From the ARES newsletter….

KC8WOL posted this “Letter to the Editor” in the Hamsexy Forums, and I felt it bore re-posting here. Apparantly ARES itself is starting to realize how pointless and redundant they are in an actual disaster scenario.

+ LETTERS: HTs, BUT NO HELMETS

Brevard County, Florida — During a recent county disaster drill,
responders were expected to arrive on the scene ready for deployment.
Fire responders showed up in full fire gear, Police in full police
gear, CERT members with appropriate gear including helmet, orange
safety vest, long pants, shirt, heavy shoes, gloves, face mask,
flashlight, as well as HT, and necessary tools. Our ARES members
showed up only with their HT, with some in shorts, sandals, no head
gear nor uniform/identification of any kind.

ARES responders need to meet the same equipment standards as Fire,
Police and CERT personnel. Had ARES members attending our mock drill
arrived and reported for an actual event, they wouldn’t have been
deemed prepared and likely would be sent to NIMS-IC “camp” for
training. ARES/ARRL needs to develop gear standards. ARES personnel
need to arrive on the emergency site ready to be deployed. Prepared
for deployment means ARES members having more than the clothing on
their backs and an HT (with only one set of batteries) in their
hand!–

Is your ARES group as bad as this one? Does your group have a clue on how to act and ‘get it right’? Let us know. We here at Hamsexy want to feature ARES groups that GET IT RIGHT. Please send us a report and photos of your local ARES group – convince us that there are some ARES groups out there that are in it for more than flashy lights and ham badges. Send your submissions to [email protected] and we’ll get them up on the site!