I am only halfway through The Combat Position, Achieving Firefighter Readiness by Christopher Brennan, but I thought I would share my thoughts since there is so much to say about this fantastic book. The Combat Position is a fluid read that addresses the mind, body, and spirit as it applies to firefighting warriorship. The premise of the…
Read MoreConfidence is key to high performance. For women in the fire service, confidence can be elusive, but it is essential if we are to thrive (and not simply survive) on the fire ground. Confidence gets ladders up. Confidence tears doors down. We need it to be our best, but ample obstacles exist. It is challenging…
Read MoreMy officer and I are rescue divers and awhile ago we pulled a person from a lake. (I’m being vague for privacy’s sake.) The call came in for a possible suicide attempt. The lake was large and dark. It was at night and we couldn’t see anyone. Resources were called in. Police and Fire were…
Read MoreExtrication is like yoga. I remember my first day of extrication training in the academy. It was the zenith of summer in South Florida, and I thought I was working in purgatory. The sun was drilling us, and the tools felt like blocks of steel. Just to lift the Jaws and place them where…
Read MoreMen are built for power and women are built for endurance. Women’s bodies have evolved over a hundred thousand years to build and sustain life. For millenia, women have been building babies in their wombs and nursing them in their arms through hostile conditions, without medication, health care, half the food we have…
Read More“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca I have believed for a long time that the hardest thing firefighters do is get up every morning and go to work, never knowing what the day might throw at us. To face that uncertainty is the one truly brave thing we do.…
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She called 911 because she said she had been hit over the head by a man with a lock and chain. She was barefoot and terrified. Her feet were encrusted with many layers of dirt. It had been a long time since she’d worn shoes. Her pants were torn and soiled, the fabric frayed from…
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It’s so easy to lose yourself, becoming buried in the BS of our daily lives, trying to climb some imaginary ladder of success not even knowing where that might lead. ____ Who’s definition of success are you even climbing towards? What if that ideological epitome of success that society has engrained in us is a…
Read MoreThis is a time of transformation for our planet and the human race. Cosmologically, we’re entering a new 200 year cycle and it’s playing out in big ways. Transformation hurts. It’s chaotic. Things die for new life to be born. This is the Year of Karma when our life choices come to fruition in…
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