WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. As

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always, my name is James Geering, and this week

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it is my absolute honor to welcome on the show

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veteran firefighter, cancer survivor, and the

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founder of the Decon Project, Patrick Long. Now,

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in this conversation, we discuss a host of topics,

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from his unique journey into the fire service,

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the potential hazards on submarines, his powerful

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cancer story, the importance of post -fire decons.

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the use of sauna, and so much more. Now, before

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we get to this incredible conversation, as I

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say every week, please just take a moment. Go

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to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe

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to the show, leave feedback, and leave a rating.

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Every single five -star rating truly does elevate

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this podcast, therefore making it easier for

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others to find. And this is a free library of

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over 1 ,200 episodes now. So all I ask in return

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is that you help share these incredible men and

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women's stories so I can get them to every single

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person on planet Earth who needs to hear them.

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So with that being said, I introduce to you,

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Patrick. Enjoy. Well, Patrick, I want to start

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by saying thank you so much for taking the time

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and coming on the Behind the Shield podcast today.

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Hey, thank you so much, James. I am beyond excited

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and really thankful for this opportunity. And

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I'm looking forward to having a great conversation

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and getting to know each other a little bit more

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and sharing some things that I'm working on and

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what I feel God's kind of blessed me with and

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pointing me to. So really excited. Thank you.

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Likewise. So very first question, where on planet

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Earth are we finding you today? Hey, man, I am

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in Waverly, Georgia. It is definitely just a

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dot on the map. There is not much here. And I

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would say for those of us that live here, that's

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exactly how we like it. But yeah, man, kind of

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moved from Atlanta, where it was big city, bustling

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and hustling all the time. We've caught ourselves

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out here in what we would consider the woods.

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Now, I will say it's the coolest thing, man.

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We're 20 minutes from the beach, but kind of

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out here in the woods and got ourselves a little

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chunk of property. It's amazing. We're very,

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very blessed. So yeah, Waverly, Georgia. I think

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we have a population of less than a thousand

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people in this little spot. So pretty fun. We

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just had that massive weather, cold ice storm

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move through the states. We got pretty cold down

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here in the low 20s, nothing crazy. I think some

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parts of our county got a little bit of snow.

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What did you experience up there? Yeah, same,

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man. Super cold, super windy. We did have flurries,

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and that was really cool because we don't expect

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to see that very much around here, probably much

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like you. But, yeah, it was – I tell everybody,

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all my buddies that are like from up north and

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stuff like that, we have a I feel like it's just

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a different form of cold when you're kind of

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on the coast or in the southeast. It's like the

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humidity hits with the cold weather and almost

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like we're not used to it. So it hits us twice

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as hard. But it was the wind for me. Like, I

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mean, my face got chapped. I was on shift. My

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face got chapped. My lips got chapped, all that

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stuff. But I did see videos of guys like fighting

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fire and stuff in like foot to a couple of feet

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of snow. And I'm like, at least I can't complain

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about anything. At least we didn't have that.

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So very thankful. I've always seen those videos

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because I experienced. most of my career in either

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california southern california or central florida

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so or actually south florida as well so super

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hot on the east coast super humid and there is

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no way as you know of offsetting that heat but

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i've never had to unfreeze a fire hydrant so

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uh you know that's right yes i'm man i'm so thankful

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and everything also where i'm at and since i've

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been a firefighter uh Everything I'm at is right

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there. Everything's flat. We don't really have

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any crazy hills. We'll go up to the mountains

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in North Georgia and like do a vacation or something

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like that. And you'll see these driveways where

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the driveway is like this. And I'm like, the

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only thing I can think about as a firefighter

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is trying to hump hose all the way up that incline

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just to get to the front door of the house. Like

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I just, I couldn't even imagine. So especially

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when you're putting ice and snow into the mix,

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that would just be brutal. And so my complaints,

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I get humbled pretty quickly. And by my own,

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my own mind, I'm like, at least I don't have

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to do that. Those guys are the real beasts. So

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I'm very happy. Yeah. The closest I ever got

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to seeing someone like that. I went on a really

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good fire in Southern California and the house

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was owned by a tweaker and he had tiled all the

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firewalls in the house. Um, and he tiled his

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entire front driveway with that kind of like

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slick bathroom tile. So everyone's walking around

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and they're fine. Well, then when they start

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flowing water, it's literally like Disney on

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ice fireman edition. It's like a slip and slide.

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Yeah. Oh my gosh. Like, yeah, he was, uh, he,

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that's a, that's a hard working tweaker right

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there. Oh, exactly. Yeah. That's not easy work.

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No, no. It was impeccable. Yeah. That's incredible,

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man. Well, awesome. Yeah, I would say I would

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count us both blessed. I mean, I've had some

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crazy calls. You know, we all have. That's one

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of the coolest parts of this job is, like, you're

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going to see things that you're like, I've never

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in a million years expected to see something

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like that. But I've been very blessed to avoid

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most of the snow and the cold. Now, hurricanes,

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things like that, obviously, we got them in droves

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here, you know, since I've been a part of it.

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five or six major hurricanes come this way and

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you know you got to navigate that and uh i didn't

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really ever have to worry about that in atlanta

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or anything so coming down here that's a there's

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that's every year around that time it's like

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let's go okay what are we in for it this year

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or not you know so um probably much like you

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you probably feel the exact same way so uh yeah

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it's it i'm I think about that all the time,

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how lucky I am to be where I'm at. What are some

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of the calls, if any, spring to your mind that

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actually correlate with the I never thought I'd

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ever see that in my lifetime kind of call? Oh,

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man. Well. I'll tell you one of the first calls

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that I went to that you all, it was like the

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old wives tale. Like, uh, you know, your mom

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used to say, Hey, don't climb on the fence. You're

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going to lose a finger. You know, if you climb

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up on the fence, that, that top, you know, it's

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going to catch your hand and you'll get stuck

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dangling right there in your hand. And I always

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was like, dude, I've climbed millions of fences.

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Like we've jumped all, you know, I played, I

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grew up playing baseball. Like every, we were

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just, we'd jump around all over the fences, go

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play ball, do whatever. And sure enough, I went

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to a guy that had broke into a store and he was

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hopping over a fence. And actually this is the

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reason I wear a rubber wedding ring, but it got

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caught in his wedding band. And he's hanging

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up on this fence stuck there. And it did a quality

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degloving on his finger. And he's essentially

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hanging on by the skin of his finger. And, you

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know, the ring had degloved the rest of it. And

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he's just stuck there. I don't know, stole probably

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$60 worth of stuff from this store and gets stuck

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like that. And then we had to lift him off, get

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him off the fence. transport him to the hospital

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for that. And I'm like, I never in a million

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years thought that that would be, I always just

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thought that was an old wives tale. Like, ah,

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don't do it. You know, I thought that was something

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your mom would tell you just so that you didn't

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have to, you know, jump, you weren't doing something

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dumb. And sure enough, here's a grown man dangling

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by his skin of his finger because he got caught

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in his wedding band. I thought that was pretty

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wild. I've got plenty more that are maybe not

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as, as, as listener clean as maybe they could

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be of, of, uh, you know, some pretty wild scenarios.

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Um, I will tell you one, a guy went out, I think

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how every grown man wants to go out making love

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to his wife. And, uh, he had always said, Hey,

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I'm going to die. Making love to my wife is what

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his wife said. And, uh, sure enough, had a massive

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heart attack during that. fun encounter with

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you know his wife what we do is as married couples

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and uh we show up and and he was having some

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help and and you know with uh some medications

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and we were doing like the whole work and all

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that that was really wild never thought i'd have

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to go to that but we did and um I've got a couple

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more that I would say off air that were pretty,

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pretty wild and some great paramedicking, but

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yeah, those are just a few. What about you? Anything

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that comes to mind? Well, when you mentioned

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hopping over a fence, I remember one, we had

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a guy and it wasn't someone, you know, committing

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a crime. I think he was just, you know, taking

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a shortcut, whatever it was and had a complete

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ankle dislocation. So his, his, you know, ankle

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and foot. yeah completely ripped off tib fib

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you know the ends of them are hanging out but

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he's in shock so we're trying to get him to stop

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and he keeps walking on the edge of his tip i

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mean you know some of the things you see when

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people should be just on the on the ground screaming

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yeah and they're almost oblivious to gunshot

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wounds or whatever it is those are some of the

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ones that really used to blow those really are

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crazy i'll tell another one that i have that

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i remember this being like a aha moment. So obviously

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I grew up playing sports and all that. And we

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would always be told like wear compression shorts,

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like under your don't, don't just wear boxer

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briefs. Right. Well, I went to the local high

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school for a football player that was injured

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at practice. And, you know, you're showing up

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with a million different things of like, what's,

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what the heck's going on? Well, it only took

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me a couple of seconds to realize he had, he

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was holding. his man parts and clutched up in

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the recovery position. And, uh, he said I was

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running a route. He's a wide receiver. I was

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running a route and, uh, I laid out for the ball.

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And when I landed, it felt like my, my guys got

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all twisted up. And so, you know what testicular

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torsion is. And it's cause, uh, he said, I, I

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didn't have tie. I didn't pack my compression

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shorts and anything like that. I was just running

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around in boxers and that happened. And I'm like,

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that is a nightmare scenario. I said, there is

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nothing I can put into my mind. That's going

00:11:54.409 --> 00:11:56.710
to help me truly understand the pain that you're

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in. The great thing is we're about three minutes

00:11:59.309 --> 00:12:00.730
from the hospital. I'm going to get you there

00:12:00.730 --> 00:12:04.570
as quick as possible. But that was another scenario.

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I'm like, I never in a million years thought

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I'd go to. 17 -year -old kid running a football

00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:14.379
route and have testicular torsion. That was crazy.

00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.919
I really had no clue, but that was another crazy

00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:24.899
one that I definitely can share. There's plenty

00:12:24.899 --> 00:12:32.179
that we all know about that are crazy. Sometimes

00:12:32.179 --> 00:12:34.840
they're just better left to be said at just a

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firehouse. uh yeah man i'm amazed you don't see

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more of that in the ufc the testicular 360 for

00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:47.659
the tap out yeah yeah exactly that's exactly

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right and that i mean what a move that would

00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:55.740
be you know so yeah this that's uh it's funny

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those guys will beat themselves to a pulp like

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Punch their face, punch their gut. Like, you

00:13:01.129 --> 00:13:03.389
know, you're breaking ribs. But the minute one

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of them gets a random kick to the groin, they

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stop the fight. They're like, yo, stop, stop,

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stop. I always think that's so funny. I'm like,

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this guy literally has a broken nose, probably

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a broken orbit, probably broken ribs. He gets

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hit in the nuts and it's like, stop the fight.

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We got to pause for a second. It's like, man,

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we're kind of backwards on that. So yeah, it's

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funny. That whole Achilles heel thing, I don't

00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:28.980
think it was his heel. It was Achilles nuts probably.

00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:32.059
It was just Achilles nuts. That's exactly right.

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It just, you know, trying to keep it PG. But

00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:38.279
yeah, your brother, he's 18 months younger than

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me. And so kind of grew up almost like twins,

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like as far as like just how close we were in

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age. We looked very similar, acted similar. So

00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:53.600
we were always kind of. you know, mistaken for

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each other all the time and stuff like that.

00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.779
Both very different, but very, very similar in

00:13:58.779 --> 00:14:01.799
the same regard. And now he's in the Marines.

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He's doing great things. He's been doing awesome

00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:08.620
for a long time. So, yeah, really proud of him.

00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:14.399
And, yeah, I grew up in South Georgia or South

00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.509
Atlanta. Um, absolutely loved where I grew up.

00:14:17.549 --> 00:14:20.850
Like it was very, very small town really up until

00:14:20.850 --> 00:14:22.549
I was in high school. Then it started growing

00:14:22.549 --> 00:14:26.549
much like most of the, uh, you know, suburban

00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:30.210
Atlanta, but man grew up playing sports. Uh,

00:14:30.429 --> 00:14:34.659
baseball was definitely my like. sport of choice

00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:37.899
but I played some football I swam all through

00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:41.460
high school man did it all like we were really

00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:44.320
really involved in all sports but baseball was

00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:48.179
kind of what I loved and felt a huge passion

00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:51.559
for very very early on and was super blessed

00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:54.980
it gave me an opportunity to get a scholarship

00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:58.740
to go play in college and played baseball at

00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:01.419
Jacksonville University for two years in Jacksonville

00:15:01.419 --> 00:15:04.649
Florida And it's kind of how I became familiar

00:15:04.649 --> 00:15:06.990
with the area that we live in now is I had some

00:15:06.990 --> 00:15:10.389
friends kind of live up here in this area. And

00:15:10.389 --> 00:15:13.250
I'd go and visit them from time to time and go

00:15:13.250 --> 00:15:15.990
and stop by for like a day vacation or two. And

00:15:15.990 --> 00:15:19.289
that was really fun. And then I transferred to

00:15:19.289 --> 00:15:23.629
Georgia Gwinnett College, which is in North Atlanta.

00:15:23.970 --> 00:15:28.529
And incredible baseball program there. They really

00:15:28.529 --> 00:15:32.309
have taken off. And like, I was super blessed.

00:15:32.309 --> 00:15:35.730
I was part of the very first team. I will go

00:15:35.730 --> 00:15:38.289
down in history as the very first person to strike

00:15:38.289 --> 00:15:41.429
out as a Georgia Gwinnett Grizzly. So I'll wear

00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:46.450
that. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. Great time.

