My Gravatar…

If you’ve noticed, my Gravatar is the Maltese cross with two axes and the cross has the American flag inside and says the wife of a firefighter.

Well, after 9/11, people finally had an appreciation for firefighters and paramedics as they saw firefighters going into a building that everyone was running out of.  There are more than the 343 lost firefighters since then due to the effects and the PTSD.  Paramedics had their hands full.   That was 13 years ago and America has all but forgotten it.  (Not to mention the law enforcement and the hospital workers.  The whole trickle down.  It didn’t only affect you as you watched the planes fly into those buildings.  And the families who lost loves one and had nothing to bury, nothing to confirm that their loved ones were confirmed dead.  There are those today that still aren’t sure but have to assume that is the case since their loved ones haven’t come home.   This affected everyone.)

My husband is a firefighter and one of the first paramedics for our City.  When he was hired he was overqualified as the EMS portion because the City was EMT-Basic and my husband was EMT-Intermediate.  He went through the 18 month course in 6 months, and in the midst of it, I had to have emergency gall bladder surgery and we had 2 small children.  It was a very difficult time for him juggling the kids, me in the hospital, and the classes, studying, etc. but he passed and has continued to be one of the first paramedics for our City for almost 26 yrs and has never taken a sick day once!  Not one sick day!  He was presented a beautiful mantel clock to commemorate his 25 years of service on the department.  He is now a Captain and that was very hard earned, but well deserved.

He has been working as a paramedic the whole 26 years and there are only 5 left of the original class.  Many dropped their paramedic licensure and just remain being firefighters and basic EMTs.  They meet the minimum requirements of the job.  It takes a lot to maintain your paramedic licensure, a lot of extra training, skills, etc. and investment of your time.  My husband just told me he was the last one accepted into that class and he will be the last one left of it in the next two years.  You cannot imagine my pride for my husband.

He gets so much flack from his ‘brethren’ in the department.  These 26 years have not been easy for him.  But yet he has prevailed.  I have done all I can to support him, encourage him, bolster him.

When 9/11 happened, he went to New York 3 times for funerals with other firefighters from his department, at their own expense.  It was, I think, a life-changing experience for him as well as for those he went with each time.  I know it has changed the way things are done now for firefighters.  Now they have to be concerned for a second incendiary device designed to kill the firefighters!  How horrible this world has become.

Our law enforcement are under fire, our firefighters/paramedics have to wear bulletproof vests in some areas around the country, these are people who are coming to “serve and protect” or that you have called because there was someone in need of medical help!

Come one people, where are your morals?  Where is your common sense?

This is one proud wife of her hero husband!