Free Republic

It has taken me a year to write this. We buried one of the last of the NYC Firefighters today. That's why I think this might be appropriate.I was a volunteer firefighter for over ten years in a small nondescript town in Southern NJ. My Dad was a Captain in Jersey City and served for close to thirty years before retiring. He's been gone over twenty five years now....but I remember being proud of him...even tho he was a tough SOB and could sometimes be found taking out his frustations at the dinner table with 5 rowdy kids and a...

<p>More than half of the New York City Fire Department firefighters who developed what has been dubbed "World Trade Center cough" have not returned to active duty, according to reports out Monday.</p> <p>In the six months after the World Trade Center attacks, the eponymous ailment — defined as a cough severe enough to require at least four weeks of medical leave — occurred to 332 firefighters and one emergency medical services worker, says David Prezant, the fire department's deputy chief medical officer.</p>