MARS operations begin in Iraq, more operators sought

by Bill Sexton, N11N/AAA9PC

Back during the earlier U.S. operation known as Desert Storm, thousands of messages flowed between the troops overseas and families and friends back home courtesy of America’s ham radio operators.

Now they’re poised to flow again. The first Military Affiliate Radio System licenses have been issued to soldier stations in Iraq and Kuwait and a broad range of frequencies assigned for their use. MARS is also operational in Afghanistan.

These new operations will open up MARSgram and phone patch communications for troops beyond the reach of e-mail and cell phones. Just about every company-size unit overseas has high frequency radio equipment in house (or, more likely, in tent.)

Daniel Wolff, assistant affiliate MARS coordinator for Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia, reported that four soldier licenses had been issued as of June 1 but he hopes there will be many more as active hostilities wind down.

Several American amateurs have been reported operating on the ham bands from Iraq, but this activity is problematic since all regular reciprocal licensing in Iraq expired with the removal of the Saddam Hussein government.

Handling telegrams (termed “MARSgram”) and phone patches to deployed soldiers was once a dominating mission of MARS. Preparedness to provide emergency or contingency communications backup, primary mission of MARS, now occupies first place, but in the absence of emergencies there is no impediment to handling what the services call morale and welfare traffic — only the shortage of stations to receive it.

That doesn’t mean MARSgrams are not being handled at least one-way for service members now deployed to Southwest Asia. Those addressed to Iraq or Kuwait are transmitted by radio to the nearest MARS gateway station and then re-filed into the Military Postal System for delivery to the final address. This shaves days or weeks from the time a message would take traveling the full distance by mail. Information on sending MARSgrams is available at www.netcom.army.mil/MARS.

“Now that most hostile actions have stopped in the region, humanitarian and other support roles will be employed,” said Wolff. “MARS should be one of them. But if we are going to see MARSgrams and phone patches flowing in and out of Southwest Asia then we need to see more MARS stations in the region.

“I suspect that more would request a license, including hundreds of deployed ham operators, if they knew how to reach us. The reality is, they probably don’t even know that MARS is an option for them. How sad.”

Federal Communications Commission-licensed amateurs apply for an overseas MARS license much as they would in the United States, except that additional information is required (i.e. latitude and longitude of the station) for operations in foreign countries. Commanding officers may also apply for a MARS station license for their unit and are exempt from the FCC amateur radio license requirement.

Commanders or hams operators deployed, or expected to deploy, may obtain full information and application forms at aem1wf@qsl.net (all lower case!).