Firefighters have an extreme occupation.
They rely on their comrades
for their lives, and because of
this they bond on a level where they
share their knowledge and experience
freely.
From the beginning, extreme
circumstances surrounded Maj. David
Melendez's career as a fireman.
During the tragedy of 9/11, he was
an emergency medical technician
awaiting his opportunity to train
as New York City firefighter. His
chance came a month later when he
began the fire academy in the shadow
of his fellow firefighters' loss.
His entrance into the brotherhood
of firefighters was a bittersweet moment.
Now, for the second time, his opportunity
to train as a fireman comes
from extreme circumstances. His
deployment to Baghdad in support
of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
allowed him to begin fire training
again, but this time as one of the organizers
at a unique academy. His
own touchstone moment arrived,
to share what he knew with fellow
Iraqi firefighters.
"We are developing a course for
the Iraqis to become internationally
certified. In the past, they had a basic two-week course and they would
have to go other places, like Bahrain;
so a lot of these guys already
know a lot," Melendez said.
Most of the 20 Iraqi firefighters
from the Ministry of Defense and
Ministry of Interior's Civil Defense
Force are already experienced fireman,
so the focus of this course is to
train them to be proficient trainers
themselves. In Army lingo, this is
"train the trainers" at its best.
"Some of the guys are Army,
some Air Force. They can go back
to their stations throughout Iraq and
teach their fire company, and then
here in the Civil Defense (facility)
we are trying to develop a core curriculum
so that everyone knows
what to teach," said Melendez.
"Being a firefighter -- it is not
about yourself, it is a collective
team, a kind of brotherhood."
The Multi-National Security
Transition Command
Iraq (MNSTC-I) Coalition Air
Force Training Team fire rescue
advisors, Tech. Sgt. Brian
Partido and Tech. Sgt. Luis Ortiz-
Acevedo, were previously
conducting a fire school in Taji
when Melendez's predecessor
saw them on television. After
meeting them during the unit's relief
in place (RIP) Melendez had
them moved to the IZ academy. The
two found that what they lacked in
equipment was solved by moving to
the IZ academy.
"This is state-of-the art training.
This place, the National Fire Academy,
is like it was always meant to
be here in Baghdad. To make this
training work, we had equipment
they (Iraqis) didn't have. And the
Iraqi firefighters had equipment we
didn't have," said Partido, lead instructor
for the training. "We took
the fire apprentice course from the
US Air Force and adapted it to the
way Iraqi firefighters operate and
had it translated into Arabic," he
said of the new 60-day block of instruction.
"It doesn't matter where you
come from around the world, fire-
fighters are truly a brotherhood
when it comes to professionalism
and the spirit of healthy competition,"
said Ortiz-Acevedo, a Puerto
Rico native.
Iraqi Army Cpl. Akram Huseen
Ali, previously chosen to train as a
Humvee driver instructor, said he
likes his new job because he wants
to help people. "Before, I didn't know anything about firefighting, I had no background." Now he is grateful
for this opportunity, the friends he has made and the training from the
American instructors. He said in his heart he is now a firefighter.
The classroom instruction includes six subjects ranging from medical to
basic fire knowledge, fire principles, advancing to fire control, hazardous
materials, and structural training and aircraft fires. Partido has also noticed
the willingness to share between the Iraqi students.
"They have different levels of experience, ranging from guys that have
never been a firefighter all the way up to gentlemen who have been in for
over 20 years. It is good to get the input from the older guys helping to
teach the younger guys," Partido remarked. "I think they will be excellent.
We started from the basics and worked our way to the
more advanced techniques and it's amazing to see how
far they have come."
"It is great to be involved at this level, and to be
able to work with both the Ministry of Defense and
the Ministry of Interior is very challenging yet rewarding.
I wouldn't have missed it for the world," Partido
reflected. "They have great hearts and they're enthusiastic
about what they're doing and they love being
firefighters. We try not to instill any American principles
in them, we give them the logic behind why we
wanted to become firefighters, how we would like to
help people, and take care of others and put our lives
on the line."
Though new to fire fighting, Akram found this to be
true for himself. "Most of (the students) I didn't know,
but now they have become like my brothers; if anything
happens to them it is like it is happening to me."
As for the bond between this diverse collection
of firefighters, Melendez summed it up best: "We all
speak the language of putting the wet stuff on the red
stuff."
Republished with permission of In The Zone Magazine.
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