Mark vonAppen's Blog (27)

By: Mark vonAppen

By Mark vonAppen

Gentlemen,

By Mark vonAppen

Let's be real.  After all, that's what this whole Fully Involved idea is predicated on - honesty and trust. Without it, we have nothing. …

There is an ongoing devaluing of the fire problem from within our industry which leads to a lack of education among firefighters.  As individuals and as a culture, we seek the easy fix, the next distraction, or the short answer because we don't have the attention span to sit and read (I'll keep this short, I promise), watch a video, or get out and train. We are losing the ability to walk and…

The Boy Scout motto is, "Be Prepared".  We admire the people who seemingly can show up and simply figure things out on the fly.  It simply isn't true.  If hope and luck are what you operate on, you are asking for trouble.  Eventually the clock will strike midnight, your engine will turn into a pumpkin, and…

It is impossible to strive for excellence and forget about the well being of your people. You cannot neglect morale. Morale is a choice in the sense that everyone must work tirelessly to protect it because we all have stake in the well being of the company.  It is particularly important that the leader have a…

By Mark vonAppen

In this time of transition in the American Fire Service, due to mass retirements and paradigm shift in how we do business, the unfortunate, and sometimes…

By Mark vonAppen

Be careful with the word potential.  It has a misleading connotation.  We often refer to potential as a positive thing, an imaginary upside that exists solely in our minds if only we could tap the…

By Mark vonAppen

"Our standard of performance on defense is to get 11 men to the football on every play," my father would say as he stood before his players to begin the season.  "We have a standard to uphold, and each one of…

By:  Mark vonAppen 

Working a shift trade on a company that you are not totally familiar with poses some interesting and potentially hand-tying problems.  It also presents an opportunity for growth.

As things were winding down at our last structure fire, a…

By Mark vonAppen

If you subscribe to this blog, it's no secret to you that I am a bit of a rogue at heart.  I am driven by passion,  I talk to myself,  I have a short fuze, I live for my family, and I live for the craft.  I…

By Mark vonAppen

This will be the year that the rogues come home.

Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth. Our professional…