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Who Really Is The Face of Terrorism?

In a little research prior to a possible paper on terrorism, I was looking at the history of terror in the United States. Technically, it goes all the way back to our beginnings, when "radicals" belonging to the Sons of Liberty tossed 45 tons of tea into the harbor. As you can quickly see in that one single case, "terrorism" is defined differently. I guess it just depends on whose point of view you happen to take.

I doubt anyone, however, equates terrorism as we know it today with an act of throwing goods into the harbor. Things have escalated considerably in 200+ years and now in 21st century Boston we have this reprehensible act of violence. We don't know the specific issue that sparked this act, but this defines "terror". Terror, in that these bombs were not just intended to get someone's attention about the unfairness of a point of view. No, this act included what were certainly anti-personnel devices, placed in a concentrated area of non-combatants, and positioned for maximum effect. This act was a cowardly act, striking at defenseless civilians in order to make some kind of a point.

I believe in peace and I believe in perspectives, but I'm afraid I'm not a pacifist. I personally believe we should seek who it is who chooses to harm the innocent and root them out. Suffice it to say, if someone were to hurt my loved ones, I would pursue them to the ends of the earth. While I earnestly strive to maintain peace and open-mindedness, and I profess an extraordinary amount of tolerance for other people's viewpoints, that all ends when you choose to escalate with force against me.

I struggle with my innermost being when I advocate for a return to civility and understanding, then see zealots deciding that whatever it is they stand for is more important than peaceful co-existence. I, like most Americans, stand for justice. We believe in equality. And we may have our own closed-minded radicals, but the majority of Americans abhor those extremes. When a certain group of individuals decides to plant a bomb among us, they have declared war against us and everything we stand for.

As I mentioned my research, I find that there is evidence of violent or extreme action being taken by almost every faction and belief. As I mentioned the actions taken in defense of independence, there are also many cases of "terrorism" documented for all kinds of causes. To the Left, before you talk about right-wing extremism, let's discuss the 1920 Wall Street bombing or the Black Panthers or the SLA. On the Right, don't leave the discussion without consideration of the white supremacy movement and of course, Oklahoma City and abortion clinic shootings. But I wanted to address a differently handled case of civil disobedience.

When I was learning to drive years ago, I practiced in the parking lot of the General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, PA, so this event is very near to me. Those of you who are my age may remember that this is where the "Plowshares Eight" took non-violent action, broke into the facility, damaged missile nose cones, and poured blood onto documents and files. This is an act these days probably considered terrorism.

The big difference here, and something maybe people should understand, is that these individuals had a tremendous passion for what they considered to be a crime against humanity. But instead of bombing something or shooting at someone, they took action against inanimate objects. They made a point without hurting people, at least not physically.

For those who proclaim they are indeed "peaceful", this is a lesson in real peaceful protest. Likewise, there are many cases in history. Gandhi staged sit-down strikes. Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus. Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement. These were all effective means of protest without killing others. Strapping a bomb to your body and walking into a marketplace doesn't say "peaceful" religion to me. It says intolerance. It says the ends justify the means. It says that you aren't interested in living respectfully of one another.

Let's look at the Amish, for an example. The most traditional of their beliefs maintain community with a separation from secular society, yet they maintain a peaceful coexistence with others. If one participates at its most fundamental teachings, they have very strict rules but function (relatively) without interference from the rest of us. I would bet that there is a certain amount of frustration on certain aspects of the interface between their "world" and "ours", but while that may be so, I could be wrong, but I don't recall any outbreaks of terrorism on their behalf. They genuinely believe in peace and non-resistance.

I don't believe for a moment that Islam in and of itself is a violent religion. I read The Koran and I don't find it any more violent than The Bible. But I don't hold up The Bible and proclaim literal interpretation anymore than the parts of The Koran that extremists say defend their actions. I'm not a religious scholar, and I might even come across as slightly heretical, but I believe on a planet as small as this one, in order to survive, we have to learn to live together.

I don't feel like you have to agree with me, but I ask you to respect my beliefs, just as I may not agree with you, but I respect yours. As I said before, if you choose to ramp up your insistence that I listen to you at the point of a gun, I insist that I have the right to defend myself. And if you screw with me, don't expect that I'm going to take it lying down. If you choose to engage in warfare against me, you have to understand that your choice has consequences. In the United States of America, we proudly allow anyone to live within their beliefs and that we have the right to express ourselves in a manner of our choosing. If you want to live like a radical, then go somewhere where you can live like that and let the rest of us live our own lives. But while I choose to be respectful of your choices, and am happy to leave you alone, I will be civil with you. And yet, if you shove me, I WILL shove back.

If people really believe they belong to a peaceful gathering of individuals, then they need to be prepared to defend that with their actions. Failing to do that doesn't, in my opinion, buy you any credibility. Any religious institution that fails to push their extremists into the street and expose them when they preach annihilation of "non-believers" is, as far as I am concerned, culpable. That goes for any religion, any cult, any group. Silence is not an acceptable means of solving this problem. Exposing the intolerant and the extreme to the rest of the world is.

As Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." If you believe in peace, then let's see it. Put your money where your mouth is. If you are in an institution that advocates violence against non-combatants, then you have a responsibility to notify the authorities. And don't cry persecution when, avoiding that responsibility, we have to come looking in order to protect our way of life.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on April 25, 2013 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, News • Tagged: activism, adaptive leadership, advice, advocacy, Boston, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, courage, education, effort, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, facts, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, General Electric, government, guilt, Hilton Head Island, integrity, Islam, just culture, just leadership, King of Prussia, leadership, learning, management, media, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, Mount St. Mary, opportunity, pacifist, Plowshares Eight, politics, positive, professionalism, quote, resources, response, South Carolina, teamwork, terrorism, Training, Twitter, values, vision, warfare, zen zone

Unsafe Until Proven Otherwise

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I look back at my years as a firefighter and paramedic and recall once being held at gunpoint by an irate patient. This was back in the early 80's and things were a little different then. While I feared for my life, it was more out of the belief that the gun she was brandishing could go off rather than the prospect of us being held hostage. She was upset at her husband and she was (looking back on it) more angry at him than frustrated with us. Fortunately, an alert dispatcher was on the other end of the radio and asked "10-61?" to which the only acceptable answer was "Affirmative". My officer at the time keyed up and said, "10-4, ma'am, everything is 10-4 here!"

Law enforcement was quick to arrive on scene and like I said, back then, hostage negotiation was more along the lines of one of the officers telling her to put the damn gun away before someone got hurt. She did, she went to jail, and we lived to tell about it.

I went forward from that night being a lot more aware of my situation. While later I became a commissioned law enforcement officer (for a while) and learned even more, after that night, at least, I paid more attention to not permitting anyone to get between my crew and the exit, watching people's faces and hands, and lighting up every space I was working in.

These days, incidents like those would have gone much differently. But these days, the evil is a lot more intense.

While I happen to be a gun owner and I believe in my Constitutional rights, I am concerned about how adding another gun to a situation is going to play out if I were permitted to start carrying a sidearm on duty. I don't honestly know if that's a good situation. And while I am a peace-loving and open-minded individual, I am also aware that I have been in positions where I felt threatened and yet was able to negotiate a less-than-violent outcome, whereas had I been armed at the time, the situation might not have ended up so well for the person I was dealing with.

Maybe this is an opportunity to look at a number of things, like the availability of body armor, or equipping personnel with less-lethal means of dealing with violence. I'm not saying I have the answer. But what I am saying is that until we can prove a scene otherwise, we need to approach with greater caution these days. Simply walking up to the front door, standing in front of it and knocking loudly is not what I consider good technique. Ignoring the presence of weapons in a room is not acceptable. And these are all things I have seen seasoned personnel do in my career, and when pointed out, got this "Are you kidding me?" look.

The point is that if you can PREVENT an incident from getting bad, you need to. Being observant, keeping a low profile, and taking in the surrounding clues can go a long way toward never letting things go south to begin with.

While this latest incident in Gwinnett County, GA will be dissected and we will learn lessons from it, I don't know how we could have ever prepared for a situation like that faced in West Webster, NY. But while those incidents are extraordinarily tragic, they happen less so than the violence to providers faced daily around the nation. And while these very newsworthy incidents illustrate very deranged individuals exist out there, they only scratch the surface of what we have to deal with every shift when we interact with people who are intoxicated, angry, high, delusional, or just have a chip on their shoulder. And these days, there are a lot of those people out there.

If you don't know how to protect yourself, seek assistance from your local law enforcement agency for tips on approaching subjects. Be careful going into places where you can't get out of and never let anyone get between you and the way out. And establish a procedure in case things do go bad and the individual can figure out that pushing that little red button isn't going to be good for them. Be proactive and hopefully, you never will have to deal with situations like these.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on April 11, 2013 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, News • Tagged: #FRED, activism, adaptive leadership, advice, advocacy, blame, breaking news, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, education, effort, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, facts, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, Georgia, government, Gwinnett County, Hilton Head Island, hostage, integrity, leadership, learning, management, media, Mick Mayers, New York, politics, positive, professionalism, resources, South Carolina, Suwanee, SWAT, teamwork, technical solutions, thought, Training, Twitter, values, vision, warfare, West Webster, zen zone

Are We Off Limits?

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Nobody on this planet can ever accuse me of not having a heart and soul steeped in the tradition of the fire service. And an LODD is no laughing matter. But when the satire site The Onion lampoons a fictional firefighter who dies in the line of duty because he sucks at his job, is it really worth the collective ire that I'm sure will arise from it?

It's satire, and while you or I may find it distateful, it's not like the site says that firefighters themselves are idiots. If you choose to read the post, the story is that this fictional firefighter survived in spite of his complete incompetence, failing to wear turnout gear, etc., but the reality is, it is satire. The Onion has tackled virtually every celebrity and institution on record, including every known religion. So what makes the fire service off limits?

What isn't satire is a real LODD. And what isn't a laughing matter is the real issues behind a number of the causes of these incidents, which seem to me like an annual recitation of what we tell firefighters not to do, yet, they do anyway. What should be the routine fire becomes a nightmare because we neglect to use a means of accounting for our personnel. Or we fail to recognize the signs of imminent collapse. We lose firefighters because they fail to wear seatbelts, which after the number of appeals to correct, should long be a non-issue anymore, yet it still happens.

So while the fictional "Stuart D'Abarno" rushed into buildings without his PPE, nearly died during training drills, burned his hands on hot door knobs, backed into things with the apparatus, and set grease fires in the station kitchen, we have real-life people who do these things with and without consequence. And that is incompetence defined. And you know, if they die in the line of duty, instead of saying, "Wow, what a screw-up", we celebrate them as heroes.

We should instead focus our outrage on the real people who make the brotherhood look bad by their lack of professionalism on a regular basis. We should actually be glad that The Onion didn't decide to take on some even more embarrassing moments for the fire serivce, like firefighter arsonists, or fire chiefs taking from the till, or firefighters getting caught running a prostitute ring out of a station. I mean, really, isn't truth stranger than fiction?

