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I Wish to Go Into the Military as a Firefighter but Which Branch?
I like the action but wanna get out alive w/o having to kill the whole time as firefighter i want to save lives as a milatary personnell i wish to serve and protect my country under all costs whether it be with a gun in my hand or a hose. So i guess its hard to explain but to put it simply i wanna save more than i kill HOORAH!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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Quick answer- I doubt it.
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Permalink Reply by Tammy K. on
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In the Reserves and National Guard YOU get to choose your career field. You are NOT told what your job is going to be. I have been in the Air National Guard for 10+ years now and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have been to the Greenland ice cap, Antarctica (4+ times) as well as to Djibouti (the Horn of Africa). Each and every time, I got to choose the length of the deployment, 3 weeks to as long as 45 days. The difference between the National Guard and the Reserves, is who controls the units. The President can deploy the Reserves at any time, whereas with the National Guard, the Governor of the state has to release the unit to the President. Hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by Doug on
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Officers are not firefighters in the Air Force, enlisted and civilian DoD only.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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AF- Crash crew and Structural are in the same. Certs which now in this time that paper means all. We did it all pretty much
Absolutely certs help, but doesn't mean they will land you a job though. Certs accepted are at the determination of the fire department and really for the most part, education is still sought out moreso than certs. When seeking a career FF job, those depts that are only seeking certs are few, it is typically education and certifications. Those depts not seeking any experience do their own academy and could care less about what certs you have, but the vets points do mean something, moreso than certs in most cases.
That is why it is important to know that despite the job you do in the military the chance of being a military FF and walking right into a career FD is slim, based upon military experience alone. This is why it really doesn't matter what job someone did in the military, they can still get vet points, and really no one job done in the military will really springboard someone onto a career dept. Anyone can be a FF on the outside, take advantage of college courses offered and seek out a school to get a degree. One can knock out a boatload of gen ed courses freeing up time to work on core classes. Where having certs does help, one may not have to do a fire academy to get state FF certs, but again one has to be certain the military certs will transfer.
Now I can only speak for the Navy in doing FF, but there is misconceptions about the experience in other branches. Yes, the Navy is primarily shipboard, but many techniques, tools, equipment and so forth is used on the structural side. Navy FF's also are put into instructor and leadership roles for training other crewmembers and to lead them in firefighting and damage control. This means that one can experience incident command leadership at a quicker pace. There are many fire suppression systems DC take care of on ships that are seen often in the civilian world and familiarity helps. No, the Navy really does not send people to Goodfellow on a regular basis. Those that do go will tend to be those who have re-enlisted and typically those who do ARFF on flight decks, not too many DC go through.
The military is a great means for experience and to learn discipline, accountability, etc. There are great benefits from education to learning a skill. In the eyes of most career depts, it doesn't matter much at all if one was a FF in the military or not. Getting a degree and education can go much further than certs alone, adding paramedic to that increases chances of landing a job even better. Basically, look at the military as something you would want to do, not as a means to land a civilian job.
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That isn't a reason to just join the Navy. While it is true every sailor has to learn damage control, it is nothing like being a firefighter. Most people only learn the very basics and depend upon those who are more involved with DC, such as Damage Controlman, to lead them. There are drills routinely, but the only time everyone may drill on firefighting is during General Quarters or battle stations, and then it is primarily the people assigned to a repair locker.
For the most part the notion that "everyone is a FF" is just that, a notion. The reality is that you are really not going to learn anything substantial as a regular sailor in regards to firefighting unless you specialize in it. The beauty is one doesn't have to be a FF in the military nor even specialize in FF to become a firefighter on the outside.
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Permalink Reply by Jason M Haas on
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I am a Firefighter for the 174th Fighter Wing Syracuse, New York. The Air Force seems to provide the most opportunities for someone in the Fire Protection AFSC. Crash, Structural, with plenty of Fire Prevention responsibilities.
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Very few officers in Fire Protection, only one I have met was by squadron commander for the Fire Academy at Goodfellow AFB
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Permalink Reply by LO on
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i have a question can you make it to O1 if you go into rotc training cuz i am aiming for an officer firefighter navy says they don't have such a thing as an officer firefighter
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can you make it to O1 if you go into rotc training cuz i am aiming for an officer firefighter navy says they don't have such a thing as an officer firefighter
Yes, you can obtain O-1 with ROTC as well as high GPA, if you want to become an officer talk with an officer recruiter on the best way to go about getting a commission.
The problem though is no branch really has officers who are firefighters. Some may get assigned to a role for command purposes but the chances of you going in to be an officer AND firefighter is slim to none, you really can't do both.
Now there are some officers, called Warrant Officers, who do basically have a specialty. These officers will never be a commanding officer of a base, ship, etc, but they are officers and could possibly be with a FF unit. In the Navy there is a Warrant Officer "rating" where they are in charge of firefighting and damage control. We had one who was the ship's fire marshal. The catch is in order to reach such a position one has to enlist first and come up through the ranks before they can be selected to become a Warrant.
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