Brotherhood and Family

Everyone talks about the fire/EMS “brotherhood.”  Everyone says that we’re “family.”  Today, a few of my close online fire/EMS “family” were talking about how the term “brother” bothers them for some reason.

In the most abstract sense, I can get that.  “Brother” sounds like something you’d call someone in a religious order, a cult, or maybe the Moose lodge.  For some reason, I immediately picture Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in the Loyal Order of the Water Buffaloes.

But seriously, let’s assume that we want to be “brothers,” or to be politically correct and diverse, “brothers, sisters, and the pronoun you choose to identify with.” Well then, let’s really talk about what brotherhood and family mean in the fire/EMS world.

Brotherhood and family isn’t a t-shirt.  It’s not a cute slogan.  It’s not something we should do when it’s convenient.  It’s taking care of each other, watching out for each other, and yeah, it means we hold each other accountable too.

Brotherhood and family is checking on a partner after a rough call.

Brotherhood and family means taking the extra time to see a sick person in the hospital.

Brotherhood and family means that when you have a “brother” visiting from out of town, you spend a bit of time with them and maybe take them someplace local to get the feel of your home.

Brotherhood and family means that you take the time to mentor and train your station mates, even if both of you take time away from work to master the trade, because doing the job right matters.  Period.

One of my favorite incidents of brotherhood and family came when I did a ride at Station 11 in Clark County on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.  As I was leaving, one of the firefighters gave me the station phone number.  I asked why.  He told me to call the station if I needed anything while I was in town because I’m “family.”

Brotherhood and family isn’t about hazing the rookies.  It’s not about creating a ridiculous paramilitary boot camp atmosphere.  And it’s sure as heck not about abusing the public trust or treating the public or our so-called “brothers” with anything less than respect.  And an IAFF sticker or a paid/volunteer status doesn’t mean a hill of beans about “brotherhood” or “family” either. It is always supposed to be about taking care of the public who implicitly trusts us to walk in their door at any hour and take care of them, hopefully like we’d take care of our family.

In other words, you can have all the slogans you want, wear all the t-shirts, say “brother” to everyone at the station, and eat all of your meals at the station’s dinner table as a “family,” but if you still have a toxic environment, inadequate leadership, a bunch of youngsters playing at being firefighters and medics, and a tolerance for inadequate service – then, no, you’re not my “brother” and you’re not my “family.”

Comments

  1. David Gammell says

    100% percent correct. If you are not going to give great care you are out of my family!