I spent a great deal of time constructing an intelligent post to a forum thread to find it had been closed to discussion, so I decided to post it on my blog. The whole vollie vs. career thing has just got to end. The fire service in this nation will continue to spin on its collective axis forever and there will never be resolution to this question, so why even ask it? In regard to the thread in question, I haven't seen any post regarding South Carolina and getting rid of vollies, so I don't…

Especially after FirefighterNation picked up 5K, it seems like there are all kinds of interesting people on here. It won't be long before we are celebrating 10K. I mean, there's a ton of people who haven't found there way here yet and the whole network provides a way to share ideas and stuff in ways never possible when I first became a firefighter. The hard part is balancing the act of checking in on the Nation vs. making sure I check my e-mails (and answering them), finishing that paper I…

Anyone who has ever had to do a research paper for the Executive Fire Officer program knows the feeling (or any paper with a strict time limit, for that matter). You EFOites know the drill: Month 1- leave class with all intentions of saving the world; Month 2- finished lit review, all is well!; Month 3- stuff came up at work, need to get the budget finished, I've got some time left...Month 4- more stuff, I can get this done in a few days; Month 5- okay, I need to buckle down. Then, several…