Short Rows

I’m in my last week with the city and county before I leave for Maryland. I’m at the point where I am both extremely gitty and anxious at the same time. It’s like the first time you go to an amusement park to ride a rollercoaster. You know it’s going to be scary but you want like hell to do it anyway! Yesterday at the city we had a pretty full day on the Rescue! EMT all morning, HAZ-MAT call at lunch, quick and late lunch, and then back to the house for some rescue rigging. That was just the day time. Around 5 we went downtown to help soften a house for a live burn for some of the newer guys. They all had a blast. Our rookie switched with me for a while so he could play and I could watch the All-Star Game! It was sweet, until he got back and I got on the Rescue again and proceeded to run all night. I’m exhausted but I love it!

I didn’t really grasp just how soon I was leaving all this until yesterdays shift. Every call we had I got a hand shake from someone saying congratulations, we will miss you, or If I don’t see you again, good luck. It’s crazy to see people you look up to come to you in a completely foreign way and throw everything to the side. People you respect to come at you like you were both two regular nobody’s and say "good luck!" It’s weird to think that I could have made an impression on anyone. I could be completely wrong. They might be planning a thank god he’s gone party. All I know is that I understand now that I wasn’t just a name on a board.

While downtown yesterday one of the guys from 3 came up and said "Mikey, you’re in the short rows now aint cha bud? When’s your last day?" My reply to that question has been the 25th for a month. Until now it was just a number; a spot on the calendar just like any other Thursday. I sit down last night and see that that Thursday is REALLY close to being tomorrow. I now have 3 shifts at the county and 3 shifts in the city left. I am definitely in the short rows. Counting the last little bit until I empty my locker, take down my helmet, and turn in my badge. I am in the short rows...

UNTILL I GET TO MARYLAND IN A WHOLE NEW FIELD! THEN I START ALL OVER AGAIN! ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY HAS NEVER HAD A CLEANER TOILET!!! LOOK OUT BOYS HERE I COME!

KNOCK KNOCK. WHOSE THERE? OPPORTUNITY!

This past weekend I was asked to help out with some awesome training. I got a text from the chief of my volunteer department about some drills going on at a building scheduled for demolition. "IM IN!" was my reply! Its not everyday you get told by a building owner, If yuo want come cut up and beat down as much of this building as you want. Luckily this training turned into another opportunity for me to teach. Passing it on! I was told by my buddy who was in charge of it to be ready to teach forcible entry or ventilation. I was REALLY hoping to not have to teach ventilation!

                                                                     DRILL DAY



Collapse prop using what we had.

Hinges, string, nails, and trash is all we
needed to succeed

The day of the drill I show up to the building we were donated and find a bunch of the guys from the host department doing some general housekeeping of the building to make it safe for those inside. Sweeping out the rooms, taking down light bulbs; they even painted the windows out front black. IT GOT DARK! I walked in to find another guy I worked with got asked to help out too. He LOVES teaching ventilation. SCORE, I’m off the hook. Pete’s cuttin holes and I’m bustin doors! It was at that moment I knew it was going to be a fun day! Pete and I worked together on a prop that was going to be used in the final end all be all drill for the night. It was a collapse prop meant to "scare the piss outta someone." We were really excited to use it. Once all our props were in place and instructors said their hellos to each other it was time to bring in the students. We did our normal "hey stay out of the road, no running, wear your helmet" safety speech and got down to business. With the 30+ students in attendance being a majority under 20 I have to say they all were extremely well behaved. They came in their groups to each station, listened to instructions, and got to work. No one came into a station acting like they knew everything. No one gave the "that’s not how we do it." It was extremely enjoyable to be involved with a group that was there to learn how to be fireman.

