Hello everyone!

This being my first "blog" here, let me introduce myself to you all. I am 35, a call firefighter paramedic for a small community fire department (ok, I list this one first because I've been there forever), I work full time as a paramedic for a small, yet relatively busy service, and for another EMS only and fire department as a paramedic. I am the proud dad of 3 kids 16, 11 and 8 and I have been married to my wonderful wife for the past 12 years.

I have been an EMT for a total of 15 years (2 nationally certified, 13 state certified) of which I have been a paramedic for the past 4. I enjoy my job as a paramedic very much, I have been working in EMS full time for almost 10 years now. I enjoy firefighting at the level/volume that I do because I am not all that interested in making being a "bucket head" my career. I have seen and done a lot of stuff in my career as an EMT, but I really do realize that I have not, nor probably ever will, done it all. I hope that I can provide some insight to newer members here, and that I can learn from others.

I also am an Eagle Scout and veteran of the US Army (Desert Storm). My veteran status is by default, I have never seen combat -- my theory is that during the Gulf War (1991) the government decided that they needed someone to take care of all that beer in Germany that the GI's were not going to be able to drink while they were away and I was just the guy to take care of that problem! I look back and realize that if I had stayed in, I would only have about 2 years left to retirement -- but, the Army life wasn't the life for me. As a Scout, I am again finding myself very involved in the Boy Scouting programs as my son has found the joy of Cub Scouting and I have become the committee chairman of his Cub Pack. I can hardly wait till he moves on to Boy Scouts next year.

Hopefully I have done a good job of introducing myself to you all.

TTFN

Joshmac