052. Don't Just Talk About It: Legacy, Mentorship, and Rediscovering Purpose [Part 1]

In this episode of the Keep the Promise Podcast, we explore maintaining passion and engagement within the fire service. The discussion highlights the challenges and rewards of being a firefighter, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and creating a positive firehouse culture. 

You will learn:

• Strategies to reignite the passion for the job
• How to deal with burnout
• The significance of informal leadership
• The necessity of finding one's 'why' in the fire service
• And so much more

This conversation, featuring returning guest and Smoke Diver Barrett Pittman, also covers the evolving nature of firefighting and how networking beyond your department can provide new perspectives and solutions.

00:39 Revisiting Past Episodes

01:58 Challenges in the Fire Service

03:22 Maintaining Passion and Overcoming Burnout

03:44 Barrett's Journey into the Fire Service

05:12 The Importance of Fire Service Culture

07:58 Engaging and Training Firefighters

11:03 Mentorship and Leadership in the Fire Service

24:03 The Role of Informal Leaders

28:48 Empowerment and Micromanagement

34:02 Networking and Brotherhood

39:50 Finding Your 'Why' in the Fire Service

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Transcript

TJ: I Wanted to fight fire and I'm over here chasing an ambulance

Barrett: All hours of the day and

TJ: all hours of the day and night ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this episode of the keep the promise podcast I'm kind of chuckling because I've been shooting this shit with my good friend Barrett. He was featured in episode 11 I think it was and this is what This is high fifties.

I I'm not saying which episode number it is because I ended up switching things around with the solo shit and whatnot, but we are in the high fifties. So Barrett has been around from the very beginning. I snatched him up like a couple of years ago when he was at the national fire Academy, took him down to my house.

And then we recorded an episode and then had some margaritas and we tried that recently, but it didn't pan out. The margaritas did pan out, but the recording.

Barrett: great. That was great.

TJ: will, yeah, we can, we can talk about

Barrett: One good takeaway. One good takeaway from that

TJ: but

Barrett: yes,

TJ: are back today because you loved him on episode 11, when we talked about pushing past your comfort zone and the rigors of being a smoke diver, but also how to deal with new people in the firehouse and how to build that winning culture within a firehouse full of hungry firefighters who, as he said, are just ate up with a job.

And want to be there. And today we're going to talk about that sort of stuff, but we're also going to go into something that affects all of us. And that is when we start losing the love for the job. We were just commenting earlier, how chasing the ambulance at all hours of the day and night just gets fucking exhausting because as much as we hate to admit it.

All that we do, for the most part, is EMS, and we all signed up because we wanted to go to Fires, and we wanted to do crazy stuff. And here we are, chasing an ambulance at three in the morning for the, you know, five week old toe pain. That just,

Barrett: diagnosed, um, you've been diagnosed with dementia. And wonder why your wife is doing what she does, because

TJ: yeah.

Barrett: that's what she does, unfortunately.

TJ: So that's where we are, the state of the fire service, Barrett. Let's not start talking about EMS this early on, bro. Welcome back. How are you?

Barrett: I, I'm great, man. Thank you for having me. Um, you know, like I said, from the, from the first time we did this, uh, it was a huge, um, bucket list in the, in my fire service career to be able to talk about fire with firemen. And, uh, here, you know, here we are again, parking the EMS side. We really want to continue to dive into the love of all things fire.

Um, cause again, that's, that's what we signed up to do. That's what we want to do. And we still can, um, that's still a manageable thing. And so, uh, I know we talked about the topics to discuss and, uh, uh, got a lot of stuff in store.

TJ: Hell yeah.

Barrett: about

TJ: Well, for those who may not know you yet, tell us a little bit about your journey into the fire service.

Barrett: So I'm a third generation fireman. Um, grandfather was a chief here where I live. My dad was a chief, uh, fire chief, um, retired with 51 years on the job. Um, I was destined that I knew I was going into the fire service. Um, been around the firehouse my entire life. Just really, obviously being around it, had a love for the job.