00:15:46.889 --> 00:15:49.789
That's where I met my wife. So we've known each

00:15:49.789 --> 00:15:51.730
other for a long time now. I've been married

00:15:51.730 --> 00:15:57.919
for, shoot. 10 years and together for 12. So

00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.659
just super happy with that. This will be our

00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:05.820
10th year in November and she still likes me

00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:09.460
like, so I'm really happy. And yeah, I've been

00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:11.860
in the fire service really. This is my, you know,

00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:16.580
10th year in the fire service. And so freaking

00:16:16.580 --> 00:16:19.500
cool. You know how, as well as I do, like it

00:16:19.500 --> 00:16:22.899
really does blow by. I mean, the first couple

00:16:22.899 --> 00:16:26.659
of years you were just like, I'm a new guy and

00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:29.419
you're just trying to play catch up all the time

00:16:29.419 --> 00:16:32.159
and not mess up. And then all of a sudden you're

00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.840
in one day, it seems like they hire a bunch of

00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:36.960
new guys and now somehow you're a senior guy

00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.139
and you're supposed to be coaching them and helping

00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:42.740
them. And I love that dynamic. And I would say

00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:46.360
that my childhood, They did a great job. My parents

00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:48.740
did a great job of teaching me. Being part of

00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:53.960
a team is something I knew very early on. I wanted

00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:57.259
to be a teammate. I really enjoyed being part

00:16:57.259 --> 00:17:00.559
of a team. I didn't gravitate towards the individual

00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:06.180
sports and things like that. I really loved being

00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:11.220
on a team. And when I got done with Ball in college,

00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.880
there was about six months where I had a business

00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:16.700
degree. I've got a business degree and minor

00:17:16.700 --> 00:17:19.619
in marketing. And I was like, man, you know,

00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.740
I'm going to go out and use this. And I didn't

00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:23.779
know exactly what to do. I got into logistics,

00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:29.119
you know, and thought I would try that out. And,

00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:31.559
man, knew very quickly. I was like, this is not

00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:35.099
what I'm called to do. Like, it is me sitting

00:17:35.099 --> 00:17:38.230
on a phone or behind a computer. cold calling,

00:17:38.430 --> 00:17:41.210
reaching out, doing whatever. And then the next

00:17:41.210 --> 00:17:43.769
day it's kind of like the same thing. And there's

00:17:43.769 --> 00:17:46.630
not really much of a teamwork thing. It's about

00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:49.970
what I'm bringing to the table. I really, I missed

00:17:49.970 --> 00:17:53.069
that. And so I knew very early on, I was like,

00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:55.130
I'm either probably going to look into the military

00:17:55.130 --> 00:17:59.210
or, uh, I'm going to look into the fire service,

00:17:59.230 --> 00:18:01.190
which is something I'd always prayed over and

00:18:01.190 --> 00:18:02.849
thought, man, that'd be really, really cool.

00:18:03.809 --> 00:18:07.880
And, uh, so Kind of in one fair swoop, I started

00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.559
applying to different military branches and,

00:18:11.579 --> 00:18:15.099
you know, took the ASVAB, did all that. And I

00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:17.079
was wanting to go in as an officer. I had my

00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:21.059
my degree. And at the same time, I was working

00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:24.380
out at a gym there in Gwinnett County. And a

00:18:24.380 --> 00:18:26.380
couple of the guys I worked out with were with

00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:28.720
the fire department there. It's a really big

00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:32.299
fire department. They're a great fire department.

00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:35.140
They'll put you from firefighter all the way

00:18:35.140 --> 00:18:38.900
to medic. It's a good department to be a part

00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:41.160
of. And they're like, man, we can, you know,

00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:43.799
pull some strings and get you on. I feel like

00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:46.779
you'd be a guy that'd be a great candidate. And,

00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.039
man, they did. They got me in. And, man, this

00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:54.119
kind of opens up kind of a crazy trajectory.

00:18:56.269 --> 00:19:00.789
I'm so glad that I got on there. And I will actually

00:19:00.789 --> 00:19:03.349
tell you, so it's called the Zero to Hero Program.

00:19:04.309 --> 00:19:06.470
And that's how it was. I don't believe it's like

00:19:06.470 --> 00:19:11.529
this anymore. But you are fully paid, fully compensated,

00:19:11.549 --> 00:19:13.470
covered, like you're insured, everything. And

00:19:13.470 --> 00:19:15.970
your whole job is to be an EMT student. And then

00:19:15.970 --> 00:19:18.410
you're going to go straight to medic. And then

00:19:18.410 --> 00:19:20.029
you're going to get your fire one and fire two.

00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:23.019
And I know other programs have done the same

00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:26.519
thing. But for me, I had no experience. And so

00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:28.500
you're just kind of like trial by, you know,

00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:31.299
like you're being thrown into the fire, no pun

00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:35.259
intended. Like you are learning on the fly. And,

00:19:35.319 --> 00:19:38.779
man, I got through EMT, got my EMT, getting a

00:19:38.779 --> 00:19:41.150
medic. like doing really well, kind of starting

00:19:41.150 --> 00:19:43.970
to make a name for myself with clinicals and

00:19:43.970 --> 00:19:46.650
third rides and things like that. I'm really

00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:49.789
hitting it off. And I knew after the first day

00:19:49.789 --> 00:19:51.950
of being in the firehouse, like my very first

00:19:51.950 --> 00:19:54.829
day, spending the night at the firehouse, I was

00:19:54.829 --> 00:19:56.650
like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

00:19:56.789 --> 00:19:59.930
Like, I knew it. I was so thankful. I remember

00:19:59.930 --> 00:20:02.509
coming home and just telling my wife, Cassie,

00:20:02.509 --> 00:20:05.029
and praying. I was like, I found out what I'm

00:20:05.029 --> 00:20:07.329
supposed to be doing right now. And I'm so happy.

00:20:08.490 --> 00:20:12.609
And, you know, and so going through that, really

00:20:12.609 --> 00:20:15.569
enjoying the process. But I'll be honest, and

00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:19.509
you know this, like medic is not easy. And at

00:20:19.509 --> 00:20:22.490
the speed and pace, especially when you don't

00:20:22.490 --> 00:20:26.029
have any really like calls or background to build

00:20:26.029 --> 00:20:30.450
off of, I got behind. I was good at regurgitating

00:20:30.450 --> 00:20:34.890
the information, but when it was time to... Really

00:20:34.890 --> 00:20:37.509
start understanding applications and having things

00:20:37.509 --> 00:20:40.410
build. Well, if this happens to this, what does

00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:43.630
this mean for this? You know, that wasn't clicking.

00:20:43.769 --> 00:20:46.890
I didn't have enough experience with that. And

00:20:46.890 --> 00:20:50.509
I've learned that I'm a very, I'm a hands -on

00:20:50.509 --> 00:20:53.869
learner. If you show me something two or three

00:20:53.869 --> 00:20:56.930
times and then let me try it once, I probably

00:20:56.930 --> 00:21:01.269
got it. But if I'm just reading it. It might

00:21:01.269 --> 00:21:04.230
never click, you know, and so thank God for YouTube

00:21:04.230 --> 00:21:08.769
and thank God for all the instructors and guys

00:21:08.769 --> 00:21:10.690
that took me under their wing and showed me.

00:21:10.730 --> 00:21:13.089
I'm so thankful for that. It was such a blessing.

00:21:13.869 --> 00:21:18.549
But yeah, got all the way to the final exam of

00:21:18.549 --> 00:21:21.710
medic. not even national registry, just the final

00:21:21.710 --> 00:21:24.650
exam for the class. And I failed it not once,

00:21:24.650 --> 00:21:27.589
but twice. And so they had a rule. If you failed

00:21:27.589 --> 00:21:31.450
multiple tests throughout that course, you know,

00:21:31.470 --> 00:21:34.970
they, they release you. And even though it was

00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:37.349
a final, and even though I was a guy that they

00:21:37.349 --> 00:21:40.769
really enjoyed and, and wanted to be a part of

00:21:40.769 --> 00:21:43.450
rules are rules. So I couldn't be mad. I had

00:21:43.450 --> 00:21:46.769
to respect that. Cause if they would have let

00:21:46.769 --> 00:21:49.660
me. get through and not somebody else would have

00:21:49.660 --> 00:21:51.759
used that and been like, well, you let Pat get

00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.519
through or whatever. And so, man, I will tell

00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:56.859
you, that was like one of my first like major

00:21:56.859 --> 00:22:01.440
times of like, I'm, I failed. Like I didn't do

00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:06.720
well enough. I had always had a pretty, um, easy

00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:10.559
time with school. You know, I'd always had, I've

00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:14.410
always been pretty successful at. you know, whatever

00:22:14.410 --> 00:22:16.930
I was really wanting to put my mind to, this

00:22:16.930 --> 00:22:19.150
was the first thing that I was putting so much

00:22:19.150 --> 00:22:21.250
effort, so much time, so much thought and prayer

00:22:21.250 --> 00:22:24.789
into, and I still failed. And I didn't know what

00:22:24.789 --> 00:22:27.170
the heck to do after. And I'll, I'll be honest.

00:22:27.309 --> 00:22:30.829
I, I, I was freaking out. I'm like, is this what

00:22:30.829 --> 00:22:32.869
I'm supposed to do? Like, I thought this was

00:22:32.869 --> 00:22:36.549
it. And man, I just started applying to other

00:22:36.549 --> 00:22:38.930
places around, around the area, around Atlanta,

00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:41.630
which were very blessed. It was like, hundreds

00:22:41.630 --> 00:22:45.109
of departments to apply to in the meantime i

00:22:45.109 --> 00:22:49.369
got hired on by a little private ems company

00:22:49.369 --> 00:22:54.089
and no bash to private ems because there's different

00:22:54.089 --> 00:22:57.589
shape sizes and departments for that but the

00:22:57.589 --> 00:23:01.690
one that i did was mostly just 10 13 transports

00:23:01.690 --> 00:23:04.950
so you're not really doing much for the patient

00:23:04.950 --> 00:23:07.289
half the time they were asleep You know, they

00:23:07.289 --> 00:23:10.130
were pumped full of Haldol or something, but,

00:23:10.130 --> 00:23:13.630
uh, man, not, it didn't scratch the itch that

00:23:13.630 --> 00:23:15.650
I was wanting. And I, but I was like, I just

00:23:15.650 --> 00:23:18.170
got to keep doing this and an opportunity will

00:23:18.170 --> 00:23:22.089
open up. And, uh, long story short, a friend

00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:24.410
of a friend had a buddy down here at Glenn County

00:23:24.410 --> 00:23:28.509
fire department where I, uh, now like right here

00:23:28.509 --> 00:23:31.730
where we live. And he said, Hey, you know, they're

00:23:31.730 --> 00:23:36.599
a busy department. They, they get after it. one

00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:38.519
of the things that he knew I was looking for

00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:40.720
is they'll put you through medic class. And I

00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:42.799
really wanted that. I wanted another shot at

00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.180
it. I had kind of taken the punch in the chin,

00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:48.880
um, question, am I supposed to be doing that?

00:23:48.900 --> 00:23:50.880
All that. And then I realized like, no, I want

00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:55.160
another go at this thing. And, uh, yeah. So man,

00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.700
while we're finding out that we're, you know,

00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:03.220
my wife and I are expecting, we just pack up,

00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:05.440
leave everything that we know, come down to a

00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:07.400
town that we didn't know anything about, didn't

00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:11.259
know a soul, and start up with a fire department

00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:15.920
was making like, I mean, laughable how little

00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:18.299
we were getting paid at that, you know, an hour

00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:23.509
to start. just as an EMT and first responder.

00:24:23.630 --> 00:24:26.009
But man, they put me through fire school. They

00:24:26.009 --> 00:24:28.869
put me through advanced EMT and then into my

00:24:28.869 --> 00:24:32.170
medic. And I'm so thankful for it. I was there

00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:36.190
for almost six years. It was like five years

00:24:36.190 --> 00:24:40.109
and 11 months. Great experience. A lot of calls,

00:24:40.190 --> 00:24:42.750
a lot of crazy stuff happened and that I got

00:24:42.750 --> 00:24:46.690
to be an opportunity to do. And I tell everybody,

00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:50.619
I really loved being a medic, but down there,

00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:54.039
down here, I had, I loved being on the ambulance

00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:57.039
the most because we got to have nozzle on, on

00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.099
structure fires. That was, uh, that was one of

00:25:00.099 --> 00:25:02.180
the perks of being on the ambulance here, you

00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:05.319
know, down here. And so they would try and take

00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:06.920
me off the ambulance and I would just be like,

00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.960
heck no, man, let's keep going. Uh, you know,

00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:12.259
or I'm going to get, I'm going to get this next

00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:18.049
cert because I loved, um, The patient care aspect,

00:25:18.150 --> 00:25:21.769
I love being a patient advocate. And then I also

00:25:21.769 --> 00:25:24.369
love to have a nozzle on a fire. And then even

00:25:24.369 --> 00:25:27.690
the best part is I loved once the fire was out,

00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:30.250
me looking at my officer and be like, hey, we

00:25:30.250 --> 00:25:32.990
got to go back into service, you know. And so

00:25:32.990 --> 00:25:37.410
I didn't have to roll up any hose, nothing. It's

00:25:37.410 --> 00:25:39.630
not the greatest thing to do, but we've all done

00:25:39.630 --> 00:25:44.400
that. We've all played that card. We got to have

00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:46.819
our fun and then dip out. So that was really

00:25:46.819 --> 00:25:51.099
fun. And then about almost four years ago, I

00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:55.680
had an opportunity to get on here where I'm currently

00:25:55.680 --> 00:26:00.980
at with Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay here in

00:26:00.980 --> 00:26:05.420
Kings Bay, Georgia. We're a federal fire department.

00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:09.660
And it is so different, but still the same, man.

00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:13.160
Every fire department has got... 99 % the same

00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:16.900
qualities. It's just, you know, we have different

00:26:16.900 --> 00:26:19.700
training. And honestly, there's nothing on this

00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:22.480
world that's going to prepare you for training

00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:27.359
on a submarine. It is unlike anything I've ever

00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:29.859
seen or done. And just like we were talking about

00:26:29.859 --> 00:26:32.680
earlier, never in a million years did I think

00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.519
some kid from South Atlanta would be, you know,

00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:40.279
doing training on a submarine. Never, ever. And

00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:46.400
so for that, every time we step foot on one of

00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:50.259
those, I'm kind of starstruck. I'm impressed

00:26:50.259 --> 00:26:54.799
just how big they are, how powerful our Navy

00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:58.880
is. Really, really cool. And most importantly,

00:26:58.940 --> 00:27:00.819
I'm just praying the whole time that nothing

00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:02.920
ever happens because this is going to be one

00:27:02.920 --> 00:27:06.799
heck of a mess if something pops off on one of

00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:11.269
these things. That's kind of where I'm at now.

00:27:11.849 --> 00:27:17.650
That kind of adds up my whole 10, almost 11 years

00:27:17.650 --> 00:27:23.750
now of firing MS. It has been an absolute blast.

