As a former EMT/Firefighter I had friends of friends who were directly impacted by 09/11. One of my mentors in the Fire Service did a "ride along" with an NYFD Battalion Chief he knew just weeks before. Had his "ride along" been a few weeks later I would have lost a close and dear friend. Who knew? The morning of 09/11 I was getting ready for church and had gotten up early so I could call my Father and wish him a Happy Birthday. He and I had a very somber conversation and were horrified as we both watched the second plane impact on live national TV. Not the conversation I wanted to have with him that day. We both agreed that my birthday wish for him next year would be much better. Two months later my father passed away unexpectedly.
During our weekly net this morning our EC at the time, Ben Baker, KB0UBZ, told us a little about the impact that event had on Arapahoe County Amateur Radio Emergency Service. I asked him to elaborate on the events of the day and have posted them to our homepage. A must read! It underscores our need to be ready even if the event is thousands of miles away. We have seen this time and time again. One of our own, Kevin Erickson, N2NWA, just got back from working with the Red Cross in Louisiana assisting with the recent floods and subsequent recovery. It also underscores our need to be prepared. Make sure our family is prepared and ready so that we can help out. Be prepared ourselves so that we can help out wherever needed doing whatever is needed. As Ben points out, not everything Arapahoe A.R.E.S. members did as a result of 09/11 was communications oriented. Some drove vans and some entertained stranded travelers to name a couple of things. We also need to be flexible. There are always stories from big events where some agency has a computer problem and they start looking for "the radio guys" since they always know how to fix "things." As our former EC was fond of saying "Be A Proud ACARES Member" and as your current EC what I know is that ACARES Members are THE Professional Amateurs!
God Bless America and those who serve!
73 de KD5DKQ