Um, and I knew once I got into the fire service with a professional career, being a fireman, just really went all in on it and still to this day, I'm still all in through some up, uphill battles, um, no different than anybody else's life, but it's being able to overcome that. You know, and that's going to kind of segue into our conversation with us.

It's, um, you know, finding that love for that job and whether you have it and you lose it, it's getting that back. But, um, currently, um, I'm fixing to start my 24th year with Mandeville Fire EMS, um, which just North of New Orleans. Um, I've had a, you know, really great career, really rewarding career in the fire service.

Um, and that's, you had to be driven as an individual that wants to do that. Um, it's a career, it's not a job. And we talk about the culture, um, for the newer listeners that, you know, that you're just signing, you know, getting into this, um, to this podcast, um, you know, on not only the career, but saving this brotherhood, you know, when I met TJ, um, we met in 2016, uh, at a hazmat class and Pueblo and, you know, one of, you know, getting to just know him. Me going to the National Fire Academy and hooking up with TJ and doing these podcasts and having drinks and talking about modern day fire service culture. And then, uh, our, our really great friend Gabe out in New Mexico, just to show you how this network works, that it's, you know, we think that our department, we have, that's our own problems.

It's nationwide problems, whether we're in Maryland with TJ, where we're Gabe in New Mexico, or me in the South in Louisiana, it's. It's the same, but we, the, the, just the three of us have to, you know, help combat this to bring this brotherhood back to keep people engaged in the fire service and, and it's manageable.

It's doable.

TJ: let's dive into it. How do we do that? Because this is this is where I get to pick to pick your brain. I'm look, I'm all in for the fire service. Love it. It's it's been huge part of my life for many, many years. Obviously, I still continue doing this stuff on a different capacity. But

Barrett: Well,

TJ: Go ahead. Go ahead.

Barrett: it's just like, you know, we're going to, we'll touch it, touch on the, on the topic and then move away from it. Because a lot of people, you know, when we joined the fire service, it's, it's the fire service. Well, the fire service is kind of not what the fire service was where it is now. And so a lot of departments are kind of going with like where there's all hazards.

You know, we do fire, we do EMS, we rescue, you do hazmat, community outreach, fire prevention, all these different things. And sadly, you know, to quote a good friend of mine, numbers don't lie. Statistically, a lot of what we do across this nation is EMS. And so the firefighter, the push for firefighter paramedic has come, you know, it's a pretty big deal.

I mean, the days of, you know, Johnny and Roy, um, you know, from emergency, like that was a thing back in the day, but it was a little bit different time, you know, where there were, I think they still had their fair share of, of, of the false emergencies that we go to. But. That statistic, a lot of our calls are EMS and it's, it's keeping as an officer, as a captain, you know, you got guys that are hungry, they come out of the academy and they kind of, they, they prove their worth, you know, like they see rescue, they see the things that we do with the equipment that we have on rescue and making these deployments and, um, you know, all of these different things, it's keeping them engaged.

Um, and because our EMS numbers are so high, I mean, we have fire based EMS. We're all cross ranges, firefighters, paramedics, but it's, um, not so much entertaining. I don't want to say entertaining because I'm not entertaining that I want to support that whatever it takes. Um, that, um, so, you know, for example, guys that are on our crew, um, they, they stay hungry themselves.

And so they kind of make my job a little bit as an officer easier for that training. And it's like, Hey, the literally two, two or three tours ago, like two of them come to the office and they're like, Hey cat, we're bored. Can we go to the training facility and get the woods, like the door prop? And so we have a forcible entry machine.

It's, you know, you put the little wooden wedges in there. And, and I said, yeah, I mean, y'all, y'all are real. You're really kind of in a way, tugging at my heartstrings. Because they're bored. There's yeah, there's countless things to do. Um, but they wanted to force doors. And so make a couple of phone calls and I'm like, yeah, you can go get, go get it, go check it out.