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on April 1, 2013 • Filed under: change, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, LODD, News • Tagged: #FRED, activism, adaptive leadership, advice, advocacy, blame, change, clausewitz, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, education, effort, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, facts, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, just culture, just leadership, leadership, learning, LODD, management, media, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, opportunity, politics, positive, professionalism, quote, resources, satire, South Carolina, teamwork, technical solutions, The Onion, thought, Training, Twitter, values, vision, warfare, zen zone

No Trash Talking

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Cicero said it best: "We do not destroy religion by destroying superstition." In fighting fire, however, if you suggest at all that doing things differently because the science indicates a better way, you'd think we were saying that the Earth was actually round.

Oh, yeah, that's right, the Earth IS round. Really, it is. Think back to those boring days of middle school, where we learned that the world being round was suggested by individuals who were then persecuted for suggesting such a thing. And in the fire service, it is true, that if you suggest doing things differently because the science says so, you too, are considered a heretic and burned at the figurative stake on the internet. Just read the comments and you shall see, it is true.

My father had a pretty serious heart attack this week and fortunately, was seen, evaluated, and sustained intervention for his potentially lethal LAD obstruction. He is snoozing peacefully at his own home in his own bed as I write this, courtesy of the modern miracle of medicine, for something that in my own lifetime, pretty much would have been a death sentence. The side benefit of these little disasters, however, is the chance to have side talks with my brother, who is on the cutting edge of the fire service in his own right, only he doesn't choose to have a nifty little blog like I do to talk about it.

We were talking about some studies in regard to the application of exterior streams to rapidly moving interior fire conditions, something that is seen to some in our business as being, let's see, "cowardly". As I said, however, as much as I too like to roll around in the heat and byproducts of combustion, from a purely scientific standpoint, it makes better sense to apply streams to the fire from the outside to control the fire quickly, rather than try to engage it automatically from inside. Rolling around on the inside of a burning building is not only hazardous, but in some moments, unnecessary, to achieve what it is we need to do.

Now this is certainly an oversimplification of the scenario, because there are other factors, but my point is that regardless of the science, there are those who profess to be immersed in the state of the firefighting art who think that just because they too like to get in and be "one with the Red Devil", that it actually makes sense to do so. And I am not saying (in this post) that it is right or wrong.

What I AM saying is, that we have many who resist the suggestion that change is warranted, not because of any other reason than their desire to do things the way we have always been doing things, and more often than not, because the changes being suggested happen to conflict with their mental image of the dashing, courageous firefighters of old, leaping into the flames and carrying out young damsels in distress and anything else that happens to make good headlines, like Fluffy, or a case of really good wine.

I guess that in the opinion of some, my father's heart attack might have been better off addressed by the liberal application of leeches, or bed rest and opium. But then, people died pretty often from things in years gone by that they don't die from today. You know: that science thing.

We can continue to keep our heads in the sand about advances in research, but like I have said, simply addressing the art of fighting fire from a fiscal aspect (and not an emotional one), each of my firefighters represents not only a living human being, but an expensive investment. And while throwing bodies into a battle without regard for how many lives are lost might have been the way you win wars in the pre-Napoleonic days, we realized that wars of attrition were more practically won through strategy and prudent use of resources, being that the losses were faced by the other side, not our own.

I have been batting around some ideas for the "vision" of fire, rescue, emergency medical service, and emergency management on the FHZ Twitter feed lately and getting some interesting comments via hashtag "FRED" (#FRED) and maybe its time to have some more open dialogue over what we should or should not be doing in our quest to save lives, property and the environment. At any means, I see this as opening up conversations that will be uncomfortable to some of you, simply due to the reactions I see when someone suggests doing things differently. But perspective is a funny thing and unless you open your mind up to a different alternative, you are doomed to only see one way of doing things. That one way isn't an issue if things are going perfectly, but every time I see an LODD that could be prevented, I'm thinking that isn't currently the case.

What do you have to say about this? Are you interested in a new reality? Are you interested in doing things better with less of a chance of losing more brothers in unnecessary and inefficient charges against an unwinnable situation? Or are you okay with the world being flat?

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on March 11, 2013 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, safety • Tagged: #FRED, activism, adaptive leadership, advice, advocacy, blame, change, Cicero, clausewitz, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, Earth, education, effort, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, facts, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, flat, forward, government, heart attack, Hilton Head Island, integrity, just culture, just leadership, leadership, learning, LODD, management, media, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, NIST, opportunity, politics, positive, professionalism, quote, resources, safety, South Carolina, teamwork, technical solutions, thought, Training, Twitter, values, vision, warfare, world, zen zone

Your Altruism Is Hereby Noted

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I was reading the never-ending stream of discussion on Dave Statter's site about the AZ fire department refusing respond to a structure fire three miles away from their station because the home was in an area that was not paying for fire service. And we have had this discussion many times before, here on Firehouse Zen, a la South Fulton County and others. And I am constantly surprised at the discussions that go on regarding the "pay to spray" concept, since, by now, I would have thought most communities in our nation would have gotten a clue and done something about it, one way or another, or would stop acting so surprised when it happens again. And it keeps happening again. And again.

When I was a very young firefighter, I remember this very same kind of event occurring with a subscription fire department. I also remember being outraged that something Ike this could occur. Really, we are altruists, we firefighters, and we do this stuff not for the pay but for the love of our fellow man. Right? But, some thirty years later and more jaded and cynical, I wade into this conversation with a dose of reality for you. While it is great that we are all so willing to serve and to lay down our lives for others, there comes a serious discussion that is higher on the food chain than we happen to be. This discussion lies at the feet of those who make these policy decisions, at the jurisdictional level, and with those who claim the fire service is gutting their wallet for all they can get, then act stupid when we tell them all this stuff costs money.

This situation is heartbreaking and I can certainly empathize with the homeowner, my own family having lost everything we had to fire when I was young. But I also know from the perspective of a community activist: if a necessary service or facility is needed in my neighborhood, I work to fix it, or build it, or develop it. I don't sit around and wait for someone else to do it. If I were in a situation like this, I'd work with my local fire department to get them funding. I would help with fund raising. I would be a total pain in the ass to my elected officials and agitate to resolve the problem. But I wouldn't just stick my head in the sand and hope nothing happened.

Please don't take my tone as being disparaging to those of you who feel the urge to help regardless of whether the person pays or not. I certainly believe in selfless service to my neighbor. I am happy to be there in their time of need and regardless of their ability to pay. But I have a question for those of you who are getting emotional: "How many times does it have to happen before the elected officials in these communities get a clue and ensure that sustained funding is provided for fire protection?"

I feel stupid just repeating it, because the subject has been covered SO MANY TIMES; these trucks cost money. The fuel to send them costs money. The equipment on them costs money. The insurance costs money. The protective gear we wear costs money. The station we respond out of costs money. It's not even an issue of paying salaries and benefits; just the most elemental of operations at least requires the means to put out the fire and that requires funding. Do the citizens in these neighborhoods just assume the fire department will pay for these needs and they can get by without paying for the service?

You take a gamble when you decide to go uninsured, or in this case, live in a community who won't pay the bills. While I agree that there are likely some contributing factors, it is as simple as this: If I lived in a community and there wasn't police protection, I'd find out why. If the community leaders refused to help, I would do something about it. Or perhaps (which will make the pro-gun advocates jump with joy) I would arm to protect myself. But I wouldn't keep quiet and accept that I would be without help in the event I needed it.

The real tragedy is that over the history of our nation, when "real" leaders realized fire protection was substandard, or too far away, or wouldn't be available to them, they organized their own fire protection. In this day and age, one could even add sprinklers to one's home, you could be fire safe and maintain your home and property correctly, and if you absolutely had to, you could even provide your own fire apparatus (people still do this). But even if one can't afford to pay a subscription, there should be some alternative solutions, like a community grant to pay for those who haven't the means, or maybe even some work equity to pay the subscription off.

This leads into discussion on the situation in these communities in regard to "service". Volunteerism is a highly commendable and altruistic calling, not just in the fire service, but in many community services who lack the resources afforded to other projects. I volunteer as an advocate for those with Down syndrome; I volunteer to help the homeless and hungry; I served for years with a camp for children who have vision challenges; and I support a whole range of other causes. I would never withhold assistance to someone who needed help. In fact, that is why we are there, to help. But if the people who need the help can't fund the service, it is incumbent upon us, as leaders of these projects, to find out where to get those funds. I may seek corporate funding, or community funding, or tax funding, or pay for things out of my pocket. But the money has to come from somewhere, and if we were in the situation of helping someone who could afford help, I would certainly expect them to have some equity in the solution.

"Pay For Spray" is a pretty derogatory descriptor of the situation. I would bet that the firefighters in these communities are challenged between doing what is right to help their neighbors and the elected officials who chose to abandon their responsibility for ensuring public safety needs are adequate. This is not an enviable position to be in. But frankly, those of you who are so aggrieved by this situation should really consider moving to these areas and offering your services free of charge, putting diesel in using your credit card, and paying the light bill, because it sounds like they would love to have you pay for it all out of your pocket.

Instead of bashing the department's chief for having to make a tough decision, perhaps we should focus the blame squarely on those who created the problem: The taxpayers and politicians who knew they had coverage issues and elected to abandon their neighbors out of convenience. If you have a subscription service, as I said before, you'd better have an alternative plan in the event someone doesn't pay and you have to go into action. And if the answer from the town fathers is, "Too bad", that should be widely known in the community, in the media, and everyone involved, and there should be no shock when it actually occurs, because trust me, it will.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on January 28, 2013 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, leadership, News • Tagged: activism, adaptive leadership, advice, advocacy, altruism, Arizona, blame, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, Dave Statter, education, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, facts, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, firearm, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, government, gun, Hilton Head Island, integrity, just culture, just leadership, leadership, learning, management, media, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, opportunity, politics, positive, professionalism, quote, resources, South Carolina, South Fulton County, teamwork, technical solutions, thought, Training, values, vision, volunteer, warfare, zen zone

Project “Viral Likes”

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Since some of the readers out there can't make it past the first paragraph, here's the summarized version:

[1] Once a day (that's all you have to do) when you log into your social network, take a second and see if a brother firefighter/EMT is sharing a page, or an article, or their business home page, or even better, a fire department social network page or association page, and go to it.

[2] And if it looks like something okay, even if you aren't going to be going to it daily, "like" it.

You can even start with the Firehouse Zen Facebook page, if you want. Now, for those of you who will read more than one paragraph, my explanation.

I awoke this morning with a tremendous headache and the dread of having to get things done today, which in my life has not been a common thing. I am normally a morning person and like to get a lot done before anyone even wakes up, when it is quiet outside and I can enjoy a cup of strong, black, highly-caffeinated java in peace. So I was checking my e-mail and noticed a "project" I had taken on was working- slowly, but it was working. And it gave me an idea…

Some of you have seen my Facebook shares for a firefighter in Australia who happens to be a singer/songwriter and she was asking for more "likes" on her page. The day I caught that original share, I was thinking, we can help her. And we did. Then over the past few weeks, it has been even more successful, so that coming up on the New Year, she was nearing 1000 likes and being just under 100 away, asked if we could get that number up. And it looks like that is going to happen.

