911 Squirrel
A fun, informative podcast about life, training, and other insights, within the careers of all first responders (Law, Fire, EMS, etc). Telling stories, sharing insights on training, diving into serious subjects, and laughing at ourselves.
911 Squirrel
Motivation 7
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Time to do some motivation!
And...................
WE DANCE!!!!!
Got a thought? E-mail 911squirrelpodcast@gmail.com
Welcome to 911 Squirrel, a podcast for all the fine men and women who serve as first responders. Stories will be told, training is hot um, and everyday responder life is explored, all while having a great time doing it. So grab your coffee and brush those tails. This squirrel shift is about to begin. And a man who stuck himself with an IV by accident. Twice on one call. Please welcome your host, Brad Mac.
SPEAKER_03That's right, that's me. Hey, hello, and welcome to episode number seven of 911 Squirrel, the podcast for first responders. As the cool tech voice said, I am your host, Brad Mac. John Humboldt Stuff. And this episode is called Motivation Seven. That sounded better rhyming when I wrote it than when I just said it. Maybe if a Motivation Seven. Nah, it doesn't matter. Anyway, that's right, we are gonna do a little motivation. Take time to take the time. Time to take the time. Yeah, that works. Okay, to rev up those engines, get the blood flowing from inspiration, not your patient. You know what I mean. Uh oh, and when you hear this.
SPEAKER_06Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_07Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03I know. That's right. Stop what you're doing and dance. Dance! Dance, monkey dance! Uh yes. In fact, uh now I need a I need a non-rebreather with 15 liters, please. Um in fact, if you're gonna see my whatever you want to call me, uh, when you see me, uh on video on Facebook and Instagram dancing. And the idea is you are going to you're gonna play that music and you're going to act like you're, oh my gosh, it's on, it's on, we must dance. Stop the engine, get out of your cruiser, get out of your ambulance, get out of the station, and film yourself dancing or a whole group of you dancing, and if you choreograph it, even better. And then you're gonna go to Facebook or Instagram and you're gonna get on the 911 Squirrel pages and you're gonna post that video. And you know why? Because it's time to dance. It's summertime, even though it's still spring, officially, but let's face it, it's summertime. That's right. So you must. You must dance. Uh, anyway, may the White Cloud form follow and bless you all with fun and rewarding shifts. Now, go out there, do the job to the best of your abilities, improve the life of someone in need, and feel the rewards. You can do it. Thank you for joining us. Motivation 7 is over. I must dance. Let me Woohoo! That's right, baby. Don't go anywhere, I'm just messing around. I'm just messing. We're episode isn't over. That'd be the quickest episode of the world. Actually, that would be kind of cool. Now it gives me another idea. But since we're um I'm just amusing myself, folks, thinking of uh thinking of a motivational class I I attended. I was, I was, I was thinking about that. And they had so many cliches. I thought, how many cat posters can you recite? Well, that got me thinking. And I think this would be a great top ten. Okay. Oh, I gotta turn that little button off because I'm echoing in my own ears. This episode's top ten is the top ten used cliches and my diabolical twist on them. That's right. I get to make fun of these ever-famous cliches, which makes it even better. Number 10, fake it till you make it. Yeah, sure. I want to be a cop, pull people over, confront shoplifters with a fake badge. Yeah, let's see how that works out. Seen the videos? Alright, number nine, money doesn't buy happiness. Sure about that? Granted, you can't buy a bar, uh a bar, a jar of happiness. Could be a bar too, like a candy bar. Uh, but that honeymoon in Greece sure brought a bunch of happiness to my beautiful bride and I. Just saying. Okay, number eight. When one door closes, another one opens. Is that what we're thinking when we use the Portageon? All right, number seven. Excuse me, man, I'm gonna have to get a drink. You only live once. Of course, that's the intellectual equivalent to, hey, y'all watch this, or hold my beer. Oh gosh. The number six most used cliche is if you dream it, you can do it. Ha! Let's see. I have dreamt of winning the Powerball, being an astronaut, and dating Jennifer Aniston. Have those ever happened? No. Alright, number five. Cliche. Live, laugh, love. Hmm. That should all be followed by eat, sleep, exercise, earn a living, get milk and bread on the way home, stay home with pink eye, blah, blah, blah. Alright. Number four. Failure is not an option. Well, who makes it an option? If you're around someone who has failure as an option, run away from them. I mean, run fast. They're the ones that get killed in horror movies first. Number three, the number three cliche is live every day like it's your last. Ah, cool. Uh, sleep in all morning, do something silly with friends and family, pizza for dinner, romantic evening with the missus, and then rinse and repeat. Alright, cool. Uh, number two, everything happens for a reason. It sure does. That's why we first responders have jobs. And the number one, use cliche with my diabolical twist is what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Huh. Say this the next morning after spending nearly $100 for drinks the night before. And that's our Doc 10. Silly, isn't it? With a commitment to honesty, fairness, and reliability, 108 Fire is here to serve the fire and safety community by offering outstanding products and exceptional service. We are a dealer to the best brands and provide service to all makes and models and fire equipment. We also provide gear cleaning. Call 877-989-7660 or go to www.ten8fire.com for more information. 