It’s almost fall. Can you feel the crispness in the air? Can you believe the rain we have had in August, or the temperatures we’ve had this week? Hurricane season is here, Harvey is lurking in the Gulf looking for landfall, CERT is graduating another class, and there are already Christmas decorations out in some stores. So that can only mean one thing for ARES: end of year planning is going on. Well, actually it went on Tuesday night.

Our AEC team will host an Intermediate Skills Workshop at the November Face-to-Face training session. Those skills are described a bit more fully in your NTX ARES training task book. Skills form an important feature that helps define each of the training levels. All levels have educational requirements you will also need to meet. Over the next couple of training nets, Mike KF5NPM will offer a review of the training program we are trying to follow, and your attention to those and the sections in the booklet will move you towards that Intermediate level ARES classification. We will also have a net led by Wade KF5AUD discussing the forms ARES uses, and spend some time on the ICS 213 message form. Of course we will also have nets to share info on fall and winter weather spotting and reporting, and other Net operation protocols.

CERT graduation is planned for September 12th at the Grayson County Courthouse. It’s a fun event to support and get to meet the new CERT team and some of the -ahem- older faces. Plan to be in the west parking area by 4:45pm for assignments and briefing.

Way out there planning: we think next year’s SKYWARN spotter training will be in mid-February around Valentine’s Day.

We had a great session and I commend your AEC team for this work; but then after all, they are representative of you, our Grayson County ARES team.

Thanks for the chance to serve with you!

73
Rick
K5ECX