Asysin2leads

Race, you're an EMT, a medical professional that willing puts himself in harms way as part of a tactical team. If the officers on the team think it's peachy keen to let you, a civilian that has not gone through their firearms, background checks, psychological testing, or academy, to carry an AR-15 assault rifle when he is supposed to be the 'medic', those are some stupid ass cops. As a private citizen, I accept the need for law enforcement to carry powerful guns to allow for overwhelming offensive force in a high risk area. However, you are not law enforcement, you are not a sworn officer, you are carrying this assault rifle as a tool of your primary duty, therefore, you have no right to carry a friggin' machine gun. An AR-15 is NOT a means of defense, it is a means of OFFENSE, that is why it is known as an ASSAULT rifle. Its really plain to see that you have no interest in emergency medicine, you just want a backdoor to carry a gun and play soldier. What it comes down to is I have no problem with police officers carrying guns, I have no problem with private citizens owning guns, but I have a hell of a lot of a problem with someone who thinks that because they get to wear a uniform with this job, it is perfectly okay to carry an assault rifle too. You're not going to 'make entry'. You're not going to 'do sweeps'. You're not going to perform 'hostage rescue', or any of the other things that SWAT teams do, therefore, YOU DO NOT NEED AN AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE. I really can't believe any police agency would be idiotic and short sighted enough to allow that. I think you are the best argument yet for why tactical medicine should be left in the hands of a professional, trained, sworn police officer who also has emergency medical training. Get a life before you get someone killed. (BTW, the 2nd admendment makes no provision for armed insurrection. Sorry. Also, many a times a question for civil service exams is "Have you ever advocated or been part of a group that has advocated the violent overthrow of the United States government?" Boy, you're going to have a tough time answering that one, huh?)

Okay, we've gone off topic again and looks I had a hand in again... D'OH! Anyway, I'll try and wrap it up with this. We can argue second admendment rights all night, and discuss assault rifles, 'Black Talon' bullets, Florida's new "shoot first, ask questions later" law, and a myriad of other things related to the great American past time of blowing the bejeezus out of stuff, but it is rather pointless. Maybe its time to start a new thread in the Tactical Medicine forum. While I am not completely familar with ALL of the aspects of tactical medicine, if it has gotten to the point where civilian EMT's are OK'd to go into people's houses with AR-15's, something needs to be done.

Yeah, and look at the sorry shape the Northeast is in. ATF agents are raiding our churches, and pedophiles are jumping out of the bushes right and left snatchin' up our youngsters. And only because of our inferior firepower. Oh, I rue the day anybody thought we didn't need the AR-15's! AMMMO! I NEED AMMO!! DAMN THIS GUN DOESN'T SHOOT FAST ENOUGH! SAVE US TEXANS WITH YOUR SUPERIOR GUNS! THEY'VE GOT ARTILLERY!!!!! Actually we're doin' just dandy. Maybe it's the literacy rate.

The only thing that really irritates me is the "I WILL NOT BE DISARMED!" crack. This isn't something law abiding gun owners say. This something a drunk lunatic says shortly before being tazered, pepper sprayed, or worse. It really makes you sound like someone ready to build a compound somewhere in Idaho or Waco when you come up with catch phrases like that. And if you're local law enforcement agency really is going to let you, a civilian, carry an Armalite AR-15 magazine-fed, air-cooled, autoloading centerfire rifle when you're supposed to be the medic, they really need to recheck their psychological standards. By the way, those AR-15's are kinda sorta yeah just a little illegal for us civilians to own. You'll probably be more interested in owning a perfectly legal civilian version, the XM-15 Bushmaster Semiautomatic, the same kind that champion of 2nd admendment rights, John Allen Muhammad, also known as the Beltway Sniper, used in 2002 to kill 10 people and injure 3 others. Go get 'em, tiger!

>Stations instead of Battalions Last I checked, we're actually back at 'stations' now. I'll let you know what it is next week. >EVOC with Tony F. (and now with Tony V. and Rob R.) That's Lt. Rob R. , or Lt.R.R. not to be confused with L.I.R.R.

