The Real Enemy

We are our own worse enemies.

"I'm just going to ride the recliner for 24 hours." "Do you have a bed at your job???" "Mostly we just watch movies."
If that's you, then you aren't welcome here. You aren't welcome on my crew. You aren't welcome in my fire service.

The public doesn't want to pay lazy, minimum standard firefighters and they no longer will. If you are a mutt don't act surprised when budgets get cut, staffing gets reduced, and city administrators belittle our service. There are plenty of people ready to throw us under the bus and they don't need your help. STOP IT!

Get out of the recliner and train. Don't dare turn the stupid television on until you know without a hesitation that yourself, your equipment, and your rig is 100% ready to respond. Keep your station clean enough for the mayor to pop in any and every shift. Look for opportunities to serve our customers.

Excuses from this point forward are invalid. "That isn't my job" doesn't cut it any more. "My crew..." blah blah blah. What about you? Excellence is your responsibility and it's time you own it! Leadership can come from any position.

And for the love of all that is good in this world STOP BITCHING about actually doing the job. Been up all night? Boo hoo. One truck in Atlanta averages almost 6,000 calls per year. Don't like going out on lift assists? Guess what butt-head that senior citizen has paid more taxes in their lifetime than any other customer and has allowed you to be in this career to start with. Now when they need a little extra help just smile and do it. If it were your grandmother lying there what would you want?

I can't play along any more when someone says "you guys actually did something?" "Yes we did and we are thankful for every opportunity we have to serve."

Praise your brothers in public. Handle problems in private. Get on board or get out of the way. It's us against the world. We often serve the ungrateful. We are asked to do more with less. We have to battle day in and day out with brainless, spineless bureaucrats just to do our job. Our allies have all but failed but hope is not lost.

The fire that burns within The Relentless Few is about to ignite the world. We cannot be stopped. We will not be deterred. Our vision is clear and our path is straight. We cannot help what happened in the past but as for today?

TODAY WE STAND.