108 Fire, the premier provider to the fire and EMS industry. Yeah, baby, yeah. 108 Fire. Hey, the best thing about 108 Fire is they are our new sponsor. That's right. 911 Squirrel, the podcast for first responders, has a new sponsor, and it's 108 Fire. Now, 108 Fire is a cool company. They are a dealer of fire apparatus and ambulances. They excuse me, they deal with Pierce and Cressline and Braun. They also merged with EEP, and so now they serve Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. They also take care of they do fire hose, they sell fire hoses. There's all kinds of fire equipment. They do gear cleaning, you name it, service. Uh, if you need to take your apparatus or ambulance in for service, by all means take it to 108 Fire. They are wonderful people, and we are so excited, so excited to have them as one of our sponsors. So thank you, 108 Fire, and you're going to be hearing a lot from them uh for a long time. So make sure you go check them out at 10 T E N, the number eight, F-I-R-E, onebigword.com, 108 Fire, and they'll be happy to talk to you. All right. Now we must dance.
SPEAKER_06Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_03Uh uh.
SPEAKER_06Do my little boot that I'll give a hoop what you do, say somebody do the word.
SPEAKER_07Tell them I'm telling my tell them follow some toothpaste. I know.
SPEAKER_03Tell them let's go on to something else.
SPEAKER_01This is the briefing. News from around the country that affects the policies, procedures, or employment of first responders. And now, the briefing.
SPEAKER_03Okay, this one is interesting. This is a this is a first for me. Uh, this is a story out of Connecticut. I got it off of FirefighterNation.com. Uh, believe it happens. Uh let me make sure. Don't you love all these little moments? I believe it happens in uh New London, Connecticut. Or Norwich, maybe it's Norwich. That's that's the city with the byline, Norwich. Okay, this was May 28th in uh firefighternation.com. I'm sure this came from another place. Oh, the day. The day of New London, Connecticut. Hello. Welcome to the day. All right. Um Dateline Norwich. Uh in a show of support to the Taftville Volunteer Fire Company, which thought it might be suspended Wednesday, I'm assuming before May 28th, um, two women chained themselves to fire trucks during a rally at the fire station. Okay, here we go. The Taftville Department, along with Oakham, OCCUM, and Laurel Hill Volunteer Departments ended up not being suspended despite an announcement by the city last Tuesday stating that those departments had five business days to sign an agreement to comply with Unified Command, which is a citywide fire policy enacted last August or face suspension. Got that? Uh in other words, the I'm assuming the city of Norwich, um they don't r they don't really clarify that, uh, has decided that they came up with this idea of a unified command where they soak in all the volunteer departments that are within the city and um yeah, and I I assume there's still volunteer departments, but now they have to follow everything for the city of of Norwich. And they're all under the uh city leadership, the mayor, their fire chief, and so forth and so on. And that's that's I guess what it is, according to this story. At the fire station in um Taftville Excuse me, uh a few hours after the rally began, around 9 a.m., Chi Taftville Fire Chief Timothy Jenks described what had happened. Then he said, quote, the news channels were here. We actually had two girls chain themselves to the truck. He said more than a hundred people showed up, but he couldn't be sure about the size. Does that count? Uh he was shocked when they showed up and and were like we're and they were like, we're gonna chain ourselves to the truck. And he says, Yeah, right. Then all of a sudden my wife comes over, Chief Jenks, and she says to him, They chained themselves to the truck. And he goes, Are you kidding me? He said it had nothing to do with the fire department, it's just that they knew about our plight, and we just opened the doors and said, Here you go, and that's uh Okay. Anyway, so the rally uh was organized by Taftville residents. Um and apparently, if you read the whole story, like one uh volunteer fire company was shut down, Yantic, Y-A-N-T-I-C, Volunteer Fire Department. Uh they were shut down by the city by failing to sign the agreement to comply with Unified Command, and city-owned trucks within that department were repossessed by the city, but here's the kicker. Since but which but since they have operated a makeshift substation in the Yantic Fire District. The city