Firefighting & Rescue Social / Professional Network
Unity Surgically Removed and My Dissection Objection
There was a song back in the 70s that was sung by The Brotherhood of Man entitled “United We Stand”.
The chorus went something like “For united we stand, divided we fall; and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together; together you and I”.
Over the years, the song has been a rallying cry for several groups and done by several artists, but what is my point here?
I read a couple of recent articles that I have linked to and it got the little guy in my head to wondering why there are so many “subcultures” in the fire service who, it would appear, have different and separate causes that they champion for different and separate “constituents”, if you will.
The term “brotherhood” has been batted around for eons and its usage has painted a lavish canvas of unity between those who populate the glorious profession of firefighting.
It would immediately evoke on the one hand that the bonds between brothers cannot be broken, but at the same time and on the other hand, the expectation that brothers will also argue and fight with each other, but never losing that love and that bond for each other.
When I read Nozzlehead’s article in the October issue of FireRescue and then the abbreviated, blog version http://www.firefighternation.com/profiles/blogs/nozzlehead-national... at FirefighterNation, it piqued my curiosity about the different “service organizations” within the fire service.
And then, I read in the September issue of a popular fire service magazine an article entitled "A Matter of National Security" and it reinforced my notion that the fire service as a “national” fire service is suffering from what I believe are too many subcultures or conversely; special interest groups within the fire service.
When we espouse that some of us are there to “represent their dues paying members” or “African-Americans” or “Hispanics” or females or this group or that group, then they are, in essence, representing special interests. Volunteers, if they are inclined to pay the membership fee, can join the National Volunteer Fire Council, but let’s face it; when was the last time, as a volunteer, you spoke to a local rep of the NVFC? You say that you haven’t? That’s because the position doesn’t exist.
The NVFC-and this is not meant as a criticism-DOES represent, for lack of a better term, a national constituency and a broader picture that doesn’t represent the many local issues that plagues smaller, volunteer fire departments. In their mission to solidify a certain volunteer consensus, they have missed an opportunity to survey or poll the REAL polarizing issues that keeps us from the same table. It’s like saying that we want to “reform health care”, but failing to identify the many details of the issues that keep us from real reform measures. It cannot be lumped in one, sweeping statement or idea.
With regards to firefighter safety, there are several groups that promote firefighter safety for all firefighters. Where other issues exist, such as promotions, benefits or discipline; career firefighters and their various groups have a much stronger voice and lobbying effort.
However; those same issues, though not as structured, is every bit as disconcerting as the career departments, from a volunteer perspective. The many discussions that pop up from volunteers that concern how THEIR promotions are done, the benefits that they enjoy/disenjoy or would like to see and certainly how discipline is achieved or not on a volunteer fire department is every bit as important as with career departments. And the efforts to resolve those issues deserve the same efforts from those organizations who purport to represent volunteers.
And let’s face it; even with volunteer departments that pay their members in the form of call, meeting or training stipends are still volunteers, if it is not their primary source of income. Call them what you want, but they are not career by any stretch of the imagination or term. It doesn’t even rise to supplementing their income on the same level that career firefighters do with their “side jobs”.
Instead of arguing about the differences that are identified by the various fire service subcultures, we should focus on the similarities and that would definitely be with regards to safety. It should not be by unintended consequence that we make progress, but becomes a sustainable effort on behalf of ALL firefighters.
With the advent of many local, state and federal mandates forwarded and championed by established agencies, a need for the many “rights” groups become less compelling.
All eyes should be on all firefighters and the effort necessary to improve their lots.
Maybe I’m too naïve or delusional to give up on the idea that the national fire service can be ONE voice for us all. Any concern voiced by whatever type of firefighter we are should be heard and acted upon.
We should not sit around and HOPE that our concerns will be drafted into an amendment to an existing piece of legislation by someone hired to promote our agenda. Think of it as interoperability among our fire service leaders in the political arena.
Why shouldn’t it work there as well? I mean; isn’t interoperability designed to get everyone on the same frequency?
Then, let’s do it…
As ONE!
TCSS.
Art
The article as submitted is published under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella and is the intellectual property of Art Goodrich a.k.a. ChiefReason. It is protected by federal copyright laws and cannot be re-printed in any form without expressed permission from the author. You may read other works by the author at www.chiefreasonart.com.
The chorus went something like “For united we stand, divided we fall; and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together; together you and I”.
Over the years, the song has been a rallying cry for several groups and done by several artists, but what is my point here?
I read a couple of recent articles that I have linked to and it got the little guy in my head to wondering why there are so many “subcultures” in the fire service who, it would appear, have different and separate causes that they champion for different and separate “constituents”, if you will.
The term “brotherhood” has been batted around for eons and its usage has painted a lavish canvas of unity between those who populate the glorious profession of firefighting.
It would immediately evoke on the one hand that the bonds between brothers cannot be broken, but at the same time and on the other hand, the expectation that brothers will also argue and fight with each other, but never losing that love and that bond for each other.
