I was going to enter in on the recent soapbox articles but I agree with Dean it wouldn't serve any great purpose. Instead, I thought I would go a different direction. I've been a professional Firefighter for over 30 years. I think that qualifies me for veteran status. 

I've met and worked with many great people over the years, sadly many who have since passed away. I remember when the fire department was a true family. I still hear that we are, but are we? Perhaps as our department has gotten younger, we have lost sight of that.  

A neighbor I have works for a larger county fire district near Tacoma. Recently his wife asked him to leave. It seems the fire went out in their relationship. He never saw it coming.   It was sad for his two very young sons. He was always with them and thinks the world of them. He never had a part time job or anything that would take him away from the boys.

He was offered a small rental on the property of one of his fellow firefighters rent-free. He said he was sitting there in that empty rental contemplating his sudden life change in a state of deep anguish for which there were no words. "I had nothing, I didn't even have a tooth brush" he told me. Being a man of solid stature and strong faith, he was asking his higher power to show him which way to go.

Soon, he became aware of the sounds of vehicles approaching. People were outside and there was a knock on the door. He slowly got up and opened the door. Stepping outside, he was greeted by a whole horde of off duty firefighters. He was taken into the arms of his Fire Department family. Seven pickup trucks fully loaded awaited in front of his small cottage.

I saw the faces of smiling firefighters offering him their strength."  They brought everything, a new TV, stereo, pots, pans, even a fully stocked shaving kit. They filled the refrigerator and cabinets with food. I couldn't have made it without them. Through their strength, I found to courage to go on. I don't know what I might have done without them".

So, that is a short story of what it means to be a family. Having told this story to several TFD members, I ended by asking "do you think that would happen here at TFD if you were in that situation?? Sadly, to a man, the answer was no. I would like to think so. Rather than trying to beat each other up, we need to find that family we once were. We need to reach out and help our members in need. We need to come together. Our newer members especially need to be aware of what it means to be a part of this organization. I hope everyone will think about it.  

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Responses

As someone who is currently going through a rough time and in a similar situation to the "Family" article, it hits home.  I would like to think that my TFD family would do the same for its brothers and sisters as the FD family did in the above article.  I have had a handful of members open up to me and extend a hand to get me back on my feet.  Through this rough time I have seen who my true friends are. 

I know that one thing we pride ourselves on is taking care of people and hopefully we would have more pride in taking care of our own.  Although it does seem that we would rather tear each other down than build each other up most of the time.  I would hope that someday we could become a family again and believe in each other instead of attacking each other.  I have seen the attacks on this site and heard them in the stations.  I admit I have even had my moments of bashing other family members. 

I have to remind myself that tearing one down does nothing but chip away at the foundation of this family and eventually the foundation will crumble and then what do we have.  Scary thought isn't it!!

My wife and I know that same gentleman, she started crying when she heard the story.  He is not only an upstanding and decent guy but he is a strong Union brother.  My wife asked if that same thing would happen in Tacoma, and sadly I said no I don't think it would. She asked me why and unfortunately I couldn't really answer it.  I told her that certainly that person in Tacoma could find a warm bed to sleep in, but I didn't think we could muster that many people to care to get involved. She then asked if the county firefighter got such an outpouring of help because he's "the nicest guy in the world". I told her that could be part of it, but TFD is full of nice guys- ten at least???? haha My wife said " I'm sad for you, why don't you guys care about and take care of each other like they do?"