CHOOSE YOUR MENTOR WISELY!!

If you take a look around our department right now you will notice that we, as is the entire fire service, getting younger and younger. You will also notice that we are having a lot of brothers and sisters leaving our department for one reason or another (retirements, other departments). I am very lucky to work at a station where many of our younger firefighters come through to learn and gather some experience. For the most part I can see that these men and women are eager to soak up any knowledge that is afforded to them. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but on a whole most are very eager to become better at this profession we call Fire Fighting. This always reminds me that we have a great opportunity to mold these men and women into solid firefighters. Now I am not talking about producing clones, I am talking about helping them become better at their job each and every day. With every call they make they get experience that cannot be found in any book.

So why did I title this article CHOOSE YOUR MENTOR WISELY? Well because you see my young firefighters, you are the star players. You are the Michael Jordan's, you are the Walter Payton's, you are the Alex Rodriguez's. The difference is you have been assigned your team and your teammates, these are the men and women from you company and battalion. These are the men and women you will be taking the field with. But there is something special that you have that those superstars didn't have. You have the ability to choose your coach or mentor. You see they were assigned their team and their coaches, you get to choose. Now some of you will be saying that you were assigned a captain and chief, yes this is true. This is not to say that they have to be your mentor or coach. Your coach or mentor is decided by you and only you. This should be someone that you look up to, that can provide you with knowledge and experience along with the correct guidance. MAKE YOUR CHOICE WISELY BECAUSE IT WILL DETERMINE WHAT KIND OF CAREER YOU WILL HAVE!

Now let's be honest here, not every firefighter should be a mentor or a coach. Not every firefighter wants to or is looking to be a mentor and that is fine. So just remember there is no rush for you to pick the mentor that is going to help you become a better firefighter. Your first year or two should be spent learning your departments policies and procedures. Make sure you know what they want you to do and how they want you to do. As long as you have someone around that is half way competent in their job, they can teach you those basics and you will be just fine. First and foremost you need to make sure that you have and keep your job. But when it comes to picking your mentor or coach this is something totally different. You need to take the time and look around. See who really has a passion for this job, not just comes works and goes through the motions. You want to find the person that takes that extra time to polish the truck and cleans the tools even after everyone else is sitting enjoying their coffee. You want to find the person that can answer almost any question you throw at them and if they can't they will take the time to find the answer for you. This is the person that might join in the daily airing of problems in the department, but then turns around and provides actual solutions to those problems. Your choice for mentor or coach should be someone that LOVES this job.

Again let's be honest here, some of our brothers and sisters never choose a mentor or a coach. These people go through the beginning of their career thinking they have everything figured out. They figured they have learned enough to get them by and anything else they need will be found in department drills or policies. That is most likely why you are even reading this post in the first place. You are searching for more then what is found written on a piece of paper. The problem with that is that there is so much more to learn in this profession, stuff you can't learn in a drill or by reading a policy. Now you don't have to limit your mentors or coaches to just one. I have had and still have multiple mentors to this very day. Pick up what you need from as many people as you need. Everyone has something to offer, that is a fact. With that being said, it is proven that you can learn the bad just as easy as you learn the good. SO CHOOSE YOUR MENTOR OR COACH WISELY! Find a couple of solid firefighters in this profession that you can go to on a consistent basis for good advice. Remember you are the star of the team, so picking your coach is a big decision. DON"T WASTE IT. And to you mentors and coaches out there, you know who you are, realize that is an honor to be chosen. SO ACT LIKE IT!

Look around and make the choice that is best for you and then go out there and learn all you can and play or work your ass off. Because one day soon you just may be the mentor or coach that some young fireman is choosing...