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Complete 180!!

In the past years our department has been somewhat behind the times when it comes to training. We skated along, doing a job here and there and doing and being pretty average at them. I noticed that with our low income fire district, there had to come a high level of pride in order to keep our trucks, PPE, tools, and everything else that should be in a museum that we use up and operational. With this I realized that our men are willing to put forth the effort to be the best. Sense this day we have had organizational meetings every quarter to plan for the next quarters training.

We now put on more than enough fire training for our men to recertify their FF cards without the NEED to go to outside classes. We train hard and train the way we do it on a job and it has become amazing. As a Captain I am able to watch our men go to work and be more proud of them than I ever have been. This is an amazing experience and will continue to fill me with pride on every job. These firefighters aren’t career guys at all, they are 100% volunteers and the only ones left in our county!

With this random rant nearing an end I will get to my point. Please keep the faith! If you are a chief officer, company boss, or a line guy, remember that this is the greatest job in the world and in spite of how hard it might be at times it will go on. Have confidence in your men and their willingness to do the job! Push them to the point that they can’t go anymore, then push some more. The ones that don’t like to train……… well they aren’t even a problem, they’ll weed themselves out, trust me. Our attitudes, brotherhood, and friendships have blossomed due to this training. KEEP THE FAITH. Do not throw around the word “BROTHER” if you aren’t. It’s not a word, it is a feeling, and it’s a willingness to drop everything to help a Brother with whatever he needs. It’s not just a word, its action. Be your Brothers keeper.

I had nearly lost the faith; don’t let it happen to you! Make the difference!

Keep the faith!

Train Hard, Train Real, and Train as often as you can!!

The mutts will move on

The Brothers will grow

And you community will reap the benefits

Capt. Dan Rice

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Permalink Reply by JJ Hastings on May 27, 2011 at 10:09am

Very well written. I agree.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Rice on May 27, 2011 at 11:04am

Thank you JJ

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Permalink Reply by Brian Jones on May 31, 2011 at 7:12am

I agree with you brother, the fire service has changed from what it used to be. The "Brotherhood" was what it meant, one big family watching out for each other no matter what. Nowadays its a clique rather than a family, and if you are not in the clique than you are nothing. It doesnt matter what training you have to these cliques, its all about what name you have or how many beers you buy off hours or how cool you are around the fire house, or if your daddy is chief and he changes SOP's for you to advance through the ranks...

I too thought the brotherhood was gone but I see there are still true brothers out there, brothers who take training seriously and would help you in your time of need even if they dont know you. Brothers who dont care about image or getting your picture in the paper or getting that write-up on the front page, but would rather relish the feeling that we helped, and made someone know that there are people who care and want to help.

I too have that feeling as Captain in my department, and I am seeing it grow every day, getting more members from other departments, growing the ranks of interior firefighters and making a bigger difference in our county. Its an immense feeling of pride to see this and know you are part of it. This past weekend we attended a couple of Memorial Day Parades and I saw the flicker of brotherhood that still exists, and talked to a few key people in the county and heard how impressed they were with our departments growing stature and it felt good.

Keep the faith and pass it on.

KTF-FTM-PTB

Stay Safe

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Permalink Reply by Dan Rice on May 31, 2011 at 9:48am

Brian,

I am very happy for you that your department is able to keep things going the way they should in todays fire service. It is amazing how hard it can be and the amount of work it takes just to maintain the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood that just happened in the past with no couching or “working” towards it.

Funny story that goes along with this, the other day I was at work looking at tattoos when I came across an absolutely amazing brotherhood tattoo. When I showed it to my colleague and mentioned how awesome this would be, I was absolutely blown away by the response. He said “Ha if you want to have something like that then you can go to 1unit where they have it!”. Yeah exactly what I though, WOW, you’re kidding me right? Nope 100% serious with his response. Made me think to myself, this is why people lose faith, hope, and the new guys don’t believe in our Brotherhood. But I didn’t blink and eye when he said it, and just simply made the bounding statement of OK, I think that’s a good idea, and walked away. I know Brothers are fighting this attitude day in and day out but we have got to remember that its still out there fighting to stay alive. KEEP THE FAITH and never let anyone push our Brotherhood around!

Once again congrats Brian, and thank you and your men for fighting for our Brotherhood.

KTF

(Note this story is NOT from the department the article was 1st about)

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