Wife of a firefighter here. Yes, it’s difficult on the families of people who work in these types of emergency services, but it gets easier over time. Big, fully involved fires are pretty rare. I just asked my husband now, and he said the biggest risk he faces is being hit by a vehicle while responding to an MVA.
However, as previously mentioned, these are the people that run towards the danger instead of away. I think it’s this courage and selflessness that people admire more then anything.
Police and firemen are heroes. They protect the rest of us from danger. Without police or firemen we wouyld all be in a lot more danger. Certainly they have earned respect.
Soldiers really only protect us from other soldiers. Most of them, with a few exceptions, don’t deserve respect.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m biased, because I have close family members in these professions. But yes, I think that these folks have earned an extra level of respect.
In my husband’s case, he straps on a Kevlar vest each day, holsters a sidearm and a taser, and walks his dog every day before work and exercises the K9 daily. We pay for the dog’s food and boarding and vet care out of pocket. He does at least eight hours per month of training. He works nights, weekends, and holidays. And sure, he arrests bad guys. But more often, he goes to help Granny off the floor when faraway relatives can’t get her on the phone. Or he mediates between neighbors who can’t quite manage their barking dog disputes. He keeps spare blankets and coats in the trunk of his cruiser for that homeless guy hitching to Florida when a cold snap hits. He gives his dinner to the schizophrenic lady who insists upon living in the woods. Next to the blankets and coats, he has a little bag of teddy bears to help comfort a child whose parents are being arrested for running a meth lab at home. Sometimes when something feels off, he asks rude and intrusive questions during a traffic stop, and may piss you off by running his dog around your car. During his career, his patrol car has been hit three times while parked, wth lights flashing, during traffic direction. Twice at interstate speeds, due to purely inattentive drivers. He himself has been hit once, by a driver who thought he was too important to stop because of a fatal train vs car wreck. (That ultimately resulted in a knee replacement last year.)I He has done this job for almost 20 years now, and his generous salary totals about $40k US per year. Sure, he has decent insurance and a 401(k), but the level of experience, risk, and reward aren’t comparable to a private sector job. He does it because he loves it.
I could tell similar tales about my brother and his 27 years of military experience, or my cousins who are firefighters or EMTs (including the cousin who was dispatched to a suicide by gunshot of a fellow EMT, who happened to be his older brother.) None of them are in it for the money. Public agencies can’t realistically pay anywhere near enough for these jobs.
Yes, there are plenty of scumbags in these professions, but in my experience, most of these folks do their jobs for honorable reasons, and have earned a measure of respect beyond their paychecks and benefits.
I agree. It’s hard to start out in one of these careers - many of these guys either have to live with friends or parents as a rookie or have wives that can support them for a few years until they start earning more money. My husband’s starting salary was $42K (CAD - in a city where the average home price is >$400K) and it took him years to get back to an average income, where he will stay until he moves into leadership. He is certainly not in it for the money.
*This *you cite as part of the justification for the notion that he earns an extra level of respect?
Really?
mmm
As a soldier, I support, and have taken an oath to defend, your right to espouse ignorant, dumb-fuck opinions. It’s what makes this country great!
And who are you defending against, exactly?
All enemies, foreign, and domestic.
That’s just a slogan.
Tell me who you think you are protecting me from.
Yes dear. Dog-walking. That’s my entire cite.
Btw, ever walked a truly driven Malinoise? The dog in question is the smallest in our household. At around 60 pounds, vs. 80 for the German shepherd and 120 for the Pyrenees. I’m neither tiny nor weak, but I physically can’t manage this dog. He’s a sweet baby, but he can drag my 150 pound ass around the block at will, and I can easily manhandle either of the big dogs into a kennel or vehicle. So yeah, 30 minutes of exercising this particular dog prior to a 12-hour shift is above and beyond, in my book. As is all of the mandatory unpaid training time. And the food and vet bills. And the fact that my husband doesn’t get to assume that he’ll be home to enjoy Christmas or Thanksgiving with his family.
And that’s ignoring all those other little nitpicky points I typed out earlier.
Did you really just pick apart her whole long quote to only use this as an example of what she was trying to say?
Really?
And in answer to the OP, I do think that anyone who risks their lives to save or protect others, deserves my infinite respect. I definitely couldn’t do it and humanity needs those brave few who are courageous enough to do it in our place. Bless them.
It’s not a slogan, it’s part of the Oath of Enlistment, numb-nuts. I don’t do intel analysis, I just follow my joes and keep em alive.
OK, we know it’s part of the Oath of Enlistment. Even I know that. So it’s a slogan, basically.
But I’m also interested in an answer to the question. Who are you defending against and who are the “'em” you’re keeping alive?
It’s a slogan. You just quote the words, without ever thinking about what they mean.
I presume you are American. Many American soldiers are currently fighting in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Please explain to me how that makes your fellow countrymen safer.
The “enemies” we always attack first, you mean? Terrorism (such as 9/11) is a tricky kettle of fish since it’s done covertly by renegade groups acting on their own. The U.S. hasn’t been attacked openly by another country since 1941, and even that was kind of a one-off.
Do you know what a slogan is? Are you suggesting that slogans and Oaths are the same? Do you swear a slogan when testifying in court? Does McDonald’s end commercials with an oath? Accio clue, kid.
The “em” is my joes, which is a slang term for “my soldiers”. I’m keeping them alive cause I’m a medic.
What do you mean, who exactly? That’s kind of a dumb question. At the moment, nobody, cause I’m sitting on my couch with my wife and kids. In the past it was terrorist assholes who want nothing more than Americans to die, and in the future, maybe Iran’s Idiot Guard, I don’t know. All enemies, foreign, and domestic. Pretty simple. You want a slogan, it’s this:
Mine is not to answer why, mine is but to do and die.
I will say that, in regards to the military, I have become increasingly tired of the constant fawning (for want of a better word) I hear in the media (and in real life) towards those who serve. When this began it was largely a counter-reaction to the stories one heard about Vietnam vets, but since the Persian Gulf War (and elevated after 9/11), it’s become more strident and incessant.
I remember one American Airlines flight I took this past year where the captain exhorted everybody to applaud a couple of service members who flew in uniform. Really? We needed to do that? The comped first class seats weren’t enough?
My reaction might be different if it wasn’t an all-volunteer military, if many were draftees pulled in at random… but it’s not. Dangerous work, yes, but also voluntary.
All right, so dump on me and tell me what a horrible person I am.
That’s Tennyson you’re mangling, and it is from his glorified account of an unholy fuckup in a pointless foreign war fought for little more than idiot jingoism. Probably apt, all things considered.
You can make your point without name-calling, YoDoc. I see that you’re new — welcome! — and you may wish to read over the registration agreement to familiarize yourself with our rules. Name-calling and insults are not permitted outside the BBQ Pit.
Ellen Cherry
IMHO Moderator