repossessed their trucks, which I'm sure were all reserved trucks for the city, and still have a makeshift station, substation in the Yantic Fire District. That in itself is stupid. Why not just let Yantic keep going and anyway? So according, Unified Command was announced in August 2025 by City Manager John Salomone, S-A-L-O-M-O-N-E, and City Fire Chief Sam Wilson, who said it was designed to unify the paid and volunteer fire services by decreases decreasing fragmentation between the paid and volunteer staff. Fragmentation, okay. In addition to establishing a new command structure with Wilson at the top, the policy standardized training, communications, and emergency response protocols for both paid and volunteer fire services in the city. Okay. So I'll go back to this in a minute. Uh shortly after the closure of the Yantic department, uh an attorney, Mark Kovac, filed a lawsuit on its behalf along with Taffille, Oakham, and Laurel Hill departments, challenging the authority of uh the city manager or the fire chief Wilson and the city manager Salomone. Uh under the city charter d uh policy. It has no authority to do this, blah, blah, blah. Uh let's see here. Uh looking for anything else. Uh huh. Looking for anything that was. Oh, here's the here we go. The city manager said this. On the announcement that they may close this these departments. He said uh they were giving them a courtesy notice that we might, because we could. What does that say? To me it all sounds like let's get out the measuring sticks and see who's chief or city manager or whatever is bigger. Um it's I I I think this is this is I don't understand why uh no, I do get it. I d I get it. You're you're trying to soak them all in fragmentation. Fragmentation is because of the attitude between all the departments. I was on a volunteer department next to a next to a a city, and we had mutual agre uh agreements with them. We everybody knew each other. Um we even trained together a few times, we went on calls together. Um it's it's so and w nobody tried to soak us in or or or say, hey, you should be a part of us or whatever, you know. Everybody work together. I don't understand why they just can't work together and leave these volunteer departments alone. Um if they want to help, they're helping them obviously with some fire trucks or apparatus and maybe some equipment or whatever. Just leave that in there. Why uh why do you have to do this? You you have to have really good reasons to do something like this. Because you're I don't know. Unless there's something else that's going on that no one they're not saying in this story, which is possible, or they're not these the people that are involved are not saying. Uh maybe there's something with um maybe there's something with response times, maybe there's some I I don't know. But to me it just sounds like let's you know, just you know, a measuring situation. Anyway, but two girls of all things, two girls chain themselves to the truck in protest, they need to survive, and okay. If you have any thoughts thoughts and comments, or if you're in that area and you know what's going on, by all means email us at 911 squirrel podcast at gmail.com or go to Facebook or Instagram and let us know what in the world. Cause that just I don't know. That's just me. What do I know? What do I? 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But they have TNT 3D printing, uh, a great I I I looked at their TikTok site and every oh my gosh, they make some cool stuff. And they also do they anything that you can 3D print, they'll do it. So please go see, go out to their TikTok page and or email them and by all means uh if you need something 3D printed, but go get it. So anyway, just like I said, if you have if you're first responder and you got a small business and you want us to give you a shout out on an episode, and just get send us all the information at 911 Squirrel Podcast at gmail.com, and we not only give you a shout-out, but we will give you a commercial just like this, and then you get to take it and you can use it for whatever. I think Wendy said that they were gonna use the TNT 3D commercial to um add some put it on some video, and they're gonna add it to TikTok and do some other things. So by all means, and it's totally free. Uh now let's get back into something else here. Motivation. That's right, motivation. Do you like being motivated? Do you? Do you? I know you do. But this episode is all about motivation, and it begs the question, what motivates you? Now, for all of us first responders, that's an easy question to answer. And it usually it's usually I wanted to help my community or that I could help someone on their worst day. That's the first answers out of the bag. We said it before you are the one that begins the solution for another person's problem. You bring the first sign of relief, the first comfort, the first sign of justice. You're the one that controls the bleeding, that removes the mangled car from around them, that takes control of the situation so no one else gets hurt. Whether you are first or last on scene, you are part of the team that makes things better. Now, all that is true and deep. And I'll explain. For every single one of us responders, it's a calling. That's what makes it deep. It's a calling. You