARES participation was specifically requested by Northern Command and Oregon Military Department
This is a recognition of our proven role in EMCOMM in Oregon
Who Participated in OR VC
Who Participated in OR VC
Willamette Area only Multnomah IC only
Who Participated in OR VC
Coast guard Aviation and Mobile Communications Unit
Who Participated in OR VC
US Air Force had one Comm Unit similar to JISCC
Who Partiipated in OR VC?
Army MARS (OMD JOC)
OEM ARES
Marion County ARES
How was OR VC Structured?
Three day exercise held in Salem on the grounds of the old Fairview Hospital
How was OR VC Structured?
•Three Incident Commands simulating Portland, Salem, and Eugene under a Unified Command
•Full ICS Unified Command Structure
•Unified Command Briefings daily
•IC briefings Daily
How was OR VC Structured
Amateur Radio
What did ARES do?
Team of 8 members of OEM ARES and 4 Members of Marion County ARES
What did ARES do?
We were HIGHLY visible, in our ARRL Standard ARES vests and jackets
Everywhere they looked, they saw us.
What did ARES do?
Available from www.hamthreads.com Meets all ARRL ARES standards For MOU purposes – a state standard? All units with the same
look?
Standard Vest listed on Website Western Oregon – Charles River 9732 (not shown on website.Colder climates - use jacket shown on website
What did ARES do?
Three ARES stations – one in each IC area
What did ARES do?
OEM Drop Boxes, including IC706, IC 2820, Winklink, portable NVIS antennas with vhf/uhf antenna.
What did ARES do?
Three County EOC’s sending and receiving traffic to and from the exercise site -West Lane, Benton and Crook
OEM Comm Center manned and sending traffic to and from exercise site.
What Were Our Results?
Sent/Received over 100 pieces of traffic in ICS format, mostly via winlink
To and from OEM and the Counties
To our knowledge, no one else did anything like this, even with all their fancy equipment.
What Were Our Results?
Sent ICS message to General Bush, Commanding General in charge of OR VC via winlink
What Were Our Results?
Sent winlink traffic to Admiral in charge of Northern Command from one of the exercise coordinators
What Were Our Results?
From: Mark Jensen <[email protected]>To: [email protected]: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:34:40 -0000 (UTC)Subject: Re: Vital Connections"
Frank,Thanks so much for the note. It was great to get to know you out in the 'fields of honor' of Oregon.
The WINLINK Message your ARES mates sent to our Admiral was well received by him. He made special mention of it during our morning brief today. All the best & 73/
Mark
What Were Our Results?
Singled out for praise at noon briefing – Multnomah Area
“You amateurs are AMAZING. I can’t say enough about what you can do.
[to the others in attendance] “If you don’t know what these guys can do, make sure and visit them. You can’t miss them” [a reference to our highly visible garb]
What Were Our Results?
Again, singled out for praise at all exercise end-of-the-day briefing, in front of all participants.
What Were Our Results?
Thursday Morning test of communications from site to FEMA Region 10 Headquarters in Bothel, WA
ONLY amateur radio was able to communicate with them (via MARS freqs)
None of the many other units could be heard. We relayed for them.
What Were Our Results?
At the end of the exercise, we were asked to make a 10 minute presentation about our capabilities, educating all other participating agencies.
Lessons Learned
The OEM Drop Boxes worked very well
Need our own generators (we now have them)
Need more VHF antennas (we now have them)
Lessons Learned
Need to modify equipment in drop boxes for MARS capability.
Need to refine HF antenna install procedures
Need Part 90 certified equipment capable of NIFOG interop frequencies (e.g. Wouxun UV-6 or UV-3)
Lessons Learned
A consistent, professional, uniform appearance is important when working with agencies that are uniform oriented, especially in any NIMS response.
Our whole unit now has ARRL standard ARES vests and hats, and many have jackets
Bottom Line for ARES
We were highly visible
We proved ourselves to be highly capable
We showed ourselves to be highly flexible
Bottom Line for ARES
We were very well received by all other agencies, especially at the end of the exercise.
Amateur in name only – professional in all other aspects.
A real PR success for ARES both on a local and national basis.
Bottom Line for ARES
YouAmateurs
AreAmazing!