It is finished

In more ways than one....
First off.. I said goodbye to a good friend yesterday. A brother in the fire service, Bill Craddock, an incredibly smart and funny man went home to be with all the other firefighters that have gone before him. 40 days ago, May 4th, 2006, Bill was fighting a house fire and went down from a massive heart attack. Since that day he has fought the battle in ICU. It was a roller-coaster of good news/bad news.
Compared to 99% of everyone else who knew him, I only knew him for a short time. But in the short time he taught me lessons that I will take with me for the rest of my career. Craddock was a gruff, no holds barred kind of guy who through tough words but a gentle spirit only wanted everyone to be able to go home the same way they got on the truck on the way to the call. He was... he is.. the poster child of firefighter training and safety. Full of mischief and piss & vinegar he stood out as a guy who loved this job so passionately and only wanted to share the knowledge he had with all his brothers and sisters.
Craddock is known throughout the nation as a hardcore firefighter who loved to train. Both himself and others to, quite simply, always be the best. There was no excuse for not giving 110%.
And just as much as he amazed me, his wife has amazed me. Throughout this whole ordeal she has been so kind, so thoughtful... in a time of utter heartache, she has so often thought of others before herself. I hope she always remembers that we will always be here for her and her family. We are all a family.

It so sucks that it is times like these that it is when we get to see long lost friends. But it will be a time to celebrate Craddock's life. To celebrate and acknowledge all his accomplishments and the advancements he has made. I came to this dept after riding with Craddock at his station. I was so looking forward to working jobs with him. To training with him. I can only work towards being the best.. to hopefully making him proud. Everybody wanted to live up to his expectations. I will miss him so much.

And... on a lighter note. Today was the last official day at the fire academy. I did it. Cav and I have to go back and complete a class tomorrow since we were at the hospital all day yesterday, but that is fine. The thee of us have our station assignments and all our stuff to hit the field. Finally! My excitement is anti-climatic... I still cant believe that I am here. .doing this... and they're paying me. The last two years have finally paid off!

I have been assigned to one of the busiest boxes in the county. It's a single company house so the amount of time I am going to get on the engine will remain to be seen. I will put my time in on the box, but I will definitely be looking to get as many fire rotations as I can. The call volume for my station is huge. In the first 5 months of this year one engine and one box have about 3700 responses. LOL... woo-hoo.. am I in for a treat. I think I might have said that I came to this dept was because I wanted to busy... maybe a little too much.
So.. needless to say.. this blog will have lots of interesting stories. Stay tuned....