From: "bb" on Thurs,Apr 21 2005 4:50 pm

K4YZ wrote:
According to his eHam profile, Toddie is an...

ARMY MARS MEMBER!

QUOTE

I am a member of the following ham radio clubs...
Army M.A.R.S. Christian County Amateur Radio Club (CCARC)

UNQUOTE

Good thing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" doesn't apply to MARS, eh,
Toddie...?!?!

Steve, K4YZ

Steve, what's it to you? You have no understanding of MARS.

The planet, the candy bar, or MILITARY Affiliate Radio
System? :-)

"Sorry, Hans, MARS IS amateur radio."

Poor Stevie still thinks that hams started it and
run it, too.

The United States ARMY started what would become
MARS before WW2. That was in an effort to "get
civilian radio amateurs interested in MILITARY
radio operations. The acronym was formed after WW2
when USAF joined the Army in the system. The last
branch to join MARS was the USN (and USMC by
extension).

MARS has performed well in the 60s to 70s as a
morale booster for the military personnel away from
home, courtesy of many civilian MARS operators (who
have amateur calls) placing telephone calls for them.

However, MARS is definitely still a MILITARY op and
the Department of Defense DIRECTS MARS. Stevie has
been shown the link to the DoD page but he won't
concede to going there and reading it. [he may think
it is a "trick" by others to lead him to a different
website] The DoD may be reached by direct, independent
search available on all ISPs.

Each military branch maintains their own MARS Hq.
For example, the Army MARS headquarters is at Fort
Huachuca, AZ. MARS is a regular participant in
"Grecian Firebolt" radio networking exercises carried
out by GOVERNMENT and MILITARY organizations having
intrinsic radio networking ability. Exercises like those can
and HAVE been done successfully WITHOUT any
civilian volunteer participation. MARS is NOT part of
the regular military communications scheme, only a sort
of standby which exists primarily for inter-service morale
boosting.

Stevie keeps enobling himself by implications of
relationship of his amateur status to that of MARS.
This is akin to his implications of "participation"
in the famous "seven hostile actions." :-)