Dick, the language of the new C1 was developed by Bob Vallio's division cabinet at a meeting Bob chaired in Reno at Emcomm West on May 1 of this year. It was in response to comments, mainly by California SMs, that there is no realistic possibility of applying the ARES "brand" to all Amateur Radio emergency communications groups in the state. On the other hand, there may be a realistic possibility of offering training that is so good that it would be used even by groups that do not operate under the ARES logo, or even by groups that use GMRS or other personal radio services. The current C1 reads, "Develop training opportunities with served agencies." 73, Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: Richard J. Norton [mailto:richardjnorton@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 12:05 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:19369] Re: Mail vote of the Board on strategic plan Please excuse me for engaging in discussion before voting, but would someone please answer a couple of questions about - C1 (as revised). Make ARRL the “gold standard” for volunteer emergency radio communications training. Rationale: This strategy builds on one of the ARRL’s strengths and would improve Amateur Radio’s emergency communications capabilities and our value to served agencies. 1) If this is a new objective, what was our previous objective with respect to "volunteer emergency radio communications training?" Was our previous objective to be number 2, number 3, or what? Is there any competition for this, or do we automatically default to the "gold standard" ranking because we are the only player? 2) Is being the "gold standard" something unusual enough for the ARRL that we would pick only one facet of Amateur Radio to attempt achieving it? I would have hoped that we would have always had the objective of being the best in most all aspects of Amateur Radio, but maybe not? I hope this doesn't become a public objective and I get asked these questions at a forum, unless some of you can provide me with some good answers. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA