TylerHastings

I have stated my story on several threads here but will stich it all together for you as I feel it is a full circle now.

Since that time I have not gone back, I have not been near, I have not been part of any of the ceramonies. It took me 9 years to deal with that day, to be strong enough. This past December (12/11/10) my squad was asked to be an escort for some WTC Steel to a 9/11 Memorial in Wayne,NJ. Here is what I posted in another thread.

Well thats my 9/11 story. Its a day that will stay with me forever so will the 12/11/10 memorial day.

Stay Safe Everyone. Support Our Troops. If You Don't Stand Behind What Our Troops Are Doing Please Stand In Front Of Them. I Will Never Forget.

Ugly,

I can't even imagine...as I stated in my post I was not in EMS yet but to this day I still have a hard time watching footage regarding that tragic day. I was working at a summer camp which I work at frequently a few years ago and one night on the off day between sessions the staff turned on a movie in the dining hall and it was World Trade Center with Nicholas Cage and a few others that I am not remembering right now. I started to watch it and as things started to get moving in the movie I had to walk out and cry. I to this day have never seen that entire movie. Now I told you that story to lead into this I am not a man that cry's easily at least not usually and while I was reading your story I cried. If we ever run into each other out in the big bad world, I would be honored to sit next to you and buy you a drink.

I've posted this before, but since you asked... It's our generation's defining event- like where were you when JFK was shot, or Pearl Harbor before that. Everyone remembers what they were doing on those days.

My son was in 8th grade, I was dropping him off at school. I had a morning radio show on- the usual happy talk, mixed with news and traffic. As we pulled up to the school, the usually glib duo and their news reader suddenly got very serious. I knew immediately it was not a skit. They said that there was an explosion at the WTC- possible hit by a plane or missile. I dropped off my son- he was oblivious at this point. I got home- 5 minutes later and flipped on CNN just as the 2nd plane hit. I simply could not believe what I was seeing. I yelled for my wife to come out of the bedroom- she was getting dressed for work, and they replayed the 2nd strike.

To make a long story short, she works at a university and is among tons of high profile targets. I began thinking our city may be next- and apparently we were supposed to be if it were not for the passengers of Flight 93. She wanted to go to work(she is in charge of a bunch of people and wanted to be there to tell them what to do), I advised her against it, but we made contingency plans for our immediate family in case something happened here. I spent the entire day glued to the TV, expecting the worst- if not an emergency recall, but both never came. I am in the flight path of O'hare- 5 minutes away- and every minute or so a plane comes over us. Once all air traffic was grounded, the skies were eerie and quiet. It was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed- looking up and seeing and hearing absolutely nothing. I debated going to NYC, but I had 2 little girls at home and if something happened here, I needed to be with them.

The next day I went to work, and at the time I worked in the worst area of the city- averaged 30 runs in 24 hours. One thing I will never forget is being in a somber mood all day, with occasional fits of anger and disgust when I realized that most of the ghetto folk had no idea their country had been attacked, nor did they even care after we told them. We call it the land that time forgot for a reason- nothing changes 24/7, as long as it does not keep them from getting what they want, it's all good.

I take my hat off to anyone who worked on the Pile. The physical, mental, and emotional trauma must be incredible. We all lost brothers and sisters that day, and for awhile, we were also united as a nation.

Too bad that did not last.

Herbie I can not agree more with what you have said. I too live close to what could have been a high profile target I live very close to a major Naval Air Station here on the west coast, and you know there is something very eerie going on when all you hear is F/A 18 Hornets going afterburner over you and that is all you hear...our roads were dead and our skies were empty. The thing that hit me the most is that we have a major rail line through my hometown were trains pass through at least once an hour that day and for the next three days we never had a single train go through, talk about eerie.

The kids filed back into class Monday morning. They were very excited. Their weekend assignment was to sell something, then give a talk on productive salesmanship.

Little Sally led off: "I sold girl scout cookies and I made $30," she said proudly, "My sales approach was to appeal to the customer's civil spirit and I credit that approach for my obvious success."

"Very good," said the teacher.

Little Jenny was next:

"I sold magazines," she said, "I made $45 and I explained to everyone that magazines would keep them up on current events."

"Very good, Jenny," said the teacher.

Eventually, it was Little Johnny's turn. The teacher held her breath...

Little Johnny walked to the front of the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher's desk. "$2,467/-" he said.

"$2,467!" cried the teacher, "What in the world were you selling?"

