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Wise Words from Wise Men |
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Rules To Live By in the Fire Service An Open Letter to Hollywood Bunch
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Rules To Live By in the Fire Service
By Mark Wesseldine, FDNY
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From the Real WorldFrom a letter by fiddle-player and Wilmington native Charlie Daniels after some students at UNC-Wilmington objected to having him as commencement speaker.
An open letter to the Class of 1996 at UNC-Wilmington:
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Father Judge
Good days, bad days, but never a boring day on this job. You do what God
called you to do. You show up, you put one foot in front of the other, and
you do your job which is a mystery and a surprise. You have no idea, when
you get in the rig, what God is calling you to do. But he needs you…so keep
going. Keep supporting each other, be kind to each other, love each other,
work together. You love the job, we all do. What a blessing that is. …This was found lying around the office of FDNY special operations. It appears it came via fax. Could he have left us with better words for us to live by the day before he died?
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PresslerSometimes the best words you can write are someone else’s. There has been a lot of “drama” happening in the fire service lately, both nationally and locally. No one sums up the feelings of the Brotherhood as well as Bob Pressler. Here is the speech he gave at the 2nd Annual FOOLS convention in Florida. It speaks volumes towards how we should conduct ourselves in the face of all of this turmoil. Enjoy it as I did. Good evening Brother and Sister FOOL's; I want to thank the Palm Beach County Fools, the International FOOL’s E-board, and especially Jon Ferguson, who had to deal with me, for the honor of addressing this group. Not to mention for helping me escape the beginnings of winter at home, where we just happened to get our first measurable snow this morning. The 82 here is a little better than the 28 at home. A lot
has happened over the last 14 months, to the Fire Service, and to the FOOL’s, both here and across the country. Nationally, the Sep’t 11
disaster, and locally the training tragedy, cost the fire service and the
FOOL’s many Brothers, including the 4 we just attended a memorial service
for. Throughout these hard times, the FOOL’s have always been there, with
words of encouragement, as a shoulder to cry on, or just as a sounding
board to vent at. After Sep’t 11, the FOOL’s site had the most up to date
information on who was working, who was missing and who had been seen. The Fire service, as a whole, is collectively still trying to recover from the effects of Sep’t 11. The 343 members of the FDNY who made the supreme sacrifice that day will always be in our hearts and forever on our minds. As part of our FOOL’s “signature”, R-F- B, “Remember Fallen Brothers”, these heroes should never and will never be forgotten. This should also include ALL of our fallen Brothers, no matter where they were from, or the matter in which they died. Their names have been added to long list of those that have laid down their lives so that others may live. And although “EGH”, Everybody Goes Home” is
not always possible, it is part of what we strive for. It is why we train,
it is why we read, it is why we interact with each other. We need to share
the knowledge. The more we share, the more we pass on what we have
learned, the safer we will be. The fewer funerals we will have to go to,
the more of our Brothers and Sisters that will go home. Because it is all
about protecting each other. In California, a Chief has gone on the rampage about the length of his peoples’ mustaches. It just so happens that these are the motivated people in his organization, the ones that have started a campaign about Company pride and tradition. This is his answer to pride and Brotherhood. His Department is in turmoil, but the written reprimands about hair length will certainly help boost morale and keep the Department running smoothly. He has become a new Nero, fiddling while his “Rome” burns down. Everywhere we look there are mutts that cannot, will not, or don’t want to understand the Brotherhood of the Fire service. The last part of our signature is KTF, or Keep the Faith. With all that has happened we must believe. We must have faith in ourselves and in the others that think like us. They can transfer us, they can make you cut your mustache, the can tell you what you can’t wear on your helmet, but never let them break your spirit! The best part about the FOOL’s is that this is a group of people that wants to be part of an organization that doesn’t owe anyone anything. From its humble start, a couple of guys with a vision of what the Fire service meant to them, started an organization. Now in the history of the fire service there have been hundreds of organizations that have started and than fallen by the way side. But this group seemed to be a little different. I remember Mike Stallings telling me at Indy, that he and a couple of guys had this group; a group of guys that were interested in the history and the tradition of the “Job”. To try to keep the spirit alive, they were forming an organization, and the name was the FOOL’s! And I am saying to myself, yeah Fools!!! But from this unusual beginning, we sit here tonight with Brothers and Sisters from all over, attending a National Fools convention. I am proud to be a FOOL. I have belonged to many organizations within the Fire Service, but none with a mission like this one. In NYC we called ourselves the Fire 500. We figured that out of the almost 12000 members of the FD, there were maybe 500 of us that cared about the History and tradition of the job. And it always seemed like the numbers were shrinking. Other FD’s laughed that they had the Fire 30, or the Fire 1, depending on how bad things seemed to be. But now we have the Fire 1000’s. And the name has been changed to the FOOL’s. And make no mistake about it; this organization has a voice! One of the reasons is because we do not have to answer to anyone but ourselves. We are not here to make money; we are not here to bargain for raises for our membership, we are not here to run a business. We have no hidden agenda. We are here to preserve the history, the tradition and the brotherhood of the fire service. We are here for each other. The support that was offered to me from this group after my “e-mailed dismissal” from both the FDIC and Fire