Brian Ward "FireServiceSLT"'s Page

If you are unsure of who Lt. General Hal Moore is I would encourage you to research one of the most decorated war time heroes in modern history.  In fact, General Norman Schwarzkopf, who was a student of Lt. General Hal Moore at West Point, calls him one of his “heroes.” General Moore was born in Bardstown, Kentucky; a small town of 11,700 people, per the 2010 census records. How does a small-town gentleman rise to be one of the most decorated military figures in history? I believe he lived…

How often do we actually train on performing as a team? How often do we examine what we do as a team that makes us function effectively or fail effectively? As firefighters we train constantly to function as part of a team, however, do we always carry that to the field? When a team has worked together and has bonded, they seem to function as the right hand knows without saying what the left hand is doing. A fire brother on mine, David Bullard,…

This particular morning was like any other except I happened to be at home instead of work, waiting on the AC Repairman. I awoke about 0630 to go for my morning run as a fire call came in with an address one road down from my residence in the small town where I volunteer. In this volunteer department I am a firefighter at rank and I follow orders instead of the typical giving of them in my career status. While I do not shy away from speaking up, I feel it is important to listen and be…

Many people consider mentoring as a formal program that occurs in someone else’s department. Or, maybe there is one or two people in your life that gave you advice from time to time. However, I would argue that mentoring can be formal but the most powerful transformations are developed from informal mentoring. I have been fortunate to have surrounded myself, on purpose and by luck, with tremendous mentors in my life. It should not be good enough for any of us to just go home after every…