For Love of Duty

Hi… how are you today?  I hope your day is going in the right direction for all you want to accomplish!  If, by chance it goes in the wrong direction, don’t go with it!  Stay here with me for a while.

I have a confession to make!  I love firemen!  I really love firemen and they are my heroes.  I am one of their biggest fans!  Every day they are my heroes, but as much as I love them, I hope I never have an emergency that requires calling them!  However, if that should happen, it is a comforting feeling knowing that they are there 24/7… they are right out there where all the stories are coming to life.  They are out there making house calls!  They were once just ordinary men, but when they trained and became firemen, they were converted by their very sense of duty, into courageous heroes!  I happen to know one very well and I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with him… you know… vacations, dinners, quiet, thought provoking conversations… that kind of thing.  Therefore, I feel somewhat qualified to comment about firemen.

Another firefighter once told me, “firefighting is all about ass… busting ours to save yours.”  Wow… irreverent?  Maybe.  Sassy?  Perhaps… but you have to admit, that pretty much sums it up!  And a male firefighter is the only man you will ever hear say, “She’s hot tonight”… and they will not be talking about a woman.

Firefighters are a critical element in our daily lives as they provide safety and security for all of us, yet most of us take them for granted… until the critical moment we need one!  For firemen, failure is never an option.  They operate on the slogan, “duty first”.  Gregory Widen in Backdraft, said, “the funny thing about firemen is, night and day, they are always firemen.”  Their sole purpose is to save the lives of strangers, save animals, and property.

Contrary to common public opinion, firemen are not lounging around the firehouse just waiting for the next desperate, emergency phone call.  They are continually going through extensive and frequently exhausting training.  This is necessary to stay current in all the new, complicated equipment, technology, and rescue techniques.  This training might encompass such things as high angle rope training to rescue someone from a tall building, water rescue, or underground and trench rescues.  Firemen in the position of paramedic must stay up to date on all the latest pre-hospital emergency procedures, medications, and proper drug overdose rescues.  They must be in top physical and mental performance even when awakened from a dead sleep in the middle of the night!  They never know what the next phone call will demand of them.

So, thank the next fireman you encounter and maybe even give that person a big hug… you will feel warm all over!  Yes, I do love firemen and may God watch over every one of them.  John 15:30 is for them!  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”