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Badges
Hello all, I was elected Chief in Oct, there have been many change since then to our dept. Starting with sop's, By-laws and Training. I have a asst Chief,Training officer and operations officer I am getting alot of pressure about giving the go ahead to implement the wearing of badges Im not sure its necessary. Besides the cost of the badges I feel it might be more of a problem than I want to handle at this time. We are a volunteer dept and have no uniforms other than station tee shirts. The county is making our I d cards as we speak. What do you THINK
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RYAN L. on
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no need for it. my call dept. gives us a dress uniform with badge for paraids and stuff. the need for badges to respond to a fire is not there. i'm sorry but if your only uniform is a tshirt where are you planning to put the badge.
good luck. congrats on maken chief.
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Permalink Reply by ffbam24 on
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First off; congratulations Chief!
Secondly; from what you describe I don't see any need to issue badges.
While it is of course an object that symbolizes the achievement of becoming a firefighter for many, it sounds like it is not even feasible to have one since your uniforms are a t-shirt.
No dress shirt/class B/badge shirt.
Even if you were to issue those type of shirts in the future, a badge still would not be necessary.
As a volunteer deparment, you sometimes have to fight tooth and nail to get the money you need. You know, you've been there awhile.
The cost of supplying badges can be a large drop in that bucket.
The county is supplying ID cards, that should be sufficient for any situation when your people feel the need to present a badge.
Good luck,
bam
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence W on
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I have to agree with the above, no need.
In the event that these folks need to be identified, helmet color or conversation can do that without the unnecessary expense of a badge. If the County is going to issue identification anyway, can these ranks be added to these ID cards and periodically replaced as positions change? This would reduce the cost to your organization and still give folks something they can present as credible in the event they need to identify their position within the organization.
In a volunteer organization, watching where the money goes is more important in some areas than in others. If this seems like a small thing to do, go for it. In my department, however, even $200-$300 gets to be cumbersome at times. This would not fly in my area. It sounds to me like you feel as I do that it would not be the most fiscally sound program to implement.
Go with your gut, you know your system and what would be best served for your area and your organization...
Just a thought... Gratz on your recent appointment.
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Permalink Reply by Terry Lambert on
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First off, congrats on becoming chief. I agree with everyone else. The need for a badge in not an important issue right. It is nice to have one, but right know I am sure that you can find bigger and better things to spend money on. Stick with what is needed right know. Maybe later on down the road you can look in to it. just my 2 cents.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Unless you have class A's, you don't need a badge. If nothing else, get patches that look like a badge and sew them on whatever. Picture ID cards will get you the same results; even better.
If you are plagued with turnover, good luck watching your money for badges walk out the door.
I get the feeling that you have people who want to carry them in their wallet and "whip it out" to impress people.
If they want a badge that bad, they can become a cop.
They are a waste of money and get you NOTHING.
Let's see; purchase the IFSTA DVD training library or buy badges? Hmmmmm. For me; it's a no-brainer.
Buy them some cool lanyards, so they can wear their ID card when they go to the grocery store.
Oh; and for the record, we stopped buying badges as soon as I made chief. Mine has been in the box ever since (1988).
Art
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Permalink Reply by nita on
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We have three uniform shirts in my dept. A t-shirt, which gets the most wear out of em all, a polo that has your name and rank embroidered on it, and a dress blue shirt...which we wear our badges on. My favorite is the t-shirt but I do see the need to have the others also. I think having a badge issued to you for each rank is kind of nostalgic. I've been in my dept for 14 years and I have my FF badge and my Driver's badge at home for safe keeping.....I wear my Captain's badge when I wear my dress blue shirt...or in the winter I wear it on my jacket. Are they really so expensive?
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Unless you're getting them from WalMart, they are $75 and up. It depends on what you want on them, what type of attachment, chrome, rhodidium or gold plated, size of badge...
Yeah; they are expensive and again; serve no useful purpose.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Terry Kimmel on
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I am so thankful that I was turned on to Fire fighter nation you all are like family I personally thought what all of you have said. I am the type of person that will not make a discussion with out thinking or consulting people on it. I totally agree we need a roof and to finish our training room first. the county has designed our county patch and uniforms are coming the first of the year but they will be dress uniforms my feelings are they want badges they can buy them then when they get into trouble I will deal with that then. I can for see many issues with "the look at me attitudes".
Have a safe one and gods speed. Chief
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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If your F.D. doesn't have uniform shirts, then I don't see the need for badges. As long as your people have ID cards to identify themselves, I think it wise to avoid spending money that you don't have to. my F.D here in Chicagoland has both ID cards and badges, but during the warm months we wear polo shirts. During the colder months we wear uniform shirts with badges, but most guys wear their sweatshirts (job shirts), so again we don't really use our badges. Although our F.D. also issues us smaller wallet badges to go with our ID cards, but those are only good for when you get pulled over...LOL. Bottom line, my advise is to save the money and use it for something more important that may arise. Stay safe!
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dill on
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We are a small vol. dept. We didn't have badges until the dept bought class A uniforms for us,with a badge. Before that if you wanted a badge, you had to buy it yourself. As others have said, that if you dont have a uniform shirt to put it on there is no need for one.
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