Imagine arriving the first day of a firefighter training class and seeing a line of instructors that equals double, maybe triple, the number of student candidates. The instructors are all wearing black T-shirts, khaki pants, and black ball caps with numbers emblazoned on them. It is an imposing site. This is a brotherhood, a group of equals, leaders committed to service, there to teach you how to save your own life and the lives of others. This is the Georgia Smoke Diver (GSD) program.
The GSD program is an extreme experiential training program for structural firefighters that has been in existence since 1978. In March 2015, the GSD program graduated its 50th class and its 920th Georgia Smoke Diver. In addition to furthering the skills of firefighters to keep them safe in critical incidents, it focuses on training leaders.
Instructors return year after year, on their own dime and their own time, to teach the next GSD class. They receive no compensation other than the good feeling that they are doing something to help other firefighters be safer in their jobs. They also return for the sense of community they have with their fellow Smoke Divers. They talk about how the class revives them and renews their sense of purpose.
The program equalizes them. Everyone, regardless of their rank in the fire service or in the GSD association, wears the black shirt/khaki pants/ball cap uniform. Rank is irrelevant. Everyone is expected to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Everyone is a leader. You won’t ever hear anyone say, “That’s not my job.” The only person who wears a distinguishing piece of clothing is Smoke Daddy David Rhodes (also known as GSD #339, Chief Elder, Atlanta Fire Department Battalion Chief, and Rhodie). He has gold braid on his ball cap, making him easy to spot on the training ground.
Leadership in the GSD program is multifaceted. It is transformative, complex, and emergent and uses legacy leadership to foster sustainability. But above all else, it is a full-on example of servant leadership. Each class creates the next generation of instructor-leaders.
While the GSD program internally refers to itself as an elite group, leaders stress to candidates that they are no better than anyone else–they exist to serve others. It is their responsibility to share what they learn with their own departments, set the example for mental and physical preparedness, be the best spouses and parents they can be when they are home with family, and give their all in service to their communities in and out of uniform.
Life of Service
On Wednesday morning during each Georgia Smoke Diver class, candidates gather around Smoke Daddy. Rhodes stands in front of a door that was constructed of pieces of three houses, each of which was the location of a Georgia line-of-duty death (LODD). Each part of the door displays its original house number. Rhodes tells the stories of the firefighters who entered the homes from the front door but didn’t come out the same way.
He then hones in on his main message: “Our customers don’t have a choice when they call 911. They get whoever is on call. How dare we be anything but the best we can be …. You give that father another day with his son. You make it possible for that grandmother to watch her granddaughter graduate from high school ….” These are the words Rhodes uses to impress on candidates the importance of what the GSD program is all about: service.
This is an emotional speech, often drawing tears from those listening. It hits home. It is the essence of why men and women become firefighters. Rhodes has a knack for saying just the right thing in the right moment. This is because he lives and breathes his own commitment to live a life of service.
Leadership Structure
The structure of the GSD organization is very flat. The Board of Elders makes the strategic decisions for the organization with continuous input from the membership and by monitoring fire service incidents and ongoing firefighting research. There is a nomination and election process used to fill vacancies on the Board of Elders. Longtime members of the organization who have demonstrated commitment hold the rank of deacon.
Everyone who has completed the class is a lead instructor, instructor, or intern instructor. Instructors continue to learn and must complete specific instructor training with each successive class. Intern instructors shadow instructors and lead instructors and participate in instruction with greater and greater responsibilities with each successive class they attend.
Course Content
The class is designed to improve decision making in high stress, emergent situations. Because students are taught incrementally, the drills instill the lessons into muscle memory. Drills begin with the basics, the mechanics of how a task is done, in an open, stress-free environment. Later during the week, students must complete the same drills in a simulated fireground scenario with the addition of smoke, fire, zero visibility, running water, and loud noises. In addition, there is a great deal of emphasis placed on when and how to call a Mayday.
One of the biggest contributors to bad decision making in emergent situations is fatigue.1 Every morning, the candidates participate in physical training (PT) in full gear. Following PT, they complete a strenuous obstacle course, which includes a hoisting exercise, tire pull, and other strength-based tasks. This is followed by a three-mile run. The physical activity is not for the purpose of “tearing down” candidates but for making them tired at the beginning of the day. Their ability to think and decide is then compromised. Although there is only anecdotal evidence, the leaders of the GSD program believe this training regimen provides six years of decision making experience in six days.
