Hello All,

AmConOWC had our first meeting yesterday 18OCT2020 at the Garbry Big Woods Reserve in Miami County.

Turnout was good, despite dreary weather, with six personnel attending - Buckeye67, goml91, grich77, JATMO, Romeo, and vf171ohio.

After introductions, we briefly discussed OPSEC, PERSEC as it pertains to our involvement in AmCon with emphasis that we're here as a knowledge sharing and emergency preparedness organization.

Areas of focus were then discussed, focusing on the following:

Comminications
Medical
General Prepping
Mobility
Monthly Training & Meetings

As we move forward, each month will be devoted to a specific training topic with content added weekly (if not daily) on a specific topic.

For example, a month dedicated to medical training may include information about applying tourniquets, basic first aid, reviews of medical kits and so on. These blocks of instruction may include videos or articles from various sources.

Then, at our monthly gathering we go over what we had discussed during that month's blocks of instruction and have more formal training such as a "Stop the Bleed" or First Aid/CPR course.

Each month will cycle through various topics, and my intent is to have folks who are well-versed in those areas of expertise lead the training discussions.

We also discussed how we viewed AmCon as an organization. We recognized that while there may be situations where we group together for support, we'll most likely be working with people that we have already established relationships with such as family members, neighbors, coworkers and so on.

As such, AmCon is an extremely valuable vehicle for obtaining training and disseminating information that we can take back to our "home" groups. AmCon in that sense becomes a great force multiplier. Then, in extreme circumstances if/when we do need to come together as an organization - we already have common training, skillsets and even equipment.

This brings me to another topic that's been discussed, which is standardization of training and equipment. This was also discussed that the State and Area Leader meeting. The idea is to have as much of our training and equipment be similar if not the same. This way in the event members from another region need to shelter here or vice-versa, our gear uses the same batteries and we have common skillsets and TTPs.

Recruiting and participation was also discussed. Everyone attending would like to see the organization grow and be successful. With that in mind, if you have like-minded family members, friends or coworkers, by all means introduce them to AmCon - with the emphasis that we're a community emergency preparedness organization.

Regarding participation, as we get into more formal training and activities, I'd personally like to emphasize that in order to be a success, this has to be a group/team/collaborative effort. Everyone has skills to offer the group. If you have something that you're interested in or a skill that you think would be helpful - let me know!

As we enter the winter months, getting together at an outside park may not be optimal. However, I'm willing to host some meetings at my home. If anyone has an indoor venue where we could host training/meetings, please advise. When we get into spring/summer/fall - more opportunities open and we may look at holding more than one meet-up per month.

Garbry Big Woods Reserve was a great location. It's a large area with multiple shelters and bathroom facilities on-site and we will likely use that location again.

Millers Campground in Waynesville was also discussed as a possible location for firearms-related training. We'll look into this and plan accordingly.

Regarding communications, various phone applications were discussed including Zello, Signal and Wickr Me. Most groups in Ohio have Zello and Signal groups already in-use. If you're not already on these apps, please consider installing them.

We also conducted our own "vetting" session amongst the attendees with everyone displaying their CHLs and IDs (entirely voluntary) and any other information they wished to share.

Overall it was a great meeting and I think I speak for everyone attending that we believe we have a good foundation and that we're optimistic about moving forward as a group.

Overall, it was a great meeting and it was good to put faces with