MY STATION

Like I said earlier, I got to teach one of my favorite subjects. Forcible entry is a blast. You get to break things but you have to do it in a way that is controlled. You can’t just got tearing things up because you want to. It was a very down and dirty instructional period. The host department wanted us to focus on the RIT (Rapid Intervention Team) concepts of our subjects. I showed off the usual tools on the trucks. Pry bar, halligan, ax, k-tool, sledge hammer. What almost no one realized was available was a K12! I explained to the students the pros and cons to the different tools and tried to get them to grasp that this was an area in the fire service that they can tailor to themselves. I wanted so bad for each student to get the idea that this was a thinking mans game and that forcing obstacles means you have to think outside the box. You’re not always going to find the answer on how to do something from an essentials manual.

Once the tool refresher was gone I explained to the students what softening a building was and how important it is when there are crews working inside. To my surprise each person that I came across said they wouldn’t break all the windows out! THAT SHOWS US WERE MAKING PROGRESS!!! I don’t know who taught them that or if they figured it out on their own but I reinforced the hell out of it! The students walked me around the building pointing out hazards, obstacles, and landmarks. Each time we came across something they had a question about we stopped and talked. Trying to let the students tell each other about the small differences in construction; like how to tell the difference in telephone, cable, and power lines. You learn more by teaching than you do listening. I promise.

BREAK TIME

Now that all the "lame" part of instruction was over it was time to break stuff. We had a metal inward swinging door with a solid metal frame to work with. I loved it because it allowed me to show them what was physically going on when they used to wrong technique and what it felt like when they did it right. I was able to reuse this door over and over until it finally just came out the wall. I held it in place from one side as long as I could but we eventually had to leave it. The other group had a similar door but solid wood with a 6 pane window. Luckily between the two doors everyone left that day having put their hands on tools and physically forcing a door open. I wanted everyone to know it’s not as easy as it looks on Rescue Me.

All the stations were finished and the time had come for me to pack up and head to the house. I was not able to stay for the final drill of the night but I had full confidence in the students I had. All the instructors the next day at work said "Man you missed an awesome drill!" I like hearing that. I like being told that everything that was done was correct. I like getting good feedback not just from students but from my peers. I like to know that we were able to take something in our community that was trash to so many others and get a day full of in depth training that otherwise would not have happened. We were able to give a level of instruction that is not always available to those trying to learn the craft of being a firefighter. These opportunities come along to some frequently. To others not so much. If you are a line or chief officer I BEG YOU, PLEASE push your guys to go to these trainings. Even if it is at a department that you don’t like. If its being lead by an instructor you don’t agree with, GO! You WILL learn something. Even if its something small about you or your tools from practicing a skill, you will learn something. Look for those old buildings in your first and second due that could be used. Get a hold of the building owners and see what you can do with them. Don’t let these opportunities pass you by. There is no excuse why everyone second due to the building we had this weekend was not represented. There is no excuse why a department should be ok with not training. There is no reason that you should feel as though you are completely prepared for the next call because you are "certified." Ill take an uncertified old timer that’s been there done that over a certified paper tiger all day long. When its 1000 degrees there aint no time to think about it. There’s only time to do!

I wish that every day I had the opportunity to do what I did this weekend. I get more enjoyment out of that than almost anything else. I can only hope that others continue to pass on as much as they can to the ones beside and behind us. It will make a difference. One person, one truck, one house at a time. We will make a difference. Join us or get left behind.

LIARS AND THIEFS

I am 99.9% sure the guy doing this doesn’t read what I write! I don’t really care. Whoever is going around MY neighborhood breaking into houses, terrorizing MY friends and neighbors is about to have a world of hurt laid upon them. I don’t think you realize sir/mam that you are pushing a neighborhood full of country folk, civil servants, and veterans. This is not a group of people to be messed with. Soon enough your luck WILL run out. You will either be caught by the authorities (if you’re lucky) or you are going to step into someone’s home that WILL shoot you. I don’t wish harm on anyone but I’m not going to loose sleep over someone that TAKES from those that EARN! Get a job and be a productive member to society. Your going nowhere as it is and will end up in the same place when you’re done. You want to take something from me? Come and get it! I’m only letting you leave my house with one of two things, a Bible or bullet! YOUR CHOICE! Lord I miss the days when you could leave the house unlocked and wide open while you went two blocks down to your friends house for an hour or two! Thanks for ruining a feeling of joy and safety in MY neighborhood! I can’t wait to see you in BUSTED MAGAZINE! LOWLIFE!!!