Smoke Daddy Designation
The term “Smoke Daddy” refers to the leader of the Georgia Smoke Diver program. The Smoke Daddy is, in Rhodes’ words, “a leader among equals,” who sets the tone for both students and instructors. Members of the program elect the Smoke Daddy. There have only been five members selected to serve as Smoke Daddy since the program’s inception:
- Smoke Daddy #1: Cortez Lawrence, GSD #1, 1978-1981 (currently with the United States’ Department of Homeland Security).
- Smoke Daddy #2: Rob Fowler, GSD #10, 1981-1983 [retired as the fire chief of the LaGrange (GA) Fire Department].
- Smoke Daddy #3: John McLaughlin, GSD #9, 1983-1984 [retired as chief of operations of the Cobb County (GA) Fire Department].
- Smoke Daddy #4: Scott Millsap, GSD #25, 1985-1994 [retired as training captain from the Dalton (GA) Fire Department; died September 23, 2002].
- Smoke Daddy #5: David Rhodes, GSD #339, 1995-Present [currently serving as battalion chief with the Atlanta (GA) Fire Department].
Smoke Daddy provides opportunities for instructors to share themselves intellectually and spiritually. He encourages instructors to spread their individual passion like seeds in the garden. Instructors have the freedom to innovate and revise methods, procedures, and motivation. This fosters a sense of belonging and contribution. Rhodes says that this is the “life of the program.”
Honoring and Facilitating Change
All contributions and suggestions are considered with regard to usefulness and benefit to the students. Change occurs from class to class and, during the class, from day to day. The organization uses the incident command system to run the class for planning and execution. This offers a stable framework and infrastructure for emergent, innovative decision making. Anyone can suggest changes to the program at any time. Instructors submit ideas by completing a small index card sized form that is reviewed by the command staff. Many of the approved changes are implemented immediately with little fanfare. Other changes that require further research are implemented during the next class. Every suggestion is vetted. Submitters are informed as to the status of their suggestions. If a suggestion is rejected, the submitter is told why.
Changes also occur when events and new research in the fire service call for modification. Jeff Whidby (GSD # 501), Georgia Fire-Rescue Supply owner, deacon, and lead instructor, stays current on new firefighting technology and brings the latest thermal imaging cameras, hoselines, nozzles, and other equipment to the class. He then skillfully teaches candidates how to use this new technology. GSD regularly monitors and studies LODD reports and injury reports from real incidents and training incidents and constantly makes adjustments and implements continuous risk management.
What’s Your Number?
Numbers are significant in the GSD program. In Rhodes’ Wednesday morning speech, he talks about numbers: birthdays, the numbers on houses, the dates of our deaths. Numbers bind the group together. Each Smoke Diver is assigned a number as he graduates. This is nothing more than a sequential number indicating the order in which a class graduates. The sequence begins with the next sequential number following the last graduating class. The March 2015 class was the 50th Georgia Smoke Diver class, which graduated GSD numbers 909 through 920.
Many graduates came back for a reunion during this class, including GSD #1 (Cortez Lawrence) and GSD #2 [Nish Willis, chief of the Riverdale (GA) Fire Department]. Lawrence and Willis designed the original GSD program based on the Florida Smoke Diver model.
On April 4, 2015, the GSD program lost one of its lead instructors, Deputy Chief (Ret.) Gary Baggett (GSD #283) of the Dalton (GA) Fire Department, in a motorcycle accident. At Baggett’s funeral, Smoke Daddy referenced Scott Millsap (also from Dalton and best friends with Gary) who was GSD #25. He pointed out that when you break down Baggett’s number as two, eight, and three and subtract the three from the eight, you are left with a two and a five (25). Adding this number to Millsap’s number 25 gives you 50, which was the class GSD just graduated. The program is full of these types of “numerical coincidences.” Assigning meaning helps bind the group even more tightly together.
Those Who Came Before
Scott Millsap’s number 25 is on the side of the ball caps of many Smoke Divers in the GSD program. Of all the members of the GSD association, Millsap looms large. He served as Smoke Daddy of the GSD program from 1985—1994, and he was a charismatic leader and a powerful speaker. Those who knew him loved him and speak of him as the ultimate servant leader. His term of endearment for students was to call them candidate of distinction (COD). Leaders in the GSD program still refer to students and each other as CODs.