Um, you gotta follow these rules. You know, it has to be kept inside, need a bag before the weekend's over. And so, you know, bumped it up the chain and they're like, yeah, go, go get it. So for probably three hours, a couple of tours, like we went well into the night. Um, you know, when, you know, you're in an academy, they teach like the old, the two man forcible entry.

I said, like, if we're going to do this, like we're going to get our money's worth. And so I said, we're not doing partners, you know? So, um, I got, I have a, you know, generally a four man engine because we're the probie house, all probies that graduate come to us. And so I have like a fourth man in the back seat.

So I assign. Assignments, you know, and going back to the previous podcast, like you get an assignment and so we've got one man forcing doors and the other guy is pulling the line. And so like I said, for three hours, they forced doors by them, like one at a time and can just continue that. And so that to me that they're hungry there and these guys are, you know, years on a couple of years on the job.

And so it's keeping that fire lit. Um, you know, and like I said, this week or this time right now, it's forceful entry, but it's staying as an officer to continue to light that fire under your crew or you personally to stay in the job because we're not doing those many fires or enforcing doors or whatever it is.

TJ: question now becomes, though, it seems that you got the hard charges, right? You, we start diving now into nature versus nurture. What happens when you get that average rookie, the one who's just Happy to have a job and we'll do things that you assigned him. We'll do them. Okay. But you know, he's not Tommy Gavin.

He's not going to be the next rockstar. He's not, you know, take your pick. Like Bobby Eckert or one of these dudes that we, that we watch on social media, like he's not ate up with it. How do you deal with people like that as a company officer? How are you going to take, take me? I am average Joe TJ. I show up.

I'm like, hi, I'm here. I'm here. Tell me what to do, but I'm not going to come to you and be like, I'm bored. I'm not going to be like, Hey, let's go force doors on the prop. Hey, let's go do this. Like I'm going to do what's expected. So when it comes to discipline and evils, you can't really ding me because I'm doing what's expected of me, but I'm also not at what we expect is to be the high level.

How do you get me there? How do you ignite that passion? And then what I want you to answer is pretend that I'm no longer that rookie. Pretend I'm a guy with. 10, 11 years, and I'm burnt the fuck out. How do you get me back there?

Barrett: So from the start again, I'm fortunate because I try to surround myself with members that want to be in the fire service that are continually constantly engaged and that want to do these things. And it's trying to, you know, stay on top and recognize when they potentially are getting burnout and try to, you know, I said, not so much harbor, you know, influence them to stay engaged in the job and, um, for, for a probie.

Or, you know, coming out of recruit school, it's making sure that those members that are actively seeking things to do, like, Hey, we're, you know, we're bored, let's go get this force prop that they're the ones that are influencing, we want to be influential in, especially this day and age with the, the identified fire culture that we have, it's making them constantly engaged, you know, that, Hey, look, it's, you chose to be here.

If you want to be here, let's be here. Let's be in them. Don't talk about it, be about it. And so it's making sure that they can do their job. We talked about in the last one, you know, um, we're not just here to, uh, on, on our shift anyway, like you're going to be engaged. And if not, then, you know, you, this is the fire service isn't for you.

Unfortunately, you drew me as an officer. And so I'm gonna make sure that you're engaged, that you're forcing those doors, that you're pulling those lines and let them see like, man, like this, these dudes are hot, you know, they're, they're climbing 200 ft water towers. They might just be hanging Christmas lights.

But the technical side that goes into that look at all this technical gear like, you know, um, It's keeping them engaged. It's pushing them Past their limits whether we're doing turnout gear drills, you know, some kind of tech rescue stuff some type of hazmat And it doesn't have to go into this big elaborate hours long.

I always say like, try to keep it at an hour or less for certain situations. So, you know, at, uh, apparatus and, you know, the morning equipment check, we went through a couple of hazmat kits for guys that are fixing to go to hazmat technician, you know, they will pull off some of the hydraulic rescue tools.

