Training can only go so far in the classroom. Some aspects and experience can only be achieved on the job. One way to do that is with a practice that is called double teaming.

Double teaming is the process of putting a less experienced person to work with an experienced one, particularly in operations, installations, and technical work. This enables the lesser experienced (or new person) to show their stuff under fire, be evaluated under pressure, and sometimes step up into the role of a more responsible position.

Query: do the benefits to RACES participants of a county program such as a credit union conflict with FCC Amateur Radio Service rules? 

Reply: The FCC rules do not apply to Amateurs for the use of a credit union by participants in a county benefit program as a result of a RACES program in and by that county. What it does do is to seek to prevent Amateur licensees from using the Amateur Radio Service FREQUENCIES incorrectly. It's not the Amateur LICENSE per se that the FCC is interested in, it's the improper use of Amateur Service FREQUENCIES it wants to avoid; i.e., pecuniary interest or pay for use of the AMATEUR frequencies (or any use of other frequencies improperly.)

Query from Emergency Management Agency Official: Why do Amateur Radio operators sign up with a multitude of places to serve and then are not available to any particular unit when really needed? 

Reply: Here are some ideas, perceptions and practices that result in that situation:

If the past few years are an example of changes to come, then we may not recognize what serving in an Auxiliary Communications Service will be like in the 21st century!

Today the situation is no longer just that of operation of radios or packet. It involves much more than that; like assistance with a wide array of SYSTEMS: telephone, satellite, microwave, computers. When understood thoroughly, it covers everything from disaster information and intelligence to the delivery, installation and operations of systems in support of needs that may not be even thought of as yet!