For immediate release

        Putting Army MARS’ New HF E-Mail System
        To the Test: In a “Hurricane,” It Worked Fine

        The 2007 Atlantic storm season hadn’t even arrived yet, and “Hurricane Susan” was entirely fictitious. But no matter; the storm alert from Transportation Security Administration headquarters sent special teams of emergency responders scurrying to duty stations from Miami to Houston and beyond.
        Their mission: testing a new backup communication link for airports in case a weather or terrorist event ever wipes out commercial phone and data lines, as Katrina did two years ago.
        Operation Sidewinder, staged on March 28, provided the first comprehensive demonstration of the TSA’s partnership with the Army Military Affiliate Radio System. MARS is the Pentagon-sponsored organization of volunteer amateur radio operators supporting federal agencies during emergencies, totaling some 5,000 members in the separate Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps branches.
        Most people know the TSA for its role screening airline passengers and luggage. However, its mandate extends well beyond that--as MARS members learned when the Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Army Signal Command signed a comprehensive mutual aid agreement with TSA last year.
        For this first major trial, Army MARS mobilized its new Winlink digital communications system, with Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS members in active support.
        “The TSA/MARS deployment capabilities were fully demonstrated and performed without error,” said TSA’s summary report from busy Tucson (AZ) International Airport, where government officials joined Army MARS senior staff in monitoring the exercise. “Very few problems were encountered during the exercise and all members operated professionally and were able to successfully demonstrate the objectives…”
        Army MARS Chief Stuart Carter put it succinctly in a message to his 2,600 members at day’s end: “You were awesome.”
        The TSA script called for a category three hurricane (96-113 knot winds) making landfall at Miami, crossing to the Gulf of Mexico at Ft Myers, brushing Pensacola FL before heading on toward Houston.
        From start to finish, interoperability reigned. At Miami International, it was an Air Force MARS member, Michael Green WA4ZVW (AFA2MY) who activated the TSA Winlink station and dispatched the initial EEI, reporting airport operations shut down with winds clocked at 115 mph.
        At Pensacola a federal airport screener, Jeff Smith, brought up TSA’s AAN4PNS portable unit after intense training in Mobile with Jim Burrows N4RLM (NNN0SYH), the Navy-MC MARS region four emergency operations officer, and two fellow Alabama members. Smith W4ZH was already Ham-licensed—since age 14—and had worked on airways ground equipment before joining TSA in 2005.
        Watching it all was the anchor station for Operation Sidewinder, AAN9TUS, at Tucson International Airport. The MARS operating team was led by Grant Hays WB6OTS (AAA9O), Army MARS Director-Operations from Ft Huachuca. It included MARS Frequency Manager Dwayne Smith KK7VE (AAA9F) and Arizona members Al West K7JUB (AAR9ED/T), a federal screener at the airport, and Jim Wooddell K7WFR (AAM9RT) the region 9 training officer.
        TSA said the Tucson location was chosen because both local and long haul emergency communications could be monitored there and Army MARS headquarters was strategically nearby (50 miles) at Ft Huachuca. “The goal was to demonstrate Command and Control capabilities being established in non-traditional sites,” the agency said.
        Other TSA stations joined in from Dallas-Ft Worth, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston and Charleston WV. At Charleston’s Yeager Airport, the 10-member MARS support team handled 50 text messages along with several photos. Additional participants included the Pentagon’s AAN3PNT, the Army North headquarters at Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio; FEMA Region 6, and the Texas State EOC—plus as-yet untallied dozens of Army, Air Force and Navy-MC MARS members who joined on their own initiative.
        Said Carter in his report to higher headquarters:
        “Army MARS provides an unparalleled emergency response capability which is low cost, accessible from anywhere in the continental U.S., always available, has no competition for bandwidth, has 2,600 licensed operators, and has Army MARS-developed HF e-mail capability.”
        During Operation Sidewinder, he added, “Army MARS demonstrated its long-haul HF connectivity, local VHF communications, HF e-mail, WiFi computer interface with HF radio for e-mail transmissions, a TSA mobile house trailer with Army MARS HF radio in operation, an Army MARS volunteer’s vehicle capable of indefinite HF operations, and two small/light/portable HF suites.”
        “Awesome” sounds about right.



        Army MARS Public Affairs
        AAA9PC / AAR1FP / N1IN
        P O Box 428 Richmond MA 01254
        LL 413-698-3247 cell 413-329-9974 e-mail n1in@arrl.net
        "Army MARS--the Voice of the Army"