Stay the Course

From http://www.fireservicewarrior.com/
By: Gary Lane

So there I was.  Out behind the firehouse again.  T-shirt soaked from sweat and wrinkled from being under my gear.  In front of me sat our Engines’ two ground ladders (or “portables” if you speak FDNY) that I had been “playing” with for the last hour.  The only thing missing was the smell of smoke and stretched hoselines… and some more firemen.  Here’s the thing:  I was by myself.  This one fact really got me down and I had a tough time moving past it.  I only bring this up because I think we need to talk about this a little bit.  What do you do when you are the only one?  You stay the course, that’s what.

How many of us spent our time in fire academy learning the basics and being told repeatedly that we always operate as a team.  Never go anywhere alone.  Partner this, teamwork that.  Yeah, that sounded really good to me at the time too!  The unfortunate truth is that once we are “on the job”, things may turn out quite different.  This can really be a below-the-belt gut shot to your enthusiasm, morale and motivation.  In my opinion, this is one of the main reasons why so many guys and gals that join the fire department become jaded, disgruntled and disconnected with the mission.  In case you forgot, our mission is to Save Lives and Protect Property.  This seems to get lost in the daily shuffle and grind for far too many of our brothers and sisters.  So what are we to do?  We stay the course.
When I say “stay the course”, this is what I mean:  While we all have highs and lows during our careers, WE NEVER GIVE UP.  We may retreat, re-position and re-evaluate, but WE NEVER GIVE UP.  When you are the only warrior in the bunch, do not become angry and fall to a level of pettiness and finger pointing of how it “woulda, coulda or shoulda” been.  This is extremely difficult and some days it will be easier to do this than others.  Stand up with your head held high and know that you are the one and you must stay the course.
 “Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”― Heraclitus
Training, Training, Training.  If you don’t agree that training is the most important thing we could be spending our time on, you need to seriously think about why you are in the fire service.  I believe a similar quote was spoken by recently retired Chicago Fire Commissioner, Robert Hoff.  That alone is motivation for me to stay the course.
Now some may argue that they can come to work and be switched on, ready to go simply because of their time on the job and “experience”.  They don’t need the repetitive “same ol’, same ol’” because they were born to do this.  They would rather spend time watching the game, prepping for their next big fishing trip or drooling over the latest high end mountain bike parts they can’t afford.  I would argue that if those are the things in life you treasure and look forward to, then you absolutely must stay the course!  How else will you make it to that next big vacation if you constantly under perform on the fireground, putting yourself and others at risk of injury.
At the beginning I mentioned being alone during some training.  Funny, an often heard fire service quote comes to mind:  Practice how you play.  How fitting when you really think about it.  How often have you found yourself on the field of battle, with those same feelings of being alone.  Sure there are other folks around you, some of them are even “working”, but many times you find yourself doing the math… 3 engines, 2 trucks, 1 rescue.  An ambulance crew and a chief or two.  How is it that with all the manpower on scene, the same 3 or 4 guys seem to be doing the majority of the work?  So when you think about it, I’m kinda glad to be training by myself because that is “how we play” sometimes.  So I throw the ladder again.  I hit the hydrant again.  I don my SCBA again.  I stay the course.
Now don’t mistake my use of “I” as some attempt to pat myself on the back.  The moment you start congratulating yourself or thinking too highly of your own accomplishments, that is when you become a target for the two main cancers that “kill” firefighters.  Complacency and ego.  You can fight these cancers with two main medicines:  Training and Teamwork.  If no one is joining forces with you every time you bunker up or pull out a tool, that is to be expected.  Just have faith that they see you and you are the role model they need, even if they don’t jump for joy at your enthusiasm for the job.  You will make an impact, all be it a small one, even on the most out of touch members. Bringing others into the fold, at any level, is your duty as a warrior.  You must stay the course.  They truly need you to.
Keep in mind that this job sucks.  What I mean by that is that for the most part, everything we do involves pain and suffering at some level, be it ours or someone else’s, physical or emotional.  For us to be “happy”, others have to be having a bad day.  We cannot allow the pain and suffering we are exposed to bring us down, take away our compassion or lessen our degree of dedication to the community we serve.  We stay the course because that is what we volunteered for.  That was the oath we took in front of our families, neighbors and brothers-in-arms.  They are counting on us.
So we forge on… to kill the enemy, to rescue a comrade, to complete the mission.  We will not stop.  We will not quit.  We will never give up.  We are Fire Service Warriors and we will stay the course.