"Toothbrushes," said Little Johnny.

"Toothbrushes!" echoed the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough tooth brushes to make that much money?"

"I found the busiest corner in town," said Little Johnny, "I set up a Dip & Chip stand and gave everybody who walked by a free sample."

They all said the same thing, "Hey, this tastes like dog shit!"

Then I would say, "It is dog shit. Wanna buy a toothbrush?"

"I used the governmental approach of giving you something shitty for free, and then making you pay to get the taste out of your mouth."

I had to pick my self up off the floor I was laughing so hard at this.

Bah Humbug I wish I could give staff a reputation point...Mike I think that is literally the best post of this entire mess....and I think we can also say you have killed the thread now.

I had not heard of this as a statewide tax I had only heard of it being thought about in LACo. This is slightly ironic since LACo has the most man power available of most of the SoCal departments.

And, last time I checked, the schools teach 5 core EMS values, Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Empathy, which spell ICARE respectively. So yes, EMS is all about 'warm fuzzies and sunshine' when it comes to your patients.

I don't remember being taught those core values all though this rookie did take his class a whole 5 years ago now. Yes we are supposed to have all of those however that is with respect to our PATIENTS and each other but I guarantee you out in the field if you do something to endager the life of someone or you make a wrong statement your partner is going to blast you all the way to hell and back again.

Those values are what EMS is all about, but why does it have to stop at our patients?

The compassion part only goes so far when you make an error of judgement like the OP has done. You may not agree that it was an error in judgement but it was in the opinion of those who have more time in rank than you and in some cases those who have more time in rank than you have even been alive. I just admitted I have been an EMT for a whole 5 years now I still make mistakes as we all do but I listen to the constructive criticsms that I recieve and become better for them. That is what is called Accountability...gee isn't that one of those five value things. See Accountability also means to be liable for ones actions, since you studied English I won't go find display the definitions here but feel free to click on Accountability to see the definition, I feel that as members of this website we are all trying to hold the OP accountable for his actions. Now back to compassion, got sidetracked, yes we as professionals are supposed to have compassion and for the most part we do, however sometimes it just doesn't show as much as it should. With that being said I would like for you to work just 3 years on a busy 911 system dealing with all of the scut then come back and show us all of your compassion. I guarentee you will be at least a little bit more like those of us who have been here a while.

Why can't we continue to practice those when it comes to our co-workers?

We can if they made a mistake however this incidence was not a mistake...this was showing extremely poor judgement.

It is a tough profession, don't get me wrong, but why do we have to make it harder on each other by attacking someone who made a mistake?

If this had been just a simple mistake I suspect that most of the members on this forum who have posted to this thread would in fact be a lot more willing to forgive. However, as I said above the OP showed poor judgement in this case not just simple mistakes. I would strongly recommend that for this individual a ethics class would be in order.

All it does is put them on the defense, and then they don't listen and nothing changes. Simple as that.

If you have noticed the OP has not returned to this thread or for that matter to the website since he (Dude) posted this thread.

So in your several weeks/ months experience as an EMT B tell us how many times you've made a difference in peoples lives.

Then in ten , fifteen 25 or 40 years come on back and see if you still believe in the granola crunch life, warm & fuzzy BS that was obviously imbedded in your brain by

a proud member of the fruits & nuts society of California is all sunshine crap that you are lecturing us with.

Once you've dealt with the dregs of society for years , with an occasional sweet little old lady who really needs your compassion and hand holding, let us know how it works for you. In reality you will spend most of your calls trying to figure out which agency needs to take charge of your pt.

The corrections system, the mental health system or the local undertaker.

My guess is you won't last very long based on the thousands of newbies I met over the decades. tough love is sometimes needed.

It's time for you to open your eyes and have a reality check sunshine.

Kristina if I remember right you are from Sac I won't bet on it but that is what my memory tells me. Go to work for AMR or another company up there and after running for days and days on end come recite your core values to us and tell us that you still believe they should be applied to your partners, all of your partners 100 percent of the time.

Edited twice for spelling and grammar

Bluntness here

If you fail all the sections of the national registry test TWICE then maybe taking the EMT Class again is a good idea.

Failing the entire national registry test, which is what she did should be looked at and the need to take the entire EMT Class again.

I can't say for certain that the OP's step daughter needs to re-evaluate her career plans but maybe she should.

I do hope the OP's step daughter does find her way though.

