Scott has been a firefighter for 24 years, as well as a medic, his page and his podcast are dedicated. To continuing and bettering fire traditions and the service as a whole. I first heard of Scott and multiple calls when I read his “50 Rules for the Senior Firefighter. An extensive yet not exhaustive list of rules that can guide a firefighter as he or she progresses into the longevity of a fire career.
Scott’s work has grown to include the “25 Rules for the Fire Service Instructor and his new project “The Connected Warrior”. We spend time discussing all three. But spend the majority of the time with the connected warrior. A huge, thanks to Scott for taking time from his busy schedule to sit down and spend time talking with me. It never ceases to amaze me when people are this generous with their time.
Multiple Calls Podcast
https://multiplecalls.squarespace.com/
Registration Link for The Connected Warrior
https://multiplecalls.squarespace.com/registration
MCP Show
Stack: Welcome to another episode of the things we all carry. In this world of podcast and social media, there are a few pages and names that I recognize for what they are. Multiple calls. Podcast is one that I have followed for a while now and aligns with many of my thoughts. This week, I was awarded the opportunity to sit and have a conversation with Scott.
Scott has been a firefighter for 24 years, as well as a medic, his page and his podcast are dedicated. To continuing and bettering fire traditions and the service as a whole. I first heard of Scott and multiple calls. When I read his 50 rules for the senior firefighter. An extensive yet not exhaustive list of rules that can guide a firefighter as he or she progresses into the longevity of a fire career.
Scott’s work has grown to include the 25 rules for the fire service instructor and his new project. The connected warrior. We spend time discussing all three. But spend the majority of the time with the connected warrior. A huge, thanks to Scott for taking time from his busy schedule to sit down and spend time talking with me. It never ceases to amaze me when people are this generous with their
A quick reminder to please help us build a community which not only recognizes, but supports each other through the struggles and recovery. Reach out through Instagram at the things we all carry or email.
My story@thethingsweallcarry.com to offer support and share your story. Please remember to leave a review on iTunes and give a shout out to any first responder, you know, love or care about y’all enjoy the show.
scott. Hewlett, how you doing?
MCP: .I’m. Doing really well. Thanks for having me.
Stack: Oh man. Thanks for coming on. This is an honor and I I’m happy to have you. So if maybe you can go into a little bit of your background, where you’re from, how you grew up, what you’re doing now and then we’ll get into it.
MCP: Sure. I’m in Ontario, Canada. I grew up in a small town mom and dad and my younger sister. Pretty standard childhood. All just giving away my age, pre-internet and pre phones and social media and all that. So it was like a lot of people you talk to my age group, it’s, it was a lot of playing outside and trying to stay to trouble and.
A lot less helicopter parenting as tends to go on now. Yeah, so school wasn’t great for me. There was a lot of bullying and that I didn’t find school that tough. Like I, I found the academic side pretty easy. But as it went on through high school, I tended to maybe, Try a little less hard.
was trying to maybe fit in and that was a li a life lesson too as I went on, that, I talked now about not letting people steal a day or career away from you. And think back to school years and maybe that school years were stolen from me, where I could have, just focused more on school and had that tighter inner circle or more self-awareness or self-compassion, and it would’ve gone a different way.
But when you’re a kid, you don’t really have that, that 30,000 foot view yet. And your peer pressure and people around you are really important to you. And then all like people do say when they look back, it all shaped you is to be who you are today and why you’re doing what you’re doing.
So I find, just even getting into the job like that was really where my, not only just for my parents and their upbringing and the caring and compassion you had for me, but that made me very caring, compassion person too. For especially people that were in need or underdogs or Yeah.
Needing help. And obviously all. Drove me to where I am, so I’m not gonna look back on it, poorly, all poorly. But it was difficult. Yeah. Far as getting into the fire service. I’ve worked since I was 13. I had your, your basic jobs working at a. Harbor store and the local bowling alley and all those things you do as a kid around, in a small town.
And then a buddy of mine and I ended up getting into ski patrolling at our local ski resort. A small hill, it’s on a mountain, is more of a hill than a mountain. But basically just cause we wanted to ski for free and we couldn’t afford to, bypass bypasses every single year. And then just found out that it was great.
You’re outside. You’re helping people out. And I found I was drawn to it. And then my dad was on the same department I’m on now. He never really pushed it on me but I, was always there as an option. So I think eventually those two things came together and I realized that it was the direction for me is where I was supposed to be.
It’s what got me excited and what I wanted to be involved with. Started going down the path of the process of hiring and. Testing and all that. There was a hiring freeze. I started when I was 19. Trying to get on, didn’t really have much at that point. And a few interviews made that clear.
I ended up traveling actually down to Florida and went to the community college in St. Petersburg and got my EMT basic down there, and then eventually wrote the national exam before I came back home. And at that point, one of the departments, the department with now, they called me back and said, Hey, are you still interested in the job?
And of course I took them up on it. Yeah. So I started in 98 and then I was supposed to start into, Get my paramedic diploma up here. Cause obviously I only had the one from the states so I could be accredited and work up here. I was actually scheduled to accepted to be in September of 98. But I deferred that cause I obviously got the job in July and then I promised myself that I would go back to school full time to get that.
Cause I wanted to do both jobs. I wanted to be involved in both jobs. As a medic, as a firefighter, I maybe hoping down the way that I’d be able to be, maybe do a fire medic thing or just do both jobs separately. See, I, when I became first class a few years later, I went back to school, used all my vacation, all my lu days, shift changes and just, know, I was young and had time and sleep really wasn’t a thing.
So I could just, go work, school, work school, work, school, and eventually got that done. And then I worked part-time as etic for six years. And then before my oldest daughter was born decided that I was gonna be a little too much, just working so many shifts and they’re starting to ask for more and more.
So I ended up letting that go and just focusing on fire. And then throughout my fire career, I’ve spent time instructing in and fire skills and live fire. Rich, the. Here and there. I spent some time in the training division for three and a half years, and I spent quite a long time on our peer support team too.
been the arc of from childhood and growing out to being involved in department and what I’ve been involved in since I got on. So that’s
Stack: what is 24 years then?
MCP: It’s 2020 fourth. Yeah. I and I know we, I think I’ve mentioned this before, either on posts or on podcast or on my own.
I get why we talk about like how many years you’ve been on it’s kinda a measure, but at the same time I think you and I both know it’s kinda not right. I know people do ask like how long you’ve been on, cause I guess, being on one year, 24 years, there is some difference, right?
You have had a different experience, but I think we both know that if you do the same crappy first year, 24 times, it doesn’t really mean anything. And I’ve, I’ve, as you go on, and if you are paying attention to yourself and your career, you realize it is true. It’s not cliche that the more stuff you focus on and try and learn, the more you realize what you really don’t know.
So you get, you should get more and more humbled as you go on, and you get more and more expectation. Responsibility put on you. Yeah, I’m glad I going into the training division really woke me up that way. Like I was, I did always have a good work ethic and I did always love the job and I was always keen, but when you went, when I went into the training division, I had that wow, I really had to dive into things because I was teaching a number of modalities and not say just the medical side, which I was really comfortable with and I realized what I should have known for all those years and what maybe stuff, I got lucky at calls where I should have done this and should have done that, but it was just pure luck.
