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Comment by Jed Barton on December 3, 2008 at 2:55pm

Hey Matt,

Shoot me over an email. I have some tips that may help you.
My email is
jed@jedbarton.com
I would be interested in hearing from you, and looking forward to sharing some advice.

Sincerest Regards,
Jed

Comment by Jay Nicholson on November 13, 2008 at 10:31pm

Couple of general answers. There is no FF specialty in the navy. I believe you would be a damage control specialist. There would be plenty of FF training though. Unless things have changed in the AF, you used to be assured of your primary specialty assuming you qualified for it. I'm not sure if this is true of the Army. I might recommend talking to a different recruiter in a different city for both of those services. Just see if you get the same response from them. With the economy the way it is now though, the services can afford to be a little choosier.
As far as education goes, get as much as you can while in the service. A lot of times this can result in free, or close to it, education. With a 4-year commitment, you could easily get out of the service with an AA degree. If this is the case, most dept. won't care if you have a GED or not. Good luck.
Jay,
Former USAF FF

Comment by Bob H on November 13, 2008 at 9:30pm

I know a couple professional paid firefighters that were hired with a GED. They had to pass a firefighter written exam, but I was told that exam was the basic GED test.

Comment by Capt.Alex Arnold on November 13, 2008 at 7:23pm

That can tend to be agency specific. The majority of the time it is fine. I am a navy vet myself. They have a great firefighting program in the Navy! They (when I was in) were called DCs, Damage Controlmen. If this is a service that you want to get into then the Navy way is a great start. My advise to you is go into knowing that you have to work hard for it, but there is a return in it if you do work hard. Also, while there get your college degree also. The Navy has great extended learning programs. I am sure that you have heard of the University of Phoenix, That is where they started. They offered extended learning programs to the militrary. My advice for a degree would be in Public Administrations. This is the way that fire service is going in the future. If you get out of the service and have that degree, even if it's only an AA you are a hot commodity. I wish you lots of luck and remember, the military has alot to offer but you only get what you put in. If there is anything that I can do to help you, ie info on the recruitmant process, thoughts and ideas,yaddda,yadda,yadda drop me a line at alex@pofd3.org.