HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., MIFireE

Two weeks ago my commentary covered some important thoughts regarding selfless service. In it I mentioned that we are recruiting too many people from the "What’s in it for me Generation." I am deeply concerned that we are not getting people into the fire and emergency service world who properly understand the importance of what we do. And for this reason, they are joining up for the wrong reasons.

As is normally the case, my old U.S. Air Force roommate, John Harris from Tennessee, was one of the first people to weigh in with their review of my commentary. John is a buddy of long standing. We went through fire school back in 1966, and spent 18 months together at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Each week he takes the time to share a few insights with me. And rare is the week when he fails to share an important gem of commentary.

This week’s words of wisdom were particularly telling. He spoke of his feeling that each of us who considers joining up with the fire and emergency service world should be asking ourselves what’s in it for me. It is his contention that in the absence of asking this question, we stand a high probability of wasting our time in pursuit of a misplaced goal. He seemed to say that we have to assess our dreams to evaluate their relative merits, as well as their relationship to reality.

Needless to say, I had to pause for a moment and weigh the value of his words. Was he challenging the concept of selfishness that I was attacking? Or was he pointing to a deeper truth that I was overlooking in pursuit of my own agenda. Let’s take a closer look at his words.

"Perhaps my perspective is different (we've discussed perspective before) but, I feel that a firefighter / EMT must ask themselves, "what's in it for me?" If the prospect of a job with a paycheck is their first thought, then they will be doomed to a life of frustration. If they answer hardship, irritation, sweat, tears and a feeling of fulfillment then they will see "what's in it for them". Sacrifice is an unexplainable joy when a live is saved, a family is rescued from harm."

A review of his words affirms the true meaning of his words. It would appear that he is looking at the concept of service, versus the concept of financial reward and personal gain, as the basis for becoming a firefighter or and EMT. In this I wholeheartedly agree.

If we as individuals are joining up to serve our fellow citizens, then I would suggest that we are using the proper logic. But there are a great many who are joining up just for the benefits of the organization. And I am not just thinking of money. There are a great many volunteer fire departments that exist more as social clubs than as emergency service organizations. Follow closely, because this is where my argument can get lost.

I have nothing against the social aspect of our volunteer organizations. In fact, in many communities, the local fire department is the center of life in that area. All of the celebrations, commemorations, and farewells are held down at the local fire hall. This is the great, classic role that has placed the volunteer fire service as the bedrock of our communities. This is a good thing.

But many of us have witnessed a growing trend that has served to play up the clubhouse aspect of fire company / department membership. In each case where this happens, it is to the exclusion of those sworn to protect and serve the community. When this happens, it serves to break the organization into warring factions: people concerned with social functions and people concerned with getting the emergency service job done.

I can recall a situation a number of years when I saw a department choose a softball game over an emergency response. That fire department was called out on a Sunday Morning to a reported fire alarm call at a local business. As the fire chief passed the fire station in his command vehicle, he noted that the softball team was out on the ball field. He also noted that no one was making a move to respond to the call. It piqued his interest.

After he cleared the call, he returned to make inquiries as to why no one left the ball field to take a pumper on the call. He was told that if the team left the field, they would have to forfeit the game. So it seemed to me that these troops valued the softball team more than the community. And I understand that this chief received no support for his position when he brought it up at the next meeting of his agency.

It would seem that the answer to the question in this case would not involve anything to do with firefighting. It seems that a lot of the troops joined up just for the softball teams, and the social life. Once again, I am not knocking the additional activities that can come from membership in a fire department. I am suggesting that perhaps the priorities of the people that are joining up are becoming skewed.

Let’s ask the question again. What’s in it for me? If the answer for you is just a paycheck, then your road ahead will be long, hard and disappointing. You will be paid far less than you are worth for many of the dangerous tasks that you will be called upon to perform during the course of your career.

I have seen far too many people who entered the fire service because they consider it a sinecure position. They looked at the salary, the benefits, and the pension, and said, " … that’s for me: great hours, good bucks, early retirement." They did not seem to understand that there was a great deal of hard, dirty, and dangerous work involved in the equation.

These kinds of people turned out to be what we generously called "loads" or "humps." The people around them had to carry them and make up for their shortcomings, because these selfish people failed to understand that they were expected to become part of a team. They joined up for selfish reasons, and since selfishness is not the attribute that leads to strong teams, the team was diminished as a whole because of their inward focus.

These people were easily identified. If there was something important to do, they were unavailable. If there was a dirty or dangerous job to be done, they were not around. You could always count on them to call in on sick leave for the major holidays, as well as on a great many weekends too.

They made the work of their supervisors that much more difficult. Sometimes you had to work around them, and at other times you had to make up for the negative impact of their meager attempts at work. And if you called attention to their performance, you were picking on them. If you ignored them, you risked angering the people that were there for you every day. In general, I made it my business to break their chops. I owed that to the real firefighters. I always felt that I owed more to the good guys than the frauds.

In general, we would be better off without many of the people who claim to be on the same team as us. But that just isn’t going to happen. So just what is it that I am suggesting?

Quite simply we need to set standards. We need to explain what is expected of every member of our team. We need to tell them just what it is we want of them. We need to equip them to do those jobs. It is critical that we train them to do these jobs. And then we have to let them get on with their work. Be sure to tell them how they are doing. In that way you can help to keep them on track.

Lastly, we need to make sure that our people understand the consequences of their answer to the question of what is in it for them. If they joined up just for the benefits and the good times, we need to stress that there is a cost for those benefits. When they fail to pay for the privilege of membership, we must bring it forcefully to their attention.

If we lose the real reason for our existence, we run the risk of trivializing what we do. And as history dictates, trivial undertakings eventually disappear from the face of the earth. Do not be responsible for the demise of the fire service. And do not think that it is beyond the realm of possibility. There are probably bean counters out there right now trying to decide whether it its cheaper to have a fire department or to have an insurance policy to replace your town if it burns down.

So the next time someone asks you, "... what’s in it for me?", give them truthful answers:

• hard work
• injury
• possible death
• a deep and abiding feeling of personal satisfaction found in few aspects of life

Because that’s just the way it is.

The commentary in this column does not necessarily reflect those of Firehouse.Com, Firehouse Magazine, their employees or parent company Cygnus Business Media. Harry R. Carter, Ph.D., MIFireE, is an internationally known municipal fire protection consultant and contributing editor to Firehouse Magazine. He recently retired as a Battalion Commander with the Newark, New Jersey Fire Department. His commentary appears regularly on Firehouse.Com. For more commentary and information, visit Carter's web site at www.harrycarter.com Harry has published several books available for online ordering, including Firefighting Strategy and Tactics and Management in the Fire Service