Motive vs. Purpose





I have been at a point where I want bigger and better things for some time now. Almost as soon as I got into the fire service I wanted to be on the busiest company in the most run down part of the country seeing the firehouse only to come and go at shift change! This is not a dream I hold alone. Many guys I know would love to be able to chase that dream! I have put my name in many a hat up and down the coast! Some had to hang up the dream, some still chase it. Who’s to say that you can’t tweak the dream a little...

This idea has come to me a time or two but I fought it. I poked at me like that little kid does to his big friend on the play ground. Egging him on to do something he didn’t want to do; and like the big kid with a little hesitation I pushed back with a stern NO! Its not that I was afraid to learn the job, get hurt, or fail; I didn’t want to let go of the dream! I use the term DREAM loosely. Dreams, to some are just thoughts of what could be or a story line that runs in your head while you’re asleep. To me and other like me, it’s merely a synonym for goal. I wanted to stay focused on nothing but the goal ahead. I didn’t want the GOAL to turn into my NIGHTLY STORY LINE. Fortunately that little kid kept poking me in the back egging me on!

I have not given up my quest for the ultimate assignment. I have not settled for what I have. I WILL make it to what I want to be. What I have come to realize is that while on my journey I CANT SKIP STEPS, I cannot assume that what I THINK I WANT lines up with what GOD HAS IN STORE FOR ME, and I cannot allow myself to be surrounded by those that aren’t also pushing to be something more. Simple once you grasp these ideas and hold them as truths but a soon as a year ago I fought them with all I had!

I WILL!!

I will is simply that! I WILL. A two word sentence can have a HUGE impact if you hear it. When it is used as a preface in a sentence it can change a person’s life! I WILL finish the academy. I WILL learn something new. I WILL make an impact in the community today. I WILL push myself in the gym harder every day. I WILL trust in Him to show me the way.

Those last two seem to be what the guys at my house and I, are working on most. We are not accepting that we are in good shape or that we are lifting weights. We are striving to be in GREAT shape and pushing ourselves to be in BETTER shape then everyone else. WE are raising the bar by which everyone else will be measured. We are also under a fair amount of stress and uncertainty. This weighs on a lot of people in different ways but we understand that it is His plan. Not our plan. We strive every day to do Gods will and live the life He gives to us in his image. God doesn't build walls to keep you back. He builds them to show you that you can go through anything no matter how big and bad they seem to you now.

I CANNOT SKIP STEPS!

This is something that no matter how much I complain about other people doing it I myself am still guilty of doing it. My dad always got onto me about "half assing" things as a kid. It was a big thing in our house. I even still get a little grief from my wife now even as a grown man. If I skip steps I am not improving myself or my craft. I am digressing. I am setting an example that it is ok to cut corners when no one is looking. I am EXTREMELY ANAL about the way my ropes are rigged. EVERYTHING must be correct. Life depends on it. Why shouldn’t everything else I do get the same effort and have the same meaning? Push yourself, people ARE watching!

ARE MY PLANS GODS PLANS?


Day pack for High Angle
Rescue school. New skills!



