CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having the last time you
met.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Have cried with you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Will kick the crowds' ass that left you behind.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Are for a while.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Are for life.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Have shared a few experiences...
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Have shared a lifetime of experiences no citizen could ever dream of…

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, "You better drink the rest of that before you spill it!! Then
carry you home safely and put you to bed...

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will talk crap to the person who talks crap about you.
FIREMEN FRIENDS: Will knock them the hell out for using your name in vain.

Can you think of any more?  Leave a comment…..

-John Mitchell is a fire Lieutenant and paramedic in suburban Chicago. He is a fire and EMS instructor, certified fire investigator and Chicago Blackhawks fan. John is the editor of FireDaily and co-creator of Firefighter NetCast.