Cause everybody should know how to, you know, extricate, use extrication tools. If you, even if you haven't been to the 40 hour class. what, what goes into this. And so when we teach these classes, it might be the operations level class, but we dabble some technician work in there to like, man, I gotta go, I gotta push myself past this to go to the tech class and it's all by design.

And so as the officer, I don't want to be that status quo officer. Like I want to be that over the top guy because I, my love for this, the job. And like I said, going back to the rewarding side, what I've experienced Is that I want members to experience the same thing that I did and the things that I've done.

And also with that said, I want them to be better than me. You know, I'm in my less, probably less than 10 years and I'm retiring. Somebody has to take this from me and they have to, I want them to do better than me. I want them to do the training, the teaching, the deployments. And I, you know, uh, to quote a good friend of mine, like, You know, he's a, my last name means something to me and my name in the fire service means something.

And just because I might not have a fourth generation Pittman, but I want that Pittman name to live on, whether it's Mandeville or wherever, and it might be through listeners here say, man, like this dude's motivating. I want to, I want to live like him. I want to do like him. And I have been connected with people.

Um, through instructors from like Mississippi Fire Academy. And so it's keeping, you know, not even just the probing. The probing side is just one. But you talk about the 10, 12 year guy who's just burnout. And it's, you know, making sure that he's engaged. He's also working on his next step. In the fire service career.

So if he's a driver, you know, if I see him like really struggling, he's just, it's just another day. Then it's like, okay, well, I got to get creative now at this point. I should know that guy because he's a member of our crew and I know kind of what makes him tick. And so I use that as my segue to get to him and to talk to him and get him engaged.

And then like, let's go down this, okay, you've got everything. And I'll use one of them as an example. Like he's. Got his hazmat stuff. He really jumped out there and like look I'm in because he's also a generational firefighter And so now Me getting my degree. I'm like it took why it took me this long in the fire service to get my fire science degree I have no idea.

That's all that's on me. I said learn from my mistakes And so now he's getting his associates and bachelor's degree at the same time. I don't have a bachelor's degree I'm not gonna have a bachelor's I hope that I like to think that I motivated him enough to go get this You That he's going to be ready for many steps ahead long before what I did, I waited to the last minute, kind of in some aspects to get things, but it's again, making sure that as a firefighter, you can do your firefighter work 100%.

And you start to do the work of a driver and drivers are doing theirs and get excited, the captain, but it's keeping them engaged. It's being, you have to think outside of the box, no different than being on a, on a fire scene. You've got to think outside of the box. It ain't black and white. It's not cut and dried.

And it's the same that bleeds over into our training and getting them to stay, stay lit, stay engaged and saying, what else can I do? And, and to be me being that mentor, as I had mentors, it's passing that on that they continue to do that as well. And, um, um, you know, that, so they, you know, they see like, man, like we look at his rewarding career and we hear about these things, I want to do that.

And so I hope that that passion bleeds over onto them and it's contagious. It's, uh, you know, and that's, that's all I, that's, that's how I approach things as the company officer. And again, I, uh, to quote, my quote is I'm not captain America, but I know what kind of, you know, fireman I want to be and the legacy that I want to leave, the one that I want to live and what I want to leave and I want it to be

TJ: So there are some things that I really want to dig into because I think they're going to be kind of contrarian. Um, first we're talking about, let's talk about mentorship and legacy. So, um, When it comes to mentorship and, um, we see a lot of folks, I believe wrongly look at mentorship as let me get you me.

I'm the mentor. Let me get you to your next step, to that next rung, to the next promotion. I don't think that everybody is made to promote. I don't think that everybody should be a driver. I don't think everybody should be an officer or a chief or whatever, regardless of the corporate America ladder climbing narrative that we have in the fire service these days. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think everybody should promote?

