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Comment by Daniel Ruggini on November 12, 2009 at 12:51pm

EKU is a good school with a good fire program from what i hear. As for being a fire fighter in Baghdad. i do not believe they will have US contracted fire fighters there come very soon. with the us troop withdraw they are also pulling the civilians out. I am on a base right now that will be closing in a few months and they already are cutting the number of fire fighters they have here. i respect your dream very much tho

Comment by ffbam24 on November 12, 2009 at 11:23am

Joey, I'm pretty sure she means Bagdad, Kentucky. Not Iraq.

Jessica, my recommendation is that if you are going to go to school full time, then concentrate solely on that. Get a degree first. Something you can use outside of the fire service. You don't need the politics or the added stress of responding with a department to an already hectic schedule. Get a degree first and then work towards your paramedic or any certifications. Not having a strong background to fall back on while pursuing these will be extremely difficult.

The fire service will always be around. You can come back to it after getting a degree.

Good luck.

Comment by Rusty Mancini on November 11, 2009 at 11:46pm

Jessica, This is a decision that you are going to have to make on whats best for you! I will have to agree with the Capt. on achieving a degree. You will still have enough time as young as you are, to obtain your fire certs. In today's world, having a degree goes a long way.

Once you have both, degree and fire certs; the sky's the limit!

Comment by BIVFD 216 on November 11, 2009 at 9:41pm

Well here is my take... The county that I live in does a FF1, FF2 and EMT-B once a year and all you have to do is join a department to be able to take advantage of this. The fire classes are nationally accredited from the state. So, idk where you live but this could save you lots of cash and help the volunteer service while you are training if your county offers this program. Just some food for thought.. Be safe!!

Comment by Joey "BigShow" De Piano on November 11, 2009 at 4:16pm

when it comes to working for or hand in hand with the feds school school school and training trining is their pet peeve the more you have the more CYA they have Cover Your Ass factor and the feds and contractors re all about C.Y.A.

Comment by Firefighter Walther on November 11, 2009 at 2:58pm

hmm, i dont really have any advice on the matter, but what im doing, is im going to The Houston Community College Fire Training Academy to get my Fire Certification. don't know if that helps or not

Comment by Capt.Alex Arnold on November 11, 2009 at 12:43pm

EKU is a good fire school. I would highly recommend though that if you are going to attend a college go and gegt a degree. I would recommend something like public administration/risk management. You can get the fire certs and medic cert down the road. If you want to advance in the fire service you need that college diploma nowadays.Good luck, be safe and learn something new today.