Got through it. So that was really a, an eye opening experience. That blood drained from your head. Oh, this is what this is. And then I really started to dive deep into what this was about. And I had the option to go to F D I and I had the opportunity to take no forward. And then it was just this the floodgate’s open for me.
And I’ve just been trying to play catch up ever since. So where
Stack: what are you riding now? What’s your position?
MCP: I’m in a two truck hall. I’ve spent most of my careers, most of my career at two truck hall. And right now we have a, what would you guys would call an engine and a ladder? We call it a pumper in an area.
Okay. And we rotate through every position. I’m a back, I ride back step. I haven’t promoted, and I have my reasons why that is. But we rotate through all the positions, other positions other than that cotton spot. So we drive. Rotate between trucks both spots on the back. There are rolls on the trucks, wherever you are and on the apparatus.
So we have to be a bit of a, jack of all trades, master of hopefully a couple. But the ladders, like all our ladders have water on the hose on them so we don’t have engines and trucks, right? So technically I do engine work and I do truck. And then some days I could be on the move or do a shift change and I’m on a squad, right?
So you really do have to pay attention and there’s pros and cons, right? You do get more experience in a lot of different areas, but you do have such a massive amount of things to stay good at where, I do really see the benefit of what I see as more of the. The majority American model is you’re on the engine, you’re on, you’re a Noman, and you just perfect that and you know exactly what you’re doing when you get off.
And I think there’s, the more and more I look at it, the more I think that’s beneficial. But this model definitely keeps you on your toes, .
Stack: It’s funny you say that because in my department we’re assigned to a unit and, but we get what we call detailed. So we get sent somewhere that they need to basically put an ass in a seat and yeah, you’ve gotta be ready, like you said to switch gears.
And you go in one day thinking you’re gonna ride to heavy rescue, and then the next minute, you’re riding. The bucket position and you’re pulling the line for the day and that’s what happened to me. I was like, Okay, I’m going in, I’m gonna ride this and then go in to find out, No, I’m gonna go ride an engine.
And I’m riding in, like you said, the back step of an engine and now I’m of going over my head, Okay, now I gotta switch gears. Now I gotta remember which line am I pulling first? What am I doing? And then it also goes into simple things cuz we’re a combined system, fire and ems. So it goes into, I gotta think about my EMS skills as well, and I’m switching gears because we’re doing more EMS on the engine than I ever do on the rescue,
MCP: Right?
Yeah. Yeah. If you’re bored. It’s your own fault. Exactly. Even driving the trucks, right? I could drive the, Or drive the A or drive the pump, and those are all different. Oh yeah. It’s all different mentalities, so it does, Yeah. I don’t understand how guys or girls, say guys in general can be bored or.
Or not be excited to be in or switched on because there’s just so much to, to pay attention to. So I was reading that’s enough just to try and keep up. I
Stack: was reading through your bio on your website, and you talk about the the senior firefighter that you first experienced on your, I think it was on your first shift you said, and the thing he told you was to, or he recommended, was to take a journal of all the. . And that, and happenings around the department or the station. Because then it, the point being that there would be stories to tell. And you even say that, and we all carry them. And which jumped out at me especially since the name of the podcast is the Things We All Carry.
Have you done that? Have you written that stuff down?
MCP: No I think that in that write up there was some mention of it’s in that course I didn’t do it right. So it was like, looking back, it’s one of the things I should have done. I’ve never really been one to journal even though I definitely see the benefit of it.
But yeah, I think we do. Definitely. There are stories that still stay with you and you carry, funny or, some are hard and difficult to process and meet them last night at the hall, right? We happened to have a certain combination of people last night then, and we stopped talking about a call we were on that was, was funny in some ways and a little bit concerning in others.
And just after dinner we just end up telling the story and it was great. It was just, it was a great fire hall moment, right? That it seems cliche, but there you’re eating dinner together and you’re talking and telling stories and the learning and the laugh and the lessons that come out of it are all awesome.
I think that’s part of the driver of the podcast too, right? Is this idea to capture stories and to help tell stories and to lay things down that are permanent. So maybe for me it’s not as much in written form, but it’s more in the verbal. So it’s, for me, the podcast is as much a journal for myself as it is for allowing other people to.
To lay down their stories and there it is. And people can listen and learn from them as they wish.
Stack: So let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the podcast. What’s, tell people the name of it, Tell ’em what the, go little more in depth on what you’re doing there and let’s get people, let’s get some traction there.
Sure.
MCP: Yeah, call them multiple calls. I had, I guess to back up, I, when I was in the training division, teaching recruit classes, a few people had mention. Have you thought about writing a book or, you should do a podcast? And I didn’t really even, I knew of podcasts, but I really wasn’t into them at that point.
I lived very close to work, so I didn’t have these long drives commuting where I was gonna be needing to fill time. So it was more so that seed got dropped in my mind. And then when I moved farther away from work and was commuting about an hour, so that I wanted to, make use of that drive time and not just put it put on music.
So I started seeking a podcast and found a few that I really enjoyed and the style of them. And then, obviously wow, are there any firefighting podcasts? So I did a search and found a couple, and there weren’t a lot at that point. And then initially you kind had that feeling like, Oh, someone’s already doing this.
missed the boat again, right? Someone had the thought too late and someone’s already doing it. But the more I listened and the more I actually talked to the, a couple of people that were doing. I realized I think, I can be a seat at the table here. There’s something I can bring that’s not treading over the same path that they’ve already done.
Like, why redo what they’re doing Great in a great way. But I can bring something unique here. I can add to the conversation. There’s plenty of room in the pool. And now to see more and more podcasts coming up, the more I see the better. I think it’s like I, I love sharing. Podcasts that are out there.
Another episode. It’s really, that’s what the IG page is a lot of is when you scroll through everything that’s on there. It’s that’s me, right? It’s me putting myself out there. Like I don’t have a personal page anymore, but it’s things that resonate with me. Things that I think are important, things that I think have helped shaped me.
So I think this might also benefit someone else out there. So that’s why I put it. But yeah, just to back up, so when I moved, farther north and I was commuting and also I had a friend, I friends up here and brothers and the one brother has a, had a studio or still has the studio in his basement.
And and everything was right there. So it was this, there’s no excuses, right? It was all laid up before me and say, Here’s an opportunity if you want to do this, you. And then I just decided to start, start with friends and got people on the department that I know and comfortable speaking with.
And and I just love the fact that you can put something out there and you don’t. It’s no one’s forced to listen to it. You can create it and. Put it together how you want. It’s, I see them as kinda like pieces of, it’s almost like a piece of art or a gift to the people that I’m recording with.
Here is something that you can be proud of. I want you to, be really happy with this and cherish this. And it’s like a document for you. And looking back. And even recording with my dad at an episode with my dad, I’m obviously, that was pretty special on a number of levels. Yeah, that’s what it’s been about.
I call the multiple calls. I think on the website. Website I describe that as, when we hear that term, and I still do hear it used now and then about, when you’re going on a run and it’s more likely to be something legitimate, right? It’s wow, there’s multiple calls on this.
Something’s legitimate. So it’s something we get excited about. And then we talk briefly just before about years on and experience, and for me, multiple calls is what experience is built on. And. I, you can go to multiple calls and not be paying attention and not know very much. So you really don’t know what you’re looking at, so you’re not gonna get the most outta it.
But if you paying attention, you in the game and you are starting to trying to learn when you go on a lot of calls, you can pull a lot from that. So that’s what experience is pulled from real experience. So that’s kind why the name landed the way it did. And then I was doing everything on my own for the first few years.
And the editing and the look of it had some help with, friends taking pictures that I could use to, to for the look of the podcast and now that’s grown. There’s Matt of premium mix marketing has stepped up and has been helping me, so much as part of the team for the look of the podcast and the feel of it.
He’s a volunteer in Southern Ontario here as well. And same with Brad Shay. He’s in a different department. But he’s doing all the editing. Just a fantastic job. Like we just organically these really good people that were, are like tribe, they’re like friend. They’re friends and family.
They just, it just came together. And then now more recently with Hailey Green and structuring logistically like the scheduling for these webinars we started doing and and more stuff on the website. And she’s gonna be helping out with social media too, and working with Matt. So this whole thing is just kind.
Grown in this organic way where it hasn’t been forced. I’ve never wanted to feel like a job or like I have to do it. I’ve always wanted to be enjoyable and pace it properly and not worry about, obviously you want to grow it so people can get access to it and to use these amazing stories that people have to tell.
But it’s never been a driving factor for me to. Go viral and become known or for any of those reasons I just think I really wanna stick to this energy that, this vibe that it’s the foundation behind it is just keep doing it for the reasons why you started and if it’s meant to be and it’s meant to grow at will.
So I think we’re just good with maintaining that pace and. It’s looking to keep it creative and keep it fun and and keep it meaningful that,
Stack: that that growth, that organic growth. And if it’s meant to be, it’ll grow. And if it’s, not really chasing it, those are wise words for someone who to somebody thinking to start it first.
An Instagram page or community or a podcast, is once you start chasing it, you, like you said, it becomes a job and it becomes, I. I you start to look at as a job and it’s not a passion anymore. And that chasing it is really key because I had someone who runs a different podcast tell me, Don’t even look at your numbers.
Don’t look at downloads. And, And we all do. We all look at our downloads cuz we’re interested in seeing what they are. But his advice was, sure don’t, because that’s not what you’re at. You’re just wanna get your content.
MCP: Yeah, and Matt’s been really great at reframing that for me along the way.
If I end up, talking about it and I’ve had a number of people, regularly, it’ll be messages, maybe I would say monthly of people that have impacted by it and have got great value out of it, and it’s been helpful and they’re encouraging. It’s been helpful to them and the content’s been enjoyable and Matt was saying, that’s what you need to hang your hat on.
And I also had another friend say very pointedly You have a few of these people reaching out to you. So you have to imagine all the people that feel the same way, that aren’t reaching out to you just because they just don’t, they just don’t do it. That’s just, they don’t feel the urge to do that or feel like maybe you won’t respond for whatever reason.
They’re just not putting it down in words, but it’s. Around you. And again, we’re all of us that are trying to do this for the right reasons. We’re yeah we’re all benefiting people in small ways. And whether they listen to you or they listen to me or all of them, it doesn’t make a difference.
It’s just everyone’s we gotta just keep this momentum moving forward. And it’s just really a medium. In this fast paced society and the way it is and things are changing, I think it’s almost incumbent on us. It’s like a responsibility for us to Yeah, to keep this proper. Energy moving forward and honor the people that have done the work before us.
This is almost part of the work that we have as our generation to carry it forward to the next generation. The other
Stack: word you, the other word you used in that, that, that statement above was tribe, and I love the word tribe. It’s such a good way to put it, , it’s family, but it’s, it tribe is a little bit more than family.
I think even it’s a, it is a larger umbrella.
MCP: Very. Yeah, very much I think we can all agree there’s a great thing I’ve shared a few times and it resonates with me is don’t expect everyone to like you cuz you don’t like everybody. And I think that’s true. There’s probably a number of firefighters on my department that maybe aren’t a fan of me, but they would probably be okay with they would be happy going into the house fire.
We’re not gonna have beers, we’re not friends. Like we would hang out, but we have a mutual working respect for each other and being able to do the job so I think that’s okay. That’s just because. Not every family, everyone’s shiny, happy and gets along. There’s so many variations of what family means.
Cause like you’re saying, tribe is, are those people that like, okay, I align. Like we, As soon as you meet them, it’s like we align. Yes. And we need those people too. I think we need to recognize ourselves and others. And others see themselves and us. And it’s a different level of connection.
I think both are valuable. Yeah, tribe
Stack: is, I think tribe goes back to that that corny like, Oh, you get me kind of thing. .
MCP: Yeah. And I think we could also see as tribes as like warring tribes. That’s my tribe of your tribe, and like the separation. But I think it more of mine, like you’re saying that intimate heart, like you get me kind of thing.
Not as in us versus them. I always think of as an inward thing as opposed to an outward
Stack: thing, which is the, Yeah, definitely the positive spin. And that’s the way that I’d like to look at it as well.
MCP: Yeah, and I think even with the word, I’m very big on words and their meaning and their impact. Obviously doing a podcast, like I think wording really makes a difference, right?
In how you frame things. But even the idea of rogue, right? Where a rogue or a rebel or a disruptor, I think I’ve heard that used before. Change maker. I remember posting not too long ago, but how, every rogue that they’re drilling by themselves on the apparatus floor or on the training ground.
They all wish that they, everyone was with them. Do you know what I mean? All the rogues, it seems like a cool, edgy, outlier kind of thing. But we all. Really want everyone to be rolling in the same direction. We do want to feel that full family, like we would all prefer that if we could have it, but if you can’t and you’re in a crew or a department or whatever that doesn’t align with you and from other peer peers and tribes maybe that are even informal through the service that you’re, you are in the right direction.
You’re not just outlier because you’re an asshole. That’s different.
Stack: Yeah, I I would say if you’re an asshole, you’re not an outlier. You’re just an
MCP: outcast. Exactly. Yeah. So what I’m saying is if you know in your heart you’re aligned with the right purpose and you’re doing this rogue stuff because, you’re trying to align with the greater tribe Fire services, trying to do the right thing.
My point is that that’s, we’d all rather it be, we’d all rather not be rogues. Let’s just put it that way. Like we’d all rather. Looking around the kitchen table and everyone is aligned, that’s not always the case. So I think that’s why that idea exists. But we’d all prefer to be aligned with everybody.
That’s the better feeling
Stack: and kinda make rogue mainstream.
MCP: Yeah. In a way. And I think maybe that’s what we’re trying to do, right? Like I think really that’s the goal with all of us that are trying to, if we feel that the ratio was off between the people that care and the people that don’t, I don.
What’s behind the rogue idea is like even just speaking with Mark , right from fully evolved. That’s really where that term, rogue and the fire service came at least through for me when I saw him using that. Yeah, that idea that if we can all get enough rogues together, then eventually that just becomes the culture.
And we wanna keep this culture moving forward. Otherwise what are you doing? You’re just sitting back and doing nothing and watching the landslide of the culture just change and not in a good way. Maybe we won’t change it. Maybe the ratio will, there is the possibility. Are we the generation that’s gonna lose the fire service?
Sure. That’s a possibility. But I don’t think any of us wanna sit back and just say, We didn’t. So for me, I don’t really think we have the full responsibility of changing the face of the fire service, and that’s way too lofty. I think all you can do, just even when you’re mentoring and teaching people, all you can do is put information in front of them.
Like other people put information in front of you and you’re either gonna do something like it or you’re not, and it’s not their responsibility to change you. There’s. That idea that if you think of how hard it is to change yourself and you realize how hard it’s to change other people. So nothing that I’m doing is ever worth thinking about.
Like I’m, my purpose is to change people who, to say that’s even, my place to do that. It’s more of I’ve witnessed and seen and experienced and heard of impactful things that have resonated with me and it’s changed my life. So I just, I’ve spoken a number of times of being echoing and amplifier.
I’m not looking to be. Not of us need to be the biggest name in the fire service. We just need to amplify those voices that are and just show that they are. The more of those voices I can agree with the, those strong messages, the more we can see that they hold the validity and they need to stay and continue.
Stack: Talking, you mentioned mentoring and teaching and I think the first time I heard from you or heard of you was you did the 50 rules for the senior firefighter. Yeah. And I just, I think that I’m gonna direct people, obviously to your website, but this list is pretty good.
I picked through it, it was probably a couple years back. I picked through it and I picked out some of my favorites and I in preparation for our conversation, I went back over that list again, and some of them that jump out at me now because of what I’m doing on this show that focuses on mental health so much is like Rule 26. It’s find a counselor you connect with and see them regular regularly is that based solely on mental health or is that a counselor in the fire department or could it be both for you?
Yeah,
MCP: I’d thought of it in the mental health aspect The reason that list of rules came to be is I made them for myself. Because what I saw is I was approaching that threshold of watching a lot of the senior firefighters retire and realize I was getting, the technically in those years on that was gonna to be me.
And then I just had to sit with that and it was frightening. In one case, and it was also exciting in the other, and I had to think about what does that mean? And I harp on this quite a bit. It’s, obviously I made a list, so it’s important to me, but we do, and this comes back to that years on the job, right?
It’s I have the most years in this room, or on this crew around this department, so I’m the senior firefighter. It’s it’s not, it has zero to do with. It’s a role. You don’t get to name, claim that name . Even if someone looks, even if someone looks up to, you’ve been, Oh, you’re
what I’m capable of. So don’t pedestal, haven’t you, I havet proven anything to you and or this idea that all the pressure’s on you as a rookie. And as you go on more and more, there’s less pressure. Like it’s the reverse. Rookies have zero pressure on them because they just got here like you’re expected to be a good fourth class or fifth class firefighter.
You’re not expected to know everything of someone that’s been on for 30 years. But if I screw up, there’s, I’ve been here 24 years, I should know better. The responsibility actually increases. And then for my, the other part, just to get back to your, the point of your question on Rule 26 there is I’ve had my own mental health struggle.
And one of the messages I’ve been trying to pass on to people is that, if you wait until you’re in crisis to try and find someone you align with to help you, that’s the worst time to do it. Yes, you have to, cause you need to talk to somebody, but you’re gonna be given whoever you’re given and you’re not.
You’re not at your best. You’re not gonna be receptive and rub you the wrong way. And then that just spirals you even more. But if you’re in a good place and you just first get in the job, you have a doctor, you got a mechanic, you’ve got all these other people that you go to for things that you haven’t specialized in.
So why do you think you can handle your mental health, in your brain all by yourself? Why wouldn’t you go to someone else that you, that can help you with that? And why not do it when you’re in a good place? Because then when the stuff goes wrong, or you’re blowing off steam and venting and solving problems as they come and they don’t just build up.
And now you’ve got this incredibly difficult un, tangled mess that you might not ever be able to unravel, right? It’s these realizations that what does this role actually mean? And if I had to set rules for myself, and again, they’re ideals, it’s not saying that the other day I saw you and you didn’t live up to that rule.
It’s Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t like, and I should go back to that rule and read it again, and then I, and try and correct. But it’s something to hold as an ideal that you’re constantly able to recognize when you’re off path and then recorrect and use recorrect and recorrect. And I think that, That’s what that role’s about.
And then if you can pass these messages on to people coming up underneath you, then they will become senior firefighter. In the true sense of the word even faster than you did.
Stack: And that’s funny because the next one I had highlighted, and I’m not gonna belabor the this list because they can find the list and I know we’re gonna talk about something different here, but I think the next one that goes along with that and I think fits very, bookends it a little bit.
How about that? That’s probably a pretty good term for it is rule 42. And that’s the most rookies are gonna bring something to the table that you can learn and grow from. So have those conversations and listen well and often. And I think that’s so important because it used to be that’s a rookie over there.
Just sit and be quiet
MCP: and yeah, I really see it more as a relationship, right? It’s a, the more and more I sit with it, the more like it’s a relationship and someone coming in, cuz there’s a lot of people that come in that have had incredible experience and experiences. So Hold on one second here.
A call coming in, so I just had to it off. Yeah, so it’s a relationship. So yeah, the more I sit with it, the more I realize that it’s a relationship. And a lot of rookies do come in with incredible experience or experiences, and if we just dismiss them immediately, will never, you may be leaving a lot on the table, like they may be able to bring a lot to your crew or your department and your, and you’re losing.
And why wouldn’t we wanna bring on brand new people that have an incredible amount of experience and stuff to offer the team. Like why would we want someone that’s got nothing to offer and you’re the only one that has stuff to offer to them, why they even hear them? So there’s gonna be stuff that in this new world that they’re in, that they need you and there’s probably stuff that you need them for.
So I think seeing them more as real. And maybe even envision hanging out with them outside of the job then. Cause when we interact with people outside the job, we don’t treat them like rookies. No. No. But all of a sudden they’re inside a fire hall and it’s there’s this dynamic and they’re supposed to be treated like it’s almost inhuman in a way.
It’s not that cold. But guess it could be, but you know what I’m saying? It’s more of a relationship. So I think you do need to listen, but they also need to listen. And that’s a true relationship. That’s a true interaction. Both people need to when it’s, When the right time is. When it’s the right time for one of the other talk and listen.
You just need to respect that back
Stack: and forth. And that listening comes back to you talking about, get that counselor talk, talk to them and you can be somewhat of a counselor to the, to that rookie as well. You can be that sounding board to say, Hey, this is what you can expect in your career.
This is what, giving them that advice to go find someone early to talk to.
MCP: Absolutely. Everything does come down to expectations, right? Our disappointment and frustration comes down to what we expect things to be, and then they’re not. And I really love, like day one when someone comes to the station and I’m gonna start mentoring them, or our crew is, but maybe they’re allocated to me, more formally they have the proper expectation of themselves and they know what they know that they can have expectation of me.
They know what I expect of. And I know, and they know what I expect of them. And long as we set that tone from the very beginning that’s the foundation of everything. So I do tell them, like I said before, like there’s, this is the actual level of expectation for you. I don’t expect you to have, you show up on scene, you can solve the entire thing.
That’s not where you’re at right now. And no one ever will be like get it right in your head. It take. Not one person shows up to a fire and solves a problem. So it takes a lot of people. So know your role, know your lane for now, and know that this is what we expect of you, and there’s actually more expectation on me.
Let’s put that inspective. I’m not putting myself in this place where all eyes are pointing at you. I said, A lot more eyes are looking at me because I should know better. So I think that kind of eases their mind, but it also sets up the real expectations at their feet that they can choose then to rise.