Engineering magazine was to put it mildly, unbelievable. The postings, the e-mails, and the phone calls were great. I sometimes feel that I let some of you down by not posting more. I apologize to you all, but especially Mike, Tim, and others that tried to gently prod me in that direction. I didn’t want to get into a war of words with an English major and I wasn’t sure that the guest book was the place to fight this battle. But due to some recent events and the recent postings asking for information, I feel I must say something. The entire thing is really very simple. In 2001, PW put a new person in charge of both the FDIC’s and FE. This person put pressure on everyone that worked for both the magazine and the shows. An issue concerning the SCBA’s used for some of the HOT classes arose. I took a stand for the instructors, based on their preference, prior usage, and safety of both the students and the instructors. This did not sit well with the new regime. Mr. Manning got caught in the middle and betrayed some things that I had said in confidence to him. It went downhill from there, and the end
result was my termination in July of this year. I was not fired because I
stole money, I was not fired because I was being paid to drive Interspiro
out of Indianapolis, and I was not on the payroll of any other
manufacturer. These were a few of the things that supposedly were behind
my termination. I’ve heard that certain employees of FE have told people,
“Oh you don’t know the whole story” said with a wink. As if there is some
secret reason I was fired. Well there isn’t. I was fired for doing my job;
I was fired for standing up for the instructors. I was fired because Mr.
Manning picked Scott Swardron and PW over myself and the Fire service. At the last meeting I had with Manning prior
to being fired, I was told I was going to get some helping running the
shows. When I questioned the need for this help, I was giving some vague
answers as to why this help was needed. I asked again and finally he told
me he had to “put people loyal to FE” in position between the instructors
and myself. Over 10 years of writing, supplying photos, and reviewing
articles. Asking people to submit articles and photographs. 6 years of the
FDIC in Indy and 2 in California. And he questioned my loyalty. Manning and his new boss toss the “Brother” term around pretty easily. But it is a hollow term. If they believed in the true Brotherhood, why is there a “black list” of instructors who have not been asked back to teach at the FDIC? Most on this list were my most vocal supporters. Most sent letters to Manning at the beginning of this, expressing support for me. Now they find themselves and the people on their teams uninvited. This is their payback. So it is OK to be a Brother as long as you don’t go against “Big Brother”. The hardest part for me to except was not my termination. The hardest thing for me to except was that I found that many people do not live by their word. I had been told by many of the instructors several times in past years, when little things had caused some bumps in the road, “if you go, I go”. And now, some people are having trouble living by those words. People that have called me “Brother”, people that I have respected for their integrity, people that I have supported, that I considered friends, have now turned their back on me. That is the hardest part. The FDIC will go on. It is too big a moneymaker for PW. I have been replaced; the people who have supported me and ended up blacklisted have been replaced, as well as others who decided not to return even though they didn’t make the list. No one was or is irreplaceable. The HOT training at Indy and in Sac will go on. But as Greg Falkenthal said to me after this had started, the training will never be as good as it was. And that is because we taught more than firematics. We also taught about Brotherhood, about tradition, about our history. Not only did we teach it, we live by it too. The people that have stood by have made great personnel sacrifices to do so. They have pulled articles from the magazine after waiting forever to have that first one published. They have removed themselves from the advisory boards of both the show and magazines, and they have decided not to return to teach at the FDIC. They have done this on their own, in support of a Brother and the Brotherhood. The are men of their word and I applaud them and I thank them. I would like to recommend that we add another
“sign” to our signature. In our professional lives, especially for younger F/F’s, I have “borrowed” something from a Brother of mine, Tim Klett of the FDNY. It is called the 4 UPS. The first is, Listen up: When you are first starting in the Fire Service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain BS. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value; it is up to you to determine how much value it has to you. Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little “pearls of wisdom” that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are loosing our experience. The F/F’s that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are loosing our history, we are loosing our past. Don’t let this happen. The second up is, Clean up: The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior F/F working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work, you get to do the dishes, and you get to mop the floors, and you get to clean the toilets. This is not based on any prejudices of race, sex, or religion. It is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie is assigned to that company. It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it, the ones that are the first to get up to head for the sink after a meal, usually find that they have help. They become excepted into the “family” a little quicker. The third up is, Step up: this goes hand in
hand with the previous “up” but there is more. Be involved in your company
and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if
possible. In NYC every company I ever worked in would have a company
picnic in the summer, a Christmas party in the fire house in December, and
a dinner-dance sometime during the year. Become a productive member of
your Company. The last up is my favorite; Shut up. This one goes well with listen up, but actually goes a little further. Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of F/F and member of this great Brotherhood you are. In our personnel lives, DTRT, means take care
of our families. Take care of your loved ones. Think before you act. And
when all else fails, go with your heart, Do the right thing.