In 1995, changes in the Georgia Fire Academy policies caused a rift between the GSD leadership and the Academy. However, Millsap believed in the GSD program and, with a small group of instructors, came up with a plan for delivering the class independently without being sanctioned by the Georgia Fire Academy. His plan included securing a copyright on the Georgia Smoke Diver logo and program.
On September 23, 2002, Millsap died of cancer, but he left the GSD program to Atlanta Fire Department Captain Brent Hullender (GSD #593), who continues to serve as chief elder and operations chief for the GSD training, with a charge to carry on the tradition. Hullender assembled a Board of Elders to be the stewards of the program. Millsap’s vision, passion, and commitment are alive in the GSD program. His story is told again and again, which reinforces the legacy he left.
Mission, Creed, and Nuts and Bolts2
The foundation of the GSD program is articulated in its mission, its creed, and its values. These three cornerstones appear every day in both written and oral form. There is never a question about why the class is being held or why instructors commit their personal time to this organization.
Every day of the six-day class, the morning operational briefing occurs at 6:30 a.m. The briefing begins with a review of the mission and objectives and why they are important: to prevent death and injury by training firefighters to be adaptable and to develop critical decision making skills in high stress environments.
The instructors know the mission; it hasn’t changed. However, the instructor pool changes during the week, as many instructors can only come to the training for a couple of days at a time. Emphasizing the mission each day serves as a continual renewal of commitment for each Smoke Diver. This is part of a strategy to keep the instructors focused on the big picture and aware of the influence and responsibility they have.
Candidates are required to know the creed when they arrive to take the class. They are required to recite the Smoke Diver’s creed whenever asked, often in high-stress situations:
If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed. I will not hear those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginnings, and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary to reach my goal. I will never consider defeat, and I will remove from my vocabulary such words as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, failure, and retreat, for these are the words of fools and cowards. When my thoughts beckon my tired body homeward, I will resist the temptation to depart. I will try again. I will make one more attempt to close with victory, and if that fails, I will make another. When others cease their struggle, then mine will begin, and my harvest will be full.
The mission and creed are supported by the values, which are called “Nuts and Bolts”: Competence, Honor, Integrity, Mental Toughness, Servant Leadership, and Commitment.
These values are promoted during the week-long training through the telling of stories about firefighters who gave their lives in service to their communities. The class drills are based on LODDs and near misses. The instructors tell the stories and then show the candidates various ways to recover from a similar situation. Candidates are given the leeway to think critically and to come up with a “better way.”
The final drill of the week is called “Nuts and Bolts” to reinforce the learning of the week. Candidates are required to search a smoke-filled building for a bolt and a series of washers and nuts. The bolt and each washer and nut correspond to the core values of the program. If the search is done correctly, the candidate will assemble the washers and nuts on the bolt in the correct order.
The Mo Squad
During the first training I attended, I noticed that, during the morning briefing when the assignments were made, there were a number of instructors assigned to the “Mo Squad” and nothing else. I asked Smoke Daddy: “What is the Mo Squad?” He told me these are the instructors whose only job is to motivate candidates. Senior lead instructors make up the Mo Squad.
There is a distinct strategy followed by the Mo Squad. Because this is a program designed to help firefighters make better decisions in stressful situations, early in the week the Mo Squad pushes hard. By mid-class, the Mo Squad is decidedly more positive in its encouragement. The remaining candidates begin to receive positive feedback that not only motivates them to finish but bonds them to each other and to the leaders within the Mo Squad.
Spreading the Word
The GSD program has quite a few out-of-state members from the following locations:
- Indiana: 17
- Florida: 9
- Oklahoma: 7
- Tennessee: 4
- South Carolina: 3
- Wisconsin: 2
- Colorado: 1
- Illinois: 1
- Ohio: 1
- Mississippi: 1
There was a time when the GSD program didn’t accept out-of-state candidates. This was because of the policy of the Georgia Fire Academy that sponsored the class. However, this began to change when Rhodes was hired to manage the logistics at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis every year. Over time, other GSDs began to assist in the logistics effort. Matt Stewart [captain, Wayne Township (IN) Fire Department] was assigned to be the local logistics connection.