I chase the dream daily! I have applied to nearly every major city from Myrtle Beach SC to FDNY! I WILL GET MY ASSIGNMENT!!! Do to me pushing myself for the assignment I KNOW I WILL GET.  I am improving in many ways. I am learning new skills and techniques. I have to constantly push to be in Academy Ready Shape. I have to drill and remember new things on the rigs I am already on. STUDY ALL THE TIME! I know I WILL be on the best rig in town. But who’s to say Gods plan isn’t for me to simply be ON the best rig? Who’s to say His plan isn’t for me to BUILD the best rig in town? Who knows if my constant testing to higher standards of other departments isn’t just for me to come back and hold the next group to those standards? What if my experiences with SEVERAL different departments agility tests are meant to be used in making MY departments better? Could all my hard work to leave and go to the BIG CITY be work to prepare my LITTLE CITY TO BE BIG? Maybe I am going through all this to train my guys to be THE GO TO GUYS at our BIG ONE. Lord I hope not! Hopefully all my hard work will pay off. Hopefully my experiences are meant to be inspirational to others to strive and wok hard to get what they want. Teachers, coaches, parents always tell their kids if you work hard you can achieve anything you want. Hopefully I can be proof of that but more than anything I want to be proof that HE is in control. That, I am ok with.

PUSH HARD OR GO AWAY!!!


No room for lazy when our homes are hit by storms!



Laziness should be studied by the CDC. Seriously. Its contagious, causes bodily harm, makes people fat, can cause unemployment, and kills! Sounds almost like an epidemic right? THEN WHY DO WE ACCEPT IT AS A SOCIAL NORM? I hate to sit around all day. On days where you don’t HAVE to be out and the guy riding in says "I got some computer stuff to do. You guys go hide till lunch." what do you do? The same thing a lot of people would do. Find a recliner or hole in the wall and veg out till lunch. What good is that? Yea some days it’s warranted but are you really working so much that 20-50% of your shifts are spent like this? I doubt it highly! I refuse to be surrounded by this ideal. When I get bored I try to find something constructive for us all to do. Now that we have started to do this everyone holds each other to be productive. There isn’t much more time for idle sitting around at the house. We are learning some much more. We are finding out that we were wrong in thinking we knew all there was to know about our stuff! When the bell rings and all eyes are on us, everyone will look and know who has been putting in extra time on the floor! The lazy ones get left behind to be lazy.

I realize now that I have written what looks to be one of those annoyingly long articles from FIREHOUSE or FIRE ENGINEERING. I’ll put it in terms the truckies can understand. ALWAYS push to achieve your dreams but understand that your motives might not line up with your purpose! Sometimes everything in life works out just the way you planned. Sometimes it doesn’t. Accept that He is in control and push to do the best you can for Him and you will be rewarded. Maybe you’ll kick start someone else’s drive to achieve a dream!

PASS IT ON: It's not just a school yard game!



He doesn't look like the next world leader...
but he turns out to be a Genius



I read an article the other day that basically outlined the frustrations of "the old timers" with "the next generation" or "young bloods" coming up in the fire service. It talked about how todays generation of firefighters are not as hard working or even knowledgeable about hard labor. We are a generation of finding the easier things in life. It works basically around this premis, each generation gets SMARTER THAN THE LAST. It is based on the FLYNN EFFECT. The run down comes from a series of IQ tests recorded and tracked from the 1930's all the way until today. These test scores show that each generation gets smarter than the last. The author of the article paired this with my generations work ethic. We have become more about problem solving and delegation than getting our hands dirty and knocking out the work.

This I have conflict with. It is undeniable that my generation has higher test scores and thinks more about making a job easier and less strenuous. We have taken the motto work smarter and not harder to a whole new level. I have swept the dirt under the rug as much as the next guy to keep from having to do it right. It's a horrible habit. Its that very habit that I cant stand to see in others. I get absolutely red with rage when I see something as simple as someone not cleaning out the paint brushes or throwing away that paper towel that missed the can. It is also these same things that I have been guilty of. The "old timers" always seem to come behind you and ring your neck about how the bathrooms aren't clean enough and explain to you how the work isn't nearly as hard as when they were starting out. This is true. Without a doubt it is true.

