“Let No One’s Ghost Return to Say Their Training Let Them Down.”
–Anonymous
We Got Us!
About the Author
Joe Anderson has been a career firefighter since 2016. After graduating from the academy and going into rotation on the line, he has dedicated himself to training and certifying in multiple disciplines. He is EMT and CFI certified, and currently tied for #2 with two other members on the promotional list for fire lieutenant.
Firefighter Anderson, CFI, EMT Fire Department Mount Vernon (FDMV)I’m a firefighter. That’s a statement, a declaration and comes with expectations the world over. Expectations that we won’t go into great detail about now, but if we were to flesh it out, I’m sure there’d be many descriptive words thrown out there. Consequently, many of those expectations are across the board on the shoulders of all First Responders, to one degree or another, firefighters, police, EMS and everything that falls under those categories.
The public – in truth our employers – all demand professionalism, knowledge, dedication to outcomes, and the ability to practice professionalism and poise in hostile environments to achieve those desired outcomes.
So where do we go to rejuvenate? We have our families, our friends, our communities and many other avenues to find inspiration and rejuvenation, but one of our greatest assets will always be ourselves in empathy, understanding and information sharing to inform, enlighten and encourage one another to perform our duties to the best of our ability. Sometimes this leads to conflict, sometimes this leads to sobriety of mind, illuminating places where complacency may have settled in, and sometimes it just leads to outright anecdotal laughter, but at the end of the day, our goal is to strengthen the First Responder community.
The God and Fire Community exists for us, and by us, to aid in the fully satisfactory outcome of having carried out our duties and responsibilities to one another, and those we serve, in irreproachable fashion. That being said, as an organization God and Fire invites and welcomes you to share your experiences and knowledge, however mundane, passing, urgent or novel they may be.