The last laugh

[Jonas Smith]

Wow. Just got back from an assualt with weapons response. Guy got stabbed in the chest with a knife.
You know you are serious about things when you bury a knife in a guys chest. Up close and personal! LOL!!!

Run #13 for us and it's just past midnight... the night is young in the big city. Whats next? Hopefully breakfast, but I doubt it.

I suddenly feel to decon again.

Thanks Bob, I'm just so glad that society has a place for someone like me.

[Bob Thompson]

Right now I am working a 24 hour shift downtown Seattle at the busiesest fire station in the city, on the buisiest unit in the city. Aid car 5. Rowdy bunch of cats down here. Home of Engine 10, ladder 1, Air unit 9, and the Hazmat team. 11 runs so far, and it's a slow Sunday night. I'll be going up to my regular station in the Uof W district for 24 more hours tomorrow.

I Love this job!

My personal thanks to Jonas and all the people who share his profession.
You may know that I was in Seattle recently, It was due to the fact that my mother suffered a severe heart attack on Dec 2 and was revived and stabilised by the paramedic crew in Renton where she has been living. They got her transported to Harbor View and were able to keep her ticking. At 87 years she is not a good candidate for open heart or even angioplasty . Despite that she has been able to be discharged and is now living in an adult care facility just blocks away from my sister's house in Renton. She was even able to spend Christmas with my sister and her family away from her care facility.
The guys like Jonas who run the Aid-Cars do a lot of good and it's not easy work. I stand in awe of their contribution to our society.

[Kevin Mienke]

I'll be going up to my regular station in the Uof W district for 24 more hours tomorrow.

I Love this job!

I worked in the Drake University district for a while. The hours between 2200 and 0300 were especially fun. No need to make your bunk at the firehouse.

[Jonas Smith]

Funny you should post this...

Right now I am working a 24 hour shift downtown Seattle at the busiesest fire station in the city, on the buisiest unit in the city. Aid car 5. Rowdy bunch of cats down here. Home of Engine 10, ladder 1, Air unit 9, and the Hazmat team. 11 runs so far, and it's a slow Sunday night. I'll be going up to my regular station in the Uof W district for 24 more hours tomorrow.

I Love this job!

[Kevin Mienke]

He teaches us quite a lot.

That humbles me, considering all that I’ve learned from all of you since first coming to the PWA forums.

I consider myself a student here. In fact, when I first looked at the forums I felt very inferior and thought that anything I might offer to a conversation would be insignificant. I waited and learned. I think I sat on the sidelines for about a year…just listening and learning.

It’s been five years since then and I still sit out many discussions because I know the knowledge of some folks here far outweighs my own. I still enjoy sitting on the sidelines.

It brings to mind a point that will fit in well with this thread.

When I was a young fireman, my first station assignment out of drill school was with Engine 2 on Des Moines east side. I was at least a little intimidated going in. Correction, I was down right scared.

The men of Engine 2 had a reputation as the city’s best. They were what we call “smoke eaters”. These guys didn’t just fight fires; they owned them.

They were the roughest bunch of firefighters I ever worked with. I was fortunate to have them mentor me. They really set the tone for how I viewed my job and what I expected of myself in my job.

I see the core of this forum group in the same light that I saw those firefighters. You have set the tone for me and I feel fortunate to have had your knowledge to guide me.

Which brings me, at last, to the point….

Sometimes, it’s not how much we know, but how much we’re willing to admit we don’t know. How much we’re willing to learn.

We can bring ourselves a long way towards being the men we want to be if we are willing to learn.

[MoparNorm]

I thought of a few other good ones...


If you are not a cowboy, don't wear the hat. If you wear the hat, you better be a cowboy.

Ha! Ha!
My Colorado cousins, ALL cowboys, took to wearing ball caps in the 70's.
"What's the deal?"l I asked them.
"We were tired of being mistaken for truck drivers." they replied....= )

[712edf]

I'd like to reccomend a book (yes I know that sounds cheesy, think of it as a manual instead of a book).

It's titled The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldridge.

Manhood is bestowed upon an adolescent from other men. Not mom, not his peers, not the IN crowd at school, not his barbiedoll girlie, not by his high-fluting career, not by some academia board.

This occurs in stages. Miss a stage and the finished product is defficient, not gonna work at it's (his) full potential.

Just thought I'd throw that out since MAN is being referred to in places here.

I'm gonna go back to kicking myself now,for no longer owning a PW & having it to "play" with in today's fresh snow.

Bucky

[Bob Thompson]

This quite a thread. I'm sorry to come in so late.
As for number forty, A: "Of course not dear" (a smile turneth away wrath) B: "I'm sorry, I was looking at that truck" insert the object of your choice. As for C well, there are some things a gentleman doesn't discuss.
Keep at it guys, I have expounded on the marginalization of the influence of "Men" in previous threads.

[NNICKB]

He didn't have any interests and he didn't have a mentor growing up. He joined the Marine Corps out of High School and came back a different man....full of confidence and skill.

I have seen this many times.

Boys crave discipline. Boys who seem to be the most difficult to discipline are the ones who always end up joining the Marines.

I have utmost respect for them. Just wish there weren't so many of them in harm's way right now.

[MasterYota]

The fire department likes to hire vererans of the Armed Forces. It is no wonder why.

Growing up, I had a friend who did not have much in the way of skills. He didn't have boy scouts or little league. He didn't take industrial arts classes.

He had no confidence.

He didn't have any interests and he didn't have a mentor growing up. He joined the Marine Corps out of High School and came back a different man....full of confidence and skill.

I remember a scene in the movie "Red Dawn" where the Boy Scouts was aluded to being a para-military organization. I found it funny at the time, but given the structured environment, uniforms, use of knives, and teaching of survival skills, I can now see how that distinction could be made.

I consider my time in Scouts to have had a dramatic effect on my character. It made a differnce in so far as how I see the world, and how I interact with the people in it. It was a definite augmentation to the good sense I was developing as a young man. Plus, it was fun, and thats the best way to teach eager young minds.

[Kevin Mienke]

I should find a safer hobby, like rock climbing.

In FD drill school we did a lot of rapelling from tall buildings. One of the tests was to rappel halfway down, invert your whole body, let loose of the rope, get yourself upright again, and proceed down.

It was a thrill. Each knot was one you tied yourself.

[Jonas Smith]

Taking my own advice...

I should find a safer hobby, like rock climbing.

[Kevin Mienke]

The fire department likes to hire vererans of the Armed Forces. It is no wonder why.

Growing up, I had a friend who did not have much in the way of skills. He didn't have boy scouts or little league. He didn't take industrial arts classes.

He had no confidence.

He didn't have any interests and he didn't have a mentor growing up. He joined the Marine Corps out of High School and came back a different man....full of confidence and skill.

[74w300uteline]

eagle scout on your resume

a human resources big wig for a Fortune 100 company told me that when they see Eagle Scout on a resume they do not have to read any further. Even if formal education is not an exact fit for the job, they know that they are getting an employee who has solid character and can be groomed for almost any position,probably multiple positions. Employer sees candidate as a sound longterm investment.

[Gordon Maney]

And this applies to my latest motorcycle adventure as well as many other things in life...

WALK IT OFF and then get back on the bike, back to work, back in the game.

I think this is a lesson you taught us Kevin.

He teaches us quite a lot.