"Back in the day" is a time almost forgotten. It was a day when a man studied reading, writing and arithmetic. When stalls had to be cleaned and the chickens fed before school. A time when 10 year old boys were expected to carry his weight x2. Is there still a way that a work ethic can be instilled in this generation of "young bloods?" I say yes, if you have the right "old timers." The drive needs to simply be passed on. YES, there are inevitably the few that CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE WORTH A DARN! That is the 1%. Don't let the 1% define your shift, house, or class! Seek out those old timers that are willing to get off the computer and show you how to throw a ladder by yourself better. Get involved with the guys in charge of building props and learn how to swing a hammer and use a framing square.

County guys passing it on to the next generation.

If things are not passed on from generation to generation we are doomed to fail. We as a nation are behind in education in nearly every academic subject in relation to the worlds' population. This is not something I am proud of. MY generation is already getting pinned as lazy. A generation that doesn't even cut their own grass. If we cant get a work ethic like the generations before us to go along with our educations we're not going to be worth 2 cents to our children and grandchildren. What good is that MBA if all your gonna do is sit at your mom and dads house eating their pizza watching their TV?  You are worthless and making the case of your grandparents that say YOU ARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY!

The FLYNN EFFECT shows that each generation learns from the last. What are you teaching the next generation? What standards are you holding them too? Are they higher than the ones you were held too? Do you push your guys to do that extra rep? Do your guys drive to knock off one more second off their tower time? Do you accept their challenge to do so? These are questions that we all have to try to answer honestly. If generation X is teaching generation Y that it is not acceptable to quit when you start to sweat and get tired then that will be the benchmark for acceptability. If generation Y gets upset with generation X because they cannot grasp a new idea or acceptable norm due to it being "not how we were taught to do it" then Y is failing X!

To be better we have to push them as hard as they need to push us! While at the North Carolina Breathing Equipment School I saw this sign above a door way.

It lead to the HARDEST DRILL I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE! Simple, 1200 square foot ranch style house. Make a search. How hard could it be! IT SUCKED! It would not have been accomplished with a group who accepted defeat as soon as it got hard. It would not be accomplished by those that just want to muscle through everything. To finish, you have to teach an old dog new tricks and assure the kids to keep pushing....you're almost there!

I hope this quote inspires you to be better as much as it did me! Thanks again.



When the neighborhood is GONE, your neighbors aren't looking for a scientist. They aren't looking for a mule. They are looking for someone that can ASSESS THE PROBLEM and WORK OUT the solution.



Standard:

Ive had recent conversations lately with people I hold in high regard. Not just people I know from the fire service but people from the military, the fine arts, and education. Alot of the times a specific word comes up no matter what the initial topic. That word is standards. Standard by Websters definition is: something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality. In short it is the minimum.

The standard in forth grade used to be before you went to fifth grade you had to know your multiplication tables, write in cursive, and name the 50 states. Shockingly enough these are no longer the standard. No longer is it required to do any of these things in school. In some curriculum's teachers aren't even required to teach the value of money to their students anymore! Thankfully there are many teachers that still do! They don't do this for the accolades and definitely not the money. They teach it because their students deserve to get the best education that will help them be a productive member of the world. What good is it to have a diploma if you cant even balance a check book or understand the news paper? These teachers understand that standards are just the MINIMUM of what should be expected of our youth.

If its messed up...

fix it!

I grew up a military brat. Wake up when your told, Thursdays were house cleaning day (field day), hair stayed cut short, and you said yes mam no mam. If you didn't you got punished. Mom and dad didn't care what Joe Shmukately down the street did or how he behaved! "Hes not my kid!" was my moms patented line. The kids in my dads armory were no different than I was. My dad was very good at what he did. He pushed the line a lot and got in trouble but he had his reputation of being good at his job! He was good enough that he went on to teach at the only school the Marine Corps had for his MOS (job title). He held his Marines to a higher standard than that of the Corps. Not only because his name was tied to their work, not only to instill pride in their workmanship; but because someones life depended on their work on that weapons system. If they only did the bare minimum to that rifle to fix only the problem that was written up,and problemsthey as the armorer found but did not fix caused a failure in that weapon, someone could die. If they saw a crack in something and had the "It'll work for now." attitude that weapon might fail when it needs to be up! By holding his Marines to a standard higher than that of a manual the old Corps lives on. Men and women live on. My dads legacy will live on.

