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Comment by Dustin J. Millis on February 27, 2009 at 3:30am

yes yes... jr's should be in the firehouse and they should play as active as a role as possible. There is no reason for them not to be... as far as a jr. taking my job someday, lol; I dont have to worry about that. There are sooooo many positives to have an active explorer program. It gives kids something constructive to do, keeps em out of trouble, teaches them lifelong lessons, allows them to serve their community, helps us to determine whether they are someone we want on our dept. as a full time member, I could keep going but I think you get the idea

Comment by Donald Gaspard on February 18, 2009 at 12:01am

I agree Jrs. are a must.. Today the Jrs. in my fire dist. were put in my lap ''GOOD''. I have not done this befor. I am fire serv. instructor so I'll be ok,I need some ideas. Like how to make it fun for them. Going through the fire service is good,but there is only so much they can do

Comment by Gerald Fox on February 17, 2009 at 4:30pm

Yes is also my answer. I am a junior fireman myself and I know that half of the fireman in the US are the older people. Without juniors there won't be a fire service left and Everyone would have to be paid

Comment by anna m. mills on February 17, 2009 at 1:33pm

joe i couldn't agree with you more with every comment.
the fire company is all about tradition. we followed the military and our by-laws are many, but they are all needed. and the jrs. are the same way. we may not know it now but we need them! So lets everyone get onboard with them and realize how importart to traditon they are ever mind to helpding us in general.

Comment by Allen on February 17, 2009 at 6:10am

There are many discussions about this topic out there and they all say yes. There is one on the front page regarding this same topic.
Yes Jrs are a good thing.

Comment by Paul Kerp on February 17, 2009 at 2:52am

Yes, Cadets should be in the Fire house, they are a big part of our dept. and I hope that in the future they do take my place to carry on our traditions instead of some greenhorn comming her from someware else changing things.
Basicly if someone has an issue about an eger dedicated cadet in the fire house, then maybe that person needs to look at their own performance.

Comment by Teresa Nolan on February 16, 2009 at 11:41pm

I think jrs in the fh is a great thing. Yes, they are the future of the fire department. some of the children join so they can be a role model in the community. Others are joining so they can do a good deed when they want. Others join so that they stay out of trouble. I feel they are a great aspect to the fire house and we should welcome them with open arms.

Comment by Joe Stoltz on February 16, 2009 at 11:18pm

Absolutely yes! The junior FFs of today are tomorrow's firefighters, either volunteer or career. I believe it is an excellent way to teach the youngsters about many things, not all fire related. For instance, in the volunteer world it introduces them to the spirit of volunteering for a worthy cause, which they can always take with them even if they don't follow the fire service.

I think they also get a good bit of perspective by seeing how easily a life can be changed by a fire or vehicle crash. I think both of my children are better for the experience.

From the volunteer perspective, those who poo-poo the Junior members usually have a reason for doing so. The ones I can come up with are:
Being threatened by the youngsters with their newfangled ideas
Some youngster did something wrong once, therefore they are all bad
Fear of the "kids" taking over the fire department

...and other equally weak excuses.

Those who resent the youngsters who will take over some day lack the vision and maturity to realize that indeed, they WILL and MUST take over if the volunteer fire service is to survive.