Thank the Unions for the Story

[eng210]

Sounds like this guy visited too many union firehouses and not enough volunteer houses. Strange, but as a non union (hopefully never will be)10 year+, twice decorated, volunteer and career firefighter, I can relate to some of this guys arguments. If you really want to change his mind, send him to a couple volunteer departments that actually still practice and particpate in the traditions and integrity that made firefighting what it is today (before the unions made it "cushy" and full of "propaganda" and a "special interest group").

[E229Lt]

You, my brother, are a fool.

[Rippin73]

Alas, yet another miopic view. The enemy is upon us, and it is us.

[EFD840]

Ah yes, more of those "excellent propaganda skills" on display.

Well said, E229LT and Rippin73.

[eng210]

We joke around the Department (my career one) about unionitis, and you guys are proving it. You probably walk to the pumper when you get banged out for a house fire with people trapped, don't you? Unionitis affects the senses. Before long you forget what smoke smells like because you are donning BA before you leave the station. You forget what firemen look like because you have so many breaks and days off that you have to learn names again when you do show up for work. You forget what good firehouse food tastes like because the chef you forced your city to hire only makes healthy food. And you foget what being a real fireman feels like because your more concerned with being politicians than firemen.

[Lewiston2FF]

You, my brother, are a fool.

I agree with my brother here. You seem to have a very slanted view of the Union firefighters. And before you go on about how my fire station has Unionitis, we are not nor will we ever be unionized. That is because we are volunteer.
Lets stop the infighting and unite against those who wish to do us harm by cutting our budgets, cutting our manpower, and making us do more with less. Right now we are only serving to show how weak we really are.

[PAVolunteer]

Please, please, please do not judge the entire volunteer fire service by what we apparently have here - one of our weakest links.

Stay Safe

[1835Wayne]

We are a family, and when you say hurtfull things about your own family, you damage your own name and credibility.

Be critical, be aware of new and better ways of doing things. But do not besmirch your families good name for no good reason.

[EFD840]

Man, I hate to feed the trolls.

Please, please, please do not judge the entire volunteer fire service by what we apparently have here - one of our weakest links.

Thanks, PA.

FYI eng210, I'm a vollie like PA and Lewiston2Capt. Your post, like the editorial under discussion, was insulting to me as a FIREFIGHTER. However, since you brought the career/vollie/union thing into the discussion by saying unions made the job "cushy", I guess there's no way we could say that many volunteer firefighters are "adrenalin junkies". If that were the case, you would probably see a lot of vollie firefighter arsonists. We all know THAT doesn't happen.

There are times when firefighter's employment status and collective bargaining status are relevant to the topic at hand and warrant intelligent discussion. This ain't one of those times and the post dang sure wasn't intelligent.

[nmfire]

Originally posted by eng210
We joke around the Department (my career one) about unionitis, and you guys are proving it. You probably walk to the pumper when you get banged out for a house fire with people trapped, don't you? Unionitis affects the senses. Before long you forget what smoke smells like because you are donning BA before you leave the station. You forget what firemen look like because you have so many breaks and days off that you have to learn names again when you do show up for work. You forget what good firehouse food tastes like because the chef you forced your city to hire only makes healthy food. And you foget what being a real fireman feels like because your more concerned with being politicians than firemen.

[TillerMan25]

ENG210!~

Don't you come on here bashing those ever pefect, never wrong, politically correct, member oriented, always making the best choices for political office, using their memebers money wisely, never crapping on volunteers UNIONS!

You will be run out of here faster than a Witch in Salem Mass.
This is the "IAFF and the people who love them" forums! Not too many will say anything bad about the IAFF on here. I guess some of the Union guys on here are too intimidating for them. Either that or they have never had to spend a Shift in a Combination House where the career staff complains, eats, complains some more, eats some more, complains about Volunteer Equipment, eats again, Yells that we are not Trained, eats again, makes false log entries about Physical Training and Drilling, Has a Snack, Takes an Ambulance Run and goes home for 72 hours. While we stay there, day in and day out and they enjoy the fruits of our labor.....

HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE THEM! ...LOL

A Proud Volunteer.

[12TruckIrons]

Eng210 I concur with everything you said except one small detail. The whole line of crap you shoveling. I am a career and a volly and not in any union, but I do believe that while the union isnt the answer to all of our prayers, they are benificial to the troops. If anything the union helps promote the brotherhood.

[pete892]

Career, paid on call, volunteer, union; I thought we were all firefighters. I'm retired now but I have worked with every one in my 31 years of service. Fire does not discriminate. While we have all these little arguments such as union vs. non-union, paid vs. volly the money goes some where else. Let's all think as firefighters and work to improve the fire service in all areas. When we fight with each other we only hamper tghe cause.

Stay Safe,

Pete

[jaybird210]

This gentleman's opinion is a perfect example of why the Law Enforcement community gets so many of our federal dollars, while we struggle for scraps. You don't see this kind of polarization in LE.

Instead of suggesting workable solutions, he posts infammatory crap that can have no purpose but to enrage. Instead of attempting to build bridges, he digs gorges.

Pretty ballsy for a first post. Time to call in the hounds.

