Competing ARES/RACES Groups ?

[N5CTI]

Actually, I understand there was a similar dispute between ARES and RACES in Virginia during the President's Day Storm earlier this year. I agree, it makes no sense.

BTW, I signed up with Virginia RACES shortly after I was licensed, and haven't heard a thing from them since (well, other than a brief email before the arrival of Hurricane Isabel, but was useless to me because all he talked about was the Richmond area. I live in Northern Virginia, also in the path of Isabel, and I'm not about to go support Richmond when my own area is just as threatened).

By the same token, I've joined the ARES organization in my county, as well as in an adjacent county. While no one ran me down and poured information into my head, or peppered me with questions, I have gotten a feeling of inclusion from both organizations. They're happy to have me, but I suppose they've seen too many folks who express interest initially, then disappear when there's work to be done. It's not the approach I'd take if I were the top dog, but that's just a difference in approach. Also, the two ECs concerned have a lot more experience with emergency communications than I have, so who am I to second-guess them?

I'm not smart enough to figure out how we're going to resolve the ARES/RACES controversy in Virginia. All I can say is I can't imagine a good reason for the schism to exist, and I wish like heck the honchos would act professionally and work together. This "us vs. them" stuff isn't doing anyone any good, especially those who are perpetuating it at the top.

Sorry, just had to blow off a little steam. This whole ego-centric debate is totally contrary to the public service nature of emergency communications, and those who are supposed to lead us are more concerned with personal pride (and power) than with supporting agencies and organizations in an emergency, and that's disgusting.

[AB8RU]

Sounds like a REACT group conflict back yeons ago, between 2 counties, after awhile I resigned, from REACT, recently I resigned from RACES.

conflicts are always the thing, except that I am going into another part of the Hobby and waiting on my card from the ARRL , also busy with other projects.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

HO HO HO HO !

[AE6IP]

The Virginia situation is not at all unusual in the relationship between ARES and RACES. ARES is an ARRL afterthought that postdated RACES and was aimed at avoiding some of the limitations of RACES, most notably the restriction on the amount of practice time RACES was allowed.

Unfortunately, there is a significant overlap between ARES and RACES. In areas where there was a strong RACES group when ARES entered the picture, that has led to conflict.

This is not true in all areas. The ARRL EMCOM courses mention one example where ARES and RACES cooperate rather than compete. The emphasis in ARES now is supposed to be cooperation with RACES. Unfortunately, there are some serious holes in the ARES program, most notably that ARES officers ("emergency coordinators") are not required to take ARRL EMCOM courses, and so there is much variation from section to section in how ARES operates.

This lack of cooperation is further complicated by the government's passive attempt to deactivate RACES, which is no longer seen as of importance to government communication, but rather as an administrative burden.

Here in northern California, the Santa Clara Valley Section has a strong cooperation, and many agencies are served by a combined ARES/RACES approach. Surprisingly, REACT also plays a strong cooperative role, and many of the ARES/RACES members also belong to Blackberry REACT.