Nationwide Air Force & Army COMEX communication GRID down exercise Friday 02/12/2016

Prince William Amateur Radio Emergency Services ^ | 02/08/2016 | larence, K4CNM – (AAA3R3, Army MARS Region Three Operations Officer)

[MarchonDC09122009]

Nationwide Air Force & Army COMEX communication GRID down exercise Friday 02/12/2016

http://blog.pwcares.org/?p=182

Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Events, PWCARES Air Force & Army MARS COMEX 2016/01/19 David Lane Air Force & Army MARS COMEX

By: Clarence, K4CNM – (AAA3R3, Army MARS Region Three Operations Officer)

The Air Force and Army MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) will conduct their first 2016 communications exercise (COMEX) from 7:00 am until 6:59 pm EST on Friday, 12 February. The scenario will be: there is no power, no phones (cell or landline), and no internet. Also, internet linked radio repeaters (such as D-Star) should not be used. One of the objectives of this COMEX is to reach as many counties and cities within the entire country as possible. It is expected that sometime during the second hour (8–9 am), a request will come down asking MARS stations to contact hams for a local conditions report. That request will probably have a deadline of around eight hours (and certainly be due a couple of hours before End of Exercise – ENDEX). Prior contact and pre-arranged schedules between MARS stations and hams is permitted and encouraged.

MARS stations will be instructed to collect the data from hams via radio only – using any FCC authorized amateur frequency and/or mode – and prepare the report that will be consolidated within the region and then sent back up the line. Note: In order not to unduly excite those who are not aware of the COMEX, only real information should be reported. Following is a list the items (with possible conditions) that will be requested:

    Power: Fully functional, brownout, rolling or partial blackouts, complete outage     Water: Full service, service in parts of county only, contaminated, no service     Sanitation: Fully functional, service in parts of county only, no service     Medical facilities: Fully functional, partial service due to facilities, partial service due to personnel, facilities max’ed out, none available due loss of personnel or infrastructure     Communications: Fully functional, partial service, no service     Transportation: Fully functional, service in parts of county only, no service

Unless there is something actually going on, report everything as fully functional. The condition of one or more of these might not be known, that’s okay, report what is known; reports from other hams may fill in the missing data. Hams can report on any county or city that they have first-hand knowledge of.

MARS Region Three is the same as FEMA’s Region Three and includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. According to the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) code list there are 245 counties and 42 independent cities within our region. Virginia has 95 of those counties and all but one of the cities.

More information about the Army MARS program is available.

All Amateurs are encouraged to forward this to other groups and clubs that you are a member of and to any of your ham buddies that might be interested. More information will be provided as it becomes available. MARS

[MarchonDC09122009]

It's about time that gov't - military is conducting a nationwide communications test to evaluate continuity capability in case of a massive electric & communication failure. Unusual timing, or may be not, in light of this week's N Korean military launch of their satellite overhead (and recent claim of a hydrogen bomb test), frequent gov't news about EMP / electrical grid cyber attack vulnerabilites, and NASA'S announcement of an incoming asteroid that could pass within 11,000 miles this March. Oy, it's Always something...

[MarchonDC09122009]

SHTF, HAM radio, Preeper’s ping -
;n)

[bigbob]

Good deal, glad they are doing something to encourage HF radio as it is the one mode of communications that can work anywhere without commercial infrastructure. At the rate things have been going, nearly everyting has become dependent on phones, satellite links and GPS.

[MarchonDC09122009]

Agreed!
HF radio and shortwave will no doubt be helpful for the remnant patriot resistance left in our nation’s FEMA - UN districts. /s

[MarchonDC09122009]

http://www.usarmymars.org/

US Army MARS
Home

MARS stands for Military Auxiliary Radio System. We are headquartered at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and assigned to the Headquarters, United States Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM).

MARS is a Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The program consists of licensed amateur radio operators who are interested in military communications on a local, national, and international basis as an adjunct to normal communications.