Indiana Smoke Diver Program
Stewart got to know a number of Georgia Smoke Divers while working with them at FDIC. Every year, the Smoke Divers would wear their Smoke Diver T-shirts at least one day during the FDIC training. Stewart asked Rhodes about the program. Rhodes told him this was a Georgia program that didn’t allow out-of-state students. However, Rhodes worked out an arrangement with the Georgia Fire Academy to accommodate out-of-state students who were willing to pay tuition. Pete Woodall (GSD #661) from Ohio and Matt Stewart [GSD #662, Indiana Smoke Diver (ISD) #1, and ISD Smoke Daddy] were the first and second out-of-state firefighters to go through the GSD program.
At the time, there was no advanced firefighter or survival training in Indiana. Stewart went back to Indiana as an evangelist for Georgia Smoke Diver training in his department. As of this writing, 15 members of his department have successfully completed the GSD program. They began to look at starting their own Smoke Diver program. They met with the Indiana Fire Academy, which bought into the idea and sanctioned it by offering a certificate of completion to those who complete the ISD program.
In the fall of 2013, the ISD program was born, modeled after the GSD program. Georgia Smoke Divers came to Indiana to help with the first class. They also supported them with start-up funds of $500 and offering the services of their webmaster, Chris Cook (GSD #383).
Because the framework of the GSD program is very fine tuned and documented and ISD leaders have been trained by GSD leaders, the first class of ISD was almost identical to the GSD program. ISD has had two training classes and now has 29 Indiana Smoke Divers.
Oklahoma Smoke Diver Program
In September 2013, firefighters from Edmond, Oklahoma, attended a conference in Rogers, Arkansas, where Rhodes was speaking. They noticed the GSD rocker on Rhodes’ slides and asked him about the program. They went home and researched the GSD program and presented the idea of going through the GSD training to their department. Five Oklahoma firefighters completed the GSD program in March 2014. There are now seven Oklahoma Smoke Divers.
The Oklahoma Smoke Divers are now in the planning stages for creating their own program. The GSD Elders are working with them to get their infrastructure and procedures in place so that they are ready to launch when they have reached a critical mass of Smoke Diver instructors for their program. Lindall Wood (GSD #882 and OSD #2), with the support of a very receptive fire service organization in Edmond and the help of the GSD program, wants to create a training program that will train Oklahoma firefighters to be the best for the citizens they serve.
The Power of Collaboration
Both the ISD and OSD programs will evolve over time based on the needs of fire service members in their respective states, and the GSD program encourages them to do so. GSD is not a franchise. There is no effort or process used to control other states’ programs other than to promote the core principles of the program. GSD is fine with the organic nature of this approach.
Leaders from all three programs will continue to assist each other by providing instructors for training and through knowledge sharing. The cross-pollination of ideas and leadership will enable the sustainability and longevity of all three programs.
Grace and Courage
I am a researcher. I met David Rhodes while conducting my doctoral study about flow-based decision making in the fire service. After publishing my dissertation, Rhodes invited me to observe a GSD class. What started as a simple observation has turned into a full-blown ethnography of the GSD program.
For the past four years, I have had the distinct privilege of being given full access to the inner workings of the Georgia Smoke Diver program. I have been allowed to observe, question, and sit in meetings of the Board of Elders. I have interviewed many individual Smoke Divers and their spouses. I have watched the decision making and the structure of the course evolve based on technological changes, what has happened in the fire service around the country, and what has happened within the GSD program itself, including a change in venue and all the political ramifications that entailed. The program has weathered all these changes with grace and deliberation with the intent of being the BEST training a firefighter could ever hope to receive.
The big buzzword in leadership circles this year is “bravery.” Bravery isn’t just willingness to go where others don’t want to venture or putting yourself in harm’s way. Bravery is about being emotionally vulnerable, able to love without conditions, able to forgive fully, living life with a purpose, and knowing that the world and the universe ultimately work in ways that pull toward the good.
Georgia Smoke Divers are the bravest people I know. They are happy, giving, loving people who have dedicated their lives to excellence in training firefighters. They love their jobs, their families, their communities, and each other with a fierceness that is unparalleled.
Endnotes
1. Glick-Smith, J. L. The path of the razor’s edge: An examination of the flow experiences of firefighters. ProQuest: UMI 3481816. 2012.
2. Georgia Smoke Diver Association. (2013, Jan 01). Georgia Smoke Diver. Forsyth, GA, USA. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from www.georgiasmokediver.com.