But then this morning I was thinking of all of the other requests I get on Facebook and other places and it occurred to me that social media has been pretty easily adopted by the fire and emergency service community because simply, we already ARE a social community. Honestly, I look at friends of mine who aren't firefighters and their pages have a few hundred friends or so, but I noticed that on my Fire/EMS friends' pages, a lot more people. Why? Because we already have something strong bonding us and we are more willing to reach out and trust one another simply by the fact that we are brothers and sisters in emergency service.

Likewise, my non-Fire/EMS friends are more often than not also tied to this community because of the positive examples you all exhibit (for the most part) and are more willing to listen to what you all have to say, or will "friend" you, etc. So as I was saying, I had an idea…

I keep saying that the lack of brotherhood in some of the comments, etc. is pretty depressing. We can only turn the tide a little at a time, so we have to keep working on that. But more importantly, we can use this scenario like we have for Lt. Dwyer and EVERY TIME WE LOG IN TO OUR SOCIAL NETWORKS, TAKE A MOMENT TO FIND A BROTHER FIREFIGHTER'S PAGE AND "LIKE" IT.

This does a few things; it drives up the traffic to their pages, which, if they have a business, bumps them up in page rank. The result is that if a firefighter has a hardware store in Lincoln, NE and is maintaining a Facebook page, they have to compete with other hardware stores all around the nation when someone searches the internet. But if we as brothers and sisters are driving up the page rank, OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS benefit from our collective actions.

Another thing we do, and even more important than all that, is we point the way for others to see that a certain business is endorsed or "liked" by a group of individuals (the fire and emergency service brotherhood) that is seen as reputable, honest, and dedicated to their community. This draws on our values as being a good thing just like advertising in your church bulletin, or at the local Little League game or in the school newspaper. People associate our group with themselves and they too want to be like that. So it benefits our brotherhood again.

But lastly, it is the right thing to do. I have said before that "applause" is necessary when you are trying to do the right things. Viral applause on the internet through "likes" and "hits" and positive commenting is important stuff when you are just trying to get up on a Sunday morning with a tremendous headache and just want to know you are doing the right thing by posting something.

So here's the summarized version:

Once a day (that's all you have to do) when you log into your social network, take a second and see if someone is sharing a page, or an article, or their business home page, or even better, a fire department social network page or association page, and go to it.

And if it looks like something okay, even if you aren't going to be going to it daily, "like" it.

It is that easy. If we all do that, think about what that does to the final result. And even better, if we do this, it is a POSITIVE thing to help each other. We aren't tearing each other down, we aren't saying hateful things, we aren't buying into the rhetoric. We are simply saying, "This is a brother or sister firefighter and we are supporting them".

This should be interesting, because I'd really like to see if our brotherhood can reach out and do something as simple as this to support one another. It costs no money; it is easy; you don't have to send something; you can choose who and what you support; all you have to do is point and click. And if you are so inclined, you can even suggest a few, like I tend to do on my page, when they are trying to reach a goal of 100 likes or a 1000 likes, or whatever.

So this is a reasonable, easy, and cheap resolution you can add for 2013 that is positive and will help others. Let's see if it becomes viral or if, as it seems sometimes, the brotherhood is one that happens only when convenient.

If I don't post before then, have a great New Year and of course, if you have a page you want me to like, send the suggestion. I ALWAYS walk the walk, you can be sure.

And if you are really looking, I have linked all the ones I have shared recently down below:

Smoke Is Showing Fireground Photography – Looking to break the 5K mark…

Kayla Dwyer – Like I said, a fire lieutenant in the Australian CFA who is also a musician, wants to break 1K…

Kathmandu Fire Brigade – No goal, but looking to make their message known as they "Do The Job" in Nepal…

The Thin Line – Just sharing the brotherhood…

Team Hunter – Support for a child named Hunter, which I got from the Iron Firemen site, who was recently diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy…

And like I said, if you have more, share them with me on the Firehouse Zen Facebook page and I will do my best to promote them as well!

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on December 30, 2012 • Filed under: change, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Nation, leadership • Tagged: 2013, activism, advice, advocacy, brotherhood, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, education, EMS, EMS Topics, Facebook, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, government, Hilton Head Island, hits, integrity, internet, just culture, just leadership, Kayla Dwyer, leadership, learning, likes, management, media, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, New Year, opportunity, page rank, politics, positive, professionalism, Project Viral Likes, resolutions, resources, service, social networking, South Carolina, teamwork, thought, traffic, Training, values, vision, zen zone

Too Much of a Good Thing

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I like oatmeal. I especially like oatmeal with brown sugar. The problem with brown sugar, however (other than the calories) is that it lumps up. So on days like today when even though it is sunny and 70 degrees here on Hilton Head Island, I made myself a nice bowl of oatmeal for lunch and began to add the brown sugar. Too lazy to grab a spoon to dole out some brown sugar, I tipped the bag up, and a lump the size of a Volkswagen dropped into my bowl.

Inspired, and having my laptop open in front of me when it occurred, I shook off the cobwebs and began to write.

A plethora, to those of you who care about such things, is not simply a large amount of something, but an amount so large it becomes undesirable. And in Detroit, Michigan, for those of you in the fire service, they seem to have a plethora of fires. A few fires every now and then, I suppose, is okay, because while we all got into this career for the huge salaries and the luxury box at the local stadium (note my tongue planted firmly in cheek), really, the challenge of fighting fires is not far away from the top of that list. It is battle against an enemy that nobody disputes is evil and therefore, it is honorable no matter what your creed, country, or calling.

But in Detroit, apparently, this plethora of fires has lent to a number of interesting decisions that cause me to question judgment, one of which is the "visiting firefighter" idea. Now while I consider taking people who wish to learn more about fighting fires fight them as a means of gaining experience, and I consider the notion that paying to have that experience is something some people consider a money-making venture, my secretly logical side thinks this is a bad idea. The main reason I think it is a bad idea, however, is not for any other reason than that while fighting fires in this context should be meant to be educational, I am fully aware that this is instead in more than a few cases, profiting from those who can't get enough fire in their own neighborhoods. This "tourist firefighting" has some other drawbacks as well, like when you put the tourists on a roof and the roof collapses under them. And they aren't wearing proper PPE. And there's the question of, do you put people you have only known for a few minutes in the most dangerous place of the fireground? Judgment, it seems, is lacking here.

I won't even go to the idea that this is the same city that is unable to keep companies open and has essentially gotten rid of great firefighters with years of experience. That all can be argued on its own merits. No, I am concerned that there are "leaders" in the DFD who aren't focused on the real issues- serving Mrs. Smith – and are rather just using questionable logic to run this organization.

Let's discuss the recent disciplinary action being rendered for a DFD paramedic, who is described by friends as being "saintly", and who is undergoing this action because he exercised judgment to give a cold, shivering, underdressed human being a blanket. A blanket that, frankly, wasn't even paid for by the City of Detroit.

I thought that the only department who could pull off a judgment call that I can't find any redeeming alternate viewpoint for was the DCFEMS. I mean, here's the department who has a prostitution ring running out of a firehouse getting trumped by a department whose leaders are worried that giving a homeless man a blanket will result in the downfall of mankind. I'm afraid I am seriously struggling with this kind of logic.

I must, in all good conscience, apologize to those members of both departments, and I would guess by my knowing a few of them to be largely in the majority, for the efforts of a few to cause people around the nation to just scratch their heads and wonder WTF is going on. I am not some lunatic who believes that the actions of a few define the motives of the many and my heart really does go out to the dedicated, well-intentioned, and competent members of the DFD and the DCFEMS (although my fingers keep wanting to type DCFD) who have to endure these idiots. But the perception is reality and when people make these kinds of judgment calls, the reality is that the public sees the entire organization as being flawed.

I don't have all the answers, but I can see serious problems as well as the next guy. When your organization has individuals who are so lacking in judgment that they make these kinds of decisions, how can they be trusted to make the really hard decisions, like how to manage a desperately shrinking budget in times where every aspect of our existence is being questioned?

Good judgment, I'm afraid, is something we can never have too much of. There are things that even the most materialistic and nihilistic individuals would eventually have to concede there can be too much of, but when it comes down to it, there are a number of things you just can't get enough of, like love, peace, compassion, justice, and mercy. And judgment really does fall into those ranks as well.

At the risk of stating the obvious, what has to happen in these communities aside from a total overhaul from the top to the bottom and starting over, to create a culture where good judgment is prized and sought? Strive for real leadership and remove the barriers to those who exercise good judgment. Let people serve and do the right things. If you can't see that we are slipping away from that ideal, then you probably have no reason to stay in this business.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on October 12, 2012 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership • Tagged: activism, advice, advocacy, blanket, change, Charlie LaDuff, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, Dave Statter, DCFD, DCFEMS, Detroit, DFD, District of Columbia, education, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, Fox News, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, judgment, leadership, learning, management, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, opportunity, pay, politics, positive, professionalism, quote, resources, South Carolina, teamwork, thought, tourist, Training, values, vision, warfare, zen zone

We Shall Never Forget

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In the eleven years that have passed since that day, what have we achieved? Three hundred and forty three firefighters died at the World Trade Center, along with the countless many who die slower, but no less honorable deaths, having placed their own lives secondary to the possibility of saving others. And there are others as well, no less tragic; those innocent victims who were murdered by zealots, evil, evil people who truly believed that striking non-combatants was "fair game". And even further, those warriors we sent forth to defend our nation, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, neighbors who gave the ultimate sacrifice to engage forces overseas in battles we may never completely understand, although many of us, myself included, supported running down the people who caused this tragedy.

We have been at war for 11 years with an enemy we can't place a real label on. Yes, these individuals were Islamist radicals, but all believers in Islam are not the enemy. These murderers hailed from Saudi Arabia, hid in Afghanistan, and were supported by people in a number of other Middle Eastern countries, but to say that the people of these nations are our enemies would be entirely wrong. And what's more, we have been attacked from within by our very own: the Beltway Sniper attacks; in Brookfield, WI; in Nickel Mines, PA; at Virginia Tech; in Omaha, NE; at Northern Illinois University; in Binghamton, NY; at Fort Hood; in Tucson, AZ; and of course, the most recent attacks in Aurora, CO and in Oak Creek, WI. That list involves domestic terrorists, people who have lived among us and we knew and thought they were just like us in one way or another.

If there is something I have learned in the eleven years since that terrible day, it is that on any day, in virtually any place, the possibility exists that this might be our last moment, but instead of living in fear, I choose to live. I have learned that extremism exists on many sides of the spectrum and it is equally insane and defies the values espoused by most human beings.