Teachable moment!

I am still very young in both years and service. I yearn to be held to that high standard. I want every day to be looked at under a microscope. Sadly I don't get that right now. Luckily my career is just starting and I have all the time in the world to be judged. I am like many others in that I can get in the swing of "this place sucks" and "he doesn't know what the hell hes doing" but I have to remember that its all temporary. My two battles in life are to wait it out and keep my mouth shut. Alot of times one tags onto the other. Those are the times I get frustrated and mouth off at the wrong time near the wrong person. That is usually followed up quickly with me polishing the brass!

I want every shift to be a learning experience. I was told once that when you stop learning you have given up! When I stop learning, Ill be dead. If I stop learning and pushing to learn I will have failed the guy next to and behind me. I refuse to do that. When my captain of BC looks at me and gives me an assignment, I will knock that assignment out like its nothing. I will look proficient in that task day in and day out. When a kid comes into the house to see the trucks or new parents come in to have their car seat looked at, they will leave informed and inspired by the work we do. If we get a call where its blowing out every window on floors one and two with people hanging out on three and four were gonna do EVERYTHING we can to take them home. I and the guys in my house want this to be out attitude always and forever.

Sadly sometimes this is much easier typed or said than carried out. I am not 100% proficient at pulling hose, throwing ladders, cutting roofs, pumping trucks, or stabilizing cars. I want to be but complacency kills. Things "come up" sometimes and the basics get put on the back burner. That's when the bottom guy starts to suffer and the yearning quickly turns to apathy. Kids come to our house all the time. Were downtown and are readily visible in the community. Sometimes I'm in the mood to play with them and teach them about the truck and fire safety. A lot of time I'm just like you and want nothing to do with them. Same thing with car seats. Alot of times I loath a car seat! They always seem to come at dinner or workout time or just as American Idol is getting started! But like my driver pointed out to me the other day, no matter how much we hate putting them in, even if the parents aren't paying attention at all, we have seen them save lives. Sometimes even seen seats we have put in do their job.

Don't let yourself get complacent. Don't hold yourself to the "standards" of your department. Hold yourself to higher standards. Make house and company standards. make personal standards. Use biblical standards. Set these standards and do everything you can to exceed them. Try and get your guys to buy in to them and hold each other to the higher standard. If were told to be out the door in a min, strive for 45 seconds. If were told to be able to throw three ladders in 5 minutes shoot for 4 ladders in the same amount of time. Make training a competition. Push each other. I read an article today by Mike Kirby of the Cincinnati Fire Department. His article was entitle "Needed Engine Company Traits." It talked about every position on the rig and what they needed to hold themselves too. His final note read as follows.

"The goal of every engine company should be to continually improve. To accomplish this, every officer must effectively communicate their expectations to their crew, train their crew to meet those expectations and then hold themselves and the members of the company accountable when expectations aren't met. Remember: What makes a good engine company are the people in it, plain and simple."

Thanks again guys! Step up!

Remembering

This weekend was the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. I was allowed once again to participate in the event representing my department. I have played Taps for the Honor Guard for several years now. Played for several friends and brothers in arms laying them to rest. This weekend we honored once again their service and commitment to their community and crews. If you ever opportunity to attend a memorial service for your state I highly recommend it. It is sure to be an experience that you will never forget. It will make you extremely thankful for every day your allowed! If you can somehow get involved in your local honor guard, DO IT! If not please get involved with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. This is a great group of people that do nothing but put the families of the fallen above everything else! To get involved go to  to make donations or just get plugged in.

NFFF Website

Keep the Faith!