00:27:24.029 --> 00:27:29.349
I love it. I will tell you from a guy that has

00:27:29.349 --> 00:27:32.210
talked about mental health and stuff like that,

00:27:32.309 --> 00:27:35.660
I've had... months where i'm just questioning

00:27:35.660 --> 00:27:38.240
am i supposed to still be doing this or you know

00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:40.559
you get in that rut and maybe you're starting

00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:44.839
to feel burnout because you know i i i got my

00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:48.559
medic like six months before covid really popped

00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:52.039
off and and covid was really hard on everybody

00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:55.980
obviously i mean but uh for first responders

00:27:55.980 --> 00:28:00.019
that was that was a battle i i had never expected

00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:04.660
to face ever And we were just so inundated with

00:28:04.660 --> 00:28:09.500
calls. So it felt like we were literally like

00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:12.160
alone trying to like figure out each step all

00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:14.339
the time. Like everybody's trying to figure this

00:28:14.339 --> 00:28:17.319
stuff out and we're still expected to go to work.

00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.680
And all everything did was instead of running

00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:24.519
10 calls on a shift, you run 15 to 16 and you're

00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:27.599
just gassed. And people are quitting or people

00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:29.839
are getting sick. And so you're getting forced

00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:33.319
overtime all the time. And it was really, really

00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:35.700
hard. And it played a lot of mind games with

00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:41.460
you. And so that was a really interesting time,

00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:44.460
a really hard time. But I look back and I'm like,

00:28:44.500 --> 00:28:47.519
I'm so glad that I grinded through some of those

00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:53.640
really difficult challenges. Man, I really love

00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:58.299
where I'm at now. And I believe that that's kind

00:28:58.299 --> 00:29:01.440
of, it is normal to anybody that is struggling

00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:04.079
with, you know, having a tough month or a tough

00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:07.200
couple of ships. Just know you're not alone.

00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:09.339
You're not the only person that's sitting there

00:29:09.339 --> 00:29:13.299
at 3 a .m. coming back from a stubbed toe wondering

00:29:13.299 --> 00:29:16.799
if you made the right choice. It is okay. And

00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:22.039
I promise you, you're there for a reason. It's

00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:25.819
that time with the guys in the firehouse. It's

00:29:25.819 --> 00:29:29.619
the camaraderie. It's those things that get you

00:29:29.619 --> 00:29:34.460
through. And I will tell you, the brotherhood,

00:29:34.460 --> 00:29:40.279
for me personally, what I've got to witness this

00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:44.160
last year. in my career and in my personal life

00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:49.099
of the firehood and brotherhood surrounding me

00:29:49.099 --> 00:29:51.059
and my family and carrying me through a really

00:29:51.059 --> 00:29:54.779
difficult time, I've never been so impressed

00:29:54.779 --> 00:29:57.819
and so thankful to be a part of it. It shows

00:29:57.819 --> 00:30:02.500
how much bigger it is than just running calls

00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:10.920
or riding on really cool trucks. That's, that's

00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:13.539
a, in a nutshell, a little bit of the story and

00:30:13.539 --> 00:30:18.180
kind of how I ended up where I'm at. So. You

00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:21.019
mentioned about failing out of medic school the

00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:24.480
first time. And I think that's a, that's a great

00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:27.140
reflection of where we used to be, where we should

00:30:27.140 --> 00:30:29.619
be, which is, you know, minimum standards and,

00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.240
you know, in a, in a profession where we're truly

00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:34.539
making life -saving interventions, whether it's

00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:37.839
a crime, whether it's certain meds, the bar shouldn't

00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.849
be lowered. Yep. You talked also about all the

00:30:41.849 --> 00:30:44.089
places around Atlanta, you know, were hiring,

00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:46.450
but you're still trying to figure out where you're

00:30:46.450 --> 00:30:48.829
going to go. And you end up obviously on coastal

00:30:48.829 --> 00:30:52.430
Georgia. In 10 short years ago, how competitive

00:30:52.430 --> 00:30:55.029
was it to get hired in the fire service in Georgia?

00:30:55.210 --> 00:30:58.670
Oh, man, it was things were very competitive.

00:30:58.750 --> 00:31:04.900
You know, my class at Gwinnett. They had multiple

00:31:04.900 --> 00:31:10.460
classes each year, recruit classes of 50 to 60

00:31:10.460 --> 00:31:14.920
students, and maybe 10 of them at the end would

00:31:14.920 --> 00:31:18.579
be graduating with everything. Those are really

00:31:18.579 --> 00:31:21.299
crazy numbers. And it was like that at a bunch

00:31:21.299 --> 00:31:25.200
of different departments. The town that I grew

00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:30.720
up in, there were hiring days where the line

00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:33.220
was out the door. You know, and interview days

00:31:33.220 --> 00:31:36.259
where the line was out the door. And unfortunately

00:31:36.259 --> 00:31:40.059
now, I mean, even with like Department of Defense

00:31:40.059 --> 00:31:43.480
and stuff with our pay and comparative schedules

00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:46.480
and whatever else, it's still extremely hard

00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:48.779
to get people to come in and sign up for it,

00:31:48.779 --> 00:31:52.940
especially younger people, you know. And that's,

00:31:52.940 --> 00:31:56.519
man, it bums me out so much. And I hope that.

00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:01.440
I hate that there's like that financial part

00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:04.059
of it that we're so far behind financially because

00:32:04.059 --> 00:32:07.700
this job pays you back so well with the brotherhood

00:32:07.700 --> 00:32:11.019
and with the camaraderie and all that. It really,

00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:14.359
in my opinion, is the greatest job on the planet

00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:16.480
because of the stuff that you get to do and the

00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:19.640
people that you get to build a life with. I mean,

00:32:19.660 --> 00:32:23.720
you really do have a second family. But for young

00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:28.619
people, they're... And I'm not on here to bad

00:32:28.619 --> 00:32:32.059
talk like, oh, this generation is so weak or

00:32:32.059 --> 00:32:34.960
anything like that. I would say more or less

00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:38.319
it's the fire service in general has constantly

00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:42.200
raised its hand and taken on more stuff. My dad

00:32:42.200 --> 00:32:44.640
way back in the day was a volunteer firefighter

00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:47.700
in New York and not in the city of New York,

00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:51.980
but in Poughkeepsie, Newburgh area is where he

00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:55.079
was. And he said they literally just would go

00:32:55.079 --> 00:32:59.859
to wrecks and in fires. That was it. You know,

00:32:59.900 --> 00:33:02.380
you didn't have. But then what do we do? Most

00:33:02.380 --> 00:33:04.480
fire departments were like, hey, we'll take on

00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:07.700
EMS. We'll take on hazmat. We'll take on tech

00:33:07.700 --> 00:33:10.259
rescue. We'll take on all these things. We're

00:33:10.259 --> 00:33:12.779
constantly the ones that take on more and more.

00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:17.940
And we're the last ones to complain about. We'll

00:33:17.940 --> 00:33:20.160
complain to ourselves all the time. Firefighters

00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:21.960
will complain to other firefighters about everything.

00:33:22.180 --> 00:33:25.039
And heaven forbid my wife ever wrote a book about

00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:29.720
all my complaints. But we don't complain to other

00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.700
people or outward or complain up that well, really,

00:33:33.779 --> 00:33:37.440
as a group. Firefighters don't complain to the

00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:39.400
right people well enough about certain things

00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:43.160
like pay. like health care, things like that,

00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:45.960
we're always just like, hey, we can take that

00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:48.480
on. We can shoulder that weight. And that's super

00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:52.359
respectful, but it is making it to where I would

00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:55.420
say nowadays these young guys that are coming

00:33:55.420 --> 00:33:59.680
in and they're looking at how much work is expected

00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:05.420
compared to really just what's on the fine print

00:34:05.420 --> 00:34:08.340
as far as. pay and they're like i don't know

00:34:08.340 --> 00:34:10.900
if that's something i'm willing to take on because

00:34:10.900 --> 00:34:15.199
i can't put into a monetary value the costs and

00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:20.000
uh you know and how awesome the payment is when

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.219
you have a good shift or you run a really good

00:34:22.219 --> 00:34:25.099
call with your bros and you're coming back from

00:34:25.099 --> 00:34:28.960
that call laughing and making jokes and in in

00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:31.460
you're eating a great meal and watching the super

00:34:31.460 --> 00:34:36.269
bowl That to me is priceless. But for some young

00:34:36.269 --> 00:34:38.610
guys standing in line, he might not see it that

00:34:38.610 --> 00:34:41.429
way. He has no clue. And so it's really hard

00:34:41.429 --> 00:34:44.170
to get new people to get in the door and get

00:34:44.170 --> 00:34:48.550
new people hired on. Matter of fact, it seems

00:34:48.550 --> 00:34:51.250
like a lot of the guys I've seen lately that

00:34:51.250 --> 00:34:53.989
are getting hired are almost in that line of

00:34:53.989 --> 00:34:56.030
like middle age and they're looking for like

00:34:56.030 --> 00:34:58.030
a career change or like looking for something

00:34:58.030 --> 00:35:00.590
to challenge them. And they're a little bit more.

00:35:01.789 --> 00:35:04.170
well -versed in their life or knowledgeable on

00:35:04.170 --> 00:35:05.969
what they want. And they've been there and done

00:35:05.969 --> 00:35:07.690
that on some things. And they're wanting that

00:35:07.690 --> 00:35:10.929
challenge that the fire department brings. And,

00:35:10.989 --> 00:35:12.730
uh, you know, that's, that's kind of a scary

00:35:12.730 --> 00:35:15.610
time. Cause I, I'm not old enough, but I know

00:35:15.610 --> 00:35:20.550
when, um, the housing market crashed in 2008

00:35:20.550 --> 00:35:22.809
and the bubble, that was when you saw big lines

00:35:22.809 --> 00:35:25.309
out the door like crazy. And it kind of continued

00:35:25.309 --> 00:35:28.570
on through for a couple of years there. And,

00:35:28.610 --> 00:35:32.000
uh, You know, it's funny how quickly we kind

00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.300
of lose sight of all that and we don't realize

00:35:34.300 --> 00:35:40.340
how. Just how awesome this job is, we just see

00:35:40.340 --> 00:35:43.679
what's on paper and it's hard to get new people

00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.539
in. I know it's really long winded, but that's

00:35:46.539 --> 00:35:50.280
really what I got. So do you do you feel kind

00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:52.780
of the same way from what you see and where y

00:35:52.780 --> 00:35:56.099
'all are at? Yeah, I mean, what I've seen is,

00:35:56.179 --> 00:35:58.469
you know. I use this story a lot. When I competed

00:35:58.469 --> 00:36:03.230
for one of only 15 positions in my class in California,

00:36:03.530 --> 00:36:06.550
at the written test, there were 1 ,000 candidates.

00:36:07.010 --> 00:36:10.510
And they were resumes. They had previous experience.

00:36:10.630 --> 00:36:13.210
They had all their certs. They were wild land.

00:36:13.349 --> 00:36:15.530
They were ambulance operators. I mean, super,

00:36:15.889 --> 00:36:18.449
super competitive. And this is what I hold as

00:36:18.449 --> 00:36:22.050
a benchmark because that was literally 20 years

00:36:22.050 --> 00:36:25.809
ago. 20, 21 years ago. And so all the way through

00:36:25.809 --> 00:36:28.190
to about 10 years ago, most of us were still

00:36:28.190 --> 00:36:31.210
rapport. It was very competitive. But what I

00:36:31.210 --> 00:36:35.150
have seen is there are elements that are broken

00:36:35.150 --> 00:36:38.269
as far as the way firefighters have worked. Not

00:36:38.269 --> 00:36:41.389
the job. I love the job, which is why seven years

00:36:41.389 --> 00:36:43.130
out of uniform, I'm still fighting for people

00:36:43.130 --> 00:36:47.289
in the job. But you cannot work people more and

00:36:47.289 --> 00:36:50.849
more and more and more without a collapse, whether

00:36:50.849 --> 00:36:53.010
it's a collapse of the profession. the individuals,

00:36:53.369 --> 00:36:56.730
their mental health, their marriage, their relationship

00:36:56.730 --> 00:37:00.469
with the kids, it takes a toll. And so what I've

00:37:00.469 --> 00:37:03.789
shifted my mindset now is to, well, let's talk

00:37:03.789 --> 00:37:07.090
about performance. If we want the paramedic,

00:37:07.090 --> 00:37:09.409
the firefighter to operate at the highest level,

00:37:09.469 --> 00:37:11.670
so God forbid they get the Parkland shooting,

00:37:12.030 --> 00:37:16.710
the Grenfell fire, whatever it is, that is when

00:37:16.710 --> 00:37:18.909
you need these people to be at their absolute

00:37:18.909 --> 00:37:22.030
best. And the way that we work our firefighters,

00:37:22.489 --> 00:37:25.250
could not be more opposite of that they are they

00:37:25.250 --> 00:37:27.710
are exhausted they are beat down they're riddled

00:37:27.710 --> 00:37:29.829
with injuries they're worrying about their marriage

00:37:29.829 --> 00:37:33.150
or that you know all the things so i think that

00:37:33.150 --> 00:37:35.309
these young people are coming into this profession

00:37:35.309 --> 00:37:40.849
in this super um internet age where there's just

00:37:40.849 --> 00:37:43.610
you can learn anything about anything and now

00:37:43.610 --> 00:37:46.150
when you look up isn't it healthy to be a firefighter

00:37:46.150 --> 00:37:50.010
google will tell you actually no it's it's a

00:37:50.010 --> 00:37:52.530
fucking awful when they look at the physical

00:37:52.530 --> 00:37:55.050
and mental health, these young people, they're

00:37:55.050 --> 00:37:57.030
tuned into their physical health. They're tuned

00:37:57.030 --> 00:37:58.650
into their mental health. You know, the ones

00:37:58.650 --> 00:38:01.130
that really want to do what we do. And then they

00:38:01.130 --> 00:38:03.130
value their relationships and their time with

00:38:03.130 --> 00:38:05.670
their loved ones. So they're looking at, like

00:38:05.670 --> 00:38:07.690
you said on paper, not, they're not looking at

00:38:07.690 --> 00:38:09.070
the profession. They're looking at the working

00:38:09.070 --> 00:38:12.150
conditions and they're going, I really want to

00:38:12.150 --> 00:38:14.389
serve. I really want to work with my hands. I'm

00:38:14.389 --> 00:38:16.409
going to go be a welder because this fire thing,

00:38:16.469 --> 00:38:18.400
obviously they don't. take care of their people

00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:21.579
so all we need to do is change their working

00:38:21.579 --> 00:38:24.880
conditions and i guarantee you you'll have lines

00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:26.760
out the door again and we're seeing it in florida

00:38:26.760 --> 00:38:29.420
that have gone to this 42 hour work week but

00:38:29.420 --> 00:38:33.500
i'm yes i in that you're exactly right the schedule

00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:37.519
changes that we're seeing is such a we're so

00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:40.139
far behind it that that should have been that

00:38:40.139 --> 00:38:43.139
should have been like done and that was common

00:38:43.139 --> 00:38:48.590
knowledge a decade ago of how toxic. I mean,

00:38:48.610 --> 00:38:50.969
I think you and I talked about it on the phone.

