[Updated 09-10-2013] A major revision of US Army Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) training doctrine tops the agenda when headquarters staff and region directors meet in Atlanta September 17-19 for a three-day national workshop. The 20-member MARS Governance Executive Board (MGEB) will also survey new technology, augmented modes of operation and evolving mission as these developments impact MARS’s overall training doctrine. Selection of a national training officer, a volunteer post vacant for several years, is on the agenda.

Program Chief Paul English, WD8DBY, has asked MARS members to submit ideas for the MGEB’s consideration via their state director or posted to the “Ask the Chief” tab on the Army MARS website. Chief Stephen Klinefelter will preside over the gathering, the second such face-to-face on a national scale.

The MGEB will be asked to frame a new documentation that would include separate comprehensive voice and data, message/reports/procedures manuals. These would complement a basic training manual that Operations Chief David McGinnis, K7UXO, said would be truly basic in nature and “short, sweet, and relevant to new members only.”

MARS is a US Department of Defense-sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The program consists of Amateur Radio operators who are interested in military communications on a local, national, and international basis as an adjunct to normal communications.