feel the call. There is a mystical power, God, whatever, that infiltrates the mind andor heart, creating that urge that makes us think something like, I want to do that. Kind of like Spider-Man. You get bit and now you're a superhero. That's right. I said it. I don't mean it lightly. First responders are the closest to being superheroes. And by a wide margin. Thank goodness we don't have to wear tight outfits and capes. I mean, could you imagine? I'll be the first to admit I would not look good in a spandex bodysuit with a speedo. My cape would be wrapped around me as if I was performing a vanishing magic trick. Um that would be a lot of material for that seamstress. Anyway, although it's although the superhero names would be cool, like Captain Spineboard and The Extinguisher, or Blue Enforcer? But yes, first responders are superheroes. Now think about it. Who else goes into burning buildings, runs toward gunshots, puts their hands in blood and guts? We've seen it in the movies, yet y'all are the ones doing it. But what what brings you to want to do it? What did the mystical power or God or karma or family member, whatever, what or and say or do to get you here? Was it an incident or that happened in your life? Family members or friends that were first responders? Maybe a movie or TV show planted the seed? My favorites were Emergency, Ladder 49, and MASH. Yes, MASH. Believe it or not, though, those three are the most accurate. Now, whatever it was, now you are here. You have gone to school, an academy, trained and watched PowerPoints. Ugh. Loathe PowerPoints. Anyway, give me an instructor that is passionate any day of the week. But I digress. Uh now you're on shift. What is the motivation you use to keep coming back for more? Let's see if I can come close. There are a plethora of motivational reasons to keep going. The feeling you get when you help someone, getting the bad guy, saving someone's home. Maybe this thought keeps you motivated. Motivated. I could learn to speak again. I don't want to let my responder brothers or sisters or my community down. That one's one of my that one's one of mine. Probably my favorite. Uh but it's only one. The love of the job is another. My favorite things were sticking IVs. Yeah, sticking IVs, baby. I love doing IVs. And yes, as the intro said, I stuck myself twice on one call. Not my best day. I loved doing IVs. I loved using extrication tools. And it may sound morbid, but going on the most traumatic calls, the biggest wrecks or whatever, yeah, those those were to me, that was fun. I'd probably be into goth if I didn't think it was so stupid, but that's my opinion. Uh it doesn't matter how or why, as long as you stay motivated. You see, these days uh you if you feel you need a break and don't feel like going in, I mean, those days happen. And I don't mean like, you know, a mental just breakdown. I'm talking about just the normal, I don't want to get out of bed kind of a thing. And it happens to everyone. You're a human being, not some emotionless mis machine that needs humans for batteries. My matrix reference. Uh you are the one of the few that took on the responsibility to protect the community. And that's massive. Not just the responsibility, but the courage to take on a role uh a huge majority of people refuse to do. And yeah, I mean they want no part of it. They're scared of everything the blood, the confrontation, the stress, but not you. Not the brothers and sisters that sacrifice a little sanity, a little soul, in order to bring chaos to order. And I could go the either way. All right. You accept the stress, the anxiety, the over stimulated adrenogland, uh, because nobody else will. And the best part is those same people uh l look and look up to you. I mean, when you show up on scene, they're like, there's like a relief for the non-first responder because they're like, finally, someone's here to take control. And they wish they could be you. You know, they really do. If it was up to me, every first responder would be signing multimillion dollar contracts like athletes. Oh, Brad Mack just re-signed with his department for a hundred million over 20 years. Do I get a no trade clause? Um, of course, my contract would be loaded with performance incentives, but alas, we don't get those. That makes you even more valuable. Don't believe me? Huh. Knowing you will not get rich, but still want the job. Go ahead. I mean if that doesn't make you if that doesn't make you feel good about yourself being a first responder, I don't know what does. And and you know what's even better? Volunteers. That's right. Volunteers. You s you spend your own money and time. You don't get paid most of the time. I mean, that's a commitment, right? You are special, you are courageous, you are the one, and you, and you, and you. Uh wish you could see me point. Uh you have a partner, a crew, a team, a battalion, a department, an agency, and you are a part of the largest family in the world. You believe in your brothers and sisters, and they believe in you. And I believe in you. So however you do it, stay motivated. Don't care how that is, find your everybody's individual, find your way to keep yourself motivated. Believe in your mission. Believe in yourself. You are the superhero. So bring it. And now we must dance.
