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That time a senior firefighter told me to stop overthinking the hose loads
When I was a probie at Station 3 in Portland, Captain Dave pulled me aside after drill and said 'kid, you're repacking that crosslay like it's a wedding present, just get it wet and go.' I spent 15 minutes trying to make it perfectly symmetrical every time. He was right, I was losing focus on the bigger picture of response time. Has anyone else gotten blunt advice early in their career that actually stuck with them long term?
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the_jason1mo ago
Just get it wet and go" is gold, I had an old instructor tell me the same thing about my gear checks, I was obsessing over strap lengths while he was just trying to get us on the truck.
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ellis.hayden1mo ago
Yeah exactly. I had a sergeant who would time us on our gear checks. If we went over 90 seconds he'd make us start over. You learn real fast what actually matters and what's just you messing with straps looking for perfection. After a few forced do-overs you just get it close enough and move on.
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the_angela1mo ago
I get what you're saying @the_jason but honestly I've seen too many gear failures from people rushing that "close enough" approach. Getting it wet might get you on the truck faster but it doesn't fix a strap that's just plain wrong.
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