00:38:52.130 --> 00:38:56.210
Shift work is now known as a carcinogen. It's

00:38:56.210 --> 00:38:58.949
deemed a carcinogen, right? And that's insane

00:38:58.949 --> 00:39:01.769
because that's all we are. I mean, I've had shifts

00:39:01.769 --> 00:39:05.389
where I don't run my first call until 8 p .m.

00:39:05.389 --> 00:39:08.010
and then we don't see the firehouse until 8 a

00:39:08.010 --> 00:39:10.489
.m. the next morning when we're at shift change.

00:39:10.969 --> 00:39:18.860
And I've had or forced overtime, where in the

00:39:18.860 --> 00:39:22.440
entire 48 hours, mind you, I'm a medic. I've

00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:27.440
got people's lives in my hand. If I am not pushing

00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:29.980
the right medication, I can literally kill somebody.

00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:35.900
And I'm running on 45 minutes to an hour of sleep

00:39:35.900 --> 00:39:42.559
in that 48 hours. And that is so harsh. And such

00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:46.059
a horrible feeling to be in. And I mean, I think

00:39:46.059 --> 00:39:48.239
about it, me and my buddy, man, we joke about

00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:51.599
this often. We had a couple ambulances here in

00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:54.360
town that really ran a lot. And there were so

00:39:54.360 --> 00:39:58.420
many days where I would get home, you know, I'd

00:39:58.420 --> 00:40:01.920
pull into my driveway and I don't remember turning

00:40:01.920 --> 00:40:05.300
on my truck. I don't remember stopping at a single

00:40:05.300 --> 00:40:09.610
red light or stoplight. or stop sign. You know,

00:40:09.630 --> 00:40:11.550
I don't remember like putting on my blinker,

00:40:11.550 --> 00:40:14.889
anything. And I'm like, how did I, how did I

00:40:14.889 --> 00:40:16.869
get home? Like, I really don't remember that.

00:40:16.989 --> 00:40:20.590
That's how like delirious and exhausted I was.

00:40:21.110 --> 00:40:25.730
And you add that onto a 30 year career, it can

00:40:25.730 --> 00:40:29.829
have major impacts on your health. I mean, I'm,

00:40:29.929 --> 00:40:33.889
that's kind of how we, we met, but that, you

00:40:33.889 --> 00:40:39.739
know, I'm, I'm a cancer survivor. of, uh, you

00:40:39.739 --> 00:40:45.719
know, diffuse large B cell lymphoma. And I, it

00:40:45.719 --> 00:40:48.559
popped up really out of nowhere. And I've, you

00:40:48.559 --> 00:40:50.460
know, been doing this for, like I said, you know,

00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:53.639
almost 11 years and, um, it popped up out of

00:40:53.639 --> 00:40:58.619
nowhere. And my doctors, uh, said that there's

00:40:58.619 --> 00:41:00.800
a pretty good chance that it's just the accumulation

00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:04.619
of, of the exposures that you had and the lifestyle

00:41:04.619 --> 00:41:08.559
that you have. Well, That's hard for me to swallow

00:41:08.559 --> 00:41:10.900
sometimes because as far as lifestyle, I literally

00:41:10.900 --> 00:41:14.440
might be one of the healthiest people I know.

00:41:16.739 --> 00:41:19.000
I'm constantly working out. I constantly watch

00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:23.739
what I eat. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I've

00:41:23.739 --> 00:41:26.179
kind of been that health and wellness guy my

00:41:26.179 --> 00:41:29.780
entire life, and yet it happened to me. My whole

00:41:29.780 --> 00:41:33.670
mission has been, hey, If it can happen to me,

00:41:33.750 --> 00:41:35.650
I'm not trying to scare anybody, but if it can

00:41:35.650 --> 00:41:37.909
happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And we

00:41:37.909 --> 00:41:40.969
have to be the best ambassadors for ourselves

00:41:40.969 --> 00:41:44.369
because just like you were talking about with

00:41:44.369 --> 00:41:48.269
some of those that we're still very far behind

00:41:48.269 --> 00:41:50.969
in the fire service on a lot of the medical stuff

00:41:50.969 --> 00:41:53.909
that can be provided to us to ensure that we're

00:41:53.909 --> 00:41:57.050
living the highest quality lives and giving ourselves

00:41:57.050 --> 00:42:01.429
the best chance at recovery. you know, healing,

00:42:01.650 --> 00:42:05.809
things like that. And so that's where, that's

00:42:05.809 --> 00:42:08.449
where my focus is a lot right now is trying to

00:42:08.449 --> 00:42:11.929
really build that up and raise that awareness

00:42:11.929 --> 00:42:14.289
and try and do some things to combat against

00:42:14.289 --> 00:42:18.650
it, you know? So yeah, I couldn't agree more

00:42:18.650 --> 00:42:22.929
that, and I'm so thankful for your mission. And

00:42:22.929 --> 00:42:25.449
like you said, even though you're no longer,

00:42:25.570 --> 00:42:28.579
you know, riding the truck anymore. There's still

00:42:28.579 --> 00:42:30.300
a mission to be had and you're still bringing

00:42:30.300 --> 00:42:33.400
so much awareness to it all. And I think that's

00:42:33.400 --> 00:42:36.420
so amazing because we need more voices like that.

00:42:38.820 --> 00:42:41.559
You know, because for the fire service, we all

00:42:41.559 --> 00:42:45.039
know this. Most people don't think about their

00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:49.500
fire department, you know, every day. Most people

00:42:49.500 --> 00:42:51.099
don't think about their fire department once

00:42:51.099 --> 00:42:54.179
a year. But when we're called and they call us,

00:42:54.300 --> 00:42:58.719
they expect us to be, 100 % the best at our job,

00:42:58.820 --> 00:43:02.239
dominate the call, do everything right. They

00:43:02.239 --> 00:43:06.440
don't care if we just went to a wreck where,

00:43:06.500 --> 00:43:10.820
you know, a baby was lost. They don't care if

00:43:10.820 --> 00:43:12.920
we're running on 12 minutes of sleep because

00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:15.420
we just got forced overtime because there's a

00:43:15.420 --> 00:43:19.300
staff shortage. They don't care that we're on

00:43:19.300 --> 00:43:21.980
the other side of our zone. Wrapping up from

00:43:21.980 --> 00:43:24.280
a structure fire call and we got toned in there.

00:43:24.300 --> 00:43:26.780
All they're wondering is why did it take so long?

00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:30.519
Why are you not giving my my grandma the best

00:43:30.519 --> 00:43:34.519
service and the kindest service possible? You

00:43:34.519 --> 00:43:37.920
know, that's the hardest part of the job is that

00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:40.719
we might be so exhausted. But the minute we get

00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:43.579
into the door of whatever home that we access

00:43:43.579 --> 00:43:47.659
when they're calling us, we have to bring our

00:43:47.659 --> 00:43:53.460
a game and turn on. And a lot of times we got

00:43:53.460 --> 00:43:55.300
to fake it. We got to kind of fake it through

00:43:55.300 --> 00:43:57.239
and fake it till we make it kind of thing. I

00:43:57.239 --> 00:43:59.619
mean, there's been so many times that I'm like,

00:43:59.699 --> 00:44:04.800
this is not an emergency. But if I act like that

00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:07.820
to that patient, I'm not really. They're not

00:44:07.820 --> 00:44:10.239
looking at Pat Long. They're looking at whatever

00:44:10.239 --> 00:44:14.139
fire department I have on my uniform. I'm a representation

00:44:14.139 --> 00:44:17.059
of that fire department. And that's really, really

00:44:17.059 --> 00:44:20.420
a tough thing to do, especially when you're exhausted,

00:44:20.599 --> 00:44:22.559
especially when it's toe pain at three in the

00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:25.300
morning and they want to go get an x -ray. And

00:44:25.300 --> 00:44:27.119
you're like, this is the most ridiculous thing

00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:31.639
ever. You know, those are the ones that. can

00:44:31.639 --> 00:44:33.619
eat at you a little bit, but you just got to

00:44:33.619 --> 00:44:38.800
stay focused. And, and yeah, it's a, it's a,

00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:42.380
it's crazy times and kind of bringing up COVID

00:44:42.380 --> 00:44:49.460
really showed a lot of, uh, faults in, in the

00:44:49.460 --> 00:44:53.440
system. We realized really quickly that we didn't

00:44:53.440 --> 00:44:57.539
have enough medics on shift. We realized very

00:44:57.539 --> 00:44:59.420
quickly that we didn't have enough ambulances.

00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:03.800
We realized very quickly that the minute that

00:45:03.800 --> 00:45:07.960
we start getting over, you know, as a department

00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:11.820
with, you know, a mid -sized department, over

00:45:11.820 --> 00:45:15.360
80 calls across the department of shift, we are

00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:17.739
completely inundated. Now we're asking for...

00:45:18.360 --> 00:45:22.139
mutual aid from different places, and it never

00:45:22.139 --> 00:45:27.300
has time to correct itself. That entire shift,

00:45:27.579 --> 00:45:30.780
it is just anarchy. You're just trying to figure

00:45:30.780 --> 00:45:34.719
out who's what. We also learned a lot in the

00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:37.460
healthcare system. I can speak for the hospital

00:45:37.460 --> 00:45:41.159
that we had. They did their absolute best, and

00:45:41.159 --> 00:45:43.159
God bless the nurses that had to be put in that

00:45:43.159 --> 00:45:47.369
scenario. They were just putting a... a medical,

00:45:47.489 --> 00:45:50.650
like a bed in the middle of the hallway and just

00:45:50.650 --> 00:45:52.949
create, that was a room. And you would have like

00:45:52.949 --> 00:45:55.710
just this little sheet of paper on the wall saying,

00:45:55.809 --> 00:45:58.110
oh, this is a room and all that. And you know

00:45:58.110 --> 00:46:00.550
what it did? You watched the level of care across

00:46:00.550 --> 00:46:02.989
the board go down drastically because it was

00:46:02.989 --> 00:46:05.989
about numbers. It wasn't about level of care.

00:46:06.630 --> 00:46:10.329
And as a medic, I hated that. I remember so many

00:46:10.329 --> 00:46:14.250
times them telling me, You know, hey, if it's

00:46:14.250 --> 00:46:16.510
not this, this or this, you got to take them

00:46:16.510 --> 00:46:18.550
to triage. You got to take them up to the front

00:46:18.550 --> 00:46:20.010
lobby and they're just going to have to wait.

00:46:20.389 --> 00:46:23.530
And I'm like, man, this only a couple months

00:46:23.530 --> 00:46:26.710
ago, this was like a, you know, this was a call

00:46:26.710 --> 00:46:30.989
that would have gotten an emergency room bed

00:46:30.989 --> 00:46:34.460
pretty quickly. And that really plays some games

00:46:34.460 --> 00:46:36.460
with your mind. And the mental part of it all

00:46:36.460 --> 00:46:40.159
was really taxing, really daunting. Each day,

00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:42.000
you just really didn't understand fully what

00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:43.559
you were going to get into. You just knew you

00:46:43.559 --> 00:46:45.019
were going to get slammed and you probably weren't

00:46:45.019 --> 00:46:49.659
going to sleep much. And that's some tough days

00:46:49.659 --> 00:46:54.059
to go in there and do that. So now I sleep a

00:46:54.059 --> 00:46:56.599
lot better being DOD. We got it pretty good.

00:46:56.760 --> 00:46:58.860
We still have our nights. We still have our crazy

00:46:58.860 --> 00:47:03.300
calls. A little bit fewer and farther between.

00:47:04.679 --> 00:47:09.719
Using COVID as an analogy, I think it really

00:47:09.719 --> 00:47:13.500
is a great comparison for the fire service at

00:47:13.500 --> 00:47:18.380
the moment. Because if you just treat it reactively,

00:47:18.480 --> 00:47:20.460
which is exactly what happened with COVID, you

00:47:20.460 --> 00:47:22.980
go, oh, no, there's a virus. Everyone hide in

00:47:22.980 --> 00:47:26.769
your house and wear a mask. The virus can't get

00:47:26.769 --> 00:47:29.329
past six feet. So six feet, one inch is going

00:47:29.329 --> 00:47:32.170
to die. So you're fine at six feet apart. You

00:47:32.170 --> 00:47:34.349
know, all this ridiculousness that we were told.

00:47:35.030 --> 00:47:38.210
And in the meantime, if you look at everything

00:47:38.210 --> 00:47:40.690
that people were told, you know, as far as what

00:47:40.690 --> 00:47:43.630
to do while we were enduring this pandemic, it

00:47:43.630 --> 00:47:46.269
was don't see friends and family, stay in the

00:47:46.269 --> 00:47:48.869
house. So don't get any sunshine or exercise

00:47:48.869 --> 00:47:52.170
or nature, you know, get fast food and alcohol

00:47:52.170 --> 00:47:54.329
delivered to your house. Binge watch the Tiger

00:47:54.329 --> 00:47:57.320
King. like you couldn't have made it to make

00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:00.800
people more vulnerable to a virus than exactly

00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:03.380
what they were told what should have been you

00:48:03.380 --> 00:48:06.400
know educated is all right there is one truth

00:48:06.400 --> 00:48:08.880
the healthier we can make the population the

00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:11.760
higher chance there is of them suffering from

00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:14.659
the virus or succumbing to the virus so in the

00:48:14.659 --> 00:48:18.110
meantime Let's, you know, encourage people to

00:48:18.110 --> 00:48:20.269
be, you know, in outdoor spaces, not licking

00:48:20.269 --> 00:48:22.170
each other's faces, but on the beach, in the

00:48:22.170 --> 00:48:25.349
park, whatever it is, you know, exercise at home

00:48:25.349 --> 00:48:27.789
or in the backyard or, you know, let's focus

00:48:27.789 --> 00:48:30.909
on getting the healthy food, you know, bolstered,

00:48:30.909 --> 00:48:32.909
subsidized. And in the meantime, let's talk about

00:48:32.909 --> 00:48:35.190
putting PE back in schools and pedestrianizing

00:48:35.190 --> 00:48:38.789
downtowns and creating cycle paths. And so that

00:48:38.789 --> 00:48:41.929
the lesson is the takeaway is, well, we need

00:48:41.929 --> 00:48:45.010
to get the American people healthier. And none

00:48:45.010 --> 00:48:46.929
of that came out of it. The only conversation

00:48:46.929 --> 00:48:49.329
about weight loss has been the GLP -1, which

00:48:49.329 --> 00:48:51.190
is just making drug companies even more money.