Barrett: No, absolutely not. And this is I 100 percent agree with you on that. Not everybody is designed to to be an operator like for Louisiana. There are drivers driver operator operator. Not everybody is designed to be an operator. Not everybody is designed to be a paramedic. A rescue tech, it's a captain, even a, even a district chief, you know, I think some of our, you know, the culture where it has shifted, where it has changed is that we want to keep pushing people to do things that where they shouldn't be.

And, and for members that say like, Hey, I, I don't, I don't want to be a paramedic, I don't want to be a captain. And we should acknowledge that embrace that. It's okay. And as an officer, like, Hey. That's fine. If you don't want to do that, and it's not for everybody, but what I need from you is a hundred percent to be that driver, to be that EMT, to be that whatever it is.

You own it. Give it one, give me one, show me that you give me a hundred percent and I will support you to fight. So when administration says, well, no, he's got to go. He, no, he doesn't have to do anything like don't, you don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. And so like, I see that we force people for our example, we're forcing people to go to rope, rope rescue.

And some people, they're either fear of heights. They don't have any interest in tech rescue. They don't want to be. They don't wanna do anything with it, but yet we still force 'em as an, like, as a organization, we force people to do things and, and that's why, like, I don't believe in the incentive side of things.

I want you to do it 'cause you wanna do it. And, and like, there's one individual in our department, I asked him, I'm like, why are you, why are you not taking these classes? I, I don't wanna be a captain. I said, okay. I said, I respect that. He knows he doesn't wanna be a captain for whatever reason. That's his personal choice.

If he wants to be a driver, you know, there, there are guys that, you know, and again, money always, money's nice. Um, money makes the world go around, but if they could afford to be firefighters, they'd be firefighters. I wish I could afford to be a firefighter. Ride the back. Yeah, I would give you, I would be your best firefighter that that you've ever seen, you know?

Um, no, I, I don't support, um, forcing everybody to, to do things that, that they don't want to do.

TJ: And I think we've both dealt with those senior firefighters or senior drivers that are just, A wealth of knowledge and experience and unofficial mentors. And we know that they would probably be awful officers or they would be amazing. But the point is. A good officer is going to be able to take his unofficial leadership, that senior firefighter, that senior driver, and leverage them to continue the mission.

Meaning, hey, you, as Captain Barrett, may not be getting through to me. Maybe I'm terrified of the white shirts. Maybe you come talk to me and I'm like, But maybe that driver, that senior guy, I can relate to him because we're peers. So you can go to that driver and be like, Hey, bro, um, TJ's fucking up. And every time I talk to him, he gets a deer in the headlights.

Look, so I need you to help me get him on this path. And it is truly amazing to watch companies that operate that way, because you know that everybody is engaged in the same mission. But it's not always coming from the top it's, you're, you're watching that unofficial leadership and the people who recognize that the officers who can see that, I mean, they have a gold mine in their hands and, uh,

Barrett: Well, why don't I'm living that life. I'm fortunate. Like that's just me. Um, I'm living that exact same thing. I have, I'm surrounded by some very influential informal leaders. Um, and I always tell them like it doesn't, the title at the end of the day really doesn't mean anything to me. If we're getting through and, and we, as the officers, we see that success.

Then we're winning and that's all that you could ask for you're we're winning and I don't like, you know Obviously you make a mistake when you land in in our office It is what it is if it continues I drop down a level and say look then I go to that next tier That's how it's designed through that organizational chart.

Like hey guys, we've already talked about this He's not getting it. So maybe it is what you talked about. It's kind of like the, uh, you know, the whole, the, the lab coat syndrome, you go to the doctor, you got blood pressure instantly goes up. It's the, it's the white shirt syndrome, like, Hey, uh, I got pulled in the captain's office and now he's even locked down even more.