BTW, I am a former union member; worked as a contract medic in a union house; served as a volly; and now am a FT chief on a combo department. The one thing, I have come to the conclusion, that tears this industry apart more than anything else, is cry-baby bulls#it: "How come so-and-so get's to this?" STF and do your job. Don't like the way the union is backing their members in Boston? TFB, mind your own damn business. Don't think the volunteers are trained as well as you? TFB, mind your own damn business. Or belly up and offer some solutions. Both sides. Otherwise, stop wasting my time.

[firemedic53]

OK eng210....so when you're limping into the structure fire because you were fighting to be first on the truck, and wrestling into your pack in the front door while sucking in that smoke like the "real" (dead) old-time firefighters while having chest pains from the 10 years of accumulated fat/grease/sugar that the "real" firehouse food made possible I'll be watching and laughing if I happen to be in the neighborhood. I've seen your kind before, my friend, and it's not pretty.
The article that started all this is more palatable to me - it was written out of ignorance and you can hear the same thing at the local coffee shops. You, in theory, should know better and it's people like you with your narrow-minded prattling in these forums that make it harder for the rest of us, volunteer and career, to counter the authors attitudes.
So, yeah, I'll take my days off because I have a life.....and I'll help with all the locals "propaganda"....I have to, you see, because not only do we have to correct this authors mis-statements - we have to try to mend the damage that statements like yours cause.....and frankly, that's harder to do.

[Fyrechicken]

Originally posted by pete892
Career, paid on call, volunteer, union; I thought we were all firefighters. I'm retired now but I have worked with every one in my 31 years of service. Fire does not discriminate. While we have all these little arguments such as union vs. non-union, paid vs. volly the money goes some where else. Let's all think as firefighters and work to improve the fire service in all areas. When we fight with each other we only hamper tghe cause.

Stay Safe,

Pete

Right on the money there, WE ARE ALL FIREFIGHTERS FIRST. I am a non-union career firefighter and I have good friends that are union and yes we have talked about going union from time to time, but don't come here and say that all union firefighters act like that, man I can show Vol. firefighters that act like that right here in my station. well enough of that, I'm done, off my soap box, take a deep breath.

[stm4710]

ENG210!~

Don't you come on here bashing those ever pefect, never wrong, politically correct, member oriented, always making the best choices for political office, using their memebers money wisely, never crapping on volunteers UNIONS!

You will be run out of here faster than a Witch in Salem Mass.
This is the "IAFF and the people who love them" forums! Not too many will say anything bad about the IAFF on here. I guess some of the Union guys on here are too intimidating for them. Either that or they have never had to spend a Shift in a Combination House where the career staff complains, eats, complains some more, eats some more, complains about Volunteer Equipment, eats again, Yells that we are not Trained, eats again, makes false log entries about Physical Training and Drilling, Has a Snack, Takes an Ambulance Run and goes home for 72 hours. While we stay there, day in and day out and they enjoy the fruits of our labor.....

HOW DARE YOU CRITICIZE THEM! ...LOL

Thanks for the laugh tillerman!

[firefiftyfive]

I myself am a vollie, and I take great offense to what you said eng210. I know a lot of paid firefighters and none of them are "unionized" like you say. Unfortunately I don't know enough about unions to be able to bash you and your ridiculous statement but it is obvious that you are a fool.... How dare u say that guys probably walk to the engine when they get a call for a working fire with victims trapped..... I am ashamed to hear that from any firefighter, paid or vollie....u make me sick!!!!!!!!!!!

[FairchildFire]

It appears to me by virtue of the fact that eng210 has only recently signed up and has so far only 2 posts, both on this thread, that he may well be someone who, for reasons best known to himself, is having a little fun stirring up a hornets nest and sitting back while everyone argues between themselves and and the thread degenerates into a slanging match. I think it may be best to leave this sad sack to his own devices until another, more exciting, object of his moronic excuse for a brain comes along. Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out eng210.

[PFire23]

Originally posted by eng210
We joke around the Department (my career one) about unionitis, and you guys are proving it. You probably walk to the pumper when you get banged out for a house fire with people trapped, don't you? Unionitis affects the senses. Before long you forget what smoke smells like because you are donning BA before you leave the station. You forget what firemen look like because you have so many breaks and days off that you have to learn names again when you do show up for work. You forget what good firehouse food tastes like because the chef you forced your city to hire only makes healthy food. And you foget what being a real fireman feels like because your more concerned with being politicians than firemen.

I'm sorry, but did your mama drop you on your head as a small child???WTF is YOUR problem and BEFORE you get your tightie whities in a knot I'M A VOLUNTEER as well, HOWEVER I still have a healthy respect for ALL my brothers and sisters in the fireservice. *hearing Mom's voice in my head........ if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all* Now, where was I???? Oh yeah, I have SEVERAL friends who are CAREER, UNION Firefighters. They have WAY higher call volumes than most vollie departments, they train A HELL OF A LOT more than we do, oh and about the cook thing, ANY house that I've ever known anyone to be a part of did NOT hire cooks. The guys cook for themselves, do their own food shopping etc.. I'm sorry BUT are you in the same fire service that I belong to??? It actually amazed me that someone could come in here, GREEN as the grass on my lawn (posting wise) and post this drivel. Might I suggest that the next time you want to jump down someone's throat and bash THE BROTHERHOOD start in the morning when you look at yourself in the mirror. YOU are the types of BROTHERS the fire service can do without, YOU are what DESTROYS tradition and the family like feel, YOU are what gives the fire service a bad name ........

YOU are an embarassment to us all.