SPEAKER_07Let me tell you, uh so much fun.
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SPEAKER_04And now everyone's favorite component of the job. The Instant. Where we have a discussion on steam prestiges to improve on the performance and deliver better outcomes. Inst of it.
SPEAKER_03Ladies and gentlemen, uh, on the squirrel hotline, I wanted to bring in a special guest to talk about motivation. So we are bringing in the director of Robertson County EMS, Mr. Brent.
SPEAKER_00Hey, man, we're doing great. It's uh it's a Monday, but we're we're staying afloat.
SPEAKER_03Sounds sounds like you're Noah on the first day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and and it's budget season, so the rain's a falling.
SPEAKER_03Oh, man. Oh, man. Well, since we're talking about motivation, I'd like to ask, how has it changed to motivate crews from when you first started to now being a director?
SPEAKER_00Man, it it's to back then, one of the biggest things that was uh anti-motivational was when you constantly felt like you it's like you get recognized from administration every time you screw up. Otherwise you ain't gonna hear from 'em. And there's a lot of departments out here that are still like that. I think we need more chiefs that are willing to get on the ambulance and run the calls as a paramedic themselves.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Show that you're show that you're doing the job too.
SPEAKER_00And um and I do that. I don't get to do it as often as I'd like. Uh but you know I'm squirrely. You know I like to go.
SPEAKER_03One of the OG squirrels.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, I I I I love what we do. But uh back then what motivated me was um being appreciated, feeling like I was wanted a part of the team, and being having opportunities to grow and learn and and laugh. You know, I got to work with some wonderful people and I learned a lot from 'em. But nowadays in this position as a leader, I think one of the things that is the most motivational to me it makes me want to come in and keep doing this. I don't know why anybody wants to. I mean, you have to be crazy to do the work of paramedics. And I am learning, I have discovered you gotta be just a little bit crazier than to uh uh in order to lead 'em. But it is extremely motivational for people like us to uh not be micromanaged. You know. And um so to be trusted, respected, and valued for what I bring to the table.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh it it is, it's motivational for me too, right now, Brad, to look back and think I can't be mad at some of my employees because I did that many years ago. You know. Oh and I tell them, y'all gonna have to really try hard to come up and do something any sillier than what I've done. But I tell you, and when you start talking to people about those kinds of mistakes, the first thing that a good leader needs to do is remember years ago when it was them on the other side of the table. That it's motivational to be able to be a part of the change in our profession that I wanted to see for so many years as one of the people on the streets working out of the back of the truck. You know, we know uh you know, I remember saying, Well, man, one of these days I'm in charge, I'm gonna blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, here we are. And now I'm like, what the hell was I thinking? And uh to me, like I say, I'm a squirrel, I love to run calls. That's motivational to me, is to still get to do the work of my folks. Uh I get motivated by helping them discover just how far they are within their purpose. You know, uh there's a big difference in this life between your work and your purpose. Your work is very different than your purpose. But now what I'm fixing to say doesn't motivate folks, I'm not sure what will, but how blessed are we to be in a profession doing something we enjoy, we laugh like fools, uh and learn a lot of good information. Where we are working but at the same time fulfilling a very powerful purpose. And to me, that's extremely motivational.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I keep saying, you know, it's for what everybody does as a first responder, I keep saying it's it's a calling. And there's that moment where you feel that call to say, hey, I'm gonna go be a firefighter, I'm gonna go be a paramedic, I'm gonna be a a police officer or deputy or whatever the case is. And you don't you can't just if you go into into emergency services kinda in a in a in a half-assed kind of way, you're not going to To me, you're not gonna get the you're not gonna do the job as well as you you could. But also you're not gonna feel the r the rewarding part of it as well as if you went in full force and yes, this is what I'm I'm called to do.