I need you to get this guy to open up. He he's got to do, you know, we got to figure out why he can't stretch this line. Why he's not making hookups, whatever it is. And, and I'm like, so I'm putting that back on them and they are that influential, you know, the influential firefighters and the drivers that are helping these probes or even in other classes are through the ranks.

They're doing that work and I'm from a distance. I'm watching and that is, you know, that's where I feel like I should be because I, you know, again, yes, I am going to eventually retire if I'm constantly there and I'm constantly doing this. I want these guys that's how they grow They grow from the informal to the formal leader and now they just help this probe that could potentially could be struggling And get him engaged.

Kind of going back to the beginning of the conversation, they got this guy now engaged because it's, it's the blue shirt type level you take the officer out of. It's like taking a doctor out of that room. Well, now everything's fine. We all everything's balanced. And again, at the end of the day, we as the team wins because they, they did that.

They were influential in that.

TJ: yeah, there's something to be said about those officers or those, those leaders, whoever it might be, who set up the shift in such a way that even without them, it runs well, I, um, I was lucky to meet my, my last captain was, I've known the dude for forever. We've been through hell and back together and. He, I knew how he operated, but I just remember watching him with the newer folks who could, when he would go on vacation, the newer guys would be like, well, what are we going to do?

Like I knew we would be okay. But it was awesome watching that realization in their eyes when he would say, listen, just keep doing what we always done and for the captain to empower the firefighters that way. And watching that switch flip. They're like, Oh yeah. Yeah. We'll be okay. We have been trained and then watching those guys a couple of years later, when the new guy comes in and is having that same reaction and you know, those slightly 10 year guys go, no, no, no, the captain might be off, but we got it.

We'll be fine. It's, it's almost magical. It's magical watching those groups come together so well. And even though I want to give him all the credit for that leadership, I mean, he'll, he'll say it's, it's the people it's, it's in how you empower them. And. I think it's a double edged sword because once you have tasted that empowerment as a rank and file firefighter, you do not do well with micromanaging leaders, those people who come in and say, this is what we're going to do.

This is the schedule to the minute to the hour. These are the plans. And you're like, Hey, bro, We can handle ourselves. Okay. Like you worry about whatever you need to do and that right front seat or in that office with your keyboard and your mouse and your fucking computer, we'll deal with all our jobs and we'll be fine.

And the, they do not like that. Hell

Barrett: no. And I, as an officer, I've also struggled with that. To where, you know, it's a, it is a constant struggle. Um, you know, and, and it's, I had to explain it like I have bosses. And so when the boss has come looking for me, I go looking for them and I, and they understand that I think they're seeing that better in it and it's an evolving deal, but it's backing off and letting them do their job.

And again, I'll say it and say it, it is a constant struggle for me. Um, but, but you also said it right. It's. Once you figure out what makes me tick, like once you get Barrett figured out, if you check these few little boxes, I don't care what you do. I, I don't, I don't care if you take your safety nap, if you work out in the morning, but know that these things, You know, if you check my boxes, I don't care what you do.

I don't care if we force, you know, the doors or whatever it is. I'm all in on that kind of stuff. But just know like, we have to get things done. Please get them done before I get called into corporate land. And after that, dude, go take your safety nap. Again, we got to go chase that, got to chase that ambulance, right?

Because, uh,

TJ: Oh, and here's, here's the other thing before, before you jump off the soapbox. If you're a company officer and like Barrett said, Yeah, you have bosses, but if they come to you and you do not act like a buffer for your people, you need to be ashamed of yourself because that kind of shit.

Oh, my boss came to me. So I'm immediately going to turn to my guys. That's beautiful in corporate America. But the true company officers are the ones that know what their people are doing. And we'll go to bat for them and then clean the dirty shit behind closed doors. There is nothing better than watching that united company, that cohesive company, and it might be turmoil inside, but the way they present themselves to the higher ups and to the public and to the outside is one cohesive unit.

