Ivor Jones wrote:
"Steve Bonine" wrote in message
wrote:
On Mar 14, 5:20 pm, Steve Bonine wrote:
[snip]
The thing that I object to is the
folks who say that they don't have time to participate in
training, but "I'll be there if you need me in an
emergency."
Sorry, but I'm one of those. I *don't* have time, I have a full time job
and I volunteer for an animal rescue charity at the weekends, plus all the
normal family/household things that most people do. Besides, what training
is necessary to pass radio messages..? Don't we already know how to do
that..?
Or am I missing something..?
Ivor,
We're all too busy these days: I'd guess that the rest of the world said
goodbye to the 40 hour work-week at about the same time as those of us
in the U.S. Both parents working, kids in day care, constant juggling:
it's a familiar story.
But -
Drills, especially large ones, are the _ONLY_ way to prepare for the
mass confusion, conflicting agendas, egomania, short tempers, long
waits, and broken radios that hams must deal with during a deployment.
Those who don't prepare _are_ a part of the problem: however
well-intentioned an operator might be, (s)he will bring a set of
expectations and capabilities to a response which only training can shape.
On my first deployment, I brought a massive backpack, which included
almost nothing I later needed and almost everything I didn't. The drills
that I attended after that did little to hone my radio skills, but a lot
to make me ready to use them, quickly and effectively.
In short, time is the currency of the realm in disaster response: it's
the _only_ item that can't be bought, fabricated, fedex'd or
helicoptered into a disaster. However well-intentioned a ham may be, if
(s)he's not trained and in practice, then it takes time to get him/her
up to speed, and that's time that's better used for other things. Those
of us who must choose to spend our time in other activities - there is,
of course, nothing wrong with that - can best prepare for disasters by
getting ready to help from our own QTH: there are, after all, always two
ends to any radio circuit.
Bill
P.S. There's are a lot of old sayings in the business: here are some
I've found inspirational -
"Always Arrange Agreement in Advance"
"Bring Basics: Bandages, Bedding, Bottles, Batteries, Beans"
"Proper Planning and Practice Provides Peak Performance"
"Water, Wind, Waves, and Weakness Won't Wait".
P.P.S. I'd bet there isn't a single question on any ham exam in the
world that asks how much toilet paper to bring to a deployment; Q.E.D.
--
73,
Bill W1AC
(Remove "73" and change top level domain for direct replies)