It's been a long time, probably 9 months, since I've really looked through the posts here on FFN. I used to view and post, every day, or several times a week, on FFN. I gained A LOT of knowledge and guidance from members such as Captain busy, John Crabbe, Damn Thing, and many, many others (those are names that come to mind, off the top of my head). In that past year, I've taken on a new job, going from a full-time medic to another service as a full-time medic-supervisor, which has been a HUGE increase in workload itself. I've also taken on a second full-time job...Daddy. Needless to say, my daily time for online forums has dropped, significantly, recently.

I've started to settle into my new positions, and thought I might venture onto one of my old sites, to see what is happening, and what is new to learn, experience, share, etc. Now I have seen. I browsing through several pages, I have seen, what was bad then, is even worse now.

Whackers, whackers, whackers, whackers, whackers....W--H--A--C--K--E--R--S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, you young, new, no-nothing, whack-tastick morons!!!!!!!!!!! Do you realize that you are in the presence of a large amount of experienced, knowledgable, ready-to-teach, firefighters, EMT's, medics, resuers??????????????

Do you seriously thing the best utilization of your time is to talk about your blue lights, what blue lights you want to aquire, what blue lights you are looking to buy, what tatoo you are getting, want to get, want to compare, what song you listen to on the way to a call, or WHAT F*&#ING WORD, REPLACED BY THE LAST WORD, COULD MATCH THE PREVOIUS STATED CAPTIONED PHRASE BETTER???????????????????????????????????????????????

Listen, listen....LISTEN, MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS (volunteer or not, and although I didn't see it, I'm sure there are  100,000 posts on that, too, since I've been gone)

THIS IS A DANGEROUS BUSINESS

THIS IS A BUSINESS OF CARING FOR A COMMUNITY IN NEED

NOW, HERE THIS......................

BLUE LIGHTS, TATTOOS, AND WORD GAMES don't put out fires

BLUE LIGHTS, TATTOOS, AND WORD GAGMES dont' keep you safe in fires

BLUE LIGHTS, TATTOOS, AND WORD GAMES won't help you get your buddies, or civilians out of bad situations when they happen (and they WILL happen)

BLUE LIGHTS, TATTOOS, AND WORD GAMES won't advance your career, in any capacity

BLUE LIGHTS, TATTOOS, AND WORD GAMES wont' beneift you, in any way, or your community, in any way, in any emergency, on any day, in any town, in any state

Do you seriously think, in the presence of all of this experience surrounding you...that this CRAP that you post and participate in, is the best way to spend your time

You all (like I did) could learn, and take away so much, from this website, but instead you waste your time on frivilous BS

You cheat yourselves, and your community, by burying the knowledge shared here that's worth it's weight in gold, in the sludge that is your stupid fascinations and BS quirks

You are not real firefighters, you are whackers. I know you people. You are in my community. You show up late for class, if at all. You are out of shape, and can't do the job. You aren't certified in anything. You could care less about the people or property in your community. BUT.............

You have $17,000 in lights on your car, you have 32 FF tatoos, 15 t-shirts that state how much you fight what the others fear of racing the reaper while rushing in while the others whithout big hoses run out and being second due but always first in and last out, and whatever other false, copyright, crap you can fit on the XXXXXL cotton back you can print, your SSI check that funds the extra gadgets on your gear, which is so useful, while you breathe air on the front lawn waiting for another crew to actually do something about the situation your are watching unfold in front of you.

I cannot imagine that the limited time I have in my usual week would allow me to sift throught the current mountain of crap on this site, to find the rare gems of precious knowlevdge buried by the posts of people that wouldn't know a real job if it sat on their face.

Who knows what time will bring, I certainly don't. But for now, for those I mentioned early on in this post (and many, many, more, that I can't think of off the top of my head after almost a year), THANK YOU!!!!

I have, in the past few months, earned my ProBoard FF1, BVR-T, and am now working towards registering for my upgrade from NREMT-P to CC-EMT-P, and the year following FFII and my B.S. in Emergency Medicine. I know the knowledge I've gained from you here has given me inspiration, and further more, the practical, street knowledge to keep me and my fellow responders safe while serving the pulbic, and pursuing my goals in EMS and firefighting.

I am sorry for the dump that is this place, which I see many of you still toil through. If I had the time, I would probably try to toil with it, too, to gain the additional knowledge I know I could obtain...but I simply don't have the time, given what I've seen tonight, to wade throught the ocean of garbage, to find what I originally came for, and fell in love, with, in this site.

Yours in sincere professionalism and service,

Blair4630

Jon Rea

Hollidaysburg, PA