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Moral and Brotherhood
What are some ways you keep up moral and keep the brotherhood alive in your station and with mutual aid companies?
For example at my station, we go out from time to time on apparatus and go out to breakfast on Sundays. We also like to have dinners that we cook and everyone pitchs in to pay for it. Usually its food like wings, fries, corn on the cob, and clams and oysters, just stuff we can eat quick and when we get a run its easy to go and clean up after the run.
So what are some things you guys do?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tom on
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My department has training once a week, and once a month one of those training meetings is a dinner, like you said. Its a good time for everyone to just talk about whatever the hell they want, have a good time and not worry about department issues and fire business. In the spring and summer, we also host a a couple of softball games, where guys from my department and surrounding departments can go out and play some ball, and after words we will have a cookout (losing teams cook the meal ;)).
We are always open to ideas and thing to do to get our mind off work for a little bit, which I believe is very important in this field of work.
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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on
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Cody, I work for a fully paid fire department. I think there are several factors in keeping moral up. While outside (out of the station, as in management) and political factors have a tendancy to bring moral down it is important that the members of your company know how to seperate the outside issues from the day to day issues in the fire house. So, 1) is keeping those outside negative influences out of the fire house conversations, or addressing them in a possitive solution oriented way. 2) training together, this builds confidence in each others skills and pulls you into a unit. 3) we eat our big meal at lunch, everybody splits the cost. By breaking bread together you put yourself into a family situation. I agree with you that it brings people closer. 4) we do things off duty together, beer night, dinner out with the wives, roller derby, minor league baseball or hockey (it is all we have) what ever is fun. Also, we attend FF funerals together as a crew if we can. We also go to off duty training together. 5) but not least is working in a busy house this makes it all easier. A busy crew is a happy crew. More calls less time to bitch or complain. That is my formula, it seems to work, the guys that work here love it and lots want to be assigned here. Engine 3, Spokane's West Central neighborhood.
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Henderson on
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We have several functions throught the year for our members.
The first and last meetings of the year the Chief officers provide dinner. In the summer, we have a dept breakfast at our park then we usually have muster games such as make and breaks, hose contests and other competitions. We host a picnic for the neighboring fd's at the park as well with muster games. In the fall we have a big dinner on one of our meeting nights as well.
We also get involved with all of the holiday parades (July 4th, Halloween, Christmas) Several of the city's events, host an Easter egg hunt, and parade any teams from the high school that make the state tournements through town.
As with many fd's, we spend alot of time discussing calls and trainings after we are done with them. Discussing the strategy and tactics and so on.
Your right A.C. They just don't get it.
We also urge the membership to voice their thoughts and opinions whenever topics come up for discussion such as purchases, equipment and any ideas they have that might better the department. We have found that urging members to give their input and showing that we value it even if we decide not to go with an idea gives them a sense of ownership and shows the department values its members.
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