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Posted on 02/07/2006 8:29:09 PM PST by Denver Ditdat
Rooted in the 1920s, the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) began as a way for amateur radio operators to train soldiers to use the latest radio equipment. By the begin-ning of the Korean conflict, MARS also became a way for troops and their families to communicate faster than ever.
As a newly enlisted Marine, Bert Ponsock worked as a radio tech at the operations center in Itami, Japan, from 1952 to 1954. The site was a popular stop for American servicemen on R&R. Every morning, Ponsock took stacks of service members’ written notes to the ham shack.
“The Lieutenant had to work at night to send messages out,” said Ponsock, a retired master sergeant. “Back then, radios were not as reliable. It was hard to contact people in the States.”
If the weather was good and the antennas up, the officer used voice radio to reach message stations in the U.S., near the service members’ hometowns. In turn, those stations called the service members’ loved one and delivered the message.
“The notes were mostly to girlfriends and moms saying, ‘Hi, I’m fine,’” said Ponsock, who served nearly 27 years in the Corps. “It was just a little something, just to get your name on a scrap of paper and say hi to mom, that was an important thing to us.”
By the Vietnam era, MARS made possible real time conversations between deployed troops and their families. The U.S. Army began a personal radio and phone hookup ser-vice in 1966. In Vietnam, it worked this way: The Vietnam MARS station connected a base telephone to an amateur radio operator in the U.S., who in turn made a collect call to the service member’s house. The calls were brief, usually just a few minutes; and stilted, with the radio operator relaying the messages between the service member and his loved ones. By early 1970, the MARS program was relaying 42,000 such messages a month.
Satellites now link the world, and today, many deployed troops can contact loved ones fairly easily by e-mail or, when authorized, by cell phone. For those whose families don’t have Internet access, MARS still offers free “MARSGRAMS” and 24-hour relay services. The Department of Defense continues to sponsor MARS, which now primarily offers emergency communications to local and federal safety officials. Many MARS stations are operated by licensed amateur radio operators.
Too-frequent contact between service member and family can make things harder, said Ponsock. Back in 1952, he accepted that he’d be out of touch with his family, trading monthly letters with his sister.
It would have been depressing otherwise, he said, “to look at all the stuff I’m missing.”
Ham Radio Ping ListPlease Freepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from the list.
I still remember making one MARS call home from RVN in 1969. Thanks to all those who made it possible. Semper fi.
For many years I was a regular on Air Force Mars nets.
I had many conversations at sea that ended "I love you, out."
My dear Father, WB9CFN, became a "Ham" and MARS member just so he could talk to me in far flung places during my military service.
I, too, have a similar memory. In 15 months I think I got to make two of them. A real treat at the time. Then I reflect on the almost instant and continual commo the troops have from Iraq and realize how much our world has changed in 40 years.
GREAT tagline, btw.
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