SPEAKER_00We are some of the most motivated people on the world to take care of everybody else.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But we're not that motivated to take care of our uh each other uh and ourselves. You know, and uh I I've spent my career uh uh not thinking too but but you know, uh uh a few months back laying there in a calf lab as the patient. You know, I'm I'm laid out, you know, I'm a big old fella, you know, I'm six foot five and and uh and the big old cornfield country boy, and I'm laid out and all I got on is one and a half of my socks. You know, one of them slid off the left of it, you know, and uh ain't got no drawers on, got that little gown on. Thank you for the visual. And yeah, yeah, you're welcome to that, you know. I'm laid out there, you know, yeah, you know, and I'm sitting here thinking, uh man, uh you know, uh w what led me to this? 45-year-old, you know, laying in here fixing to get a you know, go in for PCI, and uh thankfully they didn't find anything of of great concern. Nothing but a little medication change, thankfully. But I'm sitting here thinking, man, I should have been much more motivated uh twenty years ago to eat healthier, exercise more, and uh live a better lifestyle for meat. But I spent so much time taking care of everybody else and the profession. You know, and developing myself professionally and working all the time. I I needed to have learned the word no a lot earlier in my career. When they called wanting you to work overtime and stuff like that. You know. So anybody listening, especially the younger ones listening, learn the word no and don't be afraid to tell that to the supervisors on the other end of the phone. When they call you trying to work you to death.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, but you know, well uh but hey, sitting here now though, uh brother, it'll motivate you when they tell you you've got a 40% occlusion of your LAD. Yes, it will. So, you know, you know, I got my water here on my desk and my this damn banana that I've been needing to eat for two days. And you're but in the back, they have pizza. They got free pizza earlier.
SPEAKER_03Well, why didn't you come there? And you got a beautiful wife that's gonna sit there and keep you motivated.
SPEAKER_00Oh, but uh she may be more motivated to cash in on that insurance. I don't know, you know. I told her, I said, hey, if we can take out an insurance policy that pays by the pound, well, hell, you'll become a millionaire overnight.
SPEAKER_03Only you, Brent.
SPEAKER_00Only you but I tell you. Yep, yep. Well, man, uh hey, motivation is a tricky subject to talk about with people that do what we do. Because uh we get beat down, absolutely worked to death, wore out mentally, physically, psychologically and in the end spiritually. And uh to to to find some kind of motivating factor to make you want to get back up and repeat that and do it again for another shift of rotation, you know, however you whatever schedule you work. We gotta be crazy. You know? We are, trust me. Yeah, we are, yeah. For the folks listening, uh they uh you know when it comes to trying to motivate, you need to you gotta find a way to motivate yourself for the right reasons. You need to understand your purpose and what you were created for, and you need to be tapping in to any available knowledge and skills and abilities that you can to help grow yourself, but at the same time you need to understand and and appreciate your purpose. And you need to take care of yourself, you need to be as motivated to take care of you and your partner and stay out of the toxicity and and the rumors and all that. People love that stuff. As human beings, we we can't help it. That's just the way we are. But be smarter, be wiser, be stronger than that, and uh see the bigger picture. And uh but uh motivate yourself though, and uh and be somebody that when you show up to work, others already start smiling. Because I know y'all gonna have fun today, you're gonna do great work, you're gonna deliver exceptional care to the patient, and you're gonna give good customer service. And the reality is is w you as an individual are just one tiny, tiny, tiny small drop in a great big ocean of other people and opinions. That's true. You know, I mean you gotta be real. But you are also the only you you get.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and you don't want to be one that it sucks to be around.
