US Army Military Auxiliary Radio Service (MARS) has invited Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS to take part in a joint national communication exercise that will measure the auxiliary force’s capabilities should normal communication systems be disrupted throughout North America.

“The intent of this exercise is to successfully demonstrate conventional traffic-handling abilities,” Army MARS Headquarters said September 6 in announcing the exercise. The test will run November 3-5, and a joint Army/Air Force/Navy-Marine Corps team responsible to the US Department of Defense for homeland security will monitor the 48 hour exercise.

This exercise culminates a year-long series of escalating preparations by Army MARS for responding to complex emergencies — a natural disaster or terrorist attack — that might crash or compromise the Internet, telephone, and national news and media networks across the US. Army MARS region directors will start getting ready immediately. Army MARS Headquarters in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, will gather performance statistics during the exercise.

MARS is a US Department of Defense-sponsored program with Army, Navy, and Air Force branches. 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.