Jumpline magazine JUNE 2023 pages - Flipbook - Page 44
44
Catfish
Frank Spadaro, Ret.
Vital Organs
As it relates to being a firefighter, there are several
organs that play key roles
in the success or failure of
your career. Without these organs, the chances of success in this
profession are near zero. For the purpose of clarity, we will take
these organs one at a time and discuss why they are so vitally
important.
First and far from foremost is the brain. The brain takes all that
information that you got from guys like Gustin and Carpenter
and stores it for use when you encounter situations that you
inevitably will encounter during the course of your career. Some
firefighters have attempted to augment their brains with mechanical devices. This is very unwise because most of the time
you will not have time to GOOGLE it. This is why firefighting is
so training intensive. With enough training, you will train your
brain to act without conscious thought instead of
inaction and panic and therefore, be less affected by the horror of the experience. You will be
able to push panic out of the situation and do the
right thing. Suffice to say, the well-trained brain
is a very important thing in the field of firefighting.
The next extremely important organ is the heart.
It is important both literally, for obvious reasons,
and metaphorically, for not so obvious reasons.
Without a heart you will not have passion for
your profession. Without a heart you will not
have compassion for your fellow humans; people you don’t even know. You will not be motivated to train your brain to do everything possible to
save a life. The heart is the organ most associated with love.
You must love your job, your fellow human, and the idea that
you improve the human condition with acts of compassion and
valor. Without a heart, you don’t need a brain.
The next, and in my estimation, the most important organ for a
firefighter is guts. Not because they are important for the processing of all those delicious firehouse meals. They are import-
ant because they will assist you to run in when everyone else is
running out. They will also assist you in the decision-making process when your brain locks up. When in doubt, follow your guts.
They help the brain and the heart and may just help you live
through a situation that might otherwise be fatal. It takes guts
to be a firefighter.
Then there is the musculoskeletal system. This is important because it will turn what the brain, the heart, and the guts process
into action. The importance of this system cannot be overstated. The most important job of a firefighter is to TAKE ACTION. It is the action of firefighters that make the nightly news.
It is your job to stay in good physical condition.
Now for the bad news. After all, the old Catfish wouldn’t exist
without the bad news. If you are a successful firefighter, and by
some stroke of luck make it to retirement, this is what you have
to look forward to. Of course this excludes all the paper tigers
at HQ, who wallow in self-importance and have
had very little time on the truck. Settle down Catfish, stay on point. Your brain will rehash every
horror show you ever experienced to give a happy conclusion. The faces of the ones you could
not save will visit you in the quiet stillness of the
night. Your heart will ache for the ones you could
not save, and the arteries therein will clog due to
the unconscious trickle of adrenaline imperceptible until it’s too late. You will become addicted
to antacids and possibly alcohol, or worse. Back
pain will be your constant companion and arthritis will creep into every joint.
As bad as this sounds, I would not trade my life
as a firefighter for even Donald Trump’s fortune. The firehouse
is where I felt most alive. As I wait for the elevator to arrive to
take me to eternity, up or down, I take solace in the knowledge
that my brain, my heart, my guts and my muscles directly and
positively gave some of my fellow humans a second chance at
life.
Catfish
June 2023 | JUMPLINE Magazine