And then they close the door to the day room and they duke it out. It might be fist fights included, but yeah, if you're at,

Barrett: yeah, that's 100%. Like, there's a lot of stuff that, That goes on behind closed doors. And I saw a little, um, that's what I had to look it up. Um, I guess it's a meme. I don't know what

TJ: Oh my God, you're such a boomer. That's

Barrett: you know what, I gotta say this because, um, you know, there's no doubt we have characters in the fire service and, and that's, it's been echoed through all of the retirees.

It's like, I'll miss. Um, you know, how do you say I'll miss the, the, the members and it's, it's those characters. It's those clowns. Like that's, I'll always say like, y'all are the best free antidepressants that, that I, that anybody could ever get because, you know, people have to pay for it for this kind of stuff.

And, um, and those are the ones like, you know, we're in a big house, we, we've got, you know, four companies. Engine rescue ambulance and a little host tender. But so, you know, the other houses we're, you know, five guys, you know, five members, but I, you know, we've got two, you know, all the companies, I'm surrounded by that many clowns of this circus. And when you put all that show together, it's a performance, you know? And, uh, it's, it's all in good fun. And that's the biggest thing is like, don't, and I got to take a dose of my own medicine here, my own deal is, is don't take yourself too serious. And you'll never make it out alive. And I've heard that before.

And I ever, when I heard that, I'm like, you know what, I got to hang on to that little Jim because I'm, I'm wired pretty tight. There's no, there's no secret. The guys, when they listen to this and you're like, yeah, Barrett's saying this. And, but I'm wired pretty tight. I'm, I'm, um, I'm all business, but again, it's all, I like to think business because I love the job because, um,

TJ: uh, for those listening who know Barrett, he is not all business. I have plenty of proof that he is not. There are some things that happen in Pueblo that shall remain in Pueblo, but he is a liar. He is not all business.

Barrett: got a couple of guys going. You know, again, it's being that advocate for not only, you know, things that you can do at your department, but being an advocate for outside training, that's how TJ and I met, that's how Gabe and I met. That's how the three of us, good Lord. I mean, the,

TJ: I mean, Durko and Brian and Rob and I, it's,

Barrett: you know. We got guys going up there now, like they're, they're going in November and, and I can't, I gave it, it's almost like a, we should have playbooks on this kind of stuff. Right. You know, you go, um, you know, for the things that we did in that week, you know, I'm like, Hey, this is, this is what you got to do. I lived it. We lived it. This is what got us through the, the, the Audubon,

TJ: my god, what is it, like Chemical Road pushing 150 in those rented Nissans or whatever? Dude.

Barrett: uh, Nissan, Nissan Sentra. I mean, like, I'm pretty sure I could deadlift this thing, you know, for what they put there. But it's, and again, the network, that's what's awesome about this, this job. Don't just stay, like, you put yourself out there and, and when I, look, when I was first joined the fire service, I was super shy.

I'd go to class and like, I was like that guy that was sitting in the back and really didn't want to talk to anybody. Hey, who's this creepy Reddit guy. And now I enjoy going to the NFA. You know, that's again, we went to, I went to hers, went to Pueblo to certainty by myself

TJ: Being the creepy redhead guy.

Barrett: and still being the creepy Reddit guy, um, you're forced to interact and that's how you, you meet.

And now we're doing podcasts and you're an advocate for keep the promise. And, man, all these different

TJ: And it's also important to note that you go to these places and you realize that your problems are not just your own problems. Like you mentioned at the beginning, regardless of where we are in the world, we are experiencing the same issues in the fire service. But most importantly, when you talk to those people, you are gleaning perspective from other areas of the country, from other other ways of doing things.

So you might find that missing piece, that golden nugget that you can take back to your organization and change something that's been bothering you for a long time. And you're never going to find that if you're still surrounded by the same environment, by the same people, by the same circumstances, you have to push yourself out there.

