This is NOT for your Entertainment, THIS IS for PERFORMANCE
This profession has so much at stake, not only our lives, but also the lives of our citizens. This job requires us to be able to perform in some of the most adverse circumstances on Earth. Our ability to accomplish the mission must be solidified on the training ground so that we must not fail when it counts. As I always tell my students, its okay to fail here on the training ground, but is not acceptable out there on the fireground. We must teach and instruct our students on real world tactics and proven skills, not something we seen on Youtube. These skills need to be mastered, refined, and practiced; repeatedly.
The training ground is a serious place which must be approached with intent to accomplish the objective of training session. When approaching a training, real world scenarios and stressors provided at the right time and the right dose will enhance the training impact and knowledge/ skill retention. The students are there to get better and we need to provide that stimulus to improve their abilities and not to purposely watch them fail. Drill must not be designed to fail but to press their limits. We often see some organization trying to find ways to entertain their students with antics and showmanship. This can even elevate to the level of asshattery or horseplay, just to have fun or entertain their students so, at minimum, they find it enjoyable to be there.
This is not our game and never will be. You will not see us playing games with our students or trying to entertain them with mockery or showmanship. Real world stress includes things encountered on the fireground. Now, do some of these things seem like overkill? They may, but understand training cadres have witnessed intense scenarios, unimaginable circumstance and use them to better prepare their students.
Do we find it funny when babies are dropped from second or third floor during trainings? Maybe, but this was the exact scenario when DMFD Truck 9 arrived on scene with heavy fire out of the second floor apartment and a mother holding her baby outside the window just prior to dropping them. Do we find it entertaining when the cadre grabs the unexpecting firefighter and pulls them towards the front door or the parents re-enters the home just after FD arrives.
These scenarios occur daily. This may seem like entertainment, but just know, at least for our cadre, this isn’t fun and games, it’s a test. Like it or not, we are being tested every day by our officers, chiefs, politicians, and citizens. We must be ready for when our day comes, because believe it or not, our day will come. We will be faced with unparalleled circumstance which we will need to perform at our highest. Failure is unacceptable in the fire service, but inevitable. When we fail, people die and that’s not okay.
If you are a TO, officer, or instructor; it is your responsibility to ensure your students/crews are ready for their test and their day. They are there to become firefighters, not to be entertained or to watch a show; but learn, grow, and increase their capacity to perform work. Give them what they want and more importantly, what they need.