HULK, Capt America or Superman
...and a few other silly ideas too! When I was asked to draw our mascot for the original SQUAD 1, I really wasn't ready for all the different ideas the crews would have and I'll tell ya they were from one end of the crazy scale to the other! But then again I was still a rookie when I was chosen to be on this unit. I was in my 3rd year as a firefighter when we turned in applications to be picked for a crew that was gonna be different from anything yet seen in the fire service and we were gonna be taught all kinds of cool skills! Sounded FANtastic to me at the time...little did I or anybody else realize the amount of work, schooling, trainingtrainingtraining, TIME, headaches and heart aches, gaining new friends and losing old ones would happen those first couple years. IT was brutal but it never occurred to me that what we were doing was a ground breaking endeavor either. Hours upon hours from figuring out which tools worked best for this or that, what air bags could lift a ton, how many Hurst tools do we need and what size compressor and generator, Haz Mat stuff, Repelling gear, Dive gear, Extrication tools, Tunneling and Shoring, Fire Fighting and Medical too...oh damn now we gotta design the truck too? The first couple trucks we ran around in were something else LOL but they held together and they got us across the county and back safe. This stuff was some of the EASIEST to deal with when looking at the big picture of the early days of SQUAD 1. Behind the scenes was pretty sick, a lot of jealousy, rumors, back stabbing and so on. Stuff that I was not prepared to see or deal with on a mature level, I mean at 3 years on, I was so IN LOVE with being around and a part of a tradition of men who fought fires together, saved lives as a team and did so many things outside of work that we were family. We trusted one another to the tee. I didn't realize that being on this unit really bugged other firefighters...one of the first parties I went too after being on the SQUAD for a couple weeks some of the guys that I had known from day one acted a bit stand offish and made a few snide jokes about GOD squad and if they were good enough to drink with me now and blah blah blah...kinda hurt cause in my eyes we are brothers, nothing has changed I am just on a different truck and guess what I don't get to sit around anymore like we all use to cause we gotta ...traintraintrain. We use to go down to HQ and sit around a table and listen to a Chief go over why the county DOESN'T need us! get this they don't even have our "run" records calls or stats! One day I lost it and told that Chief this was bullshit and to stick it in his ass that our lives were more important than this and so on....He didn't say a word back thank goodness but I got my ass chewed all the way back to Sta.50. Back then we ran quite a bit and a lot of the stuff we ran on most firefighters will never see or see only once in their careers, and some days we would see it multiple times. I am not complaining just find sleeping difficult sometimes and many things I don't enjoy reliving. I know this because in my 30 years I have asked multiple FF's if they have ran calls like these and the answer is usually "NOPE". But I believe I have been blessed though because most FF's serve the public only...being on SQUAD 1, I was given the opportunity to serve my brothers! That is how I always looked at it, when they needed help I was there to give it to them. Sorry Shakster I don't know why I went to all this when I was talking about the mascot! OK so we choose THE HULK...I love that green dude! he is us, he is the best example of us...loyal to a the hilt, green from chemicals and strong as sh$t and he gets even better the more pissed he gets!!! Today it feels good when I see the same guy is still on the truck after all these years...It took quite a few different drawings to come up with that right one. Its cool to see some things don't change! Well my friend its after 12 so I gotta hit the rack...hope your standing strong today. Hope that you find that green dude inside you. I found this picture of the HULKSTER and thought of you. He looks a bit sad, in deep thought, maybe even a bit helpless,... like I feel. Love you man... know we are here always for you. Squats today 135#,225#, 300# then 15 sets of 2. Peace my friend,Bull
Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use. R Gordon
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