The American Public Emergency Communications System (APECS) is the
first truly "public" emergency communications service of it's kind
in the world.  Unlike other vital emergency communications networks
whose primary aim seems to be leveled at maintining official lines
of commmunications between relief agencies during times of crisis,
our purpose is focused primarily on establishing an efficient link
between those people living and working in a disaster classified
country and their family, friends, and general supports here in
North America.  As a public service network of volunteer computer
operators, we have a vital purpose and have dedicated direction.

Until the formation of SaudiNet, APECS' first project, the world
needed a way to make a real difference with the general community
with regard to communicating with friends, family, and loved ones
residing in or working in regions of the world declared by
recognized international countries and territories as disaster
areas, hazardous duty areas, and/or war zones.  We have been called
on to perform a useful public service, and through this first
project, "The Saudi Connection", we have proven our value by
delivering literally thousand of letters and messages from a caring
American public to the troops serving in the Gulf War, and all but
eliminating the normal time span conventional postal services
maintain.  A letter entered into our system today can realisticly
be in a soldiers hands in less than a week.  At our best, we've
done it in three days.

While we have performed some small miracles in world society by
destroying some cultural "Bamboo Curtains" by utilizing the first
truly public conferencing system called "echomail" to achieve our
goals in accordance with our corporate charter, bulletin board
networks had not been put to the test until the formation of
SaudiNet.  

Now we have proven their efficiency in the worst of scenarios, that
being wartime communications.

The American Public Emergency Communications System is merely the
sponsor of SaudiNet, which is the network organizational
structure to "The Saudi Connection" that provides organized
stability
and identification to the members who have volunteered their system
to be community outlets for sending personal mail to American and
Coalition servicemembers assigned to Operation Desert Storm in
Saudi
Arabia.

The founders and officers of APECS realized that the creation of a
structured network became necessary to keep organization in a
worthy
project and for recognizing those who are participating.  SaudiNet
is
a high technology network established to provide for mail flow,
publicity coordination and general organization within a very
specific crisis area in the Gulf.  Through the organizational 
structure of APECS, other projects of this kind can be brought into 
action, funded, monitored and coordinated in a decentralized manner 
necessary to stable operation. 

The real purpose behind forming a corporation such as APECS is
many-fold:

First:    It provides us with a basic charter outlining a wide
          variety  of emergency communications service
          possibilities which extend beyond the Gulf War;

Second:   Through the projects sponsored by APECS, average American 
          citizens are afforded a method to communicate their
          support and good will to peoples of other nations who
          have been beset by tragedy and in need of our support -
          and it gives those who are able to provide the service a
          way to share it.
 
Third:    Separation is a very hard thing to endure and the Postal
          Services, both U.S.  and military, are working very hard
          to move the mail but even as they improve facilities, the
          mail flow grows.  Mail delivery times are averaging from
          2 to 6 weeks to Saudi Arabia alone.  We have the ability
          to completely remove the time it takes to move a message
          from the continental United States to a pre-arranged
          receiving system anywhere in the world.  APECS can, in
          its finest hour, get mail from someones mother and have
          it in their hands in a fraction of the time required 
          by conventional mail.


How it works..................

Local BBS systems accept mail in a special echomail area set up for
a specific crisis.  This mail is sent one-way outbound to community
HUB BBSes that forward that mail on to State or Regional
Coordinators, and  then on to a national collection and tranmission
center. 

The mail is "inspected" (NOT CENSORED) for quality of content and
confirmation with reasonable minimum standards (no racial slurs,
political, etc) and any blatant violation will simply not be sent
and the originating system operator will be notified by return
electronic mail of any attempted violation.  Cleared mail can then
be transmitted by satellite to a receiving station at the heart of
the crisis.

How does an interested individual send mail?

The entire APECS system is computerized.  We support a "Star"
topology wherein messages entered anywhere in the U.S. are
distrubted rapidly throughout the country to keep all of all
members up-to-date on current events affecting our organization, as
well as deliver project letters to the transmission facility.  In
order to send the messages out they must first be entered as simple
computer text into a computer.  The easiest way, of course, is to
call any one of the APECS member nodes and just type it in live
online.

Almost all of these systems have the ability to receive these
messages on computer diskette and "import" them into the mail
system for transmission.

Local participation............

All that is required of APECS member nodes is that the mail be
computerized - but any organization with a MS-DOS type of computer
has the ability to generate a disk for delivery to the local system
operator.

There is no glory in this, but there is much pride.  APECS members
are committed to the our basic goals.   The results of providing
this service to others is most important to all of them, and
rewarding  to say the least.

Now that the Gulf Crisis is nearly over.  APECS will expand to
include the war-torn country of Kuwait so that we can provide a 
vital communications link between the hundred or so thousand
American and Canadian citizens who will be working to rebuild
Kuwait.

We are also working otu the logistics for our next project,
MIL_ECHO wherein we will install nodes on or near as many U.S.
military installations around the world as we can, to provide
continuous two-way communications between civilian and military
personnel.

We invite all of the current SaudiNet members to continue to work
with  us in their present capacity, and to continue to provide such
an  important humanitarian service as that which they provided
throughout the war in the Gulf.
