THE COST OF BEING A HERO

GO ALL IN or QUIT

Day #109 - 16" Safety Bar Squat @ 320#, with Doss the BOSS...(where did that NO HAIR spot on my head come from????)

Doss B...todays Squat partner for the brother's.  I need these men in my life daily.  Silverback trying to hide behind us!

Recruit Class #73 - $90.00 donation for the month of August-'Salute JP & Shakey"  I am glad they took part in this and I believe that they learn  and participate in "brotherhood" early in the career and they hold tight to this then, just maybe they will build a bright future of "BEING ALL IN"...living this life of a firefighter means we don't clock in and out, you are a firefighter 24 hours a day-365 days a year!

The life of a "real" firefighter is so much different than any other profession that I know of.  To be a "real" firefighter your either ALL IN or your not a firefighter at all.  Say what you may but with 30 years of experience at some of the busiest house's I say I am an expert.  See you can't be a real firefighter and just "clock out" when the shifts over, your heart and head doesn't work that way..meaning, you care too much about your fellow man. When you are not clocked in, in the normal world, your tools are neatly put away in the tool box, your brief case is put in the hall closet, if your a salesman then your suit is hanging up somewhere out of sight and so on, but not with the real firefighter because in his/her case if an accident happens near them, they are all in it, no matter how bad it is, no matter if they are dressed in their Sunday best or in a swim suit.... if they are driving and see smoke coming from the rear of a restaurant and people are still sitting in the main room unaware of the danger, they are running inside getting them out then running into the kitchen to find the fire.   You might even be delivering a neighbors daughter, or working CPR on the neighbor's son after the father ran him over by accident or talking a stranger holding a gun to his head out of killing himself.  There is something about real firefighters that is different too, the calls that use to be "good ones" aren't the same after 30 years...the firefighter starts to realize that these incidents change peoples lives dramatically, that they are losing loved ones you tried to save but couldn't and property that was just burning way too much before you got there.  That these citizens are losing people and things they will never get back. People don't dial 911 and invite us to a party... they are inviting us to probably the worst day of their lives.  A real firefighter is "ALL IN"....there is no other way. We have to form a bound, a trust, an unconditional love for the men and women who are beside us daily, they who ride with us to the next call and face what ever it brings.  There isn't another profession out there like this.  There is the service but that is NOT the same.  Since I have taken the position at the Fit Pit, I have seen so many different things, that I sometimes question "real,"  BUT on the other hand I have also been blessed with the opportunity to meet just about every firefighter in OCFRD.  And I don't really get to meet them all under the best circumstances, BUT I can say this with honesty....I am honored to be a part of this department and the so many "REAL FIREFIGHTER'S" we have here.  Before I close (so I can eat at 10:40 pm) I want to share this... "What we have here as a FD is good, what we do here for the citizen's of Orange County is good,  the instructor's we have here are VERY good and I have watched these men and women put their heart and souls into what they give you (firefighter's).  Do not doubt that you are important to so many people, the old and the young look at you as HEROES.  So try to pick each other up every now and then because we are our brother's keepers.  And one more thing please be ALL IN! Because people are counting on you to save them.
Bull