Guest Commentary
I receieved lots of comments about my piece on traditions and there were some common themes. I found this letter that I am choosing to post below a significant one as I believe that while the author felt it was somewhat unique I heard from many others who had similar but not as strong feelings as this one. I have made a couple of small editorial changes because I did not feel that the department should be identified to everyone. I left as much of it the same as I felt that it was the author's intent to have it be recognizable by his own members. The person gave me his name, however it was my choice and my choice alone to remove it and it was not be his request. The comments made in here could relate to many many departments throughout the country and while it may be harsh, I think sometimes we need to take a hard look at oursleves and our behaviors. It is my intent as Pete, to share this as a hypothetical rather than an actual even though I am aware it is based on a factual perception of a member. I will also acknowledge that the other members of this department, your department will probably never recognize their behaviors.
Enough from me....here is the letter I received.
Pete,
Your comments on "tradition" are right on the mark. I work for a relatively new department (comparatively speaking). One of the issues that we face daily is the lack of positive tradition. Because so many of our members are unwilling or unable to network with people from other departments, they fail to see the big ole world out there, and certainly miss out on the fantastic traditions that other departments hold dear.
We have tried diligently to establish some worthy traditions through the training department. We fly the American flag, the state flag, and either a fire service maltese cross flag or if we receive notice from the NFA of a lodd, we fly the FF mourning flag ( Red over black with maltese cross) to honor the deceased FF. We post the details of the lodd on the bulletin board each time also.
We have posted FF slogans and mottos throughout the classroom, We did have a very nice 911 ceremony last year, and have made tentative plans to continue to do so in the future, and there is a project under way to have a FF memorial at our central station. Our FF's association is working on an annual program of awards and medals. Some of the more bold and daring station officers have painted station logos inside their firehouse also.
These are all positive, tiny steps towards positive tradition, but in general we still are not a very tight-knit cohesive bunch. We for the most part are part-time firefighters who do plumbing, mow yards, etc. Our comaraderie and fellowship is limited at best, isolated cliques of a handful of people.
As a department we are very aggressive, and get the job done with far less than should be allowed, we do a pretty good job on the fire and Ems calls we respond to. But as for tradition we are way off the mark. We stubbornly hang on to old ideas "because we've always done it this way", the few traditions we hang on to are not positive at all. On association meeting nights, we're lucky to have 10 people out of more than 150 uniformed firefighters show up. After witnessing first hand the incredible brotherhood with the FDNY, and many, many departments throughout the country, it makes me sick that we are a bunch of sniveling, whining, complainers who have no earthly idea what "brotherhood" means. We even have an chief officier who is constantly touting "the brotherhood", and why we should be like family in the FD newsletter, all the while backstabbing and undermining any efforts to improve outdated sog's, or aggressive training classes.
If you wish to post this on your site, that's fine, I'll send the web address to all of my members. If it makes someone mad, if the shoe fits, then great. Maybe then we can move forward and make some positive changes. It's like my grandfather always used to say " Pigs don't know that pig's stink".