And then that sets the tone for everything, right? I’m not gonna belittle you, I’m not gonna ask you questions to prove that you don’t know something that I do. That’s, this isn’t what this is about. I’m gonna ask you questions. I legitimately want to know where you’re at, where the gaps are, and maybe what you need.
And then what do I have that I can fill the gaps to help you grow? How do I scaffold you? How do I improve? How do I help you? So as long as people are coachable and they can have real conversations and be authentic and genuine, I think you can get so much done like that. That’s real bonds, That’s real family.
That’s the brotherhood. That’s the tribe.
Stack: It’s ironic that you. Go back to the saying, the senior firefighter, but it’s not something you can call yourself. You don’t call yourself the senior firefighter. You don’t, or you don’t bestow that title upon yourself.
Because if you’re trying to bestow a title on yourself, that title doesn’t belong to you.
We had that discussion at work yesterday and there was some, there’s some I don’t even wanna call it hazing. There’s just some mistreatment going on at a station that I’m well aware of and my crew’s well aware of.
And we had the discussion of it and I said, If you had to call yourself an alpha male, you’re not the alpha male,
MCP: right? Yeah.
Stack: alpha males don’t call themselves
MCP: alpha. . Yeah. Or even in the world of, say, martial arts and jisu, like those guys, or you wanna get into the military aspect like the green bere or the seals.
Like those guys aren’t looking for fight. And they’re usually the calmest, nicest people because they’re assured of themselves and they know that they can handle themselves and whatever comes in front of them, they’re gonna be able to deal with it. So they’re not looking to posture, they don’t need to.
They’re it’s self awareness, it’s self esteem, it’s self assuredness. It’s they know themselves. And they don’t need to create their ego based. Who’s in the room. Or
Stack: create their ego on the ashes of someone they just destroyed.
MCP: Exactly. Yeah. It’s so the antithesis of what it’s all about and the senior firefighter role you’re right, it’s bestowed on you by other people.
They see you that way and not based on your years. They see about how you behave and how you behave is every. And that’s not to mean that I’m, grinding every single, And then Mark Le talks about this. You can’t be, he’s not fully involved every day, but over the arc of a year or a month or a week, he is involved.
And I think that’s, that consist, it’s a consistency that the people around you see that you’re not perfect, that you know you’re not perfect, that you’re trying as hard as everyone else. But there’s a level of effort from you to give other people and to bring people together. That’s, that, that’s what that is about.
That’s that role. And then that’s where the 25 rules for the training, fire service training officer came from is, goes in that training role. It’s if you’re gonna be in a training role now you’ve got 75 rules to live up to. It’s, the more rules you take on, the more rules there’s gonna be for you to like, keep yourself aligned in the right direction.
And again, that list came from speaking to a lot of people that I respect. And same with the 50 rules embedded it and how do we distill this down and what, how do we say it very clearly and what can we get rid of here and what really hits home and what does it all really mean? I think if with without defining it for something to hold in your hands and look at it, then it’s this vague thing that’s floating around that anybody can grab and name the.
And so for me it makes it real, like as much as you were asking about journaling and writing things down, I may not do that as far as like my day to day life and my, and the jobs we go onto, but I need stuff like that where I can I can pull it up and read it and go, Okay, yeah, that’s the reminder.
I can’t dismiss as easily if it’s written down and show in front of me. It’s also a great way to check your ego, and that’s what this job’s all about, right? That’s one of. It’s such a double edged sword, right? It’s a blessing and a curse that so many people before us built this perception of, and rightly of firefighters and what they should be like.
So many as imperfect as they were too. Like the stuff in every generation that it wasn’t ideal. And we’re doing stuff that’s not ideal right now, whether we know it or not. And people look back on us and go, Oh man, let’s go with those old school guys. They shouldn’t have done this, and this, but, they did that.
They built that. And then, like I said, I mentioned about losing the fire service. Like we can lose that. You don’t, this is that hard times create soft people, right? the hard times create hard people. And those hard people create soft times. Like I, I get that saying wrong every single time I say I to reframe in my mind.
But point being is they did all this work, right? And they created this with the public and we’re just reaping the benefits of it. But that can also. Just go right to your head like, Oh, all the hard work are done. It’s already, I’m just giving it like, you’re just entitled to it. You’re just offered. It’s like here, its, you have the work for, And I think that’s when you get sit back on your laurels and then you realize as things start to Oh shit, you gotta maintain this.
This isn’t just something you’re given and it’s just no matter what you do, you just have it. It’s like you can lose it. And then, so I think maybe a lot of people have to go through that experience of Oh shit, I could, and we could all lose. And then you look around and you’re like who’s gonna keep maintaining?
It’s oh shit, it’s me, . And then you have that moment like, fuck, I better do something about this. Hopefully. And then you, and that’s when you start to grow and grow into these roles. So I know that
Stack: humility, I know that we’re gonna talk about something that, that you’ve got coming up. So I just want to PO point everybody to first of all, that first list with 50 rules for the senior firefighter, and then the second one is the 25 rules for the fire service instructor.
And there the rules are out there. He’s got ’em on his website. It’s, it is well worth the read and well worth the download to keep near and keep close so you can read ’em when you need to. I dunno, get yourself in check basically.
MCP: I really appreciate that. And I think just lastly, I’ll say like when I was looking around, I did, the first thing I did was go looking for lists, right?
I went looking for who’s already done this. And if they haven’t, what can I offer? Is this one small thing that I can add to the lexicon or the breadth of all the stuff, the great stuff that’s out there. And I did find a lot of lists for rookies, right? Again, all the focus is on what the rookies and expectations of rookies are.
And I’m like, why are there no expectations for senior firefighters and training officers? And there should be. So hopefully, I maybe there are other lists out there and I haven’t, I didn’t find them and I’m the second or third or 20th person to do it. I don’t know. It doesn’t. If more people have said it, that’s great, but I just thought, I, I couldn’t find this.
I’m like, Here’s what I feel like the small thing that I can offer to the information that there, and hopefully it’s helpful.
Stack: You say maybe there are other lists out there. Shit, man. When I started this show this year, there’s plenty of other fire podcasts. I just found it a little niche to try and to carve out for myself.
And when I spoke to, I think one of. People I spoke to about this show was James Gearing behind the Shield podcast. And I said, Listen, this is the idea I have. And I said, What do you think? And his first response was, There’s always room for more. And it’s a good idea. So there’s always room for more.
Even if there are more rules out there, it doesn’t matter. This is your list and there’s always room for more. And if anything, it just creates more discuss. .
MCP: Sure. Yeah. And yeah, the more that, that goodness that’s out there and with the right intention again it’s not assuredly going to, turn the tide, but it creates the environment and the opportunity for people to, take it up and.
And help be a part of turning the tide. I think that’s what, That’s more the way I see it now. It’s like things that are out there that are front of you. It’s all, And this is the thing too with social media and the internet, like there’s no excuses anymore. If you wanna learn about this job and learn what it means and learn, even write down a very minute technical skill, it’s literally all there.
All you have to do is go and look for it. So there’s no excuses. Oh, my department didn’t tell me, or, Oh, I didn’t know, or, And that ties into the 25 rules. One of them is about removing ignorance. Like your whole job is just to remove ignorance with people not knowing something. And yours too. And once everyone is aware that something exists, they can’t say they didn’t know.
So then it’s on them to do something about it.