As I sit at Duke hospital with my wife this morning I can't help but realize how much stuff is in our plate. In everyones life there comes a time when everything hits you at once and nothing you do can make it better. Keep the Faith.

There is going to be a time when every day you come to work your getting hounded about promoting.
Keep the Faith.

Your going to come home to an unhappy spouse.
Keep the faith.

Your going to go on a rampage of calls where nothing goes right and you get labeled the captain of the black pearl!
KEEP THE FAITH!

I say this because at times you put along in life with not a care in the world. Nothing you do can be wrong and the winds blow in your favor. Then the winds shift. That's when you have to keep your chin up and grind on. Always have that goal in life that you strive for. You know what you want to be in life, set your goals and NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, DON'T GIVE UP! Don't ever let someone tell you cant accomplish what you have set out to do. Those that tell you that your goals have no meaning or value have plateaued or are against a wall they have not yet navigated.

I bring this up because my wife and I are dealing with our very own Wall of Jericho. It is in keeping the Faith not just in ourselves and our relationship with each other but with our relationship with God that we overcome each obstacle placed in front of us. When you put in for promotion and you miss it by 2 points, its not because you weren't smart enough or strong enough. It was not yet your time. Keep plugging away at your goal and accomplish it. You don't always get to go by YOUR time line. A lot of times it is Gods timeline that you have to play by.

If it were my time line I could play by I wouldn't have to "play daddy" or always be "Uncle." I would have my own set of kids with my wife. We would have more money in the bank and less bills to spend it on. That right now isn't the case. We have a condition that prevents us from having those kids, at the present time. Its just a wall. Through prayer, patience, and understanding that wall will come crashing down. It will just take some time! We don't have a ton of money in the bank and what we do have goes to either a student loan or medical bill. This is not forever, just a timeline.

Jax and Uncle Monkey headed to the Red Sox Orioles game

I'm a list guy. We make lists for daily things as well as things we would like to see done in the next few years. Make you a list of what you want to DO today and what you want to BE tomorrow. Always keep your eye on the prize and swing for the fences. Your not always gonna hit a home run but when you do, ITS GOING YARD!!!

KEEP THE FAITH. IT GETS BETTER.

Philippians 4:13
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

TOOLS

Something that I have had the fortune of being blessed with is opportunity. I have had the opportunity to fight fire as a profession. I have been afforded the opportunity to attend some of the best schooling in our great state. I have been blessed to be impressed upon by some great men and women in the fire service today. These opportunity's are there for anyone to take advantage of. Sometimes they are pricey and you have to come up with the jingle on your own, but if you're in a slump and are starting to plateau its a great way to start climbing up again!

One of my greatest opportunities and really more blessings, was to be stationed as a rookie with one of my now great friends. While in training he was that old codger that you couldn't wait to kick in the face "on accident" when he played the victim. He was loud, rude, pushy, and had expectations a mile high. He never pushed us to the point of breaking but dang if it didn't feel like it sometimes! He showed us things that out right sucked and were hard. He let us bust our humps trying to get it done. When we finished he said "Now let me show you an easier way to do it." He was the guy that let me believe that the nostalgia that I had for the job wasn't a myth.

Hook & Irons

This man was and always is teaching something. One of the things that I learned and instill in all I run across is "DONT COME OFF MY F'n TRUCK WITH EMPTY HANDS!" We always had to have something. As time went on we all got to the point that we would call each other out as slackers if we didn't all at least have a light, hand tool, and something special (rabbit tool, elevator keys, TIC). I come off at every alarm from the truck with MY light, MY halligan, and a thermal imager. Tools are what make or break us at the job.


Sometimes you gotta have YOUR stuff to keep standards


When we get to a fire; we, my company, doesn't want to look like a bunch of cops in turnout gear. We want to come off, knock it out, and get back to American Idol to watch Angie and Kree battle it out! To do that you have to become very efficient in the movements you do and with the tools you use. If you're assigned to vent the roof, grab everything you need, stack it on the ladder and carry it at once. Yea it takes a minute to get it together but once your there you're ready to rock and roll. You're on the initial attack line? Better take a tool! Who's to say that you don't get in there and the door you have to get to is a locked metal door. You aren't gonna kick it in deputy so don't tear an mcl! Take a tool! Take a PROPER tool! You dont use an ax to pull ceiling and you dont force doors with a trash hook!

