OK, I’m trying to produce my blog for this month and boy am I having the “roadblocks.” So many that my original theme which was “Dealing with the unexpected” really seemed apropos. Since starting this month’s blog, my wife was hospitalized, my kids have had problems and if my pickup truck wouldn’t start and my dog ran off, I would have the perfect country song. I’m not asking for sympathy; I’m just stating how sometimes things don’t work out like we expect them to. By the way, after four weeks she is out of the hospital and in a “advanced care facility”.
My original intent was to discuss how we as hams should be ready for the unexpected. The unexpected could be a natural disaster such as a storm, earthquake, or fire. It could be something involving friends or family. The point is that your help or services may be needed at a time which you have not planned for.
I have mentioned friends and family so I would like to emphasize that they are your first responsibility before rushing off to help with other things such as a flood or fire. It is the responsible thing to do and it insures that your focus is clear if you are responding to a disaster or whatever.
How do we prepare? Sometimes you will have little or no time to prepare. You will go with what you have. I remember way back to when I was 16 or 17 and my buddy Rick and I had purchased SCUBA equipment and wet suits (water is chilly on the Oregon coast even in the summer).
We were down at the Taft dock discussing what we should do as we had an hour of air in our tanks. The Sergeant for the Oregon State Police drove out onto the dock and asked, “I was told I might find two divers here, does anyone know who they are?” He was less than impressed that the divers were teenagers but he took what he could get. Two sport fishermen had fallen overboard above the Kernville bridge and they were dragging and searching for them. Did Rick and I have any experience searching? No. Were we willing to help? Yes.
We were put on a small river tug with two “Coasties” and the tug’s skipper. The Coast Guard men had been manning the lines with grappling hooks they had towed over the area. They had “hooked” something a couple of times but lost it as they pulled the lines in so they hoped divers might be able to retrieve whatever it was.
We went in going down an anchor line and tied another line to the anchor and swam two-abreast in a circle using the line to create our search pattern. I was on the outside and the river was very murky. I could only see about 12 to 18 inches in front of my mask so it was quite a surprise when the face of the first corpse I’d ever seen suddenly appeared in front of me! I probably sucked five minutes of air out of my tank in one breath!
This story from my youth only relates to ham radio in that we sometimes find ourselves trying to help in a situation we are neither trained for nor really equipped for. On active duty with the Army I spent two years with the 2nd Armored Cavalry in Germany and their motto was “Tojours Pret”, “Always Ready” a good motto to live by it would seem. Sometimes we are offered training and we either pass on it or do not take it seriously thinking “how will I ever need to know or use that skill.” When I learned to SCUBA dive bringing a corpse to the surface was NOT one of the reasons for diving that I had in mind.