We lost so much innocence on that day. I had taken the day off from shift and was standing in front of the television, holding my then-baby daughter, wondering what kind of idiot could be such a bad pilot as to hit the highest building in the sky, as if it wouldn't be pretty obvious. When the second plane hit, I knew this would be much different. I had no idea how different, though.

I knew then that even with the extraordinary sacrifices of our brothers, the love-fest would be over with not long after it had begun. I have seen the cycle enough times to know it for what it was. But here we are, eleven years later, and it has become much worse than anything I have seen before – more than just apathy toward our efforts but in recent years: contempt, hate, jealousy, anger, frustration. Gone is the realization from the public that we daily take their emergencies and make them tolerable, that we save them from ruin, and that, of all things, we place our own well-being in direct jeopardy to save them from injury or death.

While the public may have the ability to sleep at night knowing people like Ray Downey, Mychal Judge, Gerard Barbera, Terry Hatton and Andy Fredericks laid their bodies down for people they never even met before, I refuse to forget these people. I carry their memory with me daily, every time I put that helmet on my head and see that number, and every time September comes around. I remember them and I will always thank them for their service and their calling.

If we really want to honor these people, we will seek to understand. I have no argument with hunting down everyone involved in conspiring to kill all these innocent people, I have no qualms about dealing them justice for the actions they took and in doing so, destroyed so many lives. But it is absolutely wrong of us to act the same way they did, in judging those they never knew or met, and saying they deserved to die because they happened to believe differently.

Zealotry in any form is dangerous. When people fervently believe in something to the extreme where they would willingly kill innocents to demonstrate their point, these people have to be stopped. And anyone who incites this kind of zealotry is no better than the one pulling the trigger. There are more than a few well-known individuals who can add themselves to that list, as well as many nameless, faceless people who insist in marching in lockstep with the haters. What's worse is that there are those who are really unbalanced and who are sitting on the edge, waiting for "permission", and when they do get it, they will be at the forefront, destroying again.

Honor our brothers. Work toward positive change, work to serve mankind, and strive to love one another. And never, ever, forget.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 11, 2012 • Filed under: change, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Nation • Tagged: 9-11, activism, advice, advocacy, Afghanistan, America, Amish School, anger, article, Aurora, austerity, budget, change, Colorado, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, cuts, domestic, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, Iran, Iraq, leadership, learning, management, massacre, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, nation, NIU, opportunity, politics, poor, positive, professionalism, resources, sacrifice, shooting, Sikh, South Carolina, tea party, teamwork, terrorism, thought, Training, USA, values, violence, Virginia Tech, vision, warfare, Wisconsin, zen zone

Keep Your Adversary Close

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I mentioned in my rant the other day that I had two parts of the Aurora tragedy to discuss. The issue is the increasing antagonism being projected toward public safety professionals. Our fire and EMS leaders must change their approach in how we interact with the public. Even if you are operating in an extraordinarily ethical environment, if you don't take to time to project that image to your stakeholders, you are leaving the opportunity to chance that your image will be shaped by others, especially if they have conflicting priorities.

Take for instance, the Aurora situation again. The first time I read the Post article, I felt Crummy and Murphy were insinuating that the AFD did not respond in a timely fashion. My inner cynic believed that the article was written with a slant intended to drive a negative reaction from readers. While I still have a little difficulty believing otherwise, my esteemed colleague Dave Statter very reasonably discussed other perspectives on the article. His most valuable point though, and the point I want to drive home here, is that time and again, even if you don't engage the media, the story will still be told. Therefore, if you want the story to be favorable to your perception of how things occurred, it's best that you do the telling and not leave it open for conjecture. In the Aurora case, fortunately, the public didn't bite. As the commentary was overwhelmingly supportive of the AFD, I'm assuming they do a pretty good job of engaging the public on a routine basis.

Conversely, check out this article from Philly.com, where a small volunteer fire company in Bensalem, PA managed to get a million-dollar fire boat through a Homeland Security grant. The reporter did a good job of not only obtaining perspectives from the individuals directly involved, but also some outside observations.

When I began to read this article, I began with a slight bias, a little defensive, having just engaged in a battle of our own over the purchase of a much-needed rescue boat, and expecting some of the same kinds of criticism we faced. But after reading the article, I found myself struggling with the notion of a department with a quarter-million dollar a year budget allocating that whole quarter of a million (plus some) in maintaining a piece of any equipment, much less a fire boat in an area where there is a limited use for it. The author was able to illustrate there is obviously a problem. There is real conflict here, not conjecture. The author didn't throw a statement out and leave it hanging. She performed research, she sought different perspectives, and she let you come to conclusions of your own. If the chief of that department didn't expect this story to be written someday, he was deluding himself.

Today's fire service leaders must understand their adversaries. I don't like to portray the media, politicians, other departments and agencies as "adversaries", but in the context of public opinion, if they aren't singing your song, they aren't necessarily on your side. The management of the "song being sung" at the 2012 London Olympic Games is a great example. In an article I heard on NPR's On The Media, Olympic organizers quickly realized after the Atlanta Games that non-accredited media were an uncontrolled force throughout that event. These days, there is even a strategy for providing a unified message though accredited AND non-accredited media, and organizers have even come up with methods by which non-accredited media is given access in different ways where that message is conveyed. This is particularly useful in guiding the message tactfully, and not waiting to see if whatever happens to pop into the heads of the media representatives ends up being the story.

As a leader, you must understand what you are up against. If you go into a controversial situation with the attitude that everything will go your way because you are the fire department, and everyone loves the fire department, you will be putting yourself in a losing position when the court of public opinion swings away from you. In the fire boat scenario, a good strategy would have been to shape that story before it ever hit the paper, and herein lies the rub. It doesn't do you any good to spin your story positively if the real story is going to be that you are operating unethically or incompetently, because someone will eventually find that out. And when they do, the articles like these will seem tame; nobody likes being taken advantage of, especially the media. Not only must you project your commitment to the best practices of our industry, you must actually be doing those things, not just putting up a facade.

In warfare, if you underestimate your adversary, you are setting yourself up to fail. Likewise, in the arena of public opinion, if you think that media and other publicly accessible individuals won't shape your ability to succeed in fulfilling your mission, you are very much mistaken. But the core issue I think should be conveyed is not that we should be controlling the media and others through manipulation. The issue instead should be that if you conduct your organization transparently and ethically, you shouldn't have to worry about public perception. The perception should always be positive if you continually keep the public's best interests in mind.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on July 31, 2012 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership • Tagged: activism, adversary, advice, advocacy, America, article, Aurora, austerity, Bensalem, budget, cavalry, change, Colorado, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, cuts, Dave Statter, education, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, leadership, learning, management, Mick Mayers, mission, Monday Morning Quarterback, motivation, nation, opinion, opportunity, Philly.com, politics, poor, positive, professionalism, public, resources, sacrifice, second-guessing, shortfall, South Carolina, STAT911, tea party, teamwork, The Denver Post, thought, Training, USA, values, vision, warfare, zen zone

Gone Shrimping

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I grew up in the urban Northeast. In the thirty years I have been in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, I have had a few laughs about my cluelessness with the things a "boy growing up in these parts" would have experienced in life so far. One of these things is learning to throw a cast net to catch shrimp.

A week or so ago, having no idea how to perform this stunt and reluctant to discuss those inadequacies with my Southern born and bred peers, I studied the logic behind cast nets and how they work. I researched what makes a good cast net, watched several videos on technique, and pursued other facts. I determined the best places to throw, when to throw, and what to do when I catch something. I then bought a net and over the last week, practiced a little. Then yesterday, three little girls in tow, I went to a nearby tidal creek, threw the net, and realized more work was necessary.

This is probably an amusing anecdote for most of you, as it is for me. My daughters thought the whole thing was hilarious; first, the other day as they revealed my plan to my wife (who is herself Southern born and bred and had a good laugh, I'm sure). Then, yesterday, when my bucket fell into the water and I lost an hour's worth of casting when both of the shrimp fled for their lives.

So later in the afternoon, while buying shrimp from the fresh local seafood guy, I was actually smiling as I recounted my efforts, knowing that I still had some work to do. But in reflecting on the lesson, I realized that I had gained an extraordinary experience, one that maybe a lot of people will never face. Furthermore, I had something to share with you all.

Finding I had something I wanted, I decided to do something about it. I figured out the challenge and did something about it. Now, in the wake of my relative success, I also understand that further analysis is necessary, the process needs to be refined, and the improvements implemented to see if they result in success.

I know officers who, when they have a problem on their watch, say, "I have a problem" and expect others to solve it for them. It isn't an issue of not knowing how to solve it. It is an issue of not trying to learn. I didn't know how to throw a cast net, so I took some initiative and learned about it. I asked questions. I created a hypothesis, tried it, and upon failure I did not throw up my hands and whine about it, I decided to look at what I did wrong and made adjustments.

I am not there yet. I may even end up a miserable failure as a cast net fisherman. I may, however, realize my goal and be able to get shrimp out of a tidal creek instead of out of an ice bin at the supermarket. I choose to remain positive about it, even as my family snickers behind my back (they love me and understand me, so I'm okay with it). Hopefully, however, I am showing them a life lesson in that I didn't wish change to occur, I made it happen.

As the saying goes, "You can hand a man a fish and he can eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he can eat for a lifetime". Real leaders don't wait for someone to teach them; they seek opportunities and grab them. They hold opportunities like a shiny object and examine them, marvel over them, understand them, manipulate them, and seek to solve them. As I see it, if you do the homework and figure out everything about fishing, you can teach it to others as well, and grow from the experience.

In the meanwhile, however, we are going to enjoy our shrimp dinner.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on July 13, 2012 • Filed under: change, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, motivation, Training & Development • Tagged: advice, altruism, boy, cast net, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, customer service, daughters, development, disaster, discussion, education, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, engage, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, government, Hilton Head Island, humor, integrity, laugh, lead, leaders, leadership, learning, lessons, Lowcountry, management, marketing, Mick Mayers, mindfulness, mission, motivation, officer, opportunity, philosophy, planning, politics, positive, professionalism, resources, shrimp, South Carolina, thought, Training, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, understanding, values, vision, zen zone

This Flag Was Raised On The Blood of Our Brothers

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This Independence Day, let's remember our brother firefighters who every day put it on the line for this Nation. God Bless each of you and keep you safe. KTF-FTM-PTB

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on July 2, 2012 • Filed under: change, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership • Tagged: 4th of July, blood, brotherhood, change, collage, Command & Leadership, customer service, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, flag, government, Hilton Head Island, independence, integrity, leadership, liberty, management, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, Old Glory, opportunity, patriotism, politics, professionalism, South Carolina, United States of America, values, vision

Taking Risks When There Is Nothing To Save

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You’ve heard me say it before: I’m not a “Safety Nazi” nor am I a “cowboy”. I’m where many of you are; willing to do the job and lay it all on the line when needed, but not willing to sacrifice my life or any of yours for a building we will be turning over to the insurance company tomorrow. However, recent events give me pause and require me to really examine how much I am willing to sacrifice, especially since my sacrifice doesn’t just affect me, but my family, if something happens to me in the line of duty.