MARS has a long and proud history of providing world-wide contingency emergency communications during times of need. The combined three service MARS programs (Army, Air Force, and Navy-Marine Corps) volunteer force of over 5,000 dedicated and skilled radio operators is the backbone of the MARS program. Our civilian volunteers continued unselfish support of our mission keeps Army MARS Proud, Professional, and Ready.
MARS on the Internet:
This page is the official distribution point of Army MARS (AMARS) materials; and is operated and maintained by personnel assigned by US Army NETCOM, FT Huachuca AZ until such time its content and function are transferred to a permanent site on the .mil domain.  This page supplements the www.netcom.army.mil/mars/ web site and provides more detailed and specific information required to operate the MARS program.  The AMARS social media presence is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HQArmyMARS.  These web sites are the only authorized AMARS point of presence on the world wide web.  Information on all other sites purporting to represent AMARS should be considered unofficial, inaccurate, or out of date.

Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/HQArmyMARS

http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/

Subpages (5): About Army MARS Announcements Ask The Chief Contact Us Frequently Asked Questions

View as Desktop My Sites

Powered By Google Sites

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the post. It is about time and too many coincidences.

[MarchonDC09122009]

You’re welcome.
May the odds be ever in our favor...

RE: “Thanks for the post. It is about time and too many coincidences.”

[DocRock]

The last couple of years I’ve made contact with the Pentagon and even got a QSL card from them. Their call sign is Whiskey Alfa Romeo... WAR.

[MarchonDC09122009]

They have such a ironic dark sense of humor, don’t they...

Seriously, please let us know when the SHTF, before the Internets flicker out.
Please let us know about sudden bank holidays, as well as updates of when the blue helmet convoys and #BLM gimmedat hordes start com’in our way.
Don’t wanna go on no FEMA camp bus ride!

[wastedyears]

Getting ready for when zer0 goes full dictator, more like.

[WildHighlander57]

manythanks for this info!

Lucyt,

ping to this one!

[VerySadAmerican]

I was overseas in the 70s and called home one night to talk to my wife. After I said something I had to say “Over” so the operator could un key the mic. Well, it wasn’t a good night. My mother in law answered and the conversation went like this.

Me-”Can I speak to ......? Over.”

MIL- “She’s not here. Over.”

Me-”Where is she? I told her I’d call her today. Over.”

MIL-”She wants a divorce. Over.”

Me-”What? Over.”

Long pause

Me-”I’ll call her tomorrow. Goodbye. Over.”

Turns out it was the best news I’d ever heard considering her.

[MarchonDC09122009]

Could President Obama Declare Martial Law and not leave the White House in 2016?

Interview with Lannie Davis (Clinton hack) and Constitutional lawyer discuss Obama’s overly broad National Defense Emergency Executive Order. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jJvNVbuQr5U

RE: “Getting ready for when zer0 goes full dictator, more like.”

[bigbob]

Here's a picture of AFA7UGA, a MARS station owned by Senator Barry Goldwater at his home in Arizona, which was used to conduct thousands of phone patches to loved ones back home from US service personnel deployed in VietNam.

[MarchonDC09122009]

Thanks for posting this related picture - it puts a face to the huge effort of HAM operator patch communication .

RE: “Here’s a picture of AFA7UGA, a MARS station owned by Senator Barry Goldwater at his home in Arizona, which was used to conduct thousands of phone patches to loved ones back home from US service personnel deployed in VietNam.”

[LucyT]

Article and # 13 .

Thanks, WildHighlander.

[wastedyears]

It’s not a matter of “could”, it’s a matter of “will he”.

[Faith65]

Thanks for this post.

[MarchonDC09122009]

You’re welcome.

[catbertz]

Wow. If I understood correctly, it sounds like you look back on that call as the start of positive changes. Still, I always hate hearing about these “Dear John” phone calls/letters that our servicemen have to endure. I love women, but some can really make it easy to hate.