From Daniel Wolff, Army MARS in Europe

From Daniel Wolff, Army MARS in Europe

This message is a personal appeal to take action against the closure of the European Area MARS Gateway Station (AEM1USA. Earlier this year the Commanding General, General Bell, US Army Europe (USAREUR), officially requested the closure of the Gateway, which links the Hams in MARS within the United States with troops in Europe, the Middle East, West Asia and Africa. His request has made its way up the chain to the Department of the Army who, if I understand correctly, concurs with his request.

The General's request is now on the desk of the Department of Defense (DoD) representative for MARS who works in the offices of the Secretary of Defense. This DoD representative, Mr. Morris Hornik (), is now being asked to concur or not concur with the closure of the European Area MARS Gateway station This is a critical pivot point in not only the future of MARS in Europe, but the future of MARS anywhere outside of the Continental USA (CONUS).

He argued that with the advent of new technologies (cell phones, satellite communications, email, and phones in the field, etc.) that MARS is not needed anymore. None of the positive reasons for MARS provided by me or the Command MARS Director, Europe to General Bell made it in the General's request to close the Gateway. In fact, it appears the General had his mind up to close the Gateway before ever requesting input from the Command MARS Director, Europe. The following statement on MARS was included in the House Armed Services Committee report which accompanied the Defense bills for 2000.

Military Affiliate Radio System

The committee reiterates its prior support for the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and the civilian amateur radio operators who provide the Department of Defense (DoD) with an auxiliary means of communications in the event of a local, national, or international emergency. However, the committee is concerned that the benefits of this volunteer communications service are not fully appreciated or utilized by the Department. In its December 31, 1996 report to the committee on the MARS program, the Secretary of Defense emphasized, "there is no requirement for a change in the MARS mission." although its main mission is to provide emergency communications support, MARS has been a valuable system for relaying morale and welfare messages between U.S. service personnel stationed abroad and their families in the United States.

This system has operated at virtually no cost to the Department. As the number, scope, and pace of contingency operations in which the United States participates -- including peacekeeping operations--continues to grow, the committee encourages the Department to support, where feasible, the deployment of a MARS capability to contingency theaters in order to provide an auxiliary communications means for the use of service personnel. In light ofreports that DoD communications networks in Europe are being augmentedand improved in connection with the U.S. and NATO military campaignagainst Yugoslavia, the committee believes that MARS can play animportant role in support of the military and humanitarian operationsbeing conducted in support of this mission. The committee is aware of other existing communications arrangements--including the Defense Switching Network, mobile subscriber equipment, commercial carriers, and e-mail--which have been made available to U.S. troops for morale traffic purposes during limited periods of time. However, the committee notes that these alternate systems may not always be available and may result in out-of-pocket costs to the users. The committee also encourages the department to make greater efforts to inform U.S. military personnel of the availability of the mars service.

With this in mind, the committee urged the Secretary of Defense to take a number of actions to improve the utility of MARS. Such actions included,

(1)Increasing the visibility of MARS to senior military and civil authority leadership;

(2)Incorporating MARS into appropriate contingency and emergency operations plans;

(3)Increasing the use of MARS as a cost-effective and viable alternative to commercial telecommunications for the purposes of troop morale and welfare;

(4)Ensuring that all forward deployed units possess communications equipment capable of operation on MARS frequencies; and

(5)Considering the applicability of using MARS as a low-cost test bed for the evaluation of new communications technology and equipment.

The committee notes that contemplated changes to communications modes and frequency allocations between military and commercial use may negatively impact the ability of mars to fulfill its auxiliary communications role in the event of emergency. The committee also encouraged the Department to ensure that issues related to MARS frequency allocations are addressed in connection with any review of emergency response mission requirements. The European Command from HQ USAREUR, through 5th Signal Command, down the chain to the 181st Signal Company has done little to support the objectives envisioned above by the House Armed Services Committee or the office of the Secretary of Defense. Just the opposite has occurred and in fact, many obstacles have been put in place to stunt the growth and curtail the improvement of the MARS network within USAREUR and CENTCOM. Mr. Hornik is in general, pro-MARS. In fact, he is also a licensed Advanced Class Amateur Radio Operator. However, in his official capacity as the DoD Representative for MARS, he can not simply "non-concur" with the closure of the Gateway without giving some substance as to why. I ask you to give him reasons why it is not a good idea to close the Gateway.

73,
Mr. Daniel Wolff
Assistant Affiliate Coordinator, Europe
US Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS)
MARS CallsignS: AEA1AM, AEM1WF
Webpage:
E-mail:
Contact info for Mr. Hornik, DoD MARS Representative, Office of the
Secretary of Defense (OSD-NII)

(703) 607-0251