When viewed "side by side", the way we conduct interior structural firefighting operations is completely at odds with how we are required to approach a hazardous materials incident. Why is that? How does OSHA allow it?

But moral courage is different. Instead of respect, it often brings isolation, which is why it’s so hard. Moral courage is doing what you believe is right even at the risk of inconvenience, ridicule, punishment, loss of job, security, social status or exile from one’s community or country. It means going against your peers which can be a very painful and even dangerous thing to do.

As frequently happens when I’m teaching or facilitating training, my mind suddenly conjures up a story that makes a difficult concept much more easily understood by both my audience and me. While working with this particular group, the differences between responsibility, authority and accountability suddenly became crystal clear, for me as well as my group.

My first trip to summer camp since 1975 was West Virginia University Fire Service Extension’s 9th annual Junior Firefighter Camp held at the WV State Fire Academy outside of Weston, WV. This year’s camp attracted campers from 12 different states—including Colorado, Arkansas, and Maine—as well as one young man from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

If we cannot objectively analyze our own actions and the actions of others for the purpose of learning and not repeating mistakes, can we really call ourselves professional firefighters?

We'll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or feel a nagging pain. So why don’t we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain such as guilt, loss, loneliness?

Driving a car once was an extremely dangerous activity for the average person (and it still is for people that don’t give it their full attention). In the United States, we’ve made significant reductions in the mortality and morbidity statistics associated with motor vehicle crashes and we’ve done it through education, engineering, and enforcement. We’re far past the time when we need to put more of our energies and efforts into those “3-E’s”—way more!—when it comes to eliminating preventable fires in our communities.

The craziest thing that I’ve seen on the job was a US Army horse’s hind legs stuck in the grill of a FBI agent’s vehicle during the 44th Presidential Inauguration. Fort Myers Old Guard was “saddled-up” waiting to start the march down Pennsylvania Avenue, when a horse was “spooked” by all of the confusion and noise. When it slipped in the street and attempted to return to all fours, the horse kicked both hooves through the grill section of the Federal Officer’s Chevy Tahoe.

So perhaps you need to focus those recruiting efforts at youth sporting events for girls, and young girls at that. Because by the time they reach college-age they’ve already got that “mental picture” of what kinds of careers are for women—and that picture probably doesn’t include them wearing turnout gear.

That question has been around for generations, no? As leaders in Fire and EMS organizations, do we truly know the answer for ourselves and others in our organizations? If we are to continue to recruit and training and retain the individuals necessary to adequately staff our organizations in the coming years, perhaps we would be better served to ponder the question.