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An Open Letter to the Hollywood BunchOk, let's just say for a moment you bunch of pampered, overpaid, unrealistic children had your way and the U.S.A. didn't go into Iraq. Let's say that you really get your way and we destroy all our nuclear weapons and stick daisies in our gun barrels and sit around with some white wine and cheese and pat ourselves on the back, so proud of what we've done for world peace. Let's say that we cut the military budget to just enough to keep the National Guard on hand to help out with floods and fires. Let's say that we close down our military bases all over the world and bring the troops home, increase our foreign aid and drop all the trade sanctions against everybody. I suppose that in your fantasy world this would create a utopian world where everybody would live in peace. After all, the great monster, the United States of America, the cause of all the world's trouble would have disbanded it's horrible military and certainly all the other countries of the world would follow suit. After all, they only arm themselves to defend their countries from the mean old U.S.A. Why you bunch of pitiful, hypocritical, idiotic, spoiled mugwumps. Get your head out of the sand and smell the Trade Towers burning. Do you think that a trip to Iraq by Sean Penn did anything but encourage a wanton murderer to think that the people of the U.S.A. didn't have the nerve or the guts to fight him? Barbra Streisand's fanatical and hateful rankings about George Bush make about as much sense as Michael Jackson hanging a baby over a railing. You people need to get out of Hollywood once in a while and get out into the real world. You¹d be surprised at the hostility you would find out here. Stop in at a truck stop and tell an overworked, long distance truck driver that you don¹t think Saddam Hussein is doing anything wrong. Tell a farmer with a couple of sons in the military that you think the United States has no right to defend itself. Go down to Baxley, Georgia and hold an anti-war rally and see what the folks down there think about you. Please visit Clarksville, Tennessee and the 101st Airborne and talk that ____. Please visit those Real Americans. You people are some of the most disgusting examples of a waste of protoplasm I¹ve ever had the displeasure to hear about. Sean Penn, you¹re a traitor to the United States of America. You gave aid and comfort to the enemy. How many American lives will your little "fact finding trip" to Iraq cost? You encouraged Saddam to think that we didn't have the stomach for war. You people protect one of the most evil men on the face of this earth and won't lift a finger to save the life of an unborn baby. Freedom of choice you say? Well I'm going to exercise some freedom of choice of my own. If I see any of your names on a marquee, I'm going to boycott the movie. I will completely stop going to movies if I have to. In most cases it certainly wouldn't be much of a loss. You scoff at our military who's boots you're not even worthy to shine. They go to battle and risk their lives so ingrates like you can live in luxury. The day of reckoning is coming when you will be faced with the undeniable truth that the war against Saddam Hussein is the war on terrorism. America is in imminent danger. You¹re either for her or against her. There is no middle ground. I think we all know where you stand. I will stand with the soldiers, airmen, and sailors. The hard working men and women of this great country. Not the overpaid, pansy ____, Hollywood wimp wanna be's and has been's, who can't hold a candle to real American's, the middle class blue collar workers. What do you think? Boycott any Hollywood type that protest against the USA. God Bless America
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LT. Andy Fredricks - Squad 18 FDNY - Killed 9/11/01At the time of his untimely death, Andy was rising through the ranks and had a passion for fire attack methodologies which was making him a fire service giant. "People asked me, am I old school? I guess in many ways i am because I truly believe that tradition is important to the long-term survival of the fire service." "To me, the fire service is still dirty hose and brass nozzle tips, seasoned firefighters who know what it means to pull a ceiling and know what to do when they're told to trim a window...and it's about chiefs who trust their instincts and exude that command presence." "I view the two-in/two-out rule as a copout standard," he opined to a broad national audience, "When the two who are in are in trouble, what are the two who are our going to be able to do? My experience is that it may take a half dozen or more firefighters...to rescue just one firefighter in distress...to me, the safest way to operate if there are only four personnel available for interior firefighting, I think, is all four in. And the reason is that the search for victims will be completed more quickly, but most important, water will be applied to the seat of the fire in a shorter time frame, which eliminates all the hazards the two-in/two-out rule was created to address in the first place."
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George Carlin
(His wife recently died...) |
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