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It sneaks up on you.
Now compared to my father, my grandfather, and a good portion of the people on here I haven't been in the fire service very long. Five years officially this fall.SoI have been around just long enough to start forming opinions, and whether they be right or not depends on who I agree or disagree with. When I joined I was 21 kept my mouth shut and trained and learned everything I could. All while taking over the family business which just made it even funner. Over the last five years I have really seen a shift in the department we have taken on guys younger than me and have lost some of the guys who were middle aged. I guess that sums up the situation so I should probably get to the point. Or I could just continue to ramble eh better get to the point. My dad told me the other day he was proud of how I show the younger guys and the cadets how to do things and that if I don't know I'm not afraid to ask somebody else. After talking about it with him I got to thinking. It seems like I just joined and in many ways I have, but it made me stop and think "Oh crap these guys are actually listening to what I'm saying!". Now this freaked me out at first because I'm not used to be on the mentoring side of things. Then I thought about it for awhile and came to the conclusion that it's all part of growing into the fire service. I think the trick is continueing to admit you don't know everything once people start listening to you.
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Comment by Matt Lacey on April 6, 2013 at 11:19pm
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Thanks a lot guys, Norm your comment made me think about something that happend to me this morning. Last night we had a mutual aide structure fire and one the guys ran our cascade for the first time, and he wasn't sure how to fill it. So this morning I showed him how to fill it and how to get the mounted scene lights running. I was going over how to fill and asked him what he did then what he did right and what he did wrong. He had it down pretty good but was making it more complicated than need be.
Brian, nope not Canadian, but I did spend about four years chasing a girl whose family was. As for keeping up I am constantly "translating" for one of our training officers to the younger guys.
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Comment by Brian Mackie on April 2, 2013 at 12:31pm
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An awesome story Matt. I have to say, when you used the "eh".. I thought for certain you were a fellow Canadian. lol You used our EH, better than I could fit in the odd "y'all" lol
Being in the fire service for 19 years, five of which I had to become inactive due to serious illness etc.. but before my leave, I was a Captain, and my biggest challenge was keeping up. The "kids" these days ( I only use that term in relation to my own age which - suffice it to say is well into Raisinhood) are so smart that I need to be constantly learning, so that I can stay current, and not feed them irrelevant information. Indeed Matt, learning in this business never ends.Norm, great advice. I am now beginning to teach our guys and while a bit green on the teaching part..that will help. Stay safe gentlemen.
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Comment by Norm Tindell on March 30, 2013 at 8:29am
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My favorite training technique is to simply start asking questions and start a conversation. These guys are smart enough to figure this stuff out on their own and with a little guidance. Keep up the good work. "Attitude is everything."
Before you know it you'll be one of the "old guys!" Sneaks up on you...
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