Monday, June 18, 2018 -- Well, Field Day is coming this Saturday. I have an standing invitation from the local club to join them at Field Day. Thanks, but I'll probably pass this year.
Our club is basically on life support, and has been for years. The longtime regulars have mostly quit attending. The reason for much of this is due to one person -- Neil.
Neil is a very unusual kind of man. For years he squatted on his family farm, living there without lights or water. The farm was actually the property of Neil's brother, who inherited the farm from his father, who had died years earlier. His father's estate never completed probate; Neil's brother died in a car crash, so title to the property fell into some sort of legal limbo. Neil lived there with utilities for years; he worked at a series of temporary jobs, which seemed to work against him -- or he believed it did.
Neil was an odd duck who tended to annoy other men and creep out most women. He ended up in a long period of joblessness, and he lost his utilities. His personal hygiene was really bad, and he smelled awful. But Neil wanted to volunteer if he couldn't find a job, so for a time he volunteered for the American Red Cross until his hygiene issues became a problem.
Neil attended all the radio club meetings, and even if his presence wasn't annoying, his mannerisms were. A meeting would last forever because Neil would ask questions about random, unrelated things. Once you gave an answer, he would tell you how another group answerd the question, and if they were right or wrong? Or he would give a definitive answer about the issue. He really didn't want to know, he knew his answers, he wanted to know what you knew about it. I get it, but how he did it was most annoying.
During times I was president of the club, I would try to get Neil to shut the hell up with the questions already ... with varying degrees of success.
By this time I was out of the club and I kept hearing that more and more club members were staying away, some due to Neil, some due to the lack of leadership. The meetings had evolved into gatherings where members sat around looking at one another asking "what are we going to do tonight?"
There was nothing organized, nothing set, just random discussion, plus whatever Neil wanted to blather on about. It was time wasted.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Field Day came and went and I avoided every bit of it. I had a rig on at 2 p.m. Saturday, and got to hear all the chaos begin. Sounded like fun, lol!
I never made the first contact, nor did I visit anyone's FD station. I had plenty of other things to do.
The Section Emergency Manager resigned a couple of weeks ago; he was the same one who worked with me for the second half of my tenure, and did a great job. He was SEC for less than a year this time ... the SM and he weren't great buddies anyway. I never felt like he was 100 percent on board this time like he was before. I think he suffered from the same burn-out that I do. He has put in more than his share of hours, cared too much, volunteered more than necessary. I was surprised when the SM coaxed him out of retirement to begin with.
The Division Director contacted me a few months ago ... at some point in the past, I was named an assistant director, which is simple an honory title that means nothing. Some guys actually paid to have badges made with the title. Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!
He wanted to know what we as a group of appointees wanted to do. I never responded; I guess I "earned" the appointment as a former section manager. I didn't care if I had it or not.
Speaking of badges, I know a number of hams in my section who held a variety of volunteer appointments (like many do) -- Volunteer Examiner; Instructor; Emergency Coordinator; official emergency station, etc. Well, you would be surprised how many of these hams get badges made for EVER single appointment! One guy had at least five badges he work around his neck.
Now the only badge I have now is that I had a red former SM badge made; I haven't worn it, it looks too much like the regular SM badge, and the damn truth is I don't want people to think that I'm SM again.
And speaking of badges, one of the hot button issues within ARES in my section was the desire for "official" ARES badges. The membership wanted to have the state EMA issue some sort of "all-access" ID badge that would get ARES members in at any accident or scene anywhere in the state -- one that the State Police would also recognize.
This idea never got off the ground, and for damn good reason -- there's a high percentage of whackers in the ARES ranks. If we had provided any kind of all-access ID, it would have created problems from the get-go. I had an ID program ready to roll out, but it would be only recognized within ARES. It would have recognized training levels. The badge would not give anyone access anywhere, by design.
EM insisted during my tenure that they were working on an ID system we could use, so I sat on the badge project of my own. EM never moved an inch on the project, and again for good reason. One of our well-meaning members read the state director -- a national guard general -- the Riot Act about the lack of a statewide ID. The end result was that state EM promised an ID but never came thru. I left office convinced they promised the ID just to keep me from coming through with my own version -- and in that way, preventing any problems from ARES ID'd whackers.
Whatever changes the ARRL makes with ARES will probably be too little to make much of a difference. Of course, in some communities, you have quality volunteers who fill valuable roles. Those guys will always be there for their communities. But in a certain percentage of communities, your average ARES members will believe with all their hearts that they're prepared to assist when communications crash in their area. Chances are they'll never get the call, which is probably for the best.
