As we are born, there isn’t a day that should go by that any person on this earth doesn’t learn anything. It’s a big world out there, and that means there is a lot of knowledge as well. Most people think that once they graduate high school or college, they are done learning. Wrong! It doesn’t matter what you pursue as a career, there is always something to learn. Ever changing polices, laws, procedures, technology, even learning better techniques to be more proficient at your work; everyone faces new information that they have to learn and obtain.

Of all careers out there, the most prominent careers that face never ending change is public safety and military. In the military, you have to learn about your enemy, their tactics, their environment, and the arsenal they posses. The idea, “To know my enemy” is in every soldiers and sailors mind when going into combat. This is also true with Law Enforcement as well as EMS and Firefighting.

In firefighting, our number one enemy is fire. To know how a fire spreads, how certain materials and chemicals react, and the best way to fight it, confine it, and extinguish it; every firefighter is taught this in the academy. However, respect for it isn’t taught and textbook instruction isn’t always going to help you get out safely. Experience is the ultimate tool to have in your arsenal, and you earn it by learning and absorbing any and all information you come across. Mistakes can be made, but shouldn’t. But mistakes will continue to be made till you learn from them.

If I was to be asked, “What is the most valuable advice can you give to anyone interested in becoming a firefighter?” My response would have to be, “Absorb and learn anything and everything. Expect to learn from every incident you go on and others talk about. Learning is an everyday thing, and with learning comes experience and experience comes surviving!”