By Robert B. Ulrich
Each of us are at different steps in our career journey. You might be a volunteer in a small department in the Midwest that runs 50 calls per year. You might be working at a combination department with 5 years on the job or serve as a career officer in a metropolitan department. We all have a story to tell. Just like sitting around the kitchen table or on the tailboard telling stories to guide, help and pass lessons along to the next generation.
The beauty of this is that each person’s career is like a snowflake – no two are identical! Many of our legacies and rich history have been passed down by word of mouth or tailboard chat sessions. No matter the platform, this is information that we need to share. Being a part of the fire service, we owe it to each other to share our stories and experiences. The key to it is finding YOUR story!
As a lifelong learner, I have gained insight on many issues by reading about other people’s journeys. Sure, I may have never worked in a major metropolitan department, but I can usually find a takeaway from their experiences to apply to my situation.
One time I was having a conversation with a retired officer from a major metropolitan department discussing tactics. I listened intently to how “they” did it. He followed up with “what is your take on it?” I passed on how working with limited staffing, we were performing in a similar way with tactical adaptations. He was impressed by the adaptation and took something from the conversation. No matter where you are or how you function, we need to find that common bond by making the proverbial kitchen table or tailboard discussion as big as our resources allow. You never know who you might impact!
As an example, the following excerpt comes from Chapter 12: Life/Death/Humor and Attitude of my book, “The 40 Year Deployment – A First Responders Journey: Tips, Tricks and Stories from a Life of Service.”
Have a “probie” mindset throughout your career. You might ask “what is a probie?’ When you first start on a department, you are the low man/woman on the totem pole. No matter what your age, financial status, intelligence, how well you scored in the recruit school, you are a probie. You are the guy who should be showing up first for work, having yourself and your gear squared away before everyone else. You are the guy that should be the first up in the morning at the end of your shift to make coffee for the crew. If the station phone rings, you better be the one answering it. If there are multiple probies on the shift, it is fun to have probie races to see who can answer the phone first. It is almost like watching cats fight over a toy. You will take on all the worst or most menial tasks, either by assignment or volunteer to prove your worth as a part of the team. It’s a rite of passage to be able to take whatever is thrown at you and get it done. You will be the primary target of pranks and firehouse humor. Usually during your probie phase, you will earn your nickname…that never goes away. Eventually you earn your spot, build your reputation, one of the biggest factors is learning your humility.
The point behind keeping the “probie” mindset throughout your career is that you are never too senior, too high ranking to get down with the boys. Yes, the longer you are in the business you will get more responsibility, authority, headaches and the like. It’s easy to be drawn into the “importance” of the tasks you do. If you want to build “street credit” with the boys, get down and participate in the basic drills. Race the new probies on dress out drills, help with station chores and be involved. You can show that you are still a firefighter at heart (and you should be). Show that you have become SOOOO Important that you can’t take a ribbing or be the butt of a joke once and a while. Mopping the floors after dinner sometimes has the most “honest” conversations in the firehouse. You will hear the guys talking about how shitty the new healthcare plan is, how rough a call was, family problems at home, or any of a multitude of things that you need to be aware of as a good leader.
Our job isn’t to gain knowledge, hoard it and take it to our grave. Each of us has those nuggets that we have gathered throughout our careers, it is our job to then make sure we are passing those nuggets to the next generation, because we never own them, they are just on loan from the people who came before us. Get out there and tell YOUR story.
“The 40 Year Deployment - A First Responders Journey: Tips, Tricks, and Stories from a Life of Service”
Palmetto Publishing ©2024
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