When I read Nozzlehead’s article in the October issue of FireRescue and then the abbreviated, blog version http://www.firefighternation.com/profiles/blogs/nozzlehead-national... at FirefighterNation, it piqued my curiosity about the different “service organizations” within the fire service.
And then, I read in the September issue of a popular fire service magazine an article entitled "A Matter of National Security" and it reinforced my notion that the fire service as a “national” fire service is suffering from what I believe are too many subcultures or conversely; special interest groups within the fire service.
When we espouse that some of us are there to “represent their dues paying members” or “African-Americans” or “Hispanics” or females or this group or that group, then they are, in essence, representing special interests. Volunteers, if they are inclined to pay the membership fee, can join the National Volunteer Fire Council, but let’s face it; when was the last time, as a volunteer, you spoke to a local rep of the NVFC? You say that you haven’t? That’s because the position doesn’t exist.
The NVFC-and this is not meant as a criticism-DOES represent, for lack of a better term, a national constituency and a broader picture that doesn’t represent the many local issues that plagues smaller, volunteer fire departments. In their mission to solidify a certain volunteer consensus, they have missed an opportunity to survey or poll the REAL polarizing issues that keeps us from the same table. It’s like saying that we want to “reform health care”, but failing to identify the many details of the issues that keep us from real reform measures. It cannot be lumped in one, sweeping statement or idea.
With regards to firefighter safety, there are several groups that promote firefighter safety for all firefighters. Where other issues exist, such as promotions, benefits or discipline; career firefighters and their various groups have a much stronger voice and lobbying effort.
However; those same issues, though not as structured, is every bit as disconcerting as the career departments, from a volunteer perspective. The many discussions that pop up from volunteers that concern how THEIR promotions are done, the benefits that they enjoy/disenjoy or would like to see and certainly how discipline is achieved or not on a volunteer fire department is every bit as important as with career departments. And the efforts to resolve those issues deserve the same efforts from those organizations who purport to represent volunteers.
And let’s face it; even with volunteer departments that pay their members in the form of call, meeting or training stipends are still volunteers, if it is not their primary source of income. Call them what you want, but they are not career by any stretch of the imagination or term. It doesn’t even rise to supplementing their income on the same level that career firefighters do with their “side jobs”.
Instead of arguing about the differences that are identified by the various fire service subcultures, we should focus on the similarities and that would definitely be with regards to safety. It should not be by unintended consequence that we make progress, but becomes a sustainable effort on behalf of ALL firefighters.
With the advent of many local, state and federal mandates forwarded and championed by established agencies, a need for the many “rights” groups become less compelling.
All eyes should be on all firefighters and the effort necessary to improve their lots.
Maybe I’m too naïve or delusional to give up on the idea that the national fire service can be ONE voice for us all. Any concern voiced by whatever type of firefighter we are should be heard and acted upon.
We should not sit around and HOPE that our concerns will be drafted into an amendment to an existing piece of legislation by someone hired to promote our agenda. Think of it as interoperability among our fire service leaders in the political arena.
Why shouldn’t it work there as well? I mean; isn’t interoperability designed to get everyone on the same frequency?
Then, let’s do it…
As ONE!
TCSS.
Art
The article as submitted is published under The Adventures of Jake and Vinnie© umbrella and is the intellectual property of Art Goodrich a.k.a. ChiefReason. It is protected by federal copyright laws and cannot be re-printed in any form without expressed permission from the author. You may read other works by the author at www.chiefreasonart.com.
Tags: career, interoperability, nozzlehead, nvfc, volunteer
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Comment by Chief Mike France on October 13, 2009 at 10:06am - Chief- excellant post, it has always boggled my mind why it has been stated this way. it just amazes me that one thinks they are better than the other when we need to work together for a common cause and goal. It should not matter whether we are paid or not or what race we are . WE ARE FIREFIGHTERS, We stand together not alone.
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Comment by Fire 2104 on October 12, 2009 at 8:45pm -
Art,
this is a very good article, I wll not comment too much because I seem to get chatized when I post on here for some reason, well, then again maybe that IS the issue huh? too much I am better than you because I run more calls, or because I am career and you are not?. count the posts you have seen on that issue and count the arguments. So many people prefer to chastize others who want to throw some thing into the ring Some "brotherhood" huh?
Obviously opinions will differ they always do. but to some extent the firefighters them selves create the divide.
I agree we should be as ONE and it needs to start in the rank and file we don't need a union to do it, here are the numbers break down according to: NFPA (1,148,800 firefighters protected the United States in 2007. 323,350 (28%) were career firefighters and 825,450 (72%) were volunteer firefighters.)
there IS strength in numbers as I was always told
now we just need to figure out how to unite as ONE...all suggestions welcome
I am a firefighter
I love what I do.
I give my all on every call.
no matter if you are career, volly or otherwise you ARE a firefighter and you ALL fight the same thing
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Comment by Peter Lupkowski on October 12, 2009 at 2:32pm
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K-God, Art, et al,
This all sounds very familiar to me. I come from and married into a big family. Families disrespect each other all the time. Riffs form, sometimes completely severing any association with the family unit. Sisters are jealous, brothers fight, but when mom or died dies the family shows up together to mourn and maybe patch up a few fences.