Stack: So I know what we wanted to talk about, what you mentioned to me was the connected warrior. . Yep. So what is it? Tell us.
MCP: I think there’s, we, I talked briefly about what we consider old school and really I wanna start it there by saying again, we have to recognize our generation right now in this fire service as we’re gonna be old school to somebody.
And we can’t be arrogant enough to think. We have the experience of looking back on everyone that did everything wrong and now we’re doing everything right. There is things right now that there’s gonna change in the future, that they look back and go, Why did those guys do that? That was stupid.
So I just, I have that self-awareness of that reality. So as amazing as the people before us were, they were human too, and they were, there were some flaws and I think I understand now, based on the generation and what they grew up. And, yeah, their upbringing, their, in their culture, that there was more of a me, maybe a hardness there, a toughness, a need for stoicism and a dismissal of maybe emotions.
And then you tie that into how dangerous the job is. And that’s a reality. So it’s I think my take is that they looked at this, looked at their culture, looked at the dangers of this job, and thought if we don’t focus on the fact that this job is dangerous and can kill people, Then people are gonna get killed.
Like it. We have to dismiss all this softness and this is a hard job and you gotta, and it’s blue collar and you gotta suck it up and you gotta get it done. And that is true. That is a hundred percent. But I think the missing piece we see, and if we look at maybe the way they handled it all is that because there weren’t tools and awareness and training about how to be connected with yourself, connected with other people emotions were seen as like something to push down, just focus on the job and get it done.
That there was, and there was a real lean toward maybe not coping with that very. And we saw the result of that, right? Suicides and alcoholism and anger and divorce and all the things that come with not being connected in a real way as a human and seeing yourself as a human being, seeing other people as human beings.
And there was also that fear of, I think if we connected with emotionally in any way with the people that we’re trying to be there to help that’s gonna be detrimental to. And I guess what I’m trying to say now is what I’ve realized through my own experience in talking to other people as well, is that I think it’s actually the opposite.
I think if you see the connect connecting with other people as this dangerous thing to you, then you push it away and you push it off and it’s like a fight to keep that away. You’re afraid. And really, it’s ironic that we, it’s a whole, I fight what you fear and I’m a hero and I, we fight things other people are afraid of and here we are afraid of something.
And I think if you learn as enough about yourself and don’t learn enough about emotions and connect with people that you don’t need to be afraid of all that actually connecting. You got in this job cause you wanted to help people, you wanted to, you have compassion and care for. And for me, that’s not just on the fringes, like cutting the car or throwing water on fire.
For me, that’s like the emotional connection of being there and letting people know that it’s okay or it’s gonna be okay, or at least they’re not alone in this terrible moment. And I’ve found connecting with people on that level, on this emotional level, whether they’re aware of it or not in the moment, even if they’re dsa actually helps me process.
Paul’s better because I look back on these calls that are tragic and horrible and they are, and it makes me sad and frustrated sometimes. But I also know that in that moment I was emotionally connected with them, that I was there for them. I was the person with them when their family couldn’t be that, that they would want there.
So when I look back on these calls, not only do I, I do have to manage that traumatic part. But I also have this good feeling that I did good work. There I was, I did something really meaningful. So I have that other half of that thought and that call is now two halves of a whole, whereas the whole call is in trauma.
So I think that’s what I’m trying to marry up here is that, we see this pendulum swing in culture in society where it was just very hard nosed before. And now, we could say, pretty clearly it’s gone incredibly soft the other direction. And what I’m saying is, and what I always try and find new things is where’s the middle?
Where do we take what’s meaningful and beneficial from. People trying to say that emotions matter and their feelings matter and they need to be validated. And, you’re good enough in a number of ways, even though you can improve. And how do we take that? Sometimes you just gotta firefighter the fuck up and get some things done.
That’s valid too, right? So where’s the middle on that? And I’ve started to use this yin yang. The yin yang symbol. It’s not always off around like a light switch, right? It’s if you look at the yin yang symbol and the white and the black , and it’s thicker on the bottom and thinner on the top, that there’s always one or one more than one than the other depending on the situation.
And it’s a and, but there’s always both. And then you also have the light in the dark and the light with those two dots. So I think this is when you open up your mind like, Oh my God, there’s so much to. And you can start diving inward into yourself and finding out how do I acknowledge this, the grit in myself, and how do I also acknowledge the compassion myself and how do I apply both in, or one or the other in whatever amounts is needed in the situation?
It’s also amazing . Do I just need to harden up? Do I just need to harden up and get this? You know what I mean? And address the rest of it afterwards. Or do I need to be really soft and caring and warm and compassionate and comforting in this moment and leave a bit of that hardness at the door.
It’s amazing
Stack: what happens when you do show heart, especially in those situations where a family member’s panicking. It’s amazing that little bit of compassion that you can show to someone. We’ll just calm them down. They won’t come to down to level, but they’ll come down from a hundred percent off the charts and it
MCP: makes that call.
Yeah. That’s all we want. If we put ourselves in their shoes, like that’s what you would want, right? You would want, you feel overwhelmed and you would need that comfort. You would want, We all want that as much as people say they don’t I don’t need. It’s Yeah, you do.
Yeah. We all need that. Saying that, you it’s like me saying all the rogues wish they could be part of the family. It’s like all of us that say that we, we don’t want emotions and we don’t wanna be vulnerable. We don’t even comforted. We do all want that. Every single person wants that, whether they’re like, like to admit it or not.
And I think if you’re approaching these calls with, I need to put up this barrier. I try to make everything I do, even firefighting related as like victim centered or patient centered, right? The person we’re going to, everything we do, we should think how does this affect the person we’re going to help?
Is it a tactic or a skill or an approach? So really if you’re saying to yourself, I need to be disconnected so I can do my job and focus, and that’s totally discounting what that other the other part of what that people you’re going to help with, they need they need the softness from you.
So really you saying that I just need to shut down and, you put a barrier between me and them. That’s not about them. That’s about you not knowing how to connect with them or not wanting to, or being afraid of what’s gonna happen if you do, that’s about you and that’s selfish.
Stack: And that, that not knowing and not wanting to jumps out because a lot of people think that’s what protects them from getting caught up in, in the emotion of the job in general. And obviously it doesn’t it, like you said, it could soften that blow a little bit even because it does add some, a human interaction to it.
And I think some people might think that’s unethical to what I’m trying to say. ? I don’t think so. I think that it normalizes what’s going on a little bit. Instead of putting it out there as just off the charts.
MCP: It’s human for you and it’s human for them, right? And we do, okay, we do see a volume of tragedy maybe that the general public does not.
But then, okay, this ties back to having a counselor, right? So if you are connected in this way with yourself and you’re self aware and you know you’re gonna be seeing a more, a higher volume of tragic. And why wouldn’t you want to regularly address that little bit at a time? Little bit at a time. So that’s you’re always, you’re a little off balance like a chiropractor, right?
You’re a little out of alignment. You go to the chiropractor, now you’re back in alignment. Why wait until your back blows out and you need surgery before you start addressing this? And, oh, I need to start doing these specific exercises, or I need to start eating this diet now. Cause my whole my health is in sha, is in shambles.
It’s like, why? Why didn’t you address it in little pieces and little bits along the way? Why wait until it all crumbles? Like why wouldn’t we want to get to the house fire when it’s just a pot in the stove as opposed to all floors involved? So yeah, I think it’s, And I understand it’s maybe it’s lack of understanding or lack of awareness.
