On this Veterans Day, there are some interesting parallels between military personnel and public safety first responder (fire, police, emergency medical services, dispatch) personnel.
Four key points come to mind:
- In a fundamental sense, there is a desire to serve. Whether it’s service to the country or the community, willingness to step up separates us from the masses. Not everyone is willing to do that, not everyone is capable of doing that.
- Dedication to profession comes across as commitment to learn and grow, to keep our focus (to serve), to step out of our comfort zone, to keep challenging ourselves to enhance existing skills while continuing to adapt to change in the form of expanded missions, new equipment and new techniques.
- Training is an ongoing process. Training prepares us for real-life experiences, for emergencies, for situations where muscle-memory and sound decision making subconsciously kicks in under highly stressful conditions. “Train like you fight, fight like you train” is more than a catchy phrase. It speaks to realistic training that prepares us for life threatening and life saving situations. Training can be the difference between a successful rescue and a tragic outcome. While we can’t control the outcome of an emergency, we can train and prepare so that we may have a positive influence on the outcome.
- Sacrifice is giving up something for something else. Whether it’s working long days, deployment for weeks or months, working multiple back-to-back shifts, missing birthdays, holidays, or graduations because of work, countless sacrifices are made all of the time in order to be there for others – to serve. Sacrifice is also something that our families have to endure when we are gone.