Evildwarf
Jetboaters Lieutenant
- Messages
- 377
- Reaction score
- 458
- Points
- 157
- Location
- Woodstock GA
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2014
- Boat Model
- Limited
- Boat Length
- 24
On Friday I was leading our fire recruits through their morning routine: formation, inspection, rapid dress drill, PT. These young people want to be firefighters and its my job to help them get there and teach them as much about the fire service as I can along the way.
We paused at 08:46 for a moment of silence. The recruits were learning to wear an SCBA and mask for the first time. They stood quietly in formation, wearing all their gear, some with masks on. Our SCBA's are equipped with several alarm features one of which alarms if we are motionless for 30 seconds. Halfway through the moment of silence the PASS alarms begin sounding. Several recruits cannot shut the alrms off. I had prepared remarks about courage and sacrifice, about the firefighters of the FDNY....Instead I told the recruits about their PASS alarms, and how at ground zero amidst all the chaos and noise the sound of PASS alarms buried in the rubble could be heard.
I told these aspiring firefighters how the trucks rolled that morning loaded with in some cases two entire companies aboard because the guys who were getting off work that morning jumped back on to run the call.
At 10:28 we pause again, I tell them that the North Tower fell at this time. We are all on one knee and the recruits are resting from having worked through an obstacle course while wearing their SCBA's. Some had trouble learning to breathe through the mask and regulator while crawling, carrying weights, climbing stairs etc. A couple panicked and had to be talked down by instructors, had to convince themselves that they were ok and to keep moving forward. We discussed the FDNY troops climbing up the stairwells loaded with gear, they went up while a mass of humanity was trying to get down the same stairs to safety. The FDNY members climbed because thats what we do, push forward.
Today the recruits and I will gather with many firefighters from the ATlanta Metro area and participate in a memorial stair climb, 110 stories in gear to remember the guys from the FDNY who went up those stairs.
I have made this memorial climb every year and every year I walk away feeling a renewed purpose in my career. The spirit of the fire service is embodied in the guys from the FDNY who went up into the WTC. They put everything aside to do the job and they pushed forward until it was done.
343, Nil Obliviscendum
We paused at 08:46 for a moment of silence. The recruits were learning to wear an SCBA and mask for the first time. They stood quietly in formation, wearing all their gear, some with masks on. Our SCBA's are equipped with several alarm features one of which alarms if we are motionless for 30 seconds. Halfway through the moment of silence the PASS alarms begin sounding. Several recruits cannot shut the alrms off. I had prepared remarks about courage and sacrifice, about the firefighters of the FDNY....Instead I told the recruits about their PASS alarms, and how at ground zero amidst all the chaos and noise the sound of PASS alarms buried in the rubble could be heard.
I told these aspiring firefighters how the trucks rolled that morning loaded with in some cases two entire companies aboard because the guys who were getting off work that morning jumped back on to run the call.
At 10:28 we pause again, I tell them that the North Tower fell at this time. We are all on one knee and the recruits are resting from having worked through an obstacle course while wearing their SCBA's. Some had trouble learning to breathe through the mask and regulator while crawling, carrying weights, climbing stairs etc. A couple panicked and had to be talked down by instructors, had to convince themselves that they were ok and to keep moving forward. We discussed the FDNY troops climbing up the stairwells loaded with gear, they went up while a mass of humanity was trying to get down the same stairs to safety. The FDNY members climbed because thats what we do, push forward.
Today the recruits and I will gather with many firefighters from the ATlanta Metro area and participate in a memorial stair climb, 110 stories in gear to remember the guys from the FDNY who went up those stairs.
I have made this memorial climb every year and every year I walk away feeling a renewed purpose in my career. The spirit of the fire service is embodied in the guys from the FDNY who went up into the WTC. They put everything aside to do the job and they pushed forward until it was done.
343, Nil Obliviscendum