It's funny to see this Ruff. My cousin failled the Registry twice as well granted she did not fail all categories, when she did she came to me and said what should I do? I said first of all you should consider retaking the class. It is no shame on you it just means you need to have the knowledge reinforced. The second thing I did for her was...and I know this is going to sound strange coming from me to those of you who know me....I recommended that she join the city. It is one of the best websites out here to tap the knowledge of many skilled providers. You sometimes have to wade through the junk but it is still well worth it.

Let me break out the tissues! EMS is NOT a profession known for it’s ‘warm fuzzies’or sunshine and belly rubs. It is a tough profession and people who find humor in another’s misery or misfortune is not going to be well received.

Quote of the day right there...I have tried to stay out of this thread after being called a rookie and told that I was bullying but I have to agree with most of what Lone and others have said on this thread EMS is not known for being warm and fuzzy. If you think were being mean well then let me say this....If ya can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. In know way shape or form have I seen anyone say that working at the local burger shack or sack n suds...(you do know what those are?) was a "bad job" they have all said it just was not a job that lead to very many places...Do you think that the CEO of 7-11 worked his way ALL THE WAY up from the bottom...?

Rampart Base this is Rescue 51.

Rampart Base this is Rescue 5...1

As the Union Local's president, isn't he supposed to be pissed off at management? Actually, Pat has a way of turning a phrase.

I guess that is the Union Presidents job is to be pissed off at management. IDK I try to stay out of the politics of things it makes my professional life easier that way.

Welcome and Stay Safe...nough said.

Want to go nuts? New York County is one of the five counties comprising New York City, which is, in turn, a part of New York State.

I also mention that there is a West New York, New Jersey!

Man you can keep that Richard I thought LACo was bad.

Having watched this now that I am home and can, I must say that first all of these points are valid and second this guy was seriously pissed off at some people. (probably management)

I was to young to be involved in EMS at the time. With that being said I will never forget that day, I was in the eighth grade and had to get up along about 0500 to get ready for school. My dad had just come in from running and woke me up. He went on to take his shower and get ready for work, and as I did every morning (and still do) I would turn on the tv's to the news channel. I remember turning on CNN and seeing smoke billowing out of the first tower. I thought oh it must be an accident. I went on and took my shower and came out to see the second tower getting hit. I thought it was a replay until they pulled back and I saw smoke from both towers. I went yelling into my parents room and I said someone just started a war with us and turned on the tv in their room. That entire day in school we did nothing but watch TV I remember how shocked we were when the towers fell. I remember hearing the pentagon got hit and later learning that a personal friend was killed in the pentagon. Not only was he a personal friend but he meant a lot to my hometown, he was our star quarter back that joined the navy. Not long after that I remember waking up and seeing on the news that we had in fact gone to war and seeing the missiles launching off the ships towards land. One of the assignements I had to do that year in Social Science was a research paper I chose the attacks I had a quote from "Abraham Lincoln" asking him to compare this to the Civil War and he stated, "The heinous attack on the World Trade Center was worse than the Civil War if for no other reason than that all of those lives were innocent and lost in a single battle on a single day." As I concluded my paper I stated that I believed the terrorists had "Awoken the sleeping giant" and indeed they had.

Bring a book, a snack, and maybe even a lunch. However if you are like most thirds on a rig your crew will have rideritis and not get a damn thing all day so bring a good book.

Sorry about that. When I read LA County I didn't realize City was what was looked for. You folks in Cali have so many jurisdictions its painful LOL

lilibean if I moved you in the wrong direction, I am sorry for that.

That is a requirement as well that the OP may not have known about however, I know for a fact that the information you just posted was not as easy to find when I first got my state endorsement 3 years ago ugly so perhaps that information will help someone else in the future.

I said to myself that after being called a rookie (no it was not direct however the inent was there) I would no longer post to this thread. However, I have two more things to say about it and then I agree with Richard I hope this thread is locked.

First, I am going to make an assumption and it might come back to haunt me but eh, nothing ventured nothing gained. I would like to take a moment to thank you for not only being someone who set back EMS, but I suspect you set my generation back as a whole. I say MY generation because I don't want to include you as part of it. Some of us especially in this line of work have had to work hard to overcome the stereotypes set upon us by our elders. I for one am fortunate that most members on this forum know that I am not immature (most of the time). They also have watched me grow not only as a professional but also as a human being. Most them including me possibly have more time in rank than you and so for you to call us rookies is not only disrespectful and immature it is a slap in the face. Wait until you have seen a six month old infant die in your arms and then see if it changes your perspective on humor.

