Stephen Raclaw's Blog – October 2015 Archive (3)

I have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome).  There, I said it; I admitted it to the world. 

How I came to have it? I’m not sure.  It’s not something I want; it’s not easy to deal with.  After all, I was a suburban firefighter for my entire career.  Not that the suburbs are immune from bad calls.  But I’ve heard stories from friends who work for busier urban departments.  Unbelievable stories of human carnage.  Yet I…

We are committed to the job of firefighting

We are the ones who dreamed of being a firefighter

We are the ones who bring passion to our work

We are the believers in the traditions of the fire service

We are the ones who take pride in our job, our tools, our actions and our department…

When I finished Firefighter I, I thought I knew it all.  After all, I had been around firehouses since I was a kid.  I was a fire explorer and I lived and breathed the fire service.

I continued on with classes.  At that time it was more to pad my resume than “really” learn stuff.  Not to say I didn’t learn new things, but I thought I knew everything I needed to know.

Sadly in retrospect,…