00:48:51.429 --> 00:48:53.309
And the moment you come off it, you're 10 times

00:48:53.309 --> 00:48:57.329
more likely to gain weight. But now insert the

00:48:57.329 --> 00:49:01.610
fire service. You have this spiraling, nosediving

00:49:01.610 --> 00:49:04.429
profession. And so they're like, well, let's

00:49:04.429 --> 00:49:07.590
go into a high school and just get all the kids

00:49:07.590 --> 00:49:09.650
that want to be firefighters and we'll train

00:49:09.650 --> 00:49:12.409
them and we'll do all this. Rather than let's

00:49:12.409 --> 00:49:15.190
look at the thing that's broken. which is the

00:49:15.190 --> 00:49:18.050
way that we're working. Let's invest in an extra

00:49:18.050 --> 00:49:20.610
shift. So now, because I think you work 48, 48,

00:49:20.630 --> 00:49:23.750
don't you? I do, yeah. So our federal firefighters,

00:49:23.989 --> 00:49:25.929
we need to go from two shifts to four shifts

00:49:25.929 --> 00:49:28.030
because it doesn't matter whether you're running

00:49:28.030 --> 00:49:29.789
your ass off or not. You are still away from

00:49:29.789 --> 00:49:32.030
your family for X amount of time and you're expected

00:49:32.030 --> 00:49:34.670
to get the drop of the hat to respond to whatever

00:49:34.670 --> 00:49:38.170
emergency. Invest in the front end, forge performance

00:49:38.170 --> 00:49:40.849
like we do in special operations, special forces.

00:49:41.420 --> 00:49:44.079
ocean lifeguard your favorite professional athlete

00:49:44.079 --> 00:49:46.719
none of those people are not sleeping every you

00:49:46.719 --> 00:49:50.019
know four four days a week and now all of a sudden

00:49:50.019 --> 00:49:53.400
you have now proactively saved so much money

00:49:53.400 --> 00:49:55.840
because you're not having to recruit twice a

00:49:55.840 --> 00:49:58.460
year to fill suits seats that people are just

00:49:58.460 --> 00:50:00.639
going to leave so those two i think are very

00:50:00.639 --> 00:50:03.849
good kind of parallels We should be a healthier

00:50:03.849 --> 00:50:06.090
nation after COVID, but we're not because we

00:50:06.090 --> 00:50:08.230
didn't have the humility. We didn't learn anything.

00:50:09.570 --> 00:50:13.110
So the fire service is the same. Yeah. Yep. And

00:50:13.110 --> 00:50:16.929
you hit on so many great points. I'll piggyback

00:50:16.929 --> 00:50:24.070
on another one is, I mean, I wish that fire departments

00:50:24.070 --> 00:50:27.380
would almost treat one of their... firefighters

00:50:27.380 --> 00:50:30.880
getting sick with so much sense of like fear

00:50:30.880 --> 00:50:34.880
because of how much it cost. I've got no problem

00:50:34.880 --> 00:50:40.920
saying I, man, so blessed. My cancer actually

00:50:40.920 --> 00:50:43.449
got covered by workers' comp. It took a while

00:50:43.449 --> 00:50:45.750
for everything to go through, but it did. They

00:50:45.750 --> 00:50:50.550
looked at, I'm 33 and I got diagnosed with a

00:50:50.550 --> 00:50:53.409
cancer that's most commonly found in 65 to 75

00:50:53.409 --> 00:50:55.909
year olds. So they thought that was really strange.

00:50:56.530 --> 00:50:58.909
And then obviously I've been doing it for 10

00:50:58.909 --> 00:51:01.230
years. They're like the exposures, things like

00:51:01.230 --> 00:51:05.590
that probably did not help. Right. And I have

00:51:05.590 --> 00:51:08.289
a lymphoma. So everything, you know, your filter

00:51:08.289 --> 00:51:11.429
system gets clogged. So every, everything in.

00:51:12.219 --> 00:51:15.619
and our gear, everything that we wear is essentially

00:51:15.619 --> 00:51:18.559
keeping things in as much as it's keeping the

00:51:18.559 --> 00:51:22.920
heat out. Right. Um, and so we know that, and

00:51:22.920 --> 00:51:25.719
I'm not blaming it on just that part of it is

00:51:25.719 --> 00:51:28.880
just the man that is just the hand I've been

00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:34.820
dealt. Um, but, uh, I was super blessed, but

00:51:34.820 --> 00:51:42.989
my treatments cost over $1 .6 million. Right?

00:51:42.989 --> 00:51:46.449
And that's just one firefighter going through

00:51:46.449 --> 00:51:50.329
cancer. There are departments out there that

00:51:50.329 --> 00:51:54.130
have got five, six firefighters going through

00:51:54.130 --> 00:51:58.670
cancer. Well, we already are extremely low funded.

00:51:59.179 --> 00:52:02.920
were already extremely short -staffed. When that

00:52:02.920 --> 00:52:06.079
guy is going out, whenever I was out for almost

00:52:06.079 --> 00:52:09.780
seven months with my chemo, the fact that my

00:52:09.780 --> 00:52:13.059
white blood cell count was at like zero, so I

00:52:13.059 --> 00:52:16.019
had no immune system for a while. So I had to

00:52:16.019 --> 00:52:19.139
like gradually get myself up before I was allowed

00:52:19.139 --> 00:52:21.380
to come back to work or approved to come back

00:52:21.380 --> 00:52:28.269
to work. And in that time, they were Forcing,

00:52:28.269 --> 00:52:32.690
my treatment was getting covered. My shift, every

00:52:32.690 --> 00:52:36.030
time my shift came up, somebody got overtime

00:52:36.030 --> 00:52:39.989
or forced overtime. That costs more money. The

00:52:39.989 --> 00:52:47.150
financial of a sick firefighter is just can wreck

00:52:47.150 --> 00:52:49.989
a department that's barely scraping by financially.

00:52:51.420 --> 00:52:54.579
And so getting into some of the things that like

00:52:54.579 --> 00:52:58.019
we're working on with the Decom Project, the

00:52:58.019 --> 00:53:00.300
Decom Project that we put together, we're a nonprofit.

00:53:01.440 --> 00:53:06.320
Check us out, thedecomproject .com. We got a

00:53:06.320 --> 00:53:10.199
really cool thing, but we were like, I kind of

00:53:10.199 --> 00:53:12.300
started digging around at some things that I

00:53:12.300 --> 00:53:14.079
was like, what are some simple things that we

00:53:14.079 --> 00:53:16.900
can do that have been just, we're way behind?

00:53:18.179 --> 00:53:20.579
And actually, you talked about your time out

00:53:20.579 --> 00:53:23.019
in California, but I talked to quite a few guys

00:53:23.019 --> 00:53:25.659
out in the West Coast. A couple of these guys

00:53:25.659 --> 00:53:28.659
were Colorado, a couple other bigger departments

00:53:28.659 --> 00:53:31.320
around there. And they had been getting scans

00:53:31.320 --> 00:53:35.010
for. the last 10 years, they'll get some kind

00:53:35.010 --> 00:53:37.889
of scan to actually, you know, the whole department

00:53:37.889 --> 00:53:40.469
will go through and get a whole ultrasound or

00:53:40.469 --> 00:53:43.289
maybe an MRI of some type and actually get a

00:53:43.289 --> 00:53:46.170
picture of what's going on, not just a set of

00:53:46.170 --> 00:53:48.909
vitals and an eye check, you know, like is what

00:53:48.909 --> 00:53:52.630
we get. And I, like I said, I've been doing this

00:53:52.630 --> 00:53:54.789
for almost 11 years. I had never had a scan.

00:53:54.869 --> 00:53:57.530
My first ever scan that I had showed me I had

00:53:57.530 --> 00:54:00.210
over a hundred tumors throughout my body. And

00:54:00.210 --> 00:54:03.710
I had no clue. The day that I got my ultrasound

00:54:03.710 --> 00:54:08.110
back, I did what we, right here in town, we have

00:54:08.110 --> 00:54:10.269
a really big bridge, the Sydney Linear Bridge.

00:54:10.690 --> 00:54:13.829
And I did a big 10K. I do it every single year.

00:54:13.949 --> 00:54:16.550
And I actually PR'd my 10K time. I was super

00:54:16.550 --> 00:54:19.650
pumped, having no clue that I was riddled with

00:54:19.650 --> 00:54:22.289
tumors. The only thing I knew is I had a small

00:54:22.289 --> 00:54:24.510
bump on my neck right here under my left ear.

00:54:25.050 --> 00:54:28.230
And I felt fine. I didn't really have anything

00:54:28.230 --> 00:54:32.469
going on that I could, you know, justify as like,

00:54:32.550 --> 00:54:36.050
oh, this is bad. I'm sick. Like, I was hunky

00:54:36.050 --> 00:54:41.369
-dory. And, yeah, sure enough, found out I was

00:54:41.369 --> 00:54:44.469
riddled with 100 tumors and it's fast growing.

00:54:44.710 --> 00:54:48.090
And, you know, I wasn't given great odds of what

00:54:48.090 --> 00:54:50.429
the next six months would look like, to be honest.

00:54:51.250 --> 00:54:55.349
But, man, got through it. And, man, started.

00:54:55.719 --> 00:54:57.880
praying and talking to some of the other guys.

00:54:58.119 --> 00:54:59.960
And like I said, talking to some of those guys

00:54:59.960 --> 00:55:01.260
out in the West Coast and they're like, man,

00:55:01.340 --> 00:55:04.300
we've been getting scans forever. Like they even

00:55:04.300 --> 00:55:06.219
asked like, how did they, how did they not see

00:55:06.219 --> 00:55:07.980
this in your scans? I was like, bro, we don't

00:55:07.980 --> 00:55:10.420
get scans through our fire department. This is

00:55:10.420 --> 00:55:12.139
my third fire department I've been a part of.

00:55:12.179 --> 00:55:15.219
I've never had a scan ever done. Like not once.

00:55:15.699 --> 00:55:19.929
We'll do a basic lab panel. You know, I've had

00:55:19.929 --> 00:55:23.710
a couple echo, you know, like little stress tests,

00:55:23.949 --> 00:55:27.610
things like that. And that's really been about

00:55:27.610 --> 00:55:30.250
it. It's very minor. And that's even if we get

00:55:30.250 --> 00:55:34.329
some of those. So already finding out we're so

00:55:34.329 --> 00:55:38.269
far behind even other places here in the U .S.

00:55:38.289 --> 00:55:41.460
as far as what we do. in some of the levels that

00:55:41.460 --> 00:55:44.199
we get. But then, so we want to bring that to

00:55:44.199 --> 00:55:46.280
every department that we go to. We want to come

00:55:46.280 --> 00:55:48.300
to a department. We want to bring a sauna for

00:55:48.300 --> 00:55:51.940
each fire station. We want to, we teamed up with

00:55:51.940 --> 00:55:53.860
an awesome supplement company that's going to

00:55:53.860 --> 00:55:57.659
give some hydration and a sleep aid. It's not

00:55:57.659 --> 00:56:01.500
melatonin. It's just, it's GABA. It's awesome

00:56:01.500 --> 00:56:04.039
stuff. Take it. It just helps you relax. A little

00:56:04.039 --> 00:56:09.380
bit of theanine. Incredible. We teamed up with

00:56:09.380 --> 00:56:13.579
Fire Wipes, which is the rapid decon wipes. You

00:56:13.579 --> 00:56:16.239
get done with the fire, you wipe down, get all

00:56:16.239 --> 00:56:18.420
the hot spots that you can get, boom, like around

00:56:18.420 --> 00:56:21.099
your neck, wrists, armpits, wherever you can

00:56:21.099 --> 00:56:23.780
kind of wipe down just to get the quick stuff

00:56:23.780 --> 00:56:28.639
off. We teamed up with Flame Decon Body Soap

00:56:28.639 --> 00:56:31.739
and Shampoo. It's packed with activated charcoal.

00:56:31.880 --> 00:56:33.820
It's actually helping pull out a lot of those

00:56:33.820 --> 00:56:36.179
toxins out and actually clean yourself. Because

00:56:36.179 --> 00:56:38.719
I will say, if the next time you go to a fire,

00:56:38.860 --> 00:56:41.679
your captain says, hey, you got 10 minutes to

00:56:41.679 --> 00:56:44.519
go decon or whatever, and you shower with Old

00:56:44.519 --> 00:56:47.039
Spice, you're probably not doing anything good

00:56:47.039 --> 00:56:50.340
for yourself. I'm just saying. It's common knowledge

00:56:50.340 --> 00:56:52.699
that Old Spice has more toxins than most of the

00:56:52.699 --> 00:56:55.280
fires that we're going to. It smells good, but

00:56:55.280 --> 00:56:57.659
it's not good for you. Choose a better soap.