Second, and in my opinion most important IMHO is the fact that we (the members) are not the only people who read and see these forums members of the public, the general public, see these as well. That is how you have set back the industry and the generation and hurt it the most. Just the other day I was googling something so I could find some contact information to another post. When i typed in my search query the first thing that came up was a thread on another EMS website that I am a member of, you need to remember that you are always in the fishbowl as a member of a public safety group. If you are not sure what a fishbowl is than just ask.

So with that in mind I hope that you will learn from your mistakes and hopefully we can watch you grow and learn as so many have watched me and I have watched others grow and learn both professionally and humanely.

Thats great ugly but that is the State one. The one that the OP is looking for is a DOT permit Specific to LA City not the State. OP While LA County doesn't have a DOT Requirment. LA City does. That card is so that you can pick up patients in the City of Los Angeles and that is all it is for basically it is a way for the city to make a few more bucks but if you don't have that card you could have a hefty fine on your hands if you are ever pulled over in the city of LA. Also if you work for one of the mom and pop IFT companies then you need to make sure that all of the rigs have the LA City Permit sticker in the window.

Now as for some information for it let me see what I can find. I am not able to find anything other than a phone number for them which you can probably call to find out how to apply and receive it.

Los Angeles City Department of Transportation Franchise Regulation Division

100 s. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012

Tel: (213) 580-1272

Fax: (213) 580-1281

I am sorry but I fail to see the humor in this at all....I thought the first rule was to treat.

A hunter and his friend were sitting in a tall tower stand near Highway 7 early one cold December morning. Suddenly, a huge buck walked out over the corn they had spread in the low shrubs. The buck was magnificent, a once in a lifetime animal. His rack was huge.

The hunter's hand shook as his mind was already counting the Boone and Crockett points.

Moving quickly, the hunter carefully aimed the Leopold scope on his .300 Win Mag at the unsuspecting buck. As he was about to squeeze the trigger on this deer of a lifetime, his friend alerted him to a funeral procession passing slowly down Highway 7.

The hunter pulled away from the gunstock, set the rifle down, took off his hat, bowed his head and then closed his eyes in prayer. His friend was stunned, "Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen you do. You actually let that trophy deer go to pay respects to a passing funeral procession. You are indeed the kindest man I have ever known, and I feel lucky to call you a friend."

The hunter shrugged. "Yeah, well, we were married for 37 years."

I use the scope that works for the most part I like JT use an ultrascope. However just because that is the scope that works for us does not mean that it is the one that will work for you. Every individual has unique hearing abilities and challenges.

Welcome to the insane asylum known as EMS. First of all may you have many great years of this profession. Second know that you will laugh you will cry, you will have great triumphs and great lows on a personal level, this job can drive a person insane don't be ashamed to vent here. Third and most important in my opinion HAVE FUN.

There is not a whole lot I can say except that not only do I hope you prove us wrong in our assumptions due to your username choice but if you are anywhere with in my age range 18-25 I hope you prove us wrong for that as well. I am from the wonderful land of Jello (ask LoneStar) and people in this age range are looked down upon as immature snobbish rude etc. I have had to work hard to overcome that stereotype personally and professionally due to "jokes" and "humor" such as yours. For all of our sakes once again I hope you prove all of us wrong in our first impression.

I actually did have awesome instructors, and I remember them talking about it .I probably was studying while they were talking or I comprehended what they said and just forgot about it since, I didn't take the NREMT, for a long time after. So it's more of a FAIL at me for not being a good student and not paying attention.=]

+1 for admitting that it might have been a mistake on your part. Now that you have the knowledge hope to see ya on the streets some time.

I have to say that there is alot of military history in my family and while I have had no desire to serve, I have a huge respect for those who have and those who do. I feel and I maybe a bit off course in this but I feel that I am in the minority with my respect for the military in my generation. I hope and wish that I was wrong however at least in my neck of the woods there is almost the same attitude about this current war as there was Vietnam. Now granted I do live in CA where people are a little off their rockers anyway. Anyrate, Thank you LS AK and any others who I do not know about for allowing us (the civies) to hold on to all of our freedoms.

FAIL on your instructor for not covering this in class!

While I do agree CBEMT I think it might be a little bit more productive to educate this person rather than just bash on the instructor. I mean after all not everyone can have a kick ass top notch think of everything instructor.