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Why do you do this job?
This is a question I ask my recruits when I start a new class...
Why do you want to be a firefighter? When I started it was different than today. We joined to help people and to aid the department. Today it seems that most of the new (younger) members feel that we shoud give them everything for joining the department. I know that I will get RIPPED for this but its true. When I started you kept your mouth shut, gave respect to the leaders of the department, and did what you were told (unless you felt it would endanger you). If I have been asked "why" once by the new ones I have been asked a thousand times. It doesn't matter why I want you to clean the floor, DO IT.
The longer I go the more I resemble those "Old Hats" that taught me when I was green. My worry is not that the new members can do the job, but if they will respect the department when "we" are gone.
This is from an "Old Hat" that never thought he would be one...
Add a Comment
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Comment by Firechick_NC on March 7, 2008 at 8:28pm
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I aint gonna rip ya, I totally agree. These new kids have no clue what it's like to "earn" anything. Back in the day, when we were first starting our lil dept, we were lucky if we could buy a couple pagers a year, and we had to sell hot dogs to do that. Now they just want em handed to them like nothing. Keep it up!!
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Comment by Bull on December 16, 2007 at 11:35am
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i agree totally, (im an ex-chief,"old hat",that was a victom of new politics) lol.
just stay true, and keep setting an example,or the pups will totally destroy the tradition.
my two cents.
Bull
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Comment by ee779 on December 16, 2007 at 12:13am
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AMEN, Brother! I've been saying the same thing for just about the last 10 years! Please excuse me for being blunt, but I put alot of blame on the parents, alot of them aren't taught to respect thier elders like you and I were. Hell, my mom would problably still slap me upside the head if I talked to someone older than I, the way these " kids" do!
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Comment by Wesley King on December 15, 2007 at 7:16pm
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I agree with you for the most part, except for one thing. I am a 26 yr. old that has been in the fire service for a little over a year and a half, so I am still a newbie. But I don't want anything handed to me. I have spend my own money and time and gas when I was just a volunteer to go find classes to prepare me for whatever may come. Having anything handed to me, doesn't prepare me for anything. But as far as, questioning orders, whether they are giving on the fireground or in the station, is wrong. That is the reason for a chain of command. It is a respect thing, and I say that if someone questions your orders, bust their butts and tell them to do it or pack up and go home.
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Comment by Paul Montpetit on December 15, 2007 at 6:20pm
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Have to agree with you there....Hope this isn't the "future" of the fire service....or there may not be a future fireservice......With you brother....Stay safe............Paul.....PS will meet you at the Geritol Bar after the shift ends....LOL
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