00:56:57.820 --> 00:57:00.400
Look into Flame Decon. I'm not getting paid for

00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:02.719
that plug at all. That's just a company that

00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:05.340
we really believe in. And then, like I said,

00:57:05.480 --> 00:57:09.880
teaming up when getting scans. We're just going

00:57:09.880 --> 00:57:12.860
to do ultrasounds and cardiac, a little, you

00:57:12.860 --> 00:57:18.690
know, Doppler. It's huge, man. Like that's something

00:57:18.690 --> 00:57:21.630
that we want to bring, because especially here

00:57:21.630 --> 00:57:25.510
in the southeast, we're severely behind, severely

00:57:25.510 --> 00:57:28.329
behind. We're still the department that we're

00:57:28.329 --> 00:57:32.150
the last departments to to hop on with some of

00:57:32.150 --> 00:57:34.909
these schedule changes. We're the last departments

00:57:34.909 --> 00:57:37.429
to really have any funding. I mean, if you look

00:57:37.429 --> 00:57:41.849
at the states as far as firefighter pay. A lot

00:57:41.849 --> 00:57:44.710
of the ones in the southeast right here are amongst

00:57:44.710 --> 00:57:50.070
the lowest. Right. And that takes a major hit

00:57:50.070 --> 00:57:54.510
on on really everything. And so we saw such a

00:57:54.510 --> 00:57:58.010
need. I saw those numbers on my own in my own

00:57:58.010 --> 00:58:01.590
life for my own department. And now prayers up.

00:58:01.630 --> 00:58:03.389
We've got another guy that's also going through

00:58:03.389 --> 00:58:05.829
cancer in my little department praying for him.

00:58:05.889 --> 00:58:10.610
He's dominating. He's doing great. But, you know.

00:58:11.050 --> 00:58:13.889
That's another guy that now that department's

00:58:13.889 --> 00:58:17.769
got to help budget for and accommodate and try

00:58:17.769 --> 00:58:21.670
and cover. You would think it would be one of

00:58:21.670 --> 00:58:27.449
the utmost priority is keeping us as healthy

00:58:27.449 --> 00:58:30.090
as possible because we're really the investment

00:58:30.090 --> 00:58:33.090
for the fire department. Our health should be

00:58:33.090 --> 00:58:36.500
the investment for the fire department. We go

00:58:36.500 --> 00:58:39.460
to fire departments all across the country that

00:58:39.460 --> 00:58:42.059
still have their gear in the middle of the bay

00:58:42.059 --> 00:58:45.360
getting blasted with diesel fumes, that still

00:58:45.360 --> 00:58:49.840
only have one set of gear, that have zero gym

00:58:49.840 --> 00:58:55.539
equipment, that, you know, or when they have

00:58:55.539 --> 00:58:57.840
a tough call or something like that, the thing,

00:58:57.880 --> 00:59:00.539
the foods getting dropped off is donuts and Mountain

00:59:00.539 --> 00:59:04.820
Dews. There's no effort to actually. keep that

00:59:04.820 --> 00:59:07.539
health and wellness, you know, going and keep

00:59:07.539 --> 00:59:11.960
it right. And going back to the recruiting thing,

00:59:12.159 --> 00:59:15.719
I think the biggest issue in the fire service

00:59:15.719 --> 00:59:19.000
the last decade has been they've spent so much

00:59:19.000 --> 00:59:22.280
effort on trying to recruit and zero on retention.

00:59:23.239 --> 00:59:27.260
Zero on retention. Congrats. We got you in. It's

00:59:27.260 --> 00:59:31.039
year three. You know, you're in the system now.

00:59:31.610 --> 00:59:34.730
Do what you want. The departments that seem to

00:59:34.730 --> 00:59:37.730
thrive are the ones that keep a steady game plan

00:59:37.730 --> 00:59:41.349
for every firefighter they have. They're constantly

00:59:41.349 --> 00:59:44.130
keeping them challenged, making sure everything

00:59:44.130 --> 00:59:47.269
is good, focusing on, hey, man, thank you for

00:59:47.269 --> 00:59:50.210
going and taking these two extra classes that

00:59:50.210 --> 00:59:52.409
give you this certain skill set. We're going

00:59:52.409 --> 00:59:55.889
to compensate you for that. You are an asset

00:59:55.889 --> 00:59:59.530
to our department. You are not just a firefighter,

00:59:59.530 --> 01:00:03.280
first responder. Not a jab at them, but you've

01:00:03.280 --> 01:00:05.679
taken the effort, you've taken the time to go

01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:08.260
and get more skills and be more of an asset to

01:00:08.260 --> 01:00:10.320
your community. We're going to compensate you

01:00:10.320 --> 01:00:15.000
for it. That to me is the biggest, and I'm about

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:18.059
to get on a soapbox, but that's the biggest downfall

01:00:18.059 --> 01:00:20.360
that I've seen in the fire service the last 10

01:00:20.360 --> 01:00:25.250
years is they've almost... You've got these guys

01:00:25.250 --> 01:00:27.610
that are so laser -focused and want to be the

01:00:27.610 --> 01:00:29.730
best firefighters and paramedics they can be,

01:00:29.809 --> 01:00:32.090
and they're going to these classes, and they're

01:00:32.090 --> 01:00:35.449
still getting paid and treated the exact same

01:00:35.449 --> 01:00:38.449
as the dude that is more worried about his lawn

01:00:38.449 --> 01:00:41.489
company on his days off than being a firefighter

01:00:41.489 --> 01:00:46.670
paramedic. Yeah. Tell me I'm wrong. That's it.

01:00:47.150 --> 01:00:49.849
we know the guys that sit there and they think

01:00:49.849 --> 01:00:52.610
about ways and going to courses to be the best

01:00:52.610 --> 01:00:55.070
medic and firefighter they can be. And then we

01:00:55.070 --> 01:00:58.150
think about guys that are like, if I can just

01:00:58.150 --> 01:01:01.190
get this job, if I can just mow four more lawns

01:01:01.190 --> 01:01:03.510
a week, I'm going to quit this job. Like I don't,

01:01:03.510 --> 01:01:06.289
you know, and I'm like, man. Like, we need to

01:01:06.289 --> 01:01:08.150
be thinking about retention. We need to be thinking

01:01:08.150 --> 01:01:11.409
about awarding that guy who took the time out

01:01:11.409 --> 01:01:15.630
of his personal life to go and get this cert

01:01:15.630 --> 01:01:18.610
or get this course to be a better asset for the

01:01:18.610 --> 01:01:21.590
department. We need to compensate that. We need

01:01:21.590 --> 01:01:24.650
to pour into those guys. We need to build leaders.

01:01:25.030 --> 01:01:27.949
So many departments out there don't have anything

01:01:27.949 --> 01:01:34.659
to invest into the future leaders, right? If

01:01:34.659 --> 01:01:37.500
that guy's getting promoted or getting these

01:01:37.500 --> 01:01:39.880
classes, he's doing it completely on his own,

01:01:39.960 --> 01:01:45.000
like on his off time, downtime at night. I think

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:47.559
the departments that seem to really be thriving

01:01:47.559 --> 01:01:49.780
are the ones that are like, hey, man, we've got

01:01:49.780 --> 01:01:52.940
plans for you. Tell us, James, what are your

01:01:52.940 --> 01:01:54.800
plans? Where do you want to be in five years?

01:01:54.920 --> 01:01:57.739
How can we as a department help you get there?

01:01:58.199 --> 01:02:00.460
Right. And I wish they could do that. They would

01:02:00.460 --> 01:02:02.239
do the same thing. Hey, what are some things

01:02:02.239 --> 01:02:04.739
that we could do to make y 'all feel healthier?

01:02:04.940 --> 01:02:09.000
Do we can we invest in safer tones? I mean, our

01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:12.300
tones are still the the really loud band and

01:02:12.300 --> 01:02:15.619
like loud, like you wake up and you're you're

01:02:15.619 --> 01:02:20.900
in SVT tones. And I'm like, it's 2026, you know,

01:02:20.900 --> 01:02:25.980
like this is crazy. And, you know, those are

01:02:25.980 --> 01:02:28.789
things that we can do. that I would say are pretty

01:02:28.789 --> 01:02:31.809
simple fixes that we can do to help keep people

01:02:31.809 --> 01:02:35.010
healthier, keep people happier, to keep this

01:02:35.010 --> 01:02:38.489
profession that we love so much thriving instead

01:02:38.489 --> 01:02:43.670
of in 20, 30 years, people wonder what the heck

01:02:43.670 --> 01:02:45.869
happened to the fire service as a whole, you

01:02:45.869 --> 01:02:50.610
know? Because there are, I was reading an article,

01:02:50.690 --> 01:02:54.889
you know, the volunteers are almost non -existent

01:02:54.889 --> 01:02:57.929
now. uh across the board it's harder and harder

01:02:57.929 --> 01:03:02.789
to get volunteers to do anything and um man that

01:03:02.789 --> 01:03:05.809
you know that's crazy because you used to have

01:03:05.809 --> 01:03:08.090
dozens of dudes that were like man i got a full

01:03:08.090 --> 01:03:09.989
-time job but i still volunteer because i love

01:03:09.989 --> 01:03:12.309
it you know and i love helping and i love being

01:03:12.309 --> 01:03:15.590
but that that for some reason has gone away as

01:03:15.590 --> 01:03:18.809
well that just hurts me it hurts to see it i

01:03:18.809 --> 01:03:21.550
think we can fix it i think we just have to change

01:03:21.550 --> 01:03:25.650
our focus to be more on retention and what can

01:03:25.650 --> 01:03:29.010
we do to keep our guys healthier and treat each

01:03:29.010 --> 01:03:32.570
firefighter as an investment and how can we invest

01:03:32.570 --> 01:03:35.869
and grow this investment to get not only most

01:03:35.869 --> 01:03:38.289
out of it, but to grow them in a way that they

01:03:38.289 --> 01:03:41.449
can also build our department and grow our department.

01:03:41.590 --> 01:03:45.530
I think that's huge. And in a way, that's kind

01:03:45.530 --> 01:03:47.630
of what the DECOM project is wanting to do. We're

01:03:47.630 --> 01:03:50.550
wanting to bring some very simple things to the

01:03:50.550 --> 01:03:52.949
firehouse that can invest in that day -to -day

01:03:52.949 --> 01:03:56.809
health and wellness. I mean, I've learned so

01:03:56.809 --> 01:04:00.369
much about sauna use and the benefits of it,

01:04:00.409 --> 01:04:02.329
and I've gotten to personally experience the

01:04:02.329 --> 01:04:06.610
benefits of it, that to be honest, it doesn't

01:04:06.610 --> 01:04:08.869
make sense why there isn't one in every firehouse

01:04:08.869 --> 01:04:13.260
in America. You know, not only the anti or the

01:04:13.260 --> 01:04:16.940
deconing effect and the detoxifying effect, but

01:04:16.940 --> 01:04:19.840
also just the benefits that it has on your heart,

01:04:19.940 --> 01:04:22.880
the benefits that it has on, you know, your sleep

01:04:22.880 --> 01:04:25.320
and your recovery and the muscle fatigue. So

01:04:25.320 --> 01:04:28.039
many things that we can do. There's a benefit

01:04:28.039 --> 01:04:30.400
from just sitting in the sauna for a little bit

01:04:30.400 --> 01:04:35.219
of time. And so those are, we just put together

01:04:35.219 --> 01:04:37.289
a company of things that we feel like. pretty

01:04:37.289 --> 01:04:40.210
simple fixes that we can go in and really help

01:04:40.210 --> 01:04:43.710
kind of change the mindset on a, on a, on a department.

01:04:43.849 --> 01:04:48.210
And what we say is we want to, we want to create

01:04:48.210 --> 01:04:51.110
a new standard of what the minimum expectation

01:04:51.110 --> 01:04:53.809
of that department providing its firefighters,

01:04:53.989 --> 01:05:00.000
good, good gym equipment, saunas, you know, Better

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:02.139
supplementation, things like making sure that

01:05:02.139 --> 01:05:04.380
you're hydrated, making sure that you're, you

01:05:04.380 --> 01:05:06.880
know, getting the right sleep that you need and

01:05:06.880 --> 01:05:09.800
then getting scans and staying ahead of it. I

01:05:09.800 --> 01:05:12.159
would have loved and known what my treatment

01:05:12.159 --> 01:05:14.460
would have been like if instead of finding 100

01:05:14.460 --> 01:05:18.099
bumps in there, we found one. You know, I would

01:05:18.099 --> 01:05:20.019
have loved that, but I didn't have that scan

01:05:20.019 --> 01:05:24.639
until way too late. And so there's so many things

01:05:24.639 --> 01:05:27.380
that we're hitting on, so many things that I'm.

01:05:27.659 --> 01:05:31.280
I'm really hoping that us as a fire service can

01:05:31.280 --> 01:05:34.360
continue to do it. And like I said earlier, man,

01:05:34.500 --> 01:05:37.000
like you bringing that awareness to it, not only

01:05:37.000 --> 01:05:39.199
the physical stuff, but the mental battles that

01:05:39.199 --> 01:05:41.699
we go through, the things that we see, we have

01:05:41.699 --> 01:05:43.440
to be looking out for each other. We have to

01:05:43.440 --> 01:05:46.679
be ambassadors for each other because there's

01:05:46.679 --> 01:05:48.820
so many people in the public that just really

01:05:48.820 --> 01:05:53.170
don't know. And so we have to bring light and

01:05:53.170 --> 01:05:56.070
share that education and that knowledge to kind

01:05:56.070 --> 01:06:01.429
of get some of these changes knocked out. Sorry,

01:06:01.570 --> 01:06:03.429
I can keep talking forever. I apologize about

01:06:03.429 --> 01:06:05.369
that. No, no, no, I apologize at all. But just

01:06:05.369 --> 01:06:08.920
kind of dovetailing on what you said. This is

01:06:08.920 --> 01:06:11.000
one thing that's been really maddening because

01:06:11.000 --> 01:06:13.119
I agree with everything you just said. Retention

01:06:13.119 --> 01:06:15.940
should be the focus. And if therefore you have

01:06:15.940 --> 01:06:17.800
a group of people that really want to stay a

01:06:17.800 --> 01:06:20.239
full career, that creates demand at the recruitment

01:06:20.239 --> 01:06:22.980
level as well. Because people have told me over

01:06:22.980 --> 01:06:24.940
and over again, our greatest recruitment toll

01:06:24.940 --> 01:06:30.099
is happy firefighters. Dude, senior firefighters

01:06:30.099 --> 01:06:34.500
that still love the job. Tell me, tell me, dude,

01:06:34.599 --> 01:06:38.070
when you're sitting at the table. Getting some

01:06:38.070 --> 01:06:40.989
knowledge just slammed down your throat from

01:06:40.989 --> 01:06:45.110
a couple senior firefighters. Goodness, man,

01:06:45.210 --> 01:06:47.690
it's like Christmas, man. You are just chomping

01:06:47.690 --> 01:06:49.570
at the bit for them to tell you something else.