Well, time for bed .... g'night all, 73.
Our club is basically on life support, and has been for years. The longtime regulars have mostly quit attending. The reason for much of this is due to one person -- Neil.
Neil is a very unusual kind of man. For years he squatted on his family farm, living there without lights or water. The farm was actually the property of Neil's brother, who inherited the farm from his father, who had died years earlier. His father's estate never completed probate; Neil's brother died in a car crash, so title to the property fell into some sort of legal limbo. Neil lived there with utilities for years; he worked at a series of temporary jobs, which seemed to work against him -- or he believed it did.
Neil was an odd duck who tended to annoy other men and creep out most women. He ended up in a long period of joblessness, and he lost his utilities. His personal hygiene was really bad, and he smelled awful. But Neil wanted to volunteer if he couldn't find a job, so for a time he volunteered for the American Red Cross until his hygiene issues became a problem.
Neil attended all the radio club meetings, and even if his presence wasn't annoying, his mannerisms were. A meeting would last forever because Neil would ask questions about random, unrelated things. Once you gave an answer, he would tell you how another group answerd the question, and if they were right or wrong? Or he would give a definitive answer about the issue. He really didn't want to know, he knew his answers, he wanted to know what you knew about it. I get it, but how he did it was most annoying.
During times I was president of the club, I would try to get Neil to shut the hell up with the questions already ... with varying degrees of success.
By this time I was out of the club and I kept hearing that more and more club members were staying away, some due to Neil, some due to the lack of leadership. The meetings had evolved into gatherings where members sat around looking at one another asking "what are we going to do tonight?"
There was nothing organized, nothing set, just random discussion, plus whatever Neil wanted to blather on about. It was time wasted.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Field Day came and went and I avoided every bit of it. I had a rig on at 2 p.m. Saturday, and got to hear all the chaos begin. Sounded like fun, lol!
I never made the first contact, nor did I visit anyone's FD station. I had plenty of other things to do.
The Section Emergency Manager resigned a couple of weeks ago; he was the same one who worked with me for the second half of my tenure, and did a great job. He was SEC for less than a year this time ... the SM and he weren't great buddies anyway. I never felt like he was 100 percent on board this time like he was before. I think he suffered from the same burn-out that I do. He has put in more than his share of hours, cared too much, volunteered more than necessary. I was surprised when the SM coaxed him out of retirement to begin with.
The Division Director contacted me a few months ago ... at some point in the past, I was named an assistant director, which is simple an honory title that means nothing. Some guys actually paid to have badges made with the title. Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!
He wanted to know what we as a group of appointees wanted to do. I never responded; I guess I "earned" the appointment as a former section manager. I didn't care if I had it or not.
Speaking of badges, I know a number of hams in my section who held a variety of volunteer appointments (like many do) -- Volunteer Examiner; Instructor; Emergency Coordinator; official emergency station, etc. Well, you would be surprised how many of these hams get badges made for EVER single appointment! One guy had at least five badges he work around his neck.
Now the only badge I have now is that I had a red former SM badge made; I haven't worn it, it looks too much like the regular SM badge, and the damn truth is I don't want people to think that I'm SM again.
And speaking of badges, one of the hot button issues within ARES in my section was the desire for "official" ARES badges. The membership wanted to have the state EMA issue some sort of "all-access" ID badge that would get ARES members in at any accident or scene anywhere in the state -- one that the State Police would also recognize.
This idea never got off the ground, and for damn good reason -- there's a high percentage of whackers in the ARES ranks. If we had provided any kind of all-access ID, it would have created problems from the get-go. I had an ID program ready to roll out, but it would be only recognized within ARES. It would have recognized training levels. The badge would not give anyone access anywhere, by design.
EM insisted during my tenure that they were working on an ID system we could use, so I sat on the badge project of my own. EM never moved an inch on the project, and again for good reason. One of our well-meaning members read the state director -- a national guard general -- the Riot Act about the lack of a statewide ID. The end result was that state EM promised an ID but never came thru. I left office convinced they promised the ID just to keep me from coming through with my own version -- and in that way, preventing any problems from ARES ID'd whackers.
Whatever changes the ARRL makes with ARES will probably be too little to make much of a difference. Of course, in some communities, you have quality volunteers who fill valuable roles. Those guys will always be there for their communities. But in a certain percentage of communities, your average ARES members will believe with all their hearts that they're prepared to assist when communications crash in their area. Chances are they'll never get the call, which is probably for the best.
Well, time for bed .... g'night all, 73.
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