“Retired” VFD here. After 9/11, I joined our local rural VFD. In my mid-40’s at the time, too old to sign up in the military but wanted to do SOMETHING. If I recall, more than 50% of firefighters in the U.S. are volunteers. It’s a great example of the spirit of what made America great: that do it yourself, rugged individual mindset. It’s a win-win for the community. Yeah, there’s chili suppers, beer drinking and farting contests. But when that pager goes off at 1:00 AM, adrenaline kicks in and you just want to kick fire’s ass, pry a broken body from a mangled car, or perform CPR to a neighbor. It’s quite the rush during the event, and the sense of pride and accomplishment afterwards is just awesome.
I plan to retire from my real job in a few years, and you can bet I’ll be back at the station, getting up to speed on training and wearing the pager.
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