So then this is where you come in and not come in and there people that are willing to say, Hey, this is another way of approaching this. And I think. It’s made me a better first responder because I’ve had to live. I have to live it. I can’t just say it. I have to live. If I want people listen to me as instructor, I have to be fit.
I have to be able to do the skills that I’m teaching them. I have to, so I, to be able to show people that you can be both, like you can be soft and nurturing and caring and warm to people and you can be a hard ass when you need to. I think
Stack: that one of the things that, that helped, I helped me and help like some of the guys in the audience is a reframing of why we’re there.
I spoke to, his name was Robert and I you may know him better from the Instagram page, goals for Hope. I spoke to him and he reframed it from like this bad thing. Okay, we’re here when someone’s dying, why do I have to see this and why do I have to go through this? To almost that guilt that drove him to a position he didn’t like to be in, and he reframed it.
man, what an honor to be there and to see someone through this. If they have to go through it, it’s a, it’s my honor to help them go through this. Even if I can’t save them, I can make it better for them as it happens.
MCP: I couldn’t agree more. And that even ties into, I think a lot of these things we say in regards to, firefighting itself and the guys that fit the fight, fire, the saying of would you want you rescuing you?
Or your family? Okay, that’s a thousand percent true. Would you want you with your loved ones when they’re passing on. And they need warmth and comforting. Would you want you there? Could you do that? What kind of firefighter do you want with your loved ones When you can’t be there to give them the love that they need in that moment to know that they’re not alone, whether they’re VSA or not.
For me, it’s an energetic thing. If you can’t be there, who do you want there? Okay, so that’s you. And you have, you’re right. You have this one moment. You’ve never seen this person in your life, and you’re the one walking them home. And man, like that’s it’s beautiful, right? It’s a legitimate privilege and it’s not always pretty, right?
It’s not always someone’s quietly is passing in their sleep and you’re happy to be in their, you got there. It’s like sometimes it’s messy, but, and you do need to get work done and you’re gonna get dirty and you need to decon emotionally and physically, but that’s part of the work. Yeah, you’re there walking them home.
And if you can, if even in a small moment that you were there in that way for them I’m telling people that it helps you. It’s, even if you made this selfishly about you, it helps you so much more to do that, processing the call afterwards as opposed to ignoring it completely. And if you don’t know how to do it or know how to approach it what do you do with these firefighting?
You’re on Instagram pages and you’re watching videos, and you’re watching skills and you’re trying them out in the bay and you’re, you’re doing a different workout and you’re tweaking your diet and you’re taking this new supplement, like you’re all about doing all the things you need to do to get physically fit for the job.
And what, So then why not approach the same thing with this? And the truth is it’s the foundation. This emotional maturity, what we’re talking about is emotional maturity. This emotional maturity is the foundation for everything. Cause you don’t have. And you get mentally sick or injured or, then you could be physically sick and injured cause of it, right?
Your focus isn’t there. Or, you’re foggy or you can’t pull on these skills that you’ve been drilling on the apparatus bay floor. You can’t do any of that if you’re an emotional mess, right? All right. No, you can’t. You can’t
Stack: do any of it.
MCP: No. If you learn how to do this job, emotion.
like that is the foundation. Everything else you do is built off of that. So you wanna stay in this game for a career’s worth and really get the most out of it then that’s necessary. And we just can’t say, just do it like we have a responsibility, like you are an I and Im in our way to add one more avenue or one more message to people about here’s how you actually do it.
It,
Stack: We are talking about death and we’re talking about making it. I dignifying it in most cases when I’m on scene or when you’re on scene or whatever, when someone’s dying, it is loud, it’s chaotic, it’s busy because we’re doing cpr, we’re doing whatever to try and I would say, but I would also frame it as bring these people back because If you don’t with cpr, they’re dead already. And so yes, you’re trying to save their life. And the old saying that I keep going back to is nobody dies with dignity, but our job there is to create some sort of dignity for them. Sure. Yes, for sure. And you mean some of the calls are very quiet though, too.
We went to a young woman who, you know, with palliative care at home that passed away and the family had called us. , they didn’t have a dnr. And with the medics and us there, luckily the right medics were there and.
Calm and warm and supportive and understanding and we recognized what was going on and spoke to the family and didn’t just rush in and start grabbing and pushing and, it could have been so much more of a traumatic like moment. Like it couldn’t have been more important moment for this family losing their young daughter.
And, we. We had them and that and the, their daughter in mind in every aspect of what we were doing. And and it was incredibly sad, but we weren’t awkward and afraid of that. And we invited it in and, we firefighter up really like firefighter up can be that too. And and did what was right for that family.
So again, we can look back on. And I’ve thought about that in like how it hurts me to see that happen. And I’ve also thought about that and like I feel very good about how we were with that family. So it helps me balance it out. So where are you taking this thought and this theory of the connected Warrior?
What are you doing with it? Believe in just with the list we’ve talked about. The 50 rules and the why and the nuances of each rule. I It’s, you can just read the rule and take it as it is and then, take your own nuances from it. But with the 50, I definitely, with the captions and the post I, I expanded on it.
There’s a lot of expansion on every rule and there is for the too. So I thought why not? Again, like I could think people are just gonna read the rules and they’re not really gonna wanna talk about them. I decided why don’t I just do a webinar and put it out there, and if people wanna hear me expand on the why behind these things, and if it’s helpful to them and they wanna have a conversation to see what the uptake is, and maybe that’s beneficial.
So I’ve decided to start doing those, maybe alternating months, 25, the one months, and the 50 the next. And then the connected warrior too. So I think you would agree the more you teach things like I, I just taught, a skill. So many times before I taught it yesterday, and I, as I’m teaching and I said something in a different way and showed it in slightly different way.
I’m like, Oh, like that clicked. And so the more I teach it, the more I start tweaking how I teach it and it gets and better every time. So like the hundredth and 50th person I teach to do this is gonna be, they’re gonna get way better at construction than the first person, right? So for me it’s about the more I do these talks or you and I talk about this, or I do these webinar.
More, I, So the connected border is more of a coming together of a distillation down of all the things I’ve learned over my career with mental health and with the job, and how do I marry these two up? And then how do I bring the message across people to understand it and the way that I’ve grown to understand it, And maybe, and then, so it would be helpful.
So I think this is the whole point is I’ll just do them and I’ll go out and do talks and I’ll give this new version of this message and see if it helps. And if people want me to keep doing it, I will. And I’m sure I’ll keep learning from doing it every time I do it. It’s I spoke with you today and I’ll probably take away a few things.
Oh, I really liked how I phrased that. I never thought about it that way. And I’ll say it this way differently next time. And we’re always looking to grow and improve. So just like you in the podcast and me and my podcast and what we’re doing, I don’t know where it’s. But that’s not really what it’s about.
It’s about the process, right? It’s about just doing the right thing in the moment and then putting it out there and then doing the right thing again and the right thing again, and constantly trying to improve on it. And if people resonate with it, that’s great. And if they don’t, that’s okay.
Maybe that just tells me that I have to adjust my message differently. So when is the webinar for the connected. This I did this talk, actually, the first time I did it was at the Critical He Critical and Stress Foundation conference just last month. So it’s my first time delivering it, but this will be the first time I’ve done it as a webinar.
