Ever felt like a dork in the civillian world?

I was just wondering if anyone else gets that blank stare or the "Oh that is nice" comment When your at your paid job or out with friends, or family and you start talking about something EMS or fire related? I have a standard line I add to my conversations now to the outside world..".I know I am a dork but....." Being a volunteer I get excited over training, something funny that happened, excetra and want to share with "others" in my life but it is difficult. I find myself yearning for the next meeting or call so that I can 'hang' out with my 'fire' family where I feel totally accepted and relaxed after. Am I truley a 'Dork' or am I just a normal vollie? lol

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Permalink Reply by jim farrier on April 23, 2011 at 8:27am

I think that is a great idea.

Permalink Reply by Ted C Hall on April 27, 2011 at 10:16am

I like Bob's answer... and we must be dysfunctional to do what we do...

OTOH, in my community Firefighters are treated like family...

We've got a couple of Scrooge types that don't like us except when smoke's rolling out of their property... but the average citizen treats us like we were favorite cousins at worst

On days that I'm doing fire stuff in the community instead of waiting for the pager, I'm usually wearing my off duty uniforms. That gets me noticed almost too much...

I almost feel like a fraud when folks come up and tell me stories about the department saving their home decades before I joined up... but that's part of being "THEIR" Fire Department.

The best times are when we get class tours from the schools, it's a chance to remind them of a family fire plan, stop-drop-and-roll, and when to dial 911...

I had two 2nd grade classes and a dozen adults tour the station Monday (after we'd cleared up from the Council on Aging Senior Lunch held in the station) and THEY knew their Fire Safety stuff...

The three kids that didn't have a fire plan at home promised to talk to their parents... and ALL of them knew stop, drop, and roll cold... Went through the reasons to call 911 and got them yelling it at the top of their lungs (what do you call if there's a fire, if you need a sheriff? etc...)

I found out too, that in just a couple of years I had learned more than I thought from the capacity of each engine to the value of our rolling stock... The adults had nearly as many questions as the kids...

If ANY of them enjoyed that half hour as much as I did we done good!!!

Sure I'm a dork... I see fuel instead of trees and shrubs in our wildland areas, and consider Urban Interface problems as I drive along the streets...

But I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had for diamonds or gold!!!!

Permalink Reply by Robby Stables on September 7, 2011 at 7:27pm