SPEAKER_03Well, that did happen. Uh not the not the bad part, but uh I did realize exactly uh one time what others thought about me, because I I didn't realize what kind of reputation I had at one time when I showed up, I picked up a shift, and I showed up and everybody was like, Oh, you're working this this shift. I said, Yeah, oh great. And I went, Oh, cool. Hey, like me being here.
SPEAKER_00And uh or you could be somebody when you show up, they're like, Oh god. Here we go.
SPEAKER_03Well that I heard a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I hear you. Oh, there's Brad. They say that now you know when you when you pull up in the admin vehicle. I started purposefully carrying around manila envelopes, you know, and and walking in, because you know, you'd walk in with that manila envelope and people's hearts drop, you know. They're like, oh god, somebody's fixing to get rolled up or fired. And and and I kind of have an anti write-up in our department here in this service that I lead here. I tell our supervisors, I'm like, no, I ain't much on and I'm you do gotta hold accountability at times, but it's If you will when you empower and you truly lead and you love people and and you tell 'em that you trust 'em and you give 'em the opportunities to shine. Man, you hardly ever have problems. But uh No, I went around with them little modella photos. And and on the inside of them, it would say, Your hair looks pretty. Have a great day, and I just hand that to them when I'd say and I just walk away. And it broke it helped breaks the stigma of, you know, every time admin pulls in, somebody's in trouble. I just find somebody to hand that blank folder to with that goofy message in it, and then go in there and sit down and uh, you know, have breakfast with them or something.
SPEAKER_03Well, be careful what you write on some of those things in case HR does get involved.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right. That's right. And I told them I love them. But I do tell 'em, like I say, I don't mean I want to smooch on you and buy your milkshake, but it does mean that I'll step in front of a bullet for you. Wow. And if I'm willing to step in front of a bullet for 'em, then I'm willing to step in front of an attorney's accusation. I'm ready to step in front of them having a bad day where they made an honest mistake. I'm willing to step in front of it and I'll take the fall for it. If they went out here and uh got a citizen complaint, you know, and uh and then I want to sit down and talk to them about what caused that. And then we put it behind us, you know. We we learn from what we can learn from, and like I say, sometimes there's a big difference between honest mistakes and mistakes made out of malfeasance. And rarely do you ever see malfaits uh you know if when you run into that kind of team and you got the right kind of leadership, you will rarely ever have mistakes made out of malfeasance.
SPEAKER_03I agree. Well, here's here's a question, and we're gonna take you back. Alright. Back in the day. Way back in the Brent Dyer time machine. So when you were uh when you were young, I'm sure you were probably I I'm guessing you were a teenager, but it could have been way before that, because I've interviewed a couple people where they've they felt the calling way back when they're elementary age. Uh but what was the the moment where you said, Hey, I want to do this?
SPEAKER_00Well, that's a good question. I have spoken on this at conferences. I'm comfortable to tell you because I have sat in a room full of three or four hundred colleagues at a time and told this. And it's nothing to be proud of, but it's also something not to be ashamed of.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_00Like a lot of people that get into caretaker professions, such as what we have. We are oftentimes people who have come from broken past. And I grew up and uh like a lot of people, uh you know, he he the the very person who should have been the one that made me feel the safest all my life as a as a child was the one who I was the most afraid of. Not in a good way to where a young man or a boy respects and fears their dad because they don't want to get in trouble, because they respect him and they don't want to disappoint them. But in a way where if I blinked wrong or if I got in the way of a football game that he was gambling on or or or anything of the sort. Or if we lost a bunch of money a gambling, he'd come take it out on me with a belt. Or a tobacco stick and a tobacco field. And I and I'm not talking about you know uh wild uh godly effective parenting. I'm talking about, you know, beating the hell out of somebody senselessly. And but the word hurt a lot more than the stick than the belt. You know, the thing that the person who's supposed to be one of the people who loves you the most saying some of the most unimaginable destructive things to you. But I do remember, though, brother, at the time when it seemed like it was at the most vulnerable and the most helpless. Anytime an emergency vehicle would get close to the house, and them lights, them all rotating lights would go flashing off the the windows and the sides of the street lines and whatever path, be it an old police car, old bartrove, old ambulance. The glow of the light would flash through and the sound of the siren. The wolf always runs ahead at the sound of the sheet though. And the wolf in my life, who should have been my biggest sheet, though, was my biggest wolf. And nowadays I have gone up to me and influential and uh there was a time where I was a helpless man. And there was something about it the things in the safety that was ironed in life brought to me. And that is, I think, what led me to where we're at.