Yes, we live in a New World where soldiers are dying or getting maimed defending our nation only to be told that their benefits are being cut, where benefits are being denied to personnel who are now sick after working the Towers or after years of working in fires, and it all causes me to believe we are truly being led by a bunch of total mutts. In this newest bit of selfishness, public servants who sacrifice their lives in the line of duty can rest in peace knowing there are efforts afoot to cut their widows and orphans out of a federal death benefit as well. Yes, as was reported recently on the IAFF blog, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is proposing the elimination of the Public Safety Officers’ death benefit (PSOB). I have absolutely had it with these "patriots" who say they are looking out for what is best for our country, demanding everyone give a little more and shouting from the rooftops, "We will never forget!", all the while padding their bank accounts with support from special interests, cashing in on insider information and laughing at us as we struggle to make ends meet. The next time I see one of these guys wrapping themselves in our flag, I think I'll freaking puke.

I believe in taking risks when the situation appears to defend those risks and not risking your lives unnecessarily when it doesn’t. That’s about as short of an explanation of my philosophy as I can get. But with the hue and cry about what a burden we are on the public pocketbook, with little or no thanks when one of us commits the ultimate act of bravery, it all makes me wonder if we shouldn’t be taking less risk, since our efforts aren’t appreciated anyway.

Every day it is something else. Staffing is being cut all over, jeopardizing firefighter safety. Many of our brothers are being laid off, furloughed, or having benefits cut. Our pension systems are under constant attack. Funding of national programs like the SAFER and FIRE Act are drops in the bucket compared to the cash cow that the Department of Justice gets to run with, but these funding sources are constantly in danger of being cut. And now, if all that isn't enough, the politicians would like to go after the benefits allocated for our loved ones.

The thanks I get for years of serving others will ultimately be recognized by my Maker, I am confident to say, and as Colonel Nathan Jessup said (before putting his foot deeper into the hole), “I’d rather you said ‘thank you’ and went on your way.” I don't really need the sentiment, the medals, or the honors. I can sleep easy at night knowing I am doing what is right for my fellow man and not ripping him off doing so. But the gloves are off now, as efforts made by individuals to at least secure our loved ones some economic assistance after a LODD are in danger of being eliminated, while bankers, insurance executives, lawyers, and politicians sit fat and happy, bankrolled on the funds they squandered, stole, and misappropriated.

Every day that goes by where we, as public servants, fail to discuss these inequities with our elected officials, is one more reassurance to these people we are complacent sheep and unwilling to muster up the cajones to elect leaders who really do represent us. We need to start cutting off the golden parachutes for these scumbags and make sure that when we suffer, they suffer too. It's easy to call for sacrifice if you aren't sharing the load and frankly, none of these folks look like they're struggling too much.

It's easy to find a scapegoat to take the heat off your own inadequacies and lately, that scapegoat has been the public servant. If the politicians looked a little harder at perhaps cutting some of their own fat benefits, maybe I'd be a little more sympathetic. But with the perks you get from being an elected official, there's just not a lot of belief from me in what these people are selling. If the "public" is so concerned about saving a few shekels that they are willing to cut the PSOB if, God forbid, something were to happen to me while serving, then perhaps I should be a little bit more stingy about whether or not I am willing to lay it ALL on the line for them. There is a reason this benefit was created: to take care of the survivors of those who unselfishly gave their lives for others.

Stand up for yourselves. This is just one more battle to defend what little we get. The individuals making these decisions don’t care about anyone but themselves. Ironically, it’s about time you all began to care a little more about yourselves than about everyone else, or at least to care about the people who have to continue on after you are gone.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on June 23, 2012 • Filed under: change, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, government, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, LODD, politics, revolution • Tagged: 9-11, A Few Good Men, anger, battle, benefits, budget, cancer, Col. Nathan Jessup, cuts, economy, EMS, FDNY, FHZ, fire, fire department, firefighter, Firehouse Zen, funding, government, Hilton Head Island, IAFF, Justice, layoffs, leadership, LODD, Mick Mayers, mutt, Oklahoma, pension, Pentagon, police, politics, PSOB, risk, sacrifice, SAFER, safety, South Carolina, Tom Coburn, WTC

Back From A Short Italian Hiatus

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My wife and I got back Thursday from a whirlwind tour of Northern Italy which included stops in Milan, Florence, Venice, and Trieste. The time away gave me a chance to reflect on a number of things, particularly the issues we face in American society in comparison to those in other societies, and even more so, as it relates to the fire and emergency medical services.

One interesting observation, that I am going to keep short because I have a lot of catching up to do: When I would introduce myself to any number of my Italian colleagues from the emergency medical side of the house, I would often get quizzical looks, and almost confusion in regard to why I was introducing myself. When I asked to see their ambulances, in every cases it was more along the line of "why would you want to see in there?"

When I appeared in a fire station and introduced myself as an American firefighter, I got hearty handshakes, lots of questions, comparisons of patches, badges, uniforms and other stuff. Each apparatus and each compartment was opened up for my inspection, even when I didn't have time. Even when neither I nor they spoke a common language, the firefighters figured out some way to communicate. There was no indifference.

I am very aware that this was a VERY short time frame and a very small sampling of individuals, but it did occur to me that even though almost every one of the EMS folks were polite, they seemed distant and a little skeptical. In EVERY SINGLE case of meeting a firefighter, I was taken in, hugged, given uniform articles without any solicitation, and a detailed discussion (even if I didn't understand it) ensued about what size our community was, what our staffing was like, etc.

In regard to EMS, having been a paramedic for 25 years and having even worked (not only as a paramedic, but as a chief officer) in third party systems, I am entitled to my observations. I can say without bias that each has its merits. I also think that a lot of how the service is provided depends upon the community and it's own needs. But I can also say from my direct observation, that there seems to be a different mindset between the two, and when I can detect that readily even in four large Italian cities, it starts becoming a trend.

If I introduce myself to a Fire/EMS agency member, I always say I am a "firefighter paramedic". If I introduce myself to emergency medical personnel, I say I am a "paramedic". If I introduce myself to fire department personnel or to the general public, I say I am a "firefighter", mostly because "paramedic" doesn't always translate into the same job description from place to place. But as important as both elements of my job are, and as much as I think that emergency medical service operations are a major component of my day in comparison to fire operations, I guess I will always be a firefighter first, if anything, because that's my family heritage. Doing EMS wasn't an afterthought, it was just part of the package of being a firefighter, as far as I have always been concerned.

I want to dig into this a little deeper, but I wished to permit some of you to weigh in as well. What observations do you have on the difference? If you think there is a difference, why do you think the mindset might be different? What challenges do emergency service leaders face in supervising firefighters in contrast to emergency medical personnel?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you. Keep it civil, please.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on June 19, 2012 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership • Tagged: attitude, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, customer service, education, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, Firenze, Florence, government, Hilton Head Island, Italian, Italy, leadership, management, Mick Mayers, Milan, mission, motivation, opportunity, positive, professionalism, South Carolina, Springsteen, thought, Training, Trieste, understanding, values, Venice

One More Award at Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue

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While Capt. Tom at EMS12Lead.com might not be trumpeting his success, I will do it for him, as well as for the rest of my colleagues at Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue. This week we received another honor, the IAFC's Annual Heart Safe Community Award. With a lot of pushing and pulling from Capt. Tom Bouthillet, and a lot of support and cooperation from other notables, including Fire Chief Lavarn Lucas, Deputy Chiefs Brad Tadlock and Ed Boring, Capt. Eric Lainhart, our medical control docs, Bo Sherwood and Van Gaube, and of course, Kelly Arashin, we received the award in recognition of the system we have in place in our community.

Between our bystander CPR education efforts, placement of automated defibrillators in the community and our advanced life support response system, individuals experiencing a cardiac event have a significantly better chance of survival than in the past. If an arrest is in progress, we dispatch additional Fire/Rescue companies, where all the line personnel are trained in use of the "pit crew" concept, to maximize the efficiency of assigned resources and to deliver a very high standard of care.

It doesn't end there: our Fire/Rescue personnel have a number of tools we can use, including 12-lead EKG monitoring with transmission capability and the ability to provide therapeutic hypothermia if indicated. Our system is also capable of identifying possible STEMI patients in the field and setting off an additional chain of events.

Our delivery of the patient at the Hilton Head Hospital Emergency Department is just one more step. There, they will have already been alerted by the teams in the field and depending on the situation, have either already brought in a cath lab team, or are prepared to continue therapeutic hypothermia through as needed. We have a great relationship with our emergency department personnel and we all work together as a team to provide the best possible chances for a positive outcome.

What's more is that the pertinent information is documented and shared through the CARES Registry, where we will be able to extrapolate data needed to help us improve our service. We have identified methods for communicating good performance as well as performance requiring remediation. And above all, the system is delivered daily by nine Fire/Rescue companies with extremely professional, caring, and knowledgeable personnel, all of whom are aware of the importance of excellent public service.

When we factor this in with our recent CFAI accreditation, which we have maintained through three cycles, we are pretty proud. But even more impressive is that our personnel have maintained their positive attitude and professionalism despite comments made about their integrity by certain individuals in our community, rather than those individuals stepping back and defending what they should have known to be true. Our entire force maintained this very same quiet professionalism even when held to a 1% salary raise last year (and that was not across the board) and no increases in years before that, not because they were afraid to speak out, but because they heard the concern of the community, especially with the economic situation being what it was, and they were willing to accept that and soldier on, when they had every right to be vocal and upset about the situation. These personnel have also maintained their quiet professionalism among other challenges as well, challenges that will remain unsaid by us, because that's the kind of people we have.

One of the primary things we say to guide our people is to always "do the right thing". If that means stopping and helping someone change a tire, or picking you up off the floor for the seventh time that week, or loading up your kids in the rig to take them to the hospital when we are transporting you because you have no family available, we do what it takes to make our "customers" happy. And we say customers because it isn't just the taxpayers; we serve the visitors, the workers, the homeless, anyone we deal with. They may be patients today, or the may be the homeowner on another, or the occupant, but to us, they are people.

We have an extraordinary amount of pride in our department, but a lot of humility as well. I talk about all of our personnel because I am proud of them, but they don't go around bragging about it, so I am happy to tell you all about them. We have very high expectations of our people, but we have fun too. And while there are plenty of bad moments, the good definitely outweigh the bad. The difference is that we try to let everyone in on the decisions (to the extent possible), we listen, we try to get them the tools they need (but they aren't spoiled, our budget didn't budge but a single digit percentage from last year), and we do things safely, with a lot of common sense applied rather than emotion.

So while we will be celebrating this new award, we already realize, it is recognition for what we have done. For us, what we have done so far is never good enough. We will continue to push forward and improve from where we are today, to keep looking at ways we can tweak this or adjust that to make our organization that much better. We do not rest on our laurels.