>First Asys I wasn't attempting to hijack the glory of our fallen soldiers, as for law enforcement I am a reserve. You weren't? Coulda fooled me. The statement about the ATF and FBI coming into my Church was a statement for you ACLU card carrying liberals to point out that the previous political party in charge had faults of its' own, and it's easy to point out with the Nazism disarmament that the Clinton administration pointed towards the the people of the U.S. Then to top it off he decreased the military forces by 30% which left the country all but defenseless. Okay, so the American Civil Liberties Union... which is a private organization... has control of the FBI... and the ATF... got it. Hate to rain on your parade or maybe shake up your stereotypes a little, but I'm not a liberal, I don't belong to the ACLU, I celebrate Christmas, love my mom and dad, and even can tell you the proper care of an American flag. From your first statement though, the only people who had a problem with the ATF coming into their church in the previous administration was, well, the Branch Davidians, and if you're one of them, I think I can better understand your sentiment. You know why they decreased military forces? Because their was no more Soviet Union! Yeah! Actually, the decrease in the military started well in the Bush I administration, and continues to this day. Just ask the people who narrowly missed losing their jobs at the Groton Electric boat factory. Furthermore I do not consider myself just like the soldiers because I own guns. I own guns because I like to hunt most of my firearms have a distinct purpose, and before you veggie eating liberals get started with that. Yes, I eat what I kill and don't do it for the pleasure of taking a life. I do it as a matter of providing for my family because I do not like feeding my children meats that have been tainted with chemicals and other substances used by beef and poultry raisers in this country. Dust, I appreciate the input at least I know I am not completely alone. Well, again, there you go shooting your mouth off, forgive the expression. Again, actually, I eat meat and think Barbara Streisand should shut the f up. Surpising to you, I actually grew up on a farm, learned how to hunt, hunted, and know how to use several different firearms. But I have hard time believing that you feed your family based solely on subsistance hunting. If there isn't a steak or two in your fridge from the grocery store, I will be a might surprised. Couple of more things to consider: 1. You believe on living off the land. 2. You distrust the government. 3. You don't believe in inorganic food. You know what that makes you? About two steps away from being a hippie. Just remember that next time you go throwing around the word "liberal". And while Texas doesn't exactly qualify for this next statement, I think it bears saying. Just about everyday some southerner bitches to some other southerner about "Them veggie eating homo loving liberals in the Northeast, etc. etc," but a look at some tax revenue information is rather telling. The State of New Jersey gets a 70% return from the government on the money it pays to the federal income tax. The State of Alabama gets a 120% return on from the government on the money it pays. Guess us Yankees are good for something, huh?

Dust, never confuse dedicated law enforcement officers with gun toting Rambo types who tote shotguns to prevent them gummint ATF goons from takin' over thar churches for Jay-sus.

Well, since Mr. Coop got to post his own little poem about war, I think I should get to post mine. This is the last stanza of the poem "Dulce et decorum est", by Wilfred Owen. This stanza relates to a soldier watching his friend die of gas poisoning in World War I, told to the glory hounds and hawks he encountered on return from the front: If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. War is bad. Politicians who make war are worse. God bless anyone who picks up a gun and puts his life on the line to protect his country. Coop, we'll do fine without you keeping us safe from the bad ol' gummint thugs with their jackboots wanting to come into our churches. And as for that $5000 tax credit, I guess I must have missed my check in the mail. "I will not be disarmed." Yeah, right, I'm sure law enforcement has never seen the likes of you before. :roll:

Yeah, coop, isn't nice that you can hijack the "glory" of soldiers dying to protect this country and divert towards yourself, the sole connection you have with their sacrifice and bravery being that YOU OWN A GUN? I mean, heck, than you can put your guns on, and read the patriotically stirring poems and think "Boy, I'm just like them, because I own a GUN," and with the same breath, you get to use veiled threats against the same government agencies that these men died to protect. Let me let you in on a little secret... The government doesn't care about your church. In fact, no one really cares about your church, or your home for that matter. The thing that really pisses me off about right wing fanatics like yourself is that if you were Arabic, and spouting the same NONSENSE, calling for people to SHOOT ATF AGENTS, you would have some nice agents named Johnson and Brown knocking on your trailer to ask you a few questions.

I think I've already made my feelings pretty clear on this. I believe anyone who is an armed, tactical medic should be a sworn police officer first and foremost, until EMS brings its standards of hiring up to other agencies.

Heh, after a code where I had ripped a pair of AED pads and put ours on, I sat in the office trying to figure out for a good long time why we had two sets of cables in the Lifepak. After a about 5-10 minutes, I realized why one set of cables had an end which looked very much like the area where the pads go on the AED. D'OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Admin, can we get a warning/ban on Luke Pisswater here? He's been trolling all over the boards.

Yes, it is well known junkies of all shapes and sizes fake chronic pain to feed their habit. But a prescription will last them 30 days, or at least a couple days, depending on how they take it. However, I would really have a hard time believing that a significant amount of opiate addicts would be constantly calling 911 complaining of ACUTE pain (i.e. a broken arm, leg, rib, etc.), which is what EMS would be dealing with. I could see an argument to not allow EMS to use narcotics for chronic conditions for that reason, but use as pain management in acute settings, I really don't think you could say "If we start giving fentanyl to entrapped MVA patients, the junkies are going to start crashing their cars to get the drugs."

I can only say that your reaction is not an uncommon one. In many ways, suicide is just so selfish that it becomes unbearable. Its understandable that you get angry at suicides, or even suicidal people, because you find it conflicts with your sense of being altruistic, or giving to others. Try and remain objective, don't compare them to your own personal experiences, as hard as it may be. IMHO, suicides give off a bad vibe in general. I have yet to work a suicide scene where everyone from the crew to the cops to bystanders don't start acting uptight, tense, and short tempered.