SPEAKER_03I would have I would have never known that about you, Brent. Out of all these years that I've been.
SPEAKER_00I ain't afraid of nothing. But at a time in my life I was.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, I would have never known that that that that part of you.
SPEAKER_00The only thing really scares me nowadays is treadmills and vegan diets. But I ain't afraid to fight ten men at once. But now I'm older and slower, and I've been sitting at this desk for too long, so I'll probably just hit them with a ketamine dart.
SPEAKER_03Hey, you can make a you can make a dart gun with a 7.0 ET tube and a 12-gauge cardiac needle. I've done it.
SPEAKER_00I have a couple of my employees that I hope aren't listening to this. Because that'll be a lot more paperwork for me.
SPEAKER_03Well, just like I tell when I tell people when I tell about stories like this on the podcast, it's like, okay, if you guys do any of this, you're on your own. I told you not to do it, so you're on your own. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, we have I'll say this one last thing, and you know, I because you know I'm good at rambling. No, no, I've said in enough of my classes to know that I sometimes would have made a good preacher. But you know, you know, but and I tell 'em, I said, I'll speak at the conference for you, but I ain't talking before lunch. And y'all know I'm long-winded. So but I say this. You think about it, we're one of the only professions known to humanity that we're we uh we literally hold a quill dipped in ink, like like a pen. You know what I'm saying? Like like an old ink pen. And with the as we're literally rewriting other people's stories as they unfold. You know, we have the ability to we don't always have the ability to change that, but I promise the out regardless of the outcome, it's better because we were there.
SPEAKER_03Whoops, there I'm out. Sorry.
SPEAKER_00There he is. See he's done folks, he's done this before in classes. I have put him to sleep more than once with my rambling.
SPEAKER_03Just let him sleep, Brent. He'll be better.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, that's right.
SPEAKER_03No, I just I my my beautiful bride came down to to tell me something, and I had to hit mute, and then I forgot I was on mute.
SPEAKER_00So that happens. I I do that when uh with uh you know my online gaming. I got I got another couple of old guys, and you know, we'll get on there and and uh my buddy he'll text me, he'll be like, You forgot to unmute yourself. We're trying to talk to you, you know.
SPEAKER_03Oh gosh. Well, Brent, this has been absolutely great. Uh great well good, great talk and and some wonderful things that people hopefully can can take and uh use toward motivation and all that kind of stuff. Uh I'm gonna have you stay on the line, but I'm glad we can help you. Absolutely. Absolutely. But we're gonna let you go, but stay on the line for a second, and uh yeah. Hopefully, uh hopefully everything uh keeps running smoothly for you, and and uh uh hopefully you have a great week coming and future weeks going away.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Likewise, likewise, y'all stay safe.
SPEAKER_03All right, ladies and gentlemen, uh our the director of Robertson County EMS in Tennessee, Mr. Brent Dyer.
SPEAKER_02Greetings and welcome to another edition of the Grand Squirrel Theater, where true stories are told, but in a theatrical style. In this episode three titles, we show that our director is proof that even the dumbest box rocks can wind up in concrete. Sit back and enjoy this wonderful saga entitled The Comedian. My name is Mike. I'm a paramedic and volunteer firefighter.
SPEAKER_03I've been on the job for 24 years and I've seen it all. Shootings, stabbings, bodies mangled in cars, unique. I believe in being compassionate, honest, and doing everything I can to help save a life. Most of the people I've worked with, whether on an ambulance or in the fire service, feel the same way. They are wonderful, dedicated members that I would gladly team up with any time. Then there's