And again, look, I liked it because I went to those classes, the training. It was good. I mean, I learned a lot. I, I can tell you that the shit that we did in Anniston, we would do almost on a daily basis in Howard, which is fine. It's cool. Like for some people, it's not for some of us, that was the norm. The people, the people are what make those trips worthwhile because you network, you learn, and you end up with that.

You expand that brotherhood. It's, it's funny to me watching, Hey, I got the brotherhood, but it's just within my county. Like Bro, there's a lot of those clowns in this big ass circus all over the

Barrett: That brotherhood is unfortunately like it's, you know, for some, we've talked about the brotherhood, but, and it's dying, unfortunately. And I,

TJ: I don't think it

Barrett: to keep it alive.

TJ: I don't think it is. Why do you say that it's dying?

Barrett: well, just for some of the things, like I think a lot of it too is lip service.

TJ: Yes, 100%. But, oh,

Barrett: you, for Gabe, you know, I like to think that I have, you The brotherhood from, um, from, you know, Rob, you know, all of that crew out from Nevada, all the way to you up in Maryland, like we stretched this out.

And then, um, we still got to look like the, one of those little text apps, whatever, um, from guys from, uh, from the NFA, Hey, we, you know, we, we know this hurricane is hitting everybody's, you prepared, like everybody's That's to me, that's, that's still brotherhood. That's alive, but it's further, it's straight, those legs stretch further than just my department.

And it's making those guys see that they don't, they're so cut off that they, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. I got, I'm status quo. It's like, no, you, you really need to either be forced to put you kind of like, and that's maybe where kind of disagree a little bit is putting them out there to say, Hey, you need to go to this class.

And I'm an advocate for a lot of these classes because only what it's done for me, for my connections. And, you know, like I said, from the Nevada crew to you and Marilyn to Gabe, like how this whole thing interacts, like, or, or, or just flows, I'm going next month to go teach at the New Mexico state fire Academy.

And that was from a connection that I got through Gabe that we got from 2016. So just to go

TJ: man, they're scraping the bottom of the barrel there, huh? Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Barrett: okay. There's nobody, you're telling me there's nobody else that can do this,

TJ: Damn, you guys fucked up.

Barrett: there's nobody else. This, this country guy from, from Louisiana, you know, um, so, but it's, it's those connections and, and that will be, that's something that I'm going to have to face is that when I retire, that is the biggest thing.

Like when we talk about these characters and these clowns at this circus. I'll miss that. And so as much as I like to think that I'm going to walk away from the fire service, it's probably not going to happen. I mean, I'm being honest, um, that I will have to find something else to do fire service related.

But again, it's, and I want you as the listener to know. You know, to, to he, you know, hear this passion knowing that, you know, push you, like, if you feel like, Hey, you're, you're at the end of your, or not even at the end of your career, but you feel like you're stuck, you bogged down, man. I'm just, I'm just this, I'm just a firefighter.

I'm just a paramedic. No, no, no. Like you're more than that. Yeah. And if, if that's where you feel, then we need to look at something, get you into something else. And I, you know, for, for the classes that I do get to teach, you know, And again, this is my why and you know, if you're just that status quo guy, but you kind of feel like you're bogged down, find your why in a fire service.

This is a career. This ain't a job, man. Make this your career. Own this thing. You find your why and mine. My why is obviously it's fire service, but I really love tech rescue. That is my why in the fire service. And yeah, I love a good fire. I love like taking that beating, you know, that, that, you know, when you're on your fourth and your fifth bottle and you look out and everybody's.

They're doing their thing, but we're still grinding. Um, you know, and some people, they, they, they'll love that. Like they, they, they might've found their why, but I'm in, I'm, um, uh, not to say encouraging, but I'm, I want you to find your why I want you to do some self reflection, look in that mirror and say, what is it that, that I'm good at in this job?

Is it, is it being that driver? Is it being that, that tech rescue guy that has my guy, whatever it is, find that why, and you sharpen that blade. Until it's razor sharp. And then that might ignite you to want to light somebody else up,