How can the fire service be any different? We are a microcosm of the nation as a whole. In PA we make fun of the state workers and their lack of work ethic. In the fire service we say EMS means Earn Money Sleeping. And everyone makes fun of the federal government/chief officers. I don’t think that the answer is inside of our firefighter group, but collectively in the nation. If we don’t begin truly working together and accepting of our differences rather than using them as a stick to keep us further apart there won’t be an us and them anymore. Just a remember when…
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Comment by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on October 11, 2009 at 5:18pm -
I was commenting to one of our bloggers about his recent blog and he hit on something that really caught my attention.
What it boils down to is that we have become a society with a very short attention span. We are in the moment of the most recent "hot" topic or tragedy or controversy or fad.
When you look at the fire service, we seem to glide from one issue to the next; not necessarily focusing on it long enough to correct, but give it its due and move to the next one.
And that is the same game that our "supporters" and "representatives" play. We don't hear a peep until there is a threat to reduce funding. We don't even think about national standards unless it will require fire departments to actually train and document it. Then, all hell breaks loose. Moving towards better safety is fine, as long as it doesn't bump up against our public persona of "fighting what they fear".
Think about it.
Did we know how bad it was in Baltimore before Cadet Rachel Wilson died in a training fire?
Did we know how bad it was in Boston before "Two Times" Kevin Kelley died in an apparatus accident?
And then, you still have the after effects of Ricci vs. DeStefano.
We want the best surgeons to perform our surgeries, but take any schmoe into the life or death of the fire service. And in order to accomplish that; that is, to raise the bar, to lower the bar, to represent the bar and to meet at the bar, we have to have hired guns to handle it for us, as if we are too busy, too important or too cynical to deal with ourselves.
Hey; this should be another blog. But you get my point.
Fred: I know what you're sayin'. I have caught myself saying the same things over the years, but in the course of my many years in the blogisphere, I have come to the realization that some firefighters get really upset when you toss them into the same "we are all the same" category; especially when they can point to a recent example that is in the news that besmirches or embarasses firefighters everywhere. When they are getting drunk and arrested for driving, we don't want the comparison. When they are setting fires, we don't want to claim them. When they are driving like baboons and hitting other vehicles, we won't allow ourselves to say that they are one of us.
The only time that I see unity is when another LODD occurs.
Then, we are right back to our differences.
Sad, really.
TCSS.
Art
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Comment by Fred Eppinger on October 11, 2009 at 3:03pm -
Excellent post Chief, I have argued for many years we are all one in the same. I dislike the term Professional being used to differentiate between between Career and Volunteer Fire Departments, we are all Professionals and the only thing that separates us is the paycheck. I realize there are some Volunteer Departments out there that are not as well equipted and trained as they should be, but that is a financial issue not a lack of desire to get the training and equipment. Volunteers take the same chances as Career when they answer an alarm. And the different organizations representing special interests just add more fuel to the fire, as you said. We are one and I have no problem with anyones gender or race, if they are willing to do their best at the job. Just don't leave me in there, cause you will end up on my list of people I will not partner up with.
Thanks again for say something that needs to be said,
Fred
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Comment by Allen Wahlstrom on October 11, 2009 at 3:01pm -
In 1987 I sat in my house with Dallas firefighters from the Red Bird Airport station.
We were all together for live fire training. Back in the day we actually used live fuel for training, and got actual experience with fire behavior using different methods of extinguishing JP-4. It had been a pretty good evolution, and as a rookie, I was expected to be in on every attack (loved it).
I was a firefighter at a very small government fire department, situated on the line between Dallas and Grand Prairie. We were the "fed" guys. But on this day, we were equals. We were all career firefighters and it was our backyard they got to play in, but still...
So... we're back at the station having coffee (because thats what we did at 2 in the afternoon) and I notice these Dallas firefighters have split up into 2 distinct groups, not broken by rank, but by color. Dallas had a union, or should I say lack of union problem. The white firefighters were all on one side of the room, and the black and hispanic guys on the other. Now me the 20 year old white kid, I just wanted to talk to all of them and garner a nugget or two from well seasoned Jakes.
Now there was no hostility towards me, I was white. What was the problem then?
The Black Firefighters Union, and the Hispanic firefighters Union were fighting promotion tests (sound familiar) and the IAFF guys were not happy. Now i thought the IAFF was god back then, we were stuck with AFGE-Firefighters Union, and I wanted to be IAFF.
Here we had good guys, good firefighters and brothers, but even within one of the larger career departments in the country, divided.
Look, I know there is a difference between paid and volunteer departments. We operate differently, we train differently, and we are all run differently. But... we are all firefighters.
We all need better funding. We all need modern gear. We all need leadership that is well trained and more importantly focused on firefighter safety.
Now all of us on the same page... Art, Brother, how to do that is beyond me.
TCSS
Wally
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