Cowboy's blog: "I wish you could know"

Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes. The tone goes off at 2 in the morning he is on his way to a wreck with entrapment. __________________________ You take a warm shower to help you wake up. Hes been awake for three days working at four different stations running calls all day and night and doesn't get to shower. __________________________ You complain of a "headache", and call in sick. He gets burned or trapped inside, or while cutting someone out of a car something flys off the car and injures him, or car explodes, he gets called to a medical call where someone was shot..is that person still around!!! __________________________ You meet up with your friends at the camp and get drunk! He responds to the unconsious people and the grass fire you started. __________________________ You make sure you're cell phone is in your pocket. He kisses the maltese cross around his neck and says a prayer before he goes in the burning building. __________________________ You talk trash on your "buddies" that aren't with you. He prays that his buddy next to him comes out alive and they watch out for each other...for they know the value of a true friend and are brothers and sisters for life. __________________________ You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls. He crawls around a pitch black, totally involved house searching for the old lady and her grandchild that didn't make it out. __________________________ You complain about how hot it is. He wears his heavy gear, not taking it off in the 900 degree heat and flames for he appreciates the heat and learns to deal with it. __________________________ You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong. All he got was a MRE from a rehab truck because he only has a 10 minute break before he has to go back out and try to stop the three hundred acre grass fire from reaching any houses. __________________________ Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes. He wears the same things for days, but makes sure his trucks, gear, and equipment are clean. __________________________ You go to the mall and get your hair redone. He didn't have time to take a shower or brush his teeth this morning because they got a four alarm fire. __________________________ You call your girlfriend and set a date for that night. He goes sometimes weeks not going home or seeing the ones he loves. __________________________ You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday. HE LOOKS AT THE PICTURE HE KEEPS IN HIS WALLET OR GEAR AND KISSES IT AND SAYS BABY I PROMISE I'M COMING HOME SOON AND IF I DON'T, I LOVE YOU AND I JUST HOPE I DID EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO MAKE YOU HAPPY. __________________________ You roll your eyes as a baby cries. He sits on the curb and his buddies kneel down and cry and say a prayer for the child that didnt make it. __________________________ You criticize your local firestation because they got behind you andwere holding down the airhorn trying to get you to get out of the way He prays even if you dont move out of the way that they can make it in time to save the people inside and maybe even the house. __________________________ You hear firefighters joke around and say they are nothing but a bunch of jackasses He hears the tone and they are ready in a moments notice, its all fun when its just him and his buddies at the station playing around, once that tone goes off its all work and no play. __________________________ You hear on the news some firefighters were laughing at a wreck and think assholes He sees the only way to try not to cry out in front of everyone because someone didn't make it was to tell a joke about one of his buddies. __________________________ You stay at home and watch tv. He takes whatever time he is given to clean, eat, fix something at the station, cook, wash firetrucks, and then relaxes for 20 minutes and has to go assist a medic unit with a collapse patient. __________________________ You crawl into your bed, with down pillows, and try to get comfortable. He crawls into a single person bed with a stiff pillow and just a sheet at 4 in the morning to try and sleep until 6 before he has to go to his next shift at one of the other stations. __________________________ You sit there and judge him, saying he is stupid for running into a burning building. If only there were more men and women like him. PLEASE REPOST!! IF YOU ARE A FIREFIGHTER OR ARE A HUSBAND/WIFE, A SON/DAUGHTER, A COUSIN, OR A FRIEND OF A FIREFIGHTER CAUSE THEY ARE OUT THERE FIGHTING AND RISKING THEIR LIVES FOR US!! PLEASE SUPPORT OUR FIREFIGHTERS

A firefighter's life A firefighter's life is one big surprise, Usually he laughs,sometimes he cries, There's always stress, toil and strife, Hoping he's good enough to save just one life. His wife understands when he misses dinner, If he runs out of church, don't think he's a sinner. Answering a call is tops on his list, Regretting each one he's ever missed. He tries and tries, but can't make us see, The happiest men, still work for free. Jumping from bed, fighting the cold, Knowing what to do with out being told. He rushes to the station, jumps on a truck, Depending on skill never on luck. Putting his life on the line for an unknown friend, Hoping and Praying it won't be the end. "The Bravest men in the world" the title is fitting, They all do their best never come close to quitting. Next time you see them, all their lights blinking, Take just a minute, to think what they're thinking. It's a hard job, so show them you care, And help them out with a little prayer.

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children at 3 AM, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns. I wish you could know a wife's horror at 6 in the morning as I check her husbands of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway, hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible ws done to try to save his life. I wish you could know th eunique smell of burning insulation, the taste of soot-filled mucas, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see absolutely nothing in the dense smoke-sensations that I've become to familiar with. I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire "Is this a false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped? Or to a call, "What is wrong with the patient? Is it minor or life threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun? I wish you could be in the emergency room as a doctor pronounces dead the beautiful five year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past 25 minutes, who will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you mommy" again. I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine, squad, or my personal vehical, the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again on the air horn, as you fail to yeild the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic. When you need us however, your first comment upon arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!" I wish you could know the thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years from the remains of her car. "What if this was my daughter, sister, or friend?" What were her parents reaction going to be when they opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand. I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the backdoor and greet family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not come back from the last call. I wish you could know how it feels when you call out for a firefighter on the radio that you sent into a burning house and your heart drops because no one answers back. I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally, and sometimes physically, abuse us or belittle what i do, or as they express their attitudes of "It will never happen to me." I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain or missed meals, lost sleep and missed social activities, in addition to all the tragedy my eyes have seen. I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in a time of crisis, or creating order from complete chaos. I wish you could understand what it is like to have a little boy tugging at your arm and askin, "Is mommy okay?" Not even being able to look into his eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say. Or to have to hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having CPR done on himas they take him away in medic unit. You know all along that he did not have his seat belt on. A sensation that I have become all too familiar with. Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us...I wish you could know.