01:06:49.869 --> 01:06:52.110
And when they are still passionate about their

01:06:52.110 --> 01:06:55.489
job, that's amazing. And I've been places where

01:06:55.489 --> 01:06:59.389
it seemed like every senior firefighter was ready

01:06:59.389 --> 01:07:04.190
to quit or leave. And it was a very toxic feeling.

01:07:06.059 --> 01:07:08.760
And so you're 100 % right. Those senior firefighters

01:07:08.760 --> 01:07:12.639
being happy and wanting to invest in the new

01:07:12.639 --> 01:07:16.699
guys is so key and so pivotal for the growth

01:07:16.699 --> 01:07:20.940
of the fire department. The downstream costs,

01:07:21.019 --> 01:07:23.840
though, is what's mind -blowing. So just take

01:07:23.840 --> 01:07:26.300
the retention crisis, the retention and recruitment

01:07:26.300 --> 01:07:30.039
crisis at the moment. Locally here, they crunched

01:07:30.039 --> 01:07:33.940
the numbers on a kind of pseudo -study that we're

01:07:33.940 --> 01:07:37.900
all a part of. And I think the overtime alone,

01:07:38.119 --> 01:07:40.579
if I'm trying to remember now, was something

01:07:40.579 --> 01:07:45.079
like $6 ,000, sorry, $6 million, if I'm not mistaken.

01:07:45.079 --> 01:07:47.340
And then retention, I just got told the other

01:07:47.340 --> 01:07:49.119
day, this department that protects my family,

01:07:49.159 --> 01:07:52.500
in five years, and I think they have like a total

01:07:52.500 --> 01:07:55.619
of about 400 firefighters on any one time, you

01:07:55.619 --> 01:07:58.860
know, not on any, 400 like frontline firefighters

01:07:58.860 --> 01:08:01.880
between the three shifts. They have lost 500

01:08:01.880 --> 01:08:04.800
firefighters in the last five years. I've seen

01:08:04.800 --> 01:08:07.880
it locally as well. I've seen it locally and

01:08:07.880 --> 01:08:10.739
not just new guys, not just like one to three

01:08:10.739 --> 01:08:14.239
year guys. Like you got 10 year guys stepping

01:08:14.239 --> 01:08:17.380
away, you know? And I'll say this, man, I'm not

01:08:17.380 --> 01:08:19.680
like bad talking anybody that steps away. You

01:08:19.680 --> 01:08:21.899
got to do what's best for your family. You know,

01:08:21.920 --> 01:08:25.840
there's a lot of guys that get into this as young

01:08:25.840 --> 01:08:27.960
single dudes. And then as you start growing a

01:08:27.960 --> 01:08:29.779
family, just like we talked about, like you're

01:08:29.779 --> 01:08:31.579
spending a lot of time away from that family.

01:08:32.489 --> 01:08:35.590
My biggest priority in my life is being with

01:08:35.590 --> 01:08:38.729
my family. The only thing I'll say is so far,

01:08:38.810 --> 01:08:42.409
I feel like I've been able to manage the craziness

01:08:42.409 --> 01:08:46.260
of the fire schedule and being. a very present

01:08:46.260 --> 01:08:49.199
husband and father, but I will be honest and

01:08:49.199 --> 01:08:51.600
I'll put this out there to anybody. The minute

01:08:51.600 --> 01:08:53.960
that that feels like I'm no longer able to achieve

01:08:53.960 --> 01:08:56.579
those goals and I'm not doing, I'm not being

01:08:56.579 --> 01:08:59.520
the best husband and father I can be. And that's

01:08:59.520 --> 01:09:02.279
taking away. That'll be the time that I do step

01:09:02.279 --> 01:09:06.279
away. Like, you know, and I've seen a lot of

01:09:06.279 --> 01:09:11.899
guys do that. So I don't have any, any like.

01:09:13.500 --> 01:09:16.300
anything negative to say about them. But I've

01:09:16.300 --> 01:09:18.359
also seen a lot of guys leave because they're

01:09:18.359 --> 01:09:20.659
just like, there's no fixing this. I'm stuck.

01:09:21.260 --> 01:09:25.479
I don't feel like I'm being treated like with

01:09:25.479 --> 01:09:27.920
any sense of respect. Maybe I don't have as much

01:09:27.920 --> 01:09:30.739
purpose as I feel like I have. And that's where

01:09:30.739 --> 01:09:32.989
we've really dropped the ball. you know, in that

01:09:32.989 --> 01:09:35.470
said department is we, we should have been filling

01:09:35.470 --> 01:09:37.989
those guys up with like, Hey man, you're doing

01:09:37.989 --> 01:09:40.250
great. I, this is a challenge I have for you.

01:09:40.289 --> 01:09:42.390
I think you could really thrive at doing this.

01:09:42.909 --> 01:09:45.529
Hey, you know, let's go show these new guys exactly

01:09:45.529 --> 01:09:47.770
what we're supposed to be doing and kind of give

01:09:47.770 --> 01:09:49.590
those guys some of that leadership opportunity.

01:09:49.630 --> 01:09:51.510
I think they would have seen a lot of those guys

01:09:51.510 --> 01:09:55.550
stick around. So, yep. You're a hundred percent

01:09:55.550 --> 01:09:58.149
right, man. That's super scary. Uh, that, that

01:09:58.149 --> 01:10:01.829
amount of, um, loss in just one fire department

01:10:01.829 --> 01:10:05.270
in five years, that's, I would say nationwide,

01:10:05.470 --> 01:10:09.609
it's probably looking somewhere similar as far

01:10:09.609 --> 01:10:14.529
as those numbers go. I remember counting it up

01:10:14.529 --> 01:10:18.010
in the last department I was at. We had it up

01:10:18.010 --> 01:10:20.270
on the board. We were counting all these names

01:10:20.270 --> 01:10:22.689
that we had, and it was just mind -blowing how

01:10:22.689 --> 01:10:25.789
many people we had seen come and go in that short

01:10:25.789 --> 01:10:28.699
amount of time. Well, there's a price tag attached

01:10:28.699 --> 01:10:30.739
to each one of those as well. Not to mention,

01:10:30.739 --> 01:10:32.819
like you said, the breaking down of camaraderie,

01:10:32.819 --> 01:10:36.020
the loss of experience. But also like for every

01:10:36.020 --> 01:10:38.840
new person, this initially was I was told it

01:10:38.840 --> 01:10:43.579
was 18, roughly $20 ,000 per recruit that then

01:10:43.579 --> 01:10:46.840
walked out. But someone told me recently it was

01:10:46.840 --> 01:10:49.159
more like 60 or 70 because you've also got to

01:10:49.159 --> 01:10:52.640
factor in all. the time, you know, the time and

01:10:52.640 --> 01:10:54.619
a half for the cadre that are teaching these

01:10:54.619 --> 01:10:57.000
people, you know, and then, you know, the recruitment

01:10:57.000 --> 01:10:58.640
and all that. I mean, the, excuse me, the equipment

01:10:58.640 --> 01:11:00.640
and everything else paying into the pensions.

01:11:01.020 --> 01:11:04.180
So that's the money for the extra shifts that

01:11:04.180 --> 01:11:06.619
you need to front load this. And then that in

01:11:06.619 --> 01:11:10.000
turn fixes what you just said. when that balance

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:12.880
between being home and being at work is offset.

01:11:13.159 --> 01:11:15.279
And Gainesville, Florida, up the street from

01:11:15.279 --> 01:11:18.420
me, I've got their previous union and current

01:11:18.420 --> 01:11:21.020
union presidents coming on together. So the one

01:11:21.020 --> 01:11:23.619
that spearheaded the move. Can't wait to watch

01:11:23.619 --> 01:11:27.119
it. And they're like, it's amazing. Because I'm

01:11:27.119 --> 01:11:30.319
ready to go back to work the next shift because

01:11:30.319 --> 01:11:32.920
I've spent quality time with my family. I'm well

01:11:32.920 --> 01:11:35.060
rested. And now I'm chomping at the bit to go

01:11:35.060 --> 01:11:37.560
do another 24 with the men and women that I work

01:11:37.560 --> 01:11:39.939
with. That's how it should be. It's not about

01:11:39.939 --> 01:11:42.880
not loving the job. It's the opposite. If you

01:11:42.880 --> 01:11:46.220
love the job, you fight for conditions to be

01:11:46.220 --> 01:11:49.279
home for your family and then operate at the

01:11:49.279 --> 01:11:51.680
peak level for those 24 hours when you go back

01:11:51.680 --> 01:11:54.699
to the station. That's amazing. Yeah, I've seen

01:11:54.699 --> 01:11:57.609
that. Some of the departments doing $48 .96,

01:11:58.029 --> 01:12:02.750
$24 .72. I mean, just incredible like how they're

01:12:02.750 --> 01:12:07.470
– and you know that extra day or two is just

01:12:07.470 --> 01:12:12.109
literally saving their lives, man. I mean, I

01:12:12.109 --> 01:12:15.869
know this. Whenever I get a four -day or – and

01:12:15.869 --> 01:12:19.770
my schedule is really interesting. We do four

01:12:19.770 --> 01:12:26.609
on – like 48 on, 48 off for four. and then we

01:12:26.609 --> 01:12:30.529
get four days off. And then every four or every

01:12:30.529 --> 01:12:33.569
three months, I'm sorry, those two four days

01:12:33.569 --> 01:12:35.529
bump up next to each other and we get eight days

01:12:35.529 --> 01:12:40.449
off. And man, you get a four day and you feel

01:12:40.449 --> 01:12:43.090
so refreshed. You feel ready to like kind of

01:12:43.090 --> 01:12:45.670
go. So the fact that they get to feel like that

01:12:45.670 --> 01:12:48.369
every single shift, I'm pretty envious of it.

01:12:48.390 --> 01:12:51.630
Like that's pretty amazing. And hopefully we

01:12:51.630 --> 01:12:55.060
can get there someday. I know. Not bad talking

01:12:55.060 --> 01:12:56.939
to Department of Defense, but we're typically

01:12:56.939 --> 01:13:00.260
the last to do anything like that. There's a

01:13:00.260 --> 01:13:03.739
lot more pencil pushing that has to happen for

01:13:03.739 --> 01:13:05.760
us to get any of those things than some of the

01:13:05.760 --> 01:13:10.840
other places. But, yeah, I would say that across

01:13:10.840 --> 01:13:13.880
the board, that needs to be the new standard,

01:13:13.939 --> 01:13:17.840
is adding that extra shift to cover and give

01:13:17.840 --> 01:13:22.670
everybody an extra day. That's huge. And you

01:13:22.670 --> 01:13:24.710
save so much because now you're not having as

01:13:24.710 --> 01:13:30.550
many vacation call -outs, sick call -outs. I

01:13:30.550 --> 01:13:35.970
mean, you're saving a fortune. Yeah. The $48

01:13:35.970 --> 01:13:38.729
.96 is still a 56 -hour work week, so I wouldn't

01:13:38.729 --> 01:13:40.289
put that in the same category. Yeah, my bad.

01:13:40.350 --> 01:13:42.130
No, no, no. You're fine. You're fine. It still

01:13:42.130 --> 01:13:43.750
seems good compared to what you're working, so

01:13:43.750 --> 01:13:45.869
I totally get it. Yeah, yes. But yeah, I hope

01:13:45.869 --> 01:13:48.670
that the Municipal Fire Service can then... you

01:13:48.670 --> 01:13:50.590
know, blaze a path for the federal firefighters

01:13:50.590 --> 01:13:53.810
because I just had a Hawaiian one on, um, not

01:13:53.810 --> 01:13:56.289
too long ago. It was MMA fighter as well. Um,

01:13:56.449 --> 01:14:01.029
and he was doing 24, 24 ongoing, like unending.

01:14:01.130 --> 01:14:03.310
So, you know, we need to fix it for everyone

01:14:03.310 --> 01:14:06.170
else. But like you said, yeah. How do you do

01:14:06.170 --> 01:14:08.869
that? Like you're never not going, you're never

01:14:08.869 --> 01:14:11.710
not going home or driving to shift. Like it's

01:14:11.710 --> 01:14:13.789
insane. Well, you're also, you think about it,

01:14:13.810 --> 01:14:16.090
you get off at 8 AM. So you're never actually

01:14:16.090 --> 01:14:19.880
getting a day off. Because that second day, midnight

01:14:19.880 --> 01:14:23.180
to 8 a .m., you're working. So you never get

01:14:23.180 --> 01:14:25.539
a day off. So, yeah, there's so much to fix.

01:14:25.619 --> 01:14:28.159
And I think, sadly, focusing on the financial

01:14:28.159 --> 01:14:31.060
loss is really what's going to move some people.

01:14:31.140 --> 01:14:32.760
The health of their people and the performance

01:14:32.760 --> 01:14:36.159
should be enough. But if nothing else, for every

01:14:36.159 --> 01:14:40.220
cancer survivor that you have costs $1 .2 million,

01:14:40.539 --> 01:14:42.039
hopefully you'll be like, well, wait a second,

01:14:42.140 --> 01:14:45.199
shift work is a carcinogen. maybe yeah if we

01:14:45.199 --> 01:14:48.079
stop working on people to death the the cancer

01:14:48.079 --> 01:14:50.460
rates will lower because perfect example the

01:14:50.460 --> 01:14:53.079
last place i worked protected disney world so

01:14:53.079 --> 01:14:57.020
well sprinkled that we basically never had fires

01:14:57.020 --> 01:15:00.140
like almost never and they had cancer kill so

01:15:00.140 --> 01:15:02.859
many of their people so if it was just carcinogens

01:15:02.859 --> 01:15:05.100
then they'd be the healthiest fire department

01:15:05.100 --> 01:15:08.199
on the planet But the shift work and the numbers

01:15:08.199 --> 01:15:09.939
of calls that they had throughout the night because

01:15:09.939 --> 01:15:12.760
they abused their 911 system. You know, lo and

01:15:12.760 --> 01:15:14.659
behold, you have a lot of these people dying,

01:15:14.779 --> 01:15:16.579
you know, and I would argue that the shift work

01:15:16.579 --> 01:15:19.399
is a huge amplifier of the cancer issue that

01:15:19.399 --> 01:15:27.659
we have. Yeah, I was pulling something up. The

01:15:27.659 --> 01:15:31.500
number is, I think now that a firefighter is

01:15:31.500 --> 01:15:35.319
9 % more likely to develop. form of cancer than

01:15:35.319 --> 01:15:39.739
any other profession. And how much of that is

01:15:39.739 --> 01:15:43.380
just going off of the fact that we're not sleeping

01:15:43.380 --> 01:15:47.779
regularly. Like we, you know, the day -to -day

01:15:47.779 --> 01:15:50.039
exposures, I think of like the diesel exhaust

01:15:50.039 --> 01:15:54.279
fumes is something I always think about. The

01:15:54.279 --> 01:15:57.699
gear that we wear, the station uniforms that

01:15:57.699 --> 01:16:02.800
we wear with PFAS, things like that. Even the

01:16:02.800 --> 01:16:05.439
stuff that we cook with, you know, not to mention

01:16:05.439 --> 01:16:09.640
the foods we eat are still horrible. And so I

01:16:09.640 --> 01:16:11.399
just think about so many of those things and

01:16:11.399 --> 01:16:15.119
I'm like, man, we've got to, that awareness has

01:16:15.119 --> 01:16:19.380
got to be raised and it needs to be common knowledge.