And this one’s kind of special too, because Trevor Eman, one of the guys that actually coincidentally was one of the people that said, Hey, you should do a podcast. When I taught his recruit class. And, he’s battling some some health issues and spi and needing spinal surgery and has to go outta country to get it.
And that’s obviously a massive cost of that. Like we do with our brothers and family, the fire service like, We’re doing, in his family, everyone’s sort of rallying and wanting to support him because he wants to obviously get back to his full life and the job he loves. This is, I, we could, we are all, donating a little money here and there to try and help out as much as we can, as hard as that is sometimes.
But I also saw this as why don’t I, do two things here, right? I can deliver this as a webinar and, it’s $25. And and a good friend of mine and mentor Wendy Lunch, who’s helped me, hone this presentation for what it is she’s going. Co deliver it with me.
So on November 20th, so it’s coming up soon from seven till nine, or, we’ll go longer if we need to. We’re gonna offer it and then all the proceeds, everything from it is gonna go towards his GoFundMe to help him receive the surgery that he needs. And, and then I’ll do further ones down the way as well.
So it’s not the only time I’m gonna offer it. And then, if you can make this one, then you can still register and donate and then I’ll offer you the recording. I’ll just record it and give it to you. So yeah, it’s kinda. This is a really important one because it’s obviously to help one of our brothers out too.
So if anybody else wants to help out and join in, and hopefully they’re gonna get some benefit from hearing us talk about it now and get an idea what we’re gonna cover and how I’m gonna approach things and that would be great. Because that’s time sensitive and I want to get that message out there I think I’m gonna rush this one to post this week and get it out there for you and get some, garner some interest and hopefully drive some people towards that webinar.
And like you said, even if you can’t listen at that specific time period, donate, donate and get the recorded version because it will be worth it, following your page and listening to you. I know what you have to say is gonna be worth it. And I’d like to get that out there as soon as possible.
Appreciate that. Yeah, they can, yeah, they can find those two sets of rules on the webpage, like they’re listed at the top of the page. It’s multiple calls, squarespace.com. And the registration is right at the very top. You can click on that and any web webinars I’m running will be listed there. So there will be one coming up next month for the 50 rules.
And I’ll see the one, just on the 20th here on the Sunday night seven to night Eastern. You can, you’ll see that one there too. And you can just register and pay through PayPal, get a Zoom link and that’s it. And if you DM me let me know you can’t make it. Then I’ll just make sure you get the.
And then you can reach Trevor’s story to Trevor’s, like the full background on Trevor. And what he’s facing is the link right beside that one. So everything’s there. And then beyond that, I have a, I have to update it again, but there’s a resources page on that website. So all these people that I’ve learned from and resources I’ve found helpful, I have everything hyperlink there from, everything from the book, Andy, the book of shoot, and, podcasts and websites and all that, that I, that have helped me become who I am.
Yeah, if you’re looking for stuff to, to get involved in and keep yourself interested in the fire service, hopefully that’s another avenue for you. So I’m gonna end this the way that I end it with every guest. And I have a couple of questions that I like to ask everybody. And I didn’t mention ’em to you, so I’m not sure if you’re prepared for ’em or not.
Probably not, but that’s okay. We’ll go off the cuff and see what happens. The first thing I do is because I call the show the things we All carry. And it’s based on a book about the Vietnam War, about the things that people carried into war to. To affect battle, but the then the scars they carried out after they had that battle.
. I like to ask people for an everyday carry, something you have on your person all the time that if you go, if you leave the house without it you feel naked. , for everybody right now, it’s their phone. And that’s totally what it’s probably what it is. And with the, that’s pretty generic cause it’s the same as everybody.
But really that’s my, this is my connection I think I’ve created. For me, it’s using the social media and using this device for a lot of good and it helps me connect with people in a really meaningful way. Yeah, I would say that’s one. Yeah, I mean there’s, I’ve got, I’ve got pictures of my family and my girls, they’re up in my locker.
I That’s not where I carry every day. But every time I come into work, obviously I open my locker up and there they’re Oh yeah. That to me is pretty powerful too. And then, people that we’ve lost along the way, we lost a crew member not too long ago, so there’s.
There’s a picture up relevant to him on that door too. So again, there’s, they’re not, that’s not my every day when I’m off duty that I see those things, but every day I come in and shift and my uniform on that stuff’s there. So I would say that’s why I do that. I think that’s why we all do that.
Why we put our. And high school was a little different, right? We were putting on our lockers, but now I think it’s a little more powerful. And then that’s a good place for us to put these reminders of why do we do this and what’s important and what do we need to keep in mind as we, we try and do good things for other people, but and then do everything, we tend to learn about the job, to stay safe in an effective way, not stay as a fearful way.
So then the final question is, I always ask for a book recommendation, something you’re reading or have read recently Or it doesn’t need to be recently either. Just something that you think would bring value to the. Yeah. I’ve got a few I do, if people have listened before, I there’s are a couple I recommend all the time.
One’s the, it’s called 365 Dow, and that’s spelled T ao and it’s just daily meditations and it’s what it says 365. Different references to generally things in life and maybe how doism and looks at that. And it gets, it’s not a religious book. It’s more of a perspective, and I’m always about perspectives and.
Another great ones about the Body keeps the score. Yes. From mental health. Yeah. So you know about that book. Yes. You know how important that is. Audible is great. Obviously you can find most of these books in Audible, but the Body Keeps the Score. I think everybody in the fire service should definitely listen to that and that’ll help nail some of the things down and put in perspective in a way that, that we won’t be able to.
There’s a great, another great one called Mental Trap. The Overthinkers guy do a happier life. So it’s very short. It just shows these these perspectives and these mind traps that we have in our minds and where they may have come from and and how to recogniz them in yourself. So I think for me, that was a start of self-awareness, right?
Recognizing these ways I think that might not be helpful to me, and how do I change those? And then there’s a couple other ones I would just recommend one called the How to Change Your Mind. That’s why Michael Pollen, and that really gets into the the use of psychedelics now. Yep. I know that one too.
And how be Yep. How beneficial they can be. And a couple others would be how to do the work. Dr. Nicole, that’s a powerful one about if you want do this, when they call it doing the work, right? The things they talk about how to become more self aware and, increase your happiness and be better person, better for your family.
That’s a great one. And then another one that’s along the same lines. It’s called Harding Happiness by Rick. And it’s very science based, right? About how we’re wired for. How, what we’re wired for, how we’re wired for it, and how you can actually adjust your wiring and reframe things.
So I think I’d hit on those ones if I had to name a few. Those are awesome. I love all of them. A couple in there, I don’t know. So I’m gonna have to research. I’m going to link all of those in my show notes. I’ll also link your page and the link to the webinar this month and we’ll try to get some interest for you.
And, my, I got a small little podcast, but it’s growing and I’m trying to do what I can for everybody else as. . No, it’s fantastic. I really love what you’re doing. And it, we all, everyone started as small, right? And then what is small anymore, exactly. If you’re small and you have a powerful impact for a few people that’s all that matters.
So just keep that man, keep doing it. Don’t stop. I appreciate you. Scott, I appreciate the time you’ve taken with us and like I said, I’ll get this out this week and I hope everything goes well and I hope you just keep doing what you’re doing. Thanks, man. All right. I appreciate it. And we’re,