So old man winter instilled in the guys under him to take what you need to play the game! You're probably all saying "DUH! Lets get on to something we don't know." Well here's something you might know but most people, especially the ones ahead and above us over look. Hopefully they just expect it to have been done. TAKE CARE OF YOUR TOOLS!!!

This is the part of the job that no one wants to do. Washing tools, wiping down power units, and painting heads is not what they do on Rescue Me! No matter how boring and mundane the task may be it directly reflects on you and your company. Your Captain might be the lazy ass that gets off with his coat unzipped and his helmet in the truck but that's not you! Don't be lazy and complacent. If you get bored at the firehouse get the guys together. Say, Hey guys grab a chair real quick and come out to the floor I need some help knockin something out. You're gonna hear some moans and groans when they see your "project," but once you get started that's when the magic happens.

We knocked out the whole engine in a day!

You'll pull off a couple tools at a time and scrape and brush off crud while those memorable stories about three wheelers and bar fights from "back in the day" flow from the old timers around you. Pretty soon all the tools are clean and painted ready for the next job. You've found a split in an ax handle that's probably been there for months that has been over looked. You have killed 3 hours productively all while nearly falling off your bucket peeing your pants in laughter. Its something that HAS to be done and SHOULD be done. The old timers did it all the time. That's how it was. They don't teach tool cleaning in that fancy schmancy Fire Science Degree so its becoming more and more over looked.

So I guess this whole rambling could have been summed up in one thing I heard an old timer recently say. "You boys better not come off this dang truck with a rusty ax. If you do I'm gonna beat you with it till its clean!" Pretty simple I guess. When you have pride in the stuff you use then it will reflect. The ones coming behind you will see what you do and hopefully pick up on it.

Take care of your stuff and it will take care of you.

Thanks Rob!

Hello

I am a 27 year old "kid" in the fire service. I took this job with visions of grandeur and the fantasy that every day we made a save, every call was a barn burner, and every house was balls to the wall! I have only had 5 years in, and in that short time I have found that this is NOT the case. Not just where I am. Not just on the east or west coast but everywhere. I have knocked around the idea for a while to start a blog to voice my frustrations with todays fire service. To give a place for others to come and read and understand that it is not just them that are hungry to be better. For to many days my crew and myself have sat idle with no training, no learning, and a diminishing moral. This is unacceptable.
Just because we come onto the job at a much different time doesn't mean our expectations cannot be met. Does the house in BFE today with nothing but a few farm houses run as many fires as the house in the 1960's Bronx. THATS A BIG HELL NO. Can the guys in BFE be just as ready? That's a big HELL YES! Should you be doing something every day? YES! Should you have some piece of equipment in your hand each day trying to master its every idiosyncrasies blindfolded, upside down, and behind your back? YES! Does this happen? Again, THATS A BIG HELL NO!
This is the problem that my generation, the next generation faces every day across the country! Those coming in that want to be the next Paddy Brown and legitly get better (not just wear the shirt and tell stories) don't have that many people to teach them. This is the place where you will hear about my struggles in my career, life, and quests to become that "go to guy." They say the best complement a firefighter can get is to have another brother say "Hes a GREAT FIREFIGHTER!" That rings true, but the even better complement is to have someone say they want to work with you so THEY can become great too. So over the next however long I can keep this up I will write about the good, the bad and whatever pisses me off. I would love to have you ask me questions, bring up topics, or make statements. You will get the most honest opinion from me. I'm always good for saying "I don't care!" but that's a lye. I wouldn't get so upset if I truly didn't give a damn.

ENJOY!