If you get a chance to come to our Island, make sure you stop by a station. EVERY station and Headquarters is open to the public and we encourage visitors. We will always take the time to show someone the trucks, or to take a blood pressure, or just to talk about what we do. We are an all-hazards response agency who takes the job very seriously and we like sharing what we do. Thanks to all of you at HHIFR; you all make me proud to be affiliated with you.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on May 9, 2012 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, leadership • Tagged: article, Brad Tadlock, CARES, CFAI, Command & Leadership, community, customer service, Ed Boring, education, EMS, EMS Topics, EMS12Lead.com, Eric Lainhart, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, government, Heart Safe, Hilton Head Island, Hilton Head Monthly, IAFC, integrity, Kelly Arashin, Lavarn Lucas, leadership, management, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, opportunity, planning, politics, positive, professionalism, resources, risk reduction, safety, South Carolina, Tom Bouthillet, Training, values, vision

Perfect Alignment

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A few weeks ago, there was a tragic sequence of events that occurred in a community in our county. While working a medical alarm, a City of Beaufort fire engine was stolen by a man, who in his flight, killed a pedestrian as well as struck a number of cars. Talk about your "Swiss cheese modeling"; short of an astronomical syzygy, I'm pretty sure you can't find a better alignment of factors to recreate that event again. If you saw that in a movie, you'd think, "How stupid! A man escapes from a military hospital, finds an idling fire engine, and escapes his pursuers. It isn't likely to happen." But it did.

Things happen every day that defy logic. Truth, as it is said, is often stranger than fiction.

Deep down inside, we might say to ourselves, "That could never happen here." Or we feel it coming up and we suppress it, because we know, if we were ever to actually verbalize that, it WOULD happen. But we are all guilty of seeing something happen and thinking that we are either too good, too well-trained, too attentive to the details, too big of a department, or even too remotely disconnected from "big city" problems for certain events to transpire. It just won't happen to us.

This is something that happens in families as well. I know people who are perfect parents and their children defy any reasonable expectation of success. I know parents who have no business reproducing who have amazing children. I know fire or EMS agencies that I can't believe, due to their ineptness, that they haven't facilitated some major catastrophe. And I know the most professional organizations ever who have had arsonists surface among their ranks, or they lose firefighters, or they burn down an entire zip code.

Unfortunately, right now public servants have a target drawn on their back. Some of our brothers have actually drawn it on there for us. We are in a profession (career and volunteer alike) that used to be considered trustworthy, honorable, valiant, and courageous. We have a few mutts in our midst who have caused people to think otherwise. The job hasn't changed, nor has the opinion MOST people have of public servants, but the fact is that when someone can paint "firefighters" or "EMTs" in a convenient picture and wrap it up in an emotional context, they gain attention. And so long as we tolerate membership from those who give us a black eye, we continue to enable that perception.

Our business has enough danger, innuendo, drama, and everything else that we don't need to add to it by tolerating personnel with bad attitudes, carelessness, or poor morale. We have to seek the causes of these problems and root them out. We have to be positive and focused on the service we provide and how we improve that delivery daily. We must reward people for doing things right and remediate those who do things wrong. But even when we do all these things right, our team might have someone swimming below the surface, counter to our culture or our expectations, who is intentionally or unintentionally, just waiting to pop to the surface.

If you really want to change the minds of others, the first step in doing so is by exuding professionalism yourself. Nobody is going to follow your advice if you aren't in front leading the charge. If everyone in emergency service had that mentality, it would be a lot easier to bring the rest of the world forward. But remember, even in the best of situations, even with thorough planning and training and coaching, sometimes things go wrong with no real expectation. Our job as leaders is to minimize the risk of those events occurring, be proactive and engaged, and to present alternatives that eliminate those bodies from lining up.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on April 14, 2012 • Filed under: administration-leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, leadership, motivation • Tagged: alignment, attitude, Beaufort, change, conflict, customer service, education, EMS, EMS Topics, escapee, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, leadership, management, marketing, Mick Mayers, model, motivation, officer, opportunity, planning, politics, Port Royal, positive, professionalism, risk reduction, safety, South Carolina, swiss cheese, thought, understanding, values, vision

A Waste Of Time

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I fell asleep at my computer last night.

I am working on a project that has pretty much occupied all of my time over the course of the last three shifts. I think, in retrospect, that the reason that I am having to embark on this dreaded project is simply that a great number of people failed to understand that their actions or inaction created a mess that someday would have to be unraveled.

The mess doesn't even go back a short while. When I say a great number, I am talking about numbers probably nearing a hundred. Anyone close to this project that knows that I am talking in circles and understands the scope of this project might disagree with me, but I see the failure in my own interface with the situation, and I see the failures in many others who permitted the condition to occur, knowingly or not.

In a microscope, closely examining one piece of the puzzle, you might not even notice the problem exists. But when you step back and look at the larger picture, you can see it is definitely crooked. There are warning signs printed all over this and frankly, they were ignored. But they are insignificant when you step back even farther and realize that any problems we face today could have been avoided had individuals assumed some responsibility and did the right thing early on.

One of the principals in this project called out everyone else on the team and with good reason. I say that because he is absolutely right; the system failed us. Or to be clear, we failed the system, because it wasn't all to be blamed on the way we manage these situations. Instead, key stakeholders ignored critical information. They felt like status quo was acceptable. Or perhaps they felt inadequate to address the most pressing challenges. I told this individual that while the historical aspect of how we got to this place is important, just to put the picture in perspective, who to blame is irrelevant. The situation is what it is and you can't unring a bell. We must look forward.

Those of you reading this might assume you know what I am referring to, but I am suggesting to you that you re-read it and ask yourself, "What am I doing that is creating this same situation today?" Because if you are honest with yourself, there are any number of issues I have to deal with that follow this chain of events and I am sure I am not alone.

I have quoted my father on any number of occasions in this regard, probably the quote that will stick with me for the rest of my life: "Do it right the first time." Had we addressed the issues when they were small, had we fixed the leak, had we prevented the spark, had we communicated the concerns, if we had done any of these things, would they have corrected the problem before we got to this disaster we now embrace?

Let go of your concerns for a moment and realize that a drop of water contributes to the flood that sweeps away your home. Everything affects everything else and that ripple becomes a wave, given the right conditions to grow. Don't be part of the problem; solve the issues before they become a nightmare to untangle.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on January 28, 2012 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, Training & Development • Tagged: behavior, change, chief, coaching, conditions, conflict, counseling, customer service, development, disaster, discipline, education, ego, EMS, environment, evaluation, failure, FHZ, fire, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firehouse Zen, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, leadership, management, mentoring, Mick Mayers, motivation, officer, planning, positive, prevention, proactive, professionalism, progression, project, rescue, South Carolina, Task Force 1, Training, understanding, values, vision, zen, zen zone

Firehouse Zen in Philadelphia at Liberty Regional Training Event

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I'm returning to my hometown November 4 through 6, 2011, for a few cheesesteaks (I'm a Pat's Steaks guy), to see some childhood friends, and mostly, to share some of my insights at the inaugural Liberty Regional Training Event presented by GoForward.

While Philly is a big place, the event is being held literally in my old backyard, within an easy walk from my old house. And I should know, I used to have to do that all the time. I actually used to sneak into the movie theatre that is in the hotel complex downstairs from the convention center during the summer and swim (unauthorized) in the hotel pool. Back then it was a harmless day spent being a delinquent, nowadays, someone would have you hauled off to jail.

But all that being said, I'm excited to be involved in this event and from what we are seeing so far, the excitement isn't limited to me. And further, if this and the others planned go off well, they could end up being regular stops packed with some of the most exciting names in today's (and tomorrow's) fire service.

So while you have a chance, sign up, join me for a few cocktails on Friday night, and especially join me during my two scheduled presentations: Zen and the Chief Officer and You Can't Make This Stuff Up. Hopefully I will be able to meet some of you who have only been able to interact with me here. I'm looking forward to that weekend.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on October 4, 2011 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, Training & Development • Tagged: change, Command & Leadership, conflict, consensus, education, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, GoForward, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, King of Prussia, leadership, learning, Liberty Regional, management, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, opportunity, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, politics, positive, professionalism, resources, South Carolina, step, teamwork, thought, Training, values, vision, warfare, zen zone

Poor Leaders Are Like Noxious Gas?

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The lack of real leadership surfaces in a number of the world’s problems. I don’t necessarily feel like people can’t handle the job, I just think that in a lot of cases, people are designated as leaders who have no business in that position. To me, they are like gases with asphyxiant properties.

Some of these gases or mixtures aren’t necessarily harmful in and of themselves, but to us, their harm is that just by occupying space with their presence, they ruin what could be a perfectly suitable atmosphere. So to make the atmosphere tenable again, one effective tactic would be to replace these noxious materials with the materials we find suitable.

Similarly, poor leaders displace good leaders. By just being present and nothing else, they contaminate the atmosphere. As a result, good leaders are simply forced elsewhere. Hopefully those good leaders can find places to create a better condition, but the loss of those individuals is intolerable to those left behind and the organization suffers.

In reading and watching the news in recent days I am reminded just how damaging these “asphyxiants” can be to organizations and really, to society. I see my job as being one to facilitate good leadership. I try to encourage you to be better people, to use good judgment, to learn and understand, and to be “missionaries”, carrying the message of good leadership to others. I don’t consider myself to be a good leader – I see myself as a continual work in process and have plenty of faults – but I recognize good leadership and I have observed what it takes to promote good leadership in others.

As much as I’d like to suggest to poor leaders that they should move out of the way to permit good leaders to fill that space, I think it is more realistic to say that perhaps we should convince those individuals to be more open-minded to learning, to engaging their people, and to promoting good practices. So you can see, instead of removing the problem, there is another tactic we can use in mitigating an asphyxiant atmosphere: by mixing the material in with a good atmosphere and making it much smaller in proportion to the whole, we can “safe” the atmosphere. While we may not always have the answers, if we can permit ourselves to be exposed to good practices and to see how things should work, we can make things better, incrementally, but just the same, much improved.

Be an agent of positive change. Promote best practices. And let’s all go home in the morning.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 21, 2011 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, Training & Development • Tagged: advice, asphyxiant, atmosphere, best practices, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, contaminant, education, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, government, HAZMAT, Hilton Head Island, integrity, leadership, learning, management, Mick Mayers, mission, mixture, motivation, noxious, opportunity, politics, positive, professionalism, resources, South Carolina, thought, Training, values, vision

Zen Zone #30

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Today I was driving along, frustrated over some of the issues we face in society, wondering why some people just don't get "it". This story returned to me when I was meditating and I found it answered my questions. Instead of feeling contempt or anger for those who can't seem to understand an enlightened existence, perhaps we should feel compassion for them.

Ryokan was a Japanese Zen master who lived alone in a hut at the foot of a mountain. He lived in abject poverty and his hut was empty. The Master slept on the ground and spent his days meditating on a rock. One evening a thief crawled through the window of his hut, but discovered that there was absolutely nothing to steal.