01:16:20.340 --> 01:16:25.119
And hopefully just by doing things like this,

01:16:25.140 --> 01:16:27.779
having conversations like this and getting in

01:16:27.779 --> 01:16:30.069
front of the right people, we can. continue making

01:16:30.069 --> 01:16:32.949
that change. It's just happening way too slowly.

01:16:33.449 --> 01:16:36.229
And also, you talk about mental health all the

01:16:36.229 --> 01:16:39.270
time. I really do love your show. And you talk

01:16:39.270 --> 01:16:43.289
about mental health a lot. And dude, you give

01:16:43.289 --> 01:16:46.510
me a couple weeks of really cruddy sleep and

01:16:46.510 --> 01:16:49.310
I'm one of the most... optimistic and happy people

01:16:49.310 --> 01:16:52.729
i know and i'm in the dumps i'm having a hard

01:16:52.729 --> 01:16:56.850
time mentally and we're seeing it in droves as

01:16:56.850 --> 01:17:00.689
well as firefighter suicide i mean just at insane

01:17:00.689 --> 01:17:05.489
numbers and uh so much so many of the times we're

01:17:05.489 --> 01:17:08.090
like well oh man he's he he was always a black

01:17:08.090 --> 01:17:10.729
cloud like he always had really bad calls you

01:17:10.729 --> 01:17:14.939
know that that I'm not taking that away from

01:17:14.939 --> 01:17:17.420
anything, but how much of it was the fact that

01:17:17.420 --> 01:17:19.720
he was just absolutely beat down and exhausted

01:17:19.720 --> 01:17:24.439
and his body was so inflamed and so fatigued

01:17:24.439 --> 01:17:26.920
that your mind really does start playing tricks

01:17:26.920 --> 01:17:32.199
on you in that point. And a rested body, a rested

01:17:32.199 --> 01:17:35.520
mind can really work and navigate and compensate

01:17:35.520 --> 01:17:40.750
incredibly well. But when we're sleeping, And

01:17:40.750 --> 01:17:44.550
then in working way too much, too much time,

01:17:44.590 --> 01:17:46.109
you know, throughout the week, throughout the

01:17:46.109 --> 01:17:49.710
year. And it's taking a toll on everything else

01:17:49.710 --> 01:17:52.010
that we're doing, our family that we love, how

01:17:52.010 --> 01:17:55.430
we eat, how we do anything. No. Yeah, it's going

01:17:55.430 --> 01:17:57.609
to take an absolute toll. And you're going to

01:17:57.609 --> 01:18:03.130
see the number of of psychiatric, you know, incidents

01:18:03.130 --> 01:18:06.909
go up and suicide even go up. It's just it's

01:18:06.909 --> 01:18:10.520
heartbreaking and it needs to end. And, uh, hopefully

01:18:10.520 --> 01:18:13.939
I can't wait to see some of the statistics that

01:18:13.939 --> 01:18:16.220
they see from these shift from these schedule

01:18:16.220 --> 01:18:20.300
changes and just in what, what in a year, how

01:18:20.300 --> 01:18:23.119
much they saved as far as vacation and sick time,

01:18:23.220 --> 01:18:26.180
how much they saved as far as, you know, how,

01:18:26.319 --> 01:18:29.239
how the firefighters give us a pullback of like

01:18:29.239 --> 01:18:32.460
how they felt going into each shift. How'd you

01:18:32.460 --> 01:18:34.699
feel leaving each shift? Did you feel like you

01:18:34.699 --> 01:18:39.319
got more from your work day? Cause. I know this

01:18:39.319 --> 01:18:42.220
man, when we were working overtimes all the time,

01:18:42.319 --> 01:18:47.119
you got way, way, a lot less done in your day.

01:18:47.420 --> 01:18:51.319
Like the station you, you were, I mean, there

01:18:51.319 --> 01:18:53.199
were days where they're like, Hey, I know everybody's

01:18:53.199 --> 01:18:55.699
like super tired and on their like fourth overtime

01:18:55.699 --> 01:18:58.859
in a row. We're running calls. Make sure your

01:18:58.859 --> 01:19:02.699
truck is checked off and we'll do dinner. six,

01:19:02.699 --> 01:19:04.819
you know, and that was it. Like everybody was

01:19:04.819 --> 01:19:07.619
just in the room sleeping and that's no way to

01:19:07.619 --> 01:19:09.699
go about it, man. We want to like show, we want

01:19:09.699 --> 01:19:11.560
to show up feeling like we're ready to get after

01:19:11.560 --> 01:19:14.300
it. And, and, but when you're grinding like that,

01:19:14.340 --> 01:19:19.659
it's terrible. So, um, yeah, man, I mean, golly,

01:19:19.699 --> 01:19:24.319
we just hit on so many things. Uh, but I, I really

01:19:24.319 --> 01:19:28.420
can't thank you enough for let me share and,

01:19:28.439 --> 01:19:31.949
and, and have this conversation with you. And

01:19:31.949 --> 01:19:36.090
I think you're doing an incredible job of bringing

01:19:36.090 --> 01:19:38.029
some awareness to these things. You're very well

01:19:38.029 --> 01:19:41.810
-knowledged in that. And like I said, with the

01:19:41.810 --> 01:19:45.050
DECOM project, we're so excited about some of

01:19:45.050 --> 01:19:47.789
the things that we're bringing in. We're starting

01:19:47.789 --> 01:19:52.550
right there in South Georgia, Southeast Georgia,

01:19:52.729 --> 01:19:55.500
and trying to... you know, kind of climb down

01:19:55.500 --> 01:19:58.279
into Northeast Florida. But the goal is to go

01:19:58.279 --> 01:20:01.460
as big as this thing will go. But every time

01:20:01.460 --> 01:20:03.539
I'll tell you this, every time we have a meeting

01:20:03.539 --> 01:20:07.420
or I talk to you about it, I always say our goal

01:20:07.420 --> 01:20:11.239
really is that we work ourselves out of the need

01:20:11.239 --> 01:20:14.380
for our nonprofit, that we raise enough awareness,

01:20:14.439 --> 01:20:16.819
that we go in and we set the standard enough.

01:20:16.899 --> 01:20:19.260
We get in front of the right people to where

01:20:19.260 --> 01:20:21.979
what we're bringing is now just that's an established

01:20:21.979 --> 01:20:24.720
norm. And at that point, we can kind of dust

01:20:24.720 --> 01:20:26.659
our hands and know that we made that impact.

01:20:27.380 --> 01:20:30.380
I will say I feel like we're unfortunately a

01:20:30.380 --> 01:20:32.960
long ways away from that being the case. So we're

01:20:32.960 --> 01:20:35.159
ready to work as hard as we can to get these

01:20:35.159 --> 01:20:38.380
things done. But that is our goal. And we all

01:20:38.380 --> 01:20:41.939
talk about that, like that if we do this well

01:20:41.939 --> 01:20:44.399
enough, we should work ourselves out of a job.

01:20:44.680 --> 01:20:49.170
Right. And so. Yeah, man. Thank you so much.

01:20:49.170 --> 01:20:52.470
I really appreciate it. This is incredible. I

01:20:52.470 --> 01:20:55.189
can't wait to hop on and talk to you some more

01:20:55.189 --> 01:20:58.710
down the road and we can kind of compare some

01:20:58.710 --> 01:21:00.409
of the things we've learned and all the crazy

01:21:00.409 --> 01:21:02.649
stuff that's going on, you know, between then

01:21:02.649 --> 01:21:09.130
and now. And man, I'm very blessed. And I think

01:21:09.130 --> 01:21:11.149
it's been really cool that our paths have crossed

01:21:11.149 --> 01:21:13.630
this way. So thank you. Well, thank you. One

01:21:13.630 --> 01:21:16.250
thing before I let you go then. If people listening

01:21:16.250 --> 01:21:19.850
want to either be a recipient of the Decom Project

01:21:19.850 --> 01:21:21.670
or they want to help, they want to contribute,

01:21:21.869 --> 01:21:24.170
where are the best places to find you? Yeah,

01:21:24.189 --> 01:21:27.949
man. So we're super simple. Our website is thedecomproject

01:21:27.949 --> 01:21:32.310
.com. D -E -C -O -N, like short for decontaminate.

01:21:32.789 --> 01:21:37.210
I mean, you can go on there. You can see a really

01:21:37.210 --> 01:21:40.569
simple website. It looks great, like super cool.

01:21:42.470 --> 01:21:44.649
Donation page is right there. You can donate.

01:21:45.470 --> 01:21:48.829
Also, my information is all over there. Man,

01:21:48.909 --> 01:21:52.270
I'm on social media a lot. I do daily devotionals

01:21:52.270 --> 01:21:56.850
for firefighters. I try and share and be as open

01:21:56.850 --> 01:21:59.189
as possible. If you have any questions, you need

01:21:59.189 --> 01:22:01.750
to have anybody like pray for you, talk with

01:22:01.750 --> 01:22:04.590
you, anything, hit me up that like you have my

01:22:04.590 --> 01:22:07.069
number right there. Also on there, we have a

01:22:07.069 --> 01:22:09.270
message board. If you're an apartment that's

01:22:09.270 --> 01:22:12.250
like, hey, some of this is looking like, something

01:22:12.250 --> 01:22:15.350
we want to do. Obviously, we're starting right

01:22:15.350 --> 01:22:18.010
here where we're at, but we'd love to get you

01:22:18.010 --> 01:22:20.590
in the system. Like, we're doing this completely

01:22:20.590 --> 01:22:22.630
for free. We're not charging that department

01:22:22.630 --> 01:22:25.770
anything. The only thing that we may ask is like,

01:22:25.869 --> 01:22:28.050
hey, show us some people that we can get in touch

01:22:28.050 --> 01:22:31.409
with to raise funds to actually help your department

01:22:31.409 --> 01:22:34.149
and get us in touch. And then I'll do all the

01:22:34.149 --> 01:22:37.270
legwork. Like, I'll call these people. I'll tell

01:22:37.270 --> 01:22:39.109
them what our goals are, what we're trying to

01:22:39.109 --> 01:22:42.670
do. One thing I have said is if you're doing

01:22:42.670 --> 01:22:46.649
any kind of cool events or fundraisers and, you

01:22:46.649 --> 01:22:49.329
know, you need somebody to tag on or help out

01:22:49.329 --> 01:22:52.350
or, you know, share about it, like the Decom

01:22:52.350 --> 01:22:54.890
Project will gladly do that. That's kind of how

01:22:54.890 --> 01:22:57.189
we're trying to get our name out there. We are

01:22:57.189 --> 01:23:00.590
100 percent not in it to make any money. We are

01:23:00.590 --> 01:23:04.090
just trying to get raise awareness and get into

01:23:04.090 --> 01:23:07.659
these departments and show them that. We can

01:23:07.659 --> 01:23:10.100
give them some tools to help combat some of the

01:23:10.100 --> 01:23:13.180
cancer and cardiac, which unfortunately seem

01:23:13.180 --> 01:23:16.479
to be the two killers of the fire service. And

01:23:16.479 --> 01:23:19.220
we want to get ahead of that. And we're starting

01:23:19.220 --> 01:23:22.720
one department at a time. So please reach out,

01:23:22.779 --> 01:23:26.079
show your support, follow us on Instagram at

01:23:26.079 --> 01:23:30.270
The Decom Project. We post on there a lot. a

01:23:30.270 --> 01:23:32.149
bunch of really cool guys that we've teamed up

01:23:32.149 --> 01:23:34.609
with as well. I mean, just some really cool stuff

01:23:34.609 --> 01:23:38.729
going on. And so I know this is kind of a crazy

01:23:38.729 --> 01:23:42.069
conversation about the fire service, but I truly

01:23:42.069 --> 01:23:46.430
do believe that the best is yet to come. We are

01:23:46.430 --> 01:23:49.010
taking baby steps in the right direction. It's

01:23:49.010 --> 01:23:51.829
just going to take a lot of time. We've gone.

01:23:52.699 --> 01:23:55.119
We've had a crazy route. It's kind of been some

01:23:55.119 --> 01:23:58.340
kind of like a roller coaster, all crazy. But

01:23:58.340 --> 01:24:00.119
we're really starting to kind of figure it out.

01:24:00.159 --> 01:24:03.100
And the passion for the fire service is really,

01:24:03.159 --> 01:24:06.500
really high right now. And so we just got to

01:24:06.500 --> 01:24:09.119
keep getting new people that are fired up. And

01:24:09.119 --> 01:24:11.560
just like we talked about, keep the old guys

01:24:11.560 --> 01:24:13.920
fired up so that they can teach the new guys

01:24:13.920 --> 01:24:17.140
the cool stuff. And I think this is the greatest

01:24:17.140 --> 01:24:20.939
job on the planet. And James. the stuff you're

01:24:20.939 --> 01:24:23.619
doing. This is so awesome, man. Thank you. And,

01:24:23.619 --> 01:24:26.220
uh, yeah, guys, I appreciate it from the bottom

01:24:26.220 --> 01:24:27.319
of my heart. Thank you.