jtward01

The discussion of arming FD and EMS crews under special circumstances has absolutely nothing to do with wanting to look cool. It is about being able to protect yourself, your co-workers and your patients when law enforcement is unable to do so. If you want to be a sheeple (sheep + people = sheeple) and let the wolves run wild, well be my guest. Me, I want to make sure I can bite back.

Excuse me, but President Bush had only been in office for less than eight months when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked. It's been the policies of this country, under Republicans and Democrats alike, that have fostered the hatred of America that is seen in many places around the world. Remember, the last two attacks on Iraq before 9/11 were ordered by Bill Clinton, not Bush. I disagree with Bush on many things, stem cell research funding among them, but I do not blame him for 9/11. The next big terrorist attack, and there will be one, eventually, can be blamed on him and the invasion of Iraq, but not 9/11.

Evacuation planning is a local responsibility. The evacuation plan for the city of New Orleans made NO mention of using any public transportation resources to evacuate those residents who had no means to evacuate on their own. The officials were aware of this oversight because a draft of a new emergency plan includes using buses in the evacuation but the new plan had not yet been adopted so the buses remained in their parking lots. Here in Florida each site designated as an evacuation shelter is stocked year around with non-perishable food and water. This is a local responsibility. Apparently, in New Orleans, none of the shelters had supplies pre-positioned. FEMA, by law, is designed to support the efforts of local officials, not to move in and take over. It must wait for the governor to ask the president to declare that a state of emergency exists before it can mobilize. In Louisiana the hurricane hit on Monday, the levee broke on Tuesday, the governor made the formal request on Wednesday. By Friday supplies and troops started reaching the city. That's 48 hours after the request, well within what is considered acceptable by most emergency managers. That's why officials always say you should have several days worth of food and water in your personal emergency supplies, because they know it will take that long. The system worked as it was designed. Does it need to be changed? Damned right, it does. Every designated shelter should required by law to be stockpiled with enough MREs to provide four meals (two per day for two days) to as many people as that shelter is authorized to hold, plus a two day supply of water. As soon as a disaster occurs the President should be able to declare martial law, federalize the national guard and order troops and FEMA personnel into the area. FEMA should stockpile additional emergency supplies at various locations around the country so that by the time the initial two-day supply at the shelters is exhausted additional food and water will be arriving. There should be designated "special needs" shelters for people with chronic medical problems. These shelters should be stockpiled with the most commonly prescribed medications, i.e., insulin, lasix, nitro, asthma inhalers, etc. Certainly there's no way to keep every med that every person might need, but keeping just the most basic would save lives. There is far more that can be done than can be listed here, but the point is, this should be a wake up call to this nation and some deep fundamental changes in how we plan to deal with disasters in sorely needed.

Being a Florida resident I've probably had a bit more exposure to Jeb Bush than most of the other folks on this board. Although the one time I met him in person I wasn't impressed, he certainly seems more intelligent and sincere than his big brother. I don't believe he's mature enough or experienced enough to do a good job as president, nor would his wife be an ideal First Lady. I don't know if it got much press outside of Florida, but right after he became Gov. his wife got in some hot water for going on a shopping spree in Paris and then not declaring about $35,000 in purchases when she came through US Customs. Although Jeb apologized, and was clearly really pissed at her, her attitude was very much like taxes are only for "the little people." Nor can I think of any charity or public improvement project she's been involved with. Hillary Clinton, to me, is nothing but a phoney. If she wanted to run for the Senate why didn't she return to her home state and run? Maybe because the people there know her too well? Certainly because even a junior senator from New York gets more press than any senator from Arkansas. I was stunned to find out that there was no residency time requirement to run for the US Senate in New York. You would think that a person should be required to live in an area for at least a few years before being allowed to represent that area in Congress. No, I'm afraid I'd have to write in Osama Bin Lauden long before I would ever vote for Hillary Clinton. I just pray that both parties manage to find better candidates than we've been offered over the past 15 years or so.

An alternative to wearing a badge we used at Martin County EMS was to wear the agency insignia on one sleeve, the America flag on the other and either an EMT or paramedic patch above the left breast pocket in place of a badge. FD did wear a badge on their Class A uniforms. When on duty they could wear either their Class A shirt or a department issued T-shirt with the FD insignia on the left breast and large MCFD letters on the back. Even those guys who preferred to wear the Class A shirt around the station (mostly supervisors) usually wore the T-shirt underneath and would pull the Class A shirt off before pulling on their bunker gear.

I got to thinking about this issue a bit and it dawned on me that a badge is a symbol of authority, not just arrest powers. And there are certainly times in EMS work where you need to exert some authority, particularly when dealing with bystanders. I realize that usually we don't really have much if any legal authority (although in some places FFs do have arrest powers at emergency scenes if a person is interfering) but sometimes a firm voice and attitude is enough. Other times it's not, and you don't always have PD with you. People are accustomed to following the orders of someone with a badge so I can see where it could be an advantage to wear one.

Here's a source for an EMS badge, instead of the EMT badge sold by Galls. http://www.firestoreonline.com/index.asp?P...amp;ProdID=1922 At Broward County (FL) EMS we wore light blue shirts with badges and collar insignia during the day, and dark blue jumpsuits with reflective trim at night. BCEMS issued everything but your socks and underwear, including shoes, belt, three sets of uniform shirts and slacks, jumpsuit, rain gear and a cold weather jacket. At the first rescue squad I ran with we wore hospital style smocks with uniform pants, then we switched to light blue scrub tops with dark blue pants. We had a squad insignia patch on the scrub shirt pocket. This was my favorite uniform of all and really made the medical connection. BTW, in Florida municipal EMS employees are considered public safety officers and are covered by the same state-funded hazardous duty benefits as firefighters and police officers.

Exactly. My parents divorced when I was three months old and I never met him. When I finally began to wonder about that side of the family it was too late, he had died. I wish now I had tried to locate him earlier. You have an opportunity here, don't waste it.

Please, take some flying lessons. My wife used to be scared to fly with me but after she took some lessons she started really enjoying our flights together. You don't need to get a license, my wife didn't, she just took enough training so she really began to understand the physics of flight and accepted the fact that light airplanes don't just drop like bricks if the engine quits. Before I quit flying (health problems) she got to where she enjoyed stalls, spins, pulling two to three positive Gs and flying parabolic arcs where we'd get a few seconds of weightlessness.

What do you do to relieve the stress of dealing every day with people in life threatening situations? I used to rent a plane and go flying or spend a couple hours on the pistol range. Both require a lot of concentration and push other concerns to the side, at least for awhile.

I don't know if the scientists have evolution quite right, but I sure can't swallow creationism. That just makes no sense to me. Sounds more like something someone made up to explain what they didn't understand. I do believe in God and divine guidance, so why couldn't God have direction man's evolution?

My baby. 1969 Mustang Mach 1, Gulfstream Aqua Blue, 428ci CobraJet, 345hp, 4-speed transmission. I bought this car new in '69 for $3,674. Other than belts, hoses, filters, battery and tires the car is all original, right down to the AM radio.