You know, I always see the "abuse in urban settings" hogwash come up in discussions of pain control. First off, junkies do not call 911 to get a shot of morphine. Theymight ROB the ambulance to get the morphine, but they ain't gonna call 911 repeatedly reporting pain and have their habit sustained by EMS crews. Heroin addiction is way to powerful to rely on something that elaborate, as is the addicition to benzodiazipines. There will be many many many more stolen prescription pads and liquor store hold ups even if you relaxed the standards for narcotics administration than phony calls for pain by a heroin addicted person. Secondly, just as an urban dweller, I like to point out LIKE IT OR NOT CRIME, JUNKIES, AND ADDICTION HAPPEN IN MIDDLE AMERICA TOO! What, you think no ones getting high in places with less police presence?

FUNNY IT SEEMS THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS A PROBLEM WITH MY CAPS LOCK I TYPE LIKE THIS SO FELLOW MY MEMBERS CAN SEE IT MORE CLEARLY - AS FOR THE WHOLE ALS vs. BLS SITUATION THOSE WERE QUESTIONS AND OPINIONS - I DO TAKE YOUR STATEMENT THE WRONG WAY ITS OFFENSIVE AND ONLY THAT OF AND ASS WOULD SAY SUCH A THING. - SO NEXT TIME YOU POST SOMETHING THAT A DEEP BREATH, THINK

PRPG, Let me put it this way. The rules are very clear on the EMT/Paramedic relationship, that the paramedic ultimately has responsibility for the care provided for the patient. If the EMT screws up, the paramedic gets burned. That's why unless the patient was completely and utterly 100% stable and I knew the EMT to be 100% competent, I would run it as EMT-Driver/EMT-passenger, whether it was ALS or a BLS call.

I think if the Mensa Medic thing went through, it would be as a classmate once put it "EMT-D... Driver, EMT-P...Passenger"

I'm licensed to carry an M-388 Davy Crocket nuclear recoilless rifle, concealed.

EDP, don't take this the wrong way, but you're a moron when it comes to the whole ALS vs. BLS thing. First off, as my esteemed colleague from Texas pointed out, a paramedic IS in charge, ALWAYS (in lieu of a physician) when it comes to patient care decisions. If the Mensa medic thing went through, it would be a real case of medic says, EMT does, without question, because if they didn't, it would be disobeying a direct order, which would result in charges, termination, flogging, etc. Secondly, exactly what is the problem with EMS spending money on ALS equipment? I mean, are you one of the holdouts for flying ambulances? Before you post next time, do a couple of steps, such as taking a deep breath, THINKING, maybe actually reading up on what the hell you are talking about, turning your caps lock off, and THEN trying to put together something that is somewhere near a coherent sentence. Okay? Thanks .

You know, I'd love to see these guys sitting around scratching their chins, reading their medical textbooks, and playing Colombo M.D. searching for the exact cause while they have an actively seizing patient spitting up a mixture of saliva, blood, and vomit all over a hysterical families living room.

Well, lol, no "official" way to penalize false alarms, wink wink nudge nudge.

Honestly, Dust, I think more good could be done by rewriting dispatch protocol so a medic unit doesn't get tied up on an "unconscious" for a passed out drunk or a "pediatric respiratory distress" for a kid with a runny nose in terms of getting more ALS to ALS calls. Secondly, the department is not doing it because they really are concerned that people who need ALS aren't getting it. If they were that concerned, they's open upa few more spots for the voluntaries to fill in. No, they are doing it for the bottom line, and the bottom line is you can still bill Medicare (and most insurances) for ALS1 and ALS2 rates when you are only using one medic. You know why having two medics on a unit is a good idea? Because believe it or not, medics can have a bad day. Who's going to correct the sleepy medic at 3 a.m. when he's about to push 0.3mg of Epinephrine through and I.V.? The EMT? He won't know if its the right thing to do or not. Mistakes happen, sometimes you forget a protocol, sometimes you look at a an EKG and just go "What the F???" Unless Medical Control wants us to start sending them EKG's and getting their opinion, that is really going to cut into quality patient care. The department doesn't care about good patient care enough even to buy us glucometers. Don't think for a second they are pushing for Mensa medic to get more ALS units on the streets.

Walking into work for my first station 4th of July barbecue, I see a strange puddle of water in the hallway. I hear some soggy footsteps coming around the corner, and there stands my poor captain, in full uniform, drenched from head to feet. It literally looked like she had gotten into the shower with her clothes on. Her only words to me as she passed was "You'd better watch out, they're really in a mood today." What's a 4th of July barbecue without a Supersoaker, anyway?

You'd have a lot of FDNY medics leaving to work at the voluntaries. Higher pay, more flexible schedule, plus you get to work with another medic, rather than, as on medic put it some "Wannabe firefighter with a yellow patch." "For over 1,000 generations the medics were the guardians of peace and justice in the city. Before the dark times, before the mensa medic program. A young medic named Darth McFarlen, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the department hunt down and destroy the medics. McFarlen was seduced by the dark side of the budget commitee." ----------Paramedic Kenobi