Band of Brothers

Ah another long tour in our shitty part of town. You know driving through it (except in a few select areas) you would never know what takes place beyond those walls. Strange though, for the last few months our call volume seems to have dropped dramatically. I work at a fairly busy station, a lot of medical runs unless we have an arsonist running around which is not unusual. Many sleepless nights and many strange experiences that for sure could not be fathomed by the wildest imagination. The part of town I work in is dubbed an "international" area which brings an interesting array of people from all over the world. We have a large population of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and a few Middle Eastern people throughout. We have houses, apartment complexes, government housing, schools, and an anomalous amount of African churches. A territory which really keeps us on our toes. I am the "Officer" of my crew, which for a technical sake means the boss although i'm not really big on throwing that around. I am only a small part in a group of men that when together, function like a well oiled machine. These men are some of the best and I am honored to lead then into battle. Without them, well I would just be some idiot wondering the depths of society looking for the unknown.

Now when I say "my crew", I am speaking of three individuals in particular although there are many other great firemen I work with on and off my shift. There are the two Firefighters, one of which is my daughter's godfather and my Engineer. The two firefighters and I have worked together for quite some time, and together we have seen the depths of hell. True moments when you realize how important we are to one another. This goes not only for firefighting, but in friendship as they have been by my side through the worst of times. My Engineer is relativity new to our crew but in that short time has proven to be a perfect fit in our small brotherhood. The four of us are what make up our shift's engine company, characterized by others as "The Super Crew". It is somewhat of a daft name but I can assure you it's used only as tongue-in-cheek. By no means in reality are we the best out there but I am willing to throw down a bet that we could stand the test of time as one of the most unified crews around. As signified by the words written inside my helmet, "walking or carried, we come out together".

I couldn't talk about my crew without mentioning a few others who in the past were just as much a part of us. They have moved on for various reasons but will always remain one of the crew. I have been privileged to work beside some wonderful people over the years and I can't wait to see what the future holds. But for now as told by the great William Shakespeare; "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."