Awakening, Ryokan startled the robber by greeting him and welcoming him into his home. When the thief wanted to leave, Ryokan said, "You have come so far to visit me and I would be dishonored if you left enpty-handed". Having no belongings, Ryokan gave the robber his own tattered robe.

The thief was completely at a loss for words, and he took the robe and crept away into the night. Later, when meditating on the situation under the full moon, the Master thought, "How unfortunate. The only thing I could offer that man was my tattered robe. I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon."

The story also has another meaning as well; that we should always consider that while things might be bad for us, perhaps there are others who are suffering worse. I said the other day that we should increase our capacity for compassion, and on the fire service front, I guess it could be much worse. You could be faced with a scenario like this one in Kenya.

When you are challenged with a problem, it always helps to maintain perspective.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 12, 2011 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, Mass Casualty Incident, News • Tagged: advice, BBC, breaking news, change, Command & Leadership, conflict, death, education, ego, EMS, EMS Topics, FHZ, fire rescue topics, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, forward, gasoline, government, Hilton Head Island, integrity, Kenya, koan, leadership, learning, management, Mick Mayers, mission, motivation, opportunity, pipeline, politics, positive, professionalism, resources, South Carolina, step, thought, Training, values, vision, zen zone

9/11: “Devoted To Duty Above Personal Risk”

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A little something about me you may not have known: I used to design fire department patches (NOTE: I did not design this one; it is from The Fire Store, but it was exactly the image I was looking for). In fact, when I first got involved in the fire service, I designed quite a few of them and one of them, the patch I designed for the Bluffton Township Fire District, our neighbors here in South Carolina, is still being used. The Chief and the Assistant Chief at the time (who is now the Chief) wanted a motto on the patch. The motto we came up with is still being used: "Devoted to duty above personal risk." It still sounds good and to be quite honest, with most of us, it is the truth.

Given some of my posts, some of you, I think believe I'm a safety nazi. That's pretty far from the truth actually. I'm a true believer; when I got into the business, I did so because I wanted to be involved in it and because my family tradition led me there. But I'm the kind of guy that if I didn't believe in it, I wouldn't have stuck around. And the danger and the thrill, personally, did it for me. What's more, it wasn't enough.

Over the years, however, I matured. I grew up, which unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you speak to) changes things. I had the good fortune to meet movers and shakers in the emergency service world and each of them had a story to tell. Mostly their story was that while it was fun being at the edge of sanity with some of the heroics we pulled off and the chest full of medals we earned, we never really appreciated the impact that one stupid move could make that would change the world forever.

The events of September 11 really put my priorities into focus. On that beautiful September day and on into the night, I stood in front of the TV in my living room, oftentimes holding my then-baby daughter, with tears in my eyes when I realized that 343 of my brothers perished in the line of duty. The effect that this loss has had on our nation is questionable, as today it seems like the public has forgotten that day. But the scar it left on our job, on our family, is impenetrable. There are children growing up whose fathers will never hold them or see them graduate or walk them down the aisle. Or even look on with pride as they too choose to join our brotherhood. Who won't be there to pin on Lieutenant's bugles at that first promotion. Each of these 343 individuals had a profound impact on a number of others, and that ripple effect continues outward and outward until millions, even billions in this case, are impacted.

But the tragedy that happened that day is an anomaly, a blip in the statistics of firefighter mortality. In fact, we can't ever factor in the loss of 343 individuals on that one day in any of the data we analyze because it throws wild swings into the results. That certainly doesn't decrease their contribution any more. In fact, it immortalizes it. Forever that will be a group of people who stand alone. But the 100 or so firefighters who die in the line of duty each year are considered, in a figure that has decreased over time, but not nearly in proportion to the fires we now fight. Looking at the situation after that day and understanding the effect the loss of those 343 people had on so many, it is obvious that any casual approach to safety results not just in a loss to the immediate individuals involved, but to many others. Any poor decision causes a ripple that can become a tsunami.

So on a grand scale, the loss of even ONE firefighter is an unacceptable one and extrapolated out into an average loss of 100 brothers a year affects not just you or your crew, but families and community, and everything else, multiplied 100 times. And when a significant number of these injuries and deaths occur not from heroic deeds, but from failing to use common sense, I struggle with the argument that our "safety culture is ruining the fire service". Let's just take the injuries and deaths that HAVE occurred from people putting themselves in harm's way out of the equation, and in looking at casualties that are related to cardiac events and failure to wear seatbelts, we could make a significant impact on sending more brothers home every day than ever before.

But we CONTINUE to resist changes in our industry that would make that difference. Why? Because you safety nazis are sucking the fun out of our job. Because you are unreasonable in expecting me to maintain appropriate cardiac health to do the job. Because we resist the notion that there should be a standard for doing the job. Because it is inconvenient for me to wear my seatbelt.

There is absolutely no argument you can make to me that can reasonably suggest that increasing our safety is a bad idea. I am a chief officer now. I joke that my white helmet will likely remain white until I die, because my job is to send you guys in and to make sure that all I sent in comes back out in the same condition. It's not the fun part of the job, but at some point, I had to grow up and accept my role. I am no longer the "go to" guy on the scene for a really hairy rescue and even though I understand that, it's never going to escape me.

A few years ago, I jumped into the water with Capt. Tom from the EMS12Lead blog and we made a rescue. While he was a Lieutenant at the time, I was a chief. My chief, when handing me the Meritorious Service Medal (I missed the actual ceremony, Capt. Tom got one too), reminded me that my job was no longer in the water, but on the shore. He also indicated it would probably be my last medal. I indicated that if I got another medal it would probably be my last medal because I'd be looking for another job. He laughed at that. But it was an awakening. I realized how right he was. My job is to keep you guys safe. You job is to be safe about doing it and to only take risk when the risk is worth it. Not only will I keep from throwing your body into an unwinnable battle, I ask that you keep from making decisions that require the same.

We lost 343 brother firefighters in one day in New York City. They, as well as many more firefighters and other public safety professionals who survived, considered their duty to save others from that infernal hell and did so for thousands and thousands of others, and to their credit, we should be thanking them all for their courageous actions. But this tradition was an act that isn't replicated in all of these line of duty deaths, because in the majority of line of duty deaths, preventable actions or shall I say, more mature and considerate actions, could have saved firefighter lives.

To put it plainly, the lives we lost were not traded for a single save. Our "duty above personal risk", while meant to signify that willingness to sacrifice, can also be read that we are devoted to "duty" above "personal risk". We have a duty, not only to save the lives of endangered victims, but to be there to lead our families, to be there to teach our rookie firefighters, to be there to be a Cub Scout leader or to work in the PTA. We have a duty to live our lives to the fullest, not to casually throw our lives away without a sane reason.

If the time comes, God forgive me, to throw my life in front of another so that someone may live a full and productive life, I know in my heart what my action will be. But until then, I refuse to commit my body, or yours, to a decision based on a misguided view of heroism, or because it is what we always believed to be the duty of our calling.

Be safe and if anything, in the name of those who have gone before us, honor their memory by being there for everyone who remains. And I ask that God bless the civilian departed and their families on this 10th anniversary of their death. And most of all, God bless and keep our 343 brothers, their families, and the other firefighters who still suffer the effects of the horrible day, both mentally and physically. We love you and miss you all terribly.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, Line of Duty • Tagged: 10th Anniversary, 343, 9-11, anger, brothers, cardiovascular, change, conflict, DC, fallen, FDNY, FHZ, fire, firefighter, Firehouse Zen, fitness, FRI, Hilton Head Island, LODD, Mick Mayers, New York, Pentagon, rescue, safety, September 11, South Carolina, stefan svensson, sweden, testing, truth, understanding, united states

Replacing Search K9s With Search Cockroaches?

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I don't think there is any danger in seeing Man's Best Friend replaced by Man's Disgusting Scourge anytime soon, but this report I got today on the Homeland Security Newswire indicates that more developments have come about for adapting Adam Ant for doing Lassie's work. Instead of packing kibble for deployments, maybe we'll just be able to depend on the remnants of yesterday's MREs.

In this case the researchers are using the Green June Beetle, but given the size of the cockroaches (or Palmetto Bugs, as we like to call them in South Carolina) I have seen, we could probably equip them with a hammer drill and let them tunnel the victims back out of the rubble once they find one.

Cyborg insects are low maintenance, can get into very restricted and virtually inaccessible areas, and with these new developments, can be adapted for a number of different tasks. Some of these cyborg applications could also be used for monitoring hazmats or terrorist attacks, doing pre-entry search and recon for SWAT teams, or spy work. As far as our use of these creatures, the sky (or the basement) is the limit.

Never lose sight of this constant: Change is inevitable. It''s how we deal with it that makes the difference. What we know today as the way we do business may be radically different tomorrow.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 6, 2011 • Filed under: change, Fire Rescue Topics, Special Operations, Training & Development, US&R • Tagged: amazing, canine, change, cockroach, conflict, customer service, EMS, FHZ, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, government, Green June Beetle, Hilton Head Island, Homeland Security Newswire, innovate, insect, K9, leadership, management, MAV, Mick Mayers, motivation, network, opportunity, politics, professionalism, rescue, resources, risk reduction, safety, search, South Carolina, strength, Training, UAV, University of Michigan, US&R, vision

Do It Right The First Time

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I can't remember if I blogged this before, but if so, it bears repeating. When my brother and I were very young, my father, who was also a fire chief, brought home from work some pencils with the phrase, "Do it right the first time" inscribed on them. This message was brought up by my father many times throughout my life, although I'll admit, there are days even today when something goes wrong and I think back to that message.

It may take extra time that you don't think you have. That time may seem very valuable. The shortcut you take may seem like it saves those precious seconds. But I have seen in my life, many times when those shortcuts have proven catastrophic, and in most of those situations, I look at them and wonder, had someone taken a few extra moments to do it right, what the outcome might have been.

While the historical issue between response to rescues in New York City is frustrating and sad, since it seems to me to be the confluence of a power struggle and turf battle, instead of celebrating a terrific save the other day, instead we have this tragedy to contend with, as shared with us by Dave Statter on his blog.

I have always learned and always taught that when lifting, we "crib to the lift". And while the spreaders are not the desired lifting tool, I have used them before and they have worked just fine. I preface that, however by explaining that I am also passionate about physics and when I have used spreaders, I also understood that the force applied must go somewhere, and if the load isn't stabilized, the force is going to create motion we don't want. In this case, the force displaced the object alright: lateral to the support (the spreader) and with nothing to support the load (cribbing) the load went to ground (and victim).

I don't care if you are FDNY, ESU, or anyone else. I have seen this very same shortcut taken before in departments that have had identically catastrophic results. I also recall other times when the load has shifted on the column, in one case, three stacked air bags. In this case, the firefighter, who happened to also be the salesman of the lift bags and should have a little expertise in their use, himself was killed.

There's a lesson to be learned in every tragedy. Aside from the physical principles that apply to all of us here on this planet, there's another very important one. Driving recklessly, failing to wear your seatbelt, not wearing proper PPE, not paying attention to overhead power lines, and in this case, not providing an alternate column to support the load via cribbing, all might seem like they are saving precious seconds, but failing to do the right thing the first time, ended instead in tragedy.

Take a moment to ditch the emotion and be the professionals you are. Do the right thing the first time.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 3, 2011 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, News, professionalism, rescue, safety, US&R • Tagged: car, change, conflict, crib, customer service, Dave Statter, EMS, ESU, fail, fall, FDNY, FHZ, fire service, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, government, Hilton Head Island, leadership, lift, management, Mick Mayers, motivation, motorcycle, New York, opportunity, politics, professionalism, resources, risk reduction, safety, South Carolina, Task Force 1, Training, truck company, vision

Here’s Something To Be Mad About

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For all of you who scream insanely when a firefighter is missing his gloves on a Dave Statter video, why don't you get mad about this? This is a paragraph from an AP article featured on FirefighterNation.com.

"Despite the lives at stake, the recommendation to improve radio interoperability for first responders has stalled because of a political fight over whether to allocate 10 MHz of radio spectrum … directly to public safety for a nationwide network, or auction it off to a commercial wireless bidder who would then be required to provide priority access on its network dedicated to public safety during emergencies," says the report, whose authors include 9/11 Commission chairmen Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean.

I distinctly recall the shouts of support from the American public for firefighters everywhere after the Towers fell, and how shocked people were when we let them know that one of our biggest problems is communications interoperability. Then, in 2005, when Katrina blew through, the politicians were adamant that we needed the tools to combat this problem of communications interoperability. And here we are, in 2011 and the politicians still will tell us one thing and do another.

Congress seems to find the time and support to help out their fat cat buddies when times are tough. Banks and corporations get bailed out and corporate big-wigs continue to get record bonuses. In the meanwhile, public servants I work with get lacerated over getting a miniscule pay raises over the last three years, like these firefighters, cops, EMTs, teachers, and city administrators are sitting at home, counting the dough in their offshore accounts and laughing maniacally. Really? And many other people, not just our brothers, are losing benefits, taking furloughs, or worse, losing their jobs altogether.

It makes me sick when I see our politicians sucking up to the ones who shout the loudest on the right or the left while forgetting there are many more of us out here in the middle who are just trying to get by. These are the same individuals with the nerve to take government pensions, government health care, and government paychecks, the whole while saying "government is bloated".

This proposal was meant to make our job safer, to improve our ability to save lives, and to combat disaster in our communities, but instead, our politicians want to continue to discuss the possibility of awarding the block to a commercial wireless company who, of course, stands to make billions off our first responders and probably still give us communications that suck.

If you really want to get mad about something, find a battle worth fighting over. I'm throwing you the ball now, you are supposed to swing at it. Here's one: Call your representatives today and tell them what you think of their continued stalling and their greedy tactics. We need support. This would be the support the politiicans continually promise us when the news cameras are on them and they're hawking their platform on the graves of firefighters, cops and EMTs. It's the same support, of course, that is quickly forgotten when the lobbyists show up and when the big money is up for grabs.

If you don't know who represents you, try this link: ContactingtheCongress.org. It makes it easy for you; there are phone numbers and comment links. Put your money where your mouth is. Or better yet, get some balls and tell your representatives what you think. Your representatives are supposed to be representing you. Instead of taking a few minutes away from your valuable Facebook time posting an anonymous rant against a brother who had a lapse in judgement caught on video, try venting against the real enemies: the political hacks who tell you they support you but can't work together to fund necessary things like fire departments, fire education, and firefighters. Here's a message you can send them: If they want that photo op with dirt on their face, shovel in hand, and helmet on their head, tell 'em they have to earn it first. Support the brotherhood. FTM.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on September 2, 2011 • Filed under: administration-leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, government, leadership, politics • Tagged: 9-11, AP, change, Commission, communications, congress, customer service, D-Block, education, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, Firefighter Nation, Firehouse Zen, government, Hilton Head Island, interoperability, Katrina, leadership, management, marketing, Mick Mayers, motivation, opportunity, politics, representative, US&R

A Swedish Massage (or is it message?)

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Between emotion and other factors, sometimes people make issues out of things they know nothing about, or they fail to consider the facts before they resort to anger. So I kept that partially in mind when I saw the headline about the Swedish fire service “expert” who spoke at FRI this week. Obviously, even the headlines suggested a certain amount of anger from individuals in the American fire service about his statements.

While the headline of the linked article hit me in the gut a little, I was prepared to read something that I would not agree with, nor could ever agree with. In fact, before I even read the article, I already made up my mind that this guy was some academic who had never actually fought a fire before, and now he was going to tell us what we are doing wrong. Before making a statement, however, I actually read the article and you know what? In some of the points he made, he is absolutely right.

I don’t equate the comments he made on RIC (people were making unsafe decisions way before we had to come up with a way to save them from those decisions) as being anything other than his observation. While it may seem to him that people drive more recklessly since they feel safer in their cars, I think there are a few other factors at play when we suggest that firefighters have more comfort from having a RIC present, so they are comfortable taking more risk. I think just the understanding of the fact that a two-man or four-man RIC isn't likely going to get you out of a situation keeps me from going down that slippery slope. But while there are plenty of other things to agree with, those items are debate for another day. What I wanted to talk about was our reactions to the headline as compared to the level of “emotional intelligence” or commonly known as “EQ” (in contrast to IQ) that most people have and how EQ relates to certain events.

I want to keep this brief, but it really plays out in society as I see rational individuals presented with particular situations and instead of reacting to them rationally, they relate to them emotionally instead, and fail to grasp the true issues in play. Instead of seeking understanding, they presume their perception of an event to be the “facts” and are reluctant to see the alternative points of view. Some individuals with higher EQ can be educated, or shown the other views, and then make decisions based on those facts. Others with a little lower EQ may go grudgingly toward understanding. Some go kicking and screaming, and some are completely irrational and unwilling to understand. Obviously, we all score one way or another along that continuum and where we place in there helps us cope with issues that may run counter to our beliefs.

EQ also permits us to temper our behavior and allows us to think before speaking. We have people who frankly, engage their mouths (or fingers, via the keyboard) before comprehending the ramifications of what it is they are saying. While the statements they make may have elements of truth, these statements are “their” truth, and should also involve a little thinking about other viewpoints as well before being said.

Those of you who have known me for a long time may be laughing right now. I admit, I have said my share of things that I have come to regret later. But as I have gotten older, and hopefully, wiser, I have also brought some life experience and education to the table. Over the last fifteen years or so I have begun to understand that not only are most issues presented to us with only the surface points showing, there is usually plenty of time to blame and yell later; first I need to dig deeper and get the real story.

I challenge you to read what was said by the expert with an open mind, and ask yourself, is he wrong? Is he right? But more importantly, ask yourself about your own personal reaction to his statements. Reluctance to change because a situation is presented differently than the way you think, even in the face of facts that indicate truth, indicate not loyalty or tradition, but stubbornness and ignorance. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Get the facts, sort them out, and THEN make a decision to speak. It’s a whole lot less stressful for you and others who surround you that way.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on August 31, 2011 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, News • Tagged: anger, change, conflict, FHZ, fire, firefighter, Firehouse Zen, FRI, Hilton Head Island, Mick Mayers, rescue, safety, South Carolina, sweden, truth, understanding, united states

The Middle Way

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"Reforming public education, cutting property taxes, fixing adult and child protective services and funding our budget can all occur when Democrats and Republicans engage in consensus and cooperation – not cynicism and combat." - Gov. Rick Perry

I never thought I'd find myself quoting Gov. Perry, but it reflects the idea of The Middle Way, especially in this time of conflict and anger. There are many ideas that we can all agree upon and that we all hold sacred; ideas that should bond us, unite us, and cause us to realize that while we are individuals, we are also one people, and we should be working together to promote peace and prosperity, not for ourselves alone, but for all.

Finding consensus does not call upon us to abandon our values and our beliefs, but to see the issues as affecting more than just our own little world and working together to coexist. I observe with little humor the anger with zealots and terrorists in this world, finding it contradictory that our own leaders can't see that zealotry in their own positions. The unwillingness by many to consider alternative views on the world's problems are simply hypocritical. I have written many times before about the need for understanding, and even appreciation, of the culture of the adversary. This isn't a call for leaders to embrace the ideas of the opposition. It is a call for leaders to be willing to understand that their approach to solving the problems of today may not be the only approach, nor might that approach be what is best for society as a whole.

Understanding that our personal values are not exclusive to the needs of the many is an important step toward making grown-up decisions and not simply drawing a line in the sand and saying "I've got mine". Even when dealing with something that some people hold as unapproachable, like religious beliefs, must be qualified by realizing that at some point in our existence, perhaps before our own lives, but certainly in the history of Mankind, our own beliefs were likely considered heresy or blasphemy. We must realize that at some point, our beliefs were cause for persecution somewhere on this globe. And somehow, somewhere, we or our ancestors had to make hard decisions about standing for what was right and what was wrong, and learning how to live with others to continue forward. Learning how to live with others requires the decision to accept what we can and cannot change, and create equalibrium so we can tolerate that existence, or begin to find a way to create separation so that our existence is tolerable.

Unless you have all the power to force change in the hearts and minds of others (and you don't), you will have to understand that consensus and acceptance is necessary for peace. That understanding is required for both sides of every issue, unless the issue is incompatible with existence, such as at the point of a gun. In that case, you may see outward expressions of acceptance, but don't be surprised when the pot boils over later.

Understanding consensus is an important part of leading. If you can't help others to understand that and to bring them together on serious issues, and you continue to refuse any efforts toward working together, you can reassure your position to be under attack the moment you let your guard down. As any good tactician will point out for you, while you may not immediately have the resources to combat your opposition, when the center of gravity changes and the opportunity presents itself, to not attack is folly. So to be a leader who thinks that he was able to shove change down someone's throat and to not expect retaliation is to be entirely delusional.

If you really want peace and understanding, work toward those efforts and help to educate those who oppose you, while understanding their beliefs and appreciating those values as well. We may not always agree, but we can be respectful and we can work toward living together and sharing the things we do hold important together.

Posted by Michael "Mick" Mayers on August 3, 2011 • Filed under: administration-leadership, change, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, leadership, Training & Development • Tagged: acceptance, appreciative inquiry, change, conflict, consensus, culture, education, fire service, FireEMSBlogs, government, Hilton Head Island, immigration, international, Joint Forces Quarterly, law, leadership, listening, management, marketing, Mick Mayers, Montgomery McFate, motivation, opportunity, personality, politics, relations, Rick Perry

Although I am affiliated or employed by certain entities, I in no way speak in this forum or others on behalf of those entities unless I have specifically stated such. Any implication otherwise is doing so contrary to my agreements with those entities. The result is that the observations and opinions by myself or on behalf of Firehouse Zen are not sanctioned by any other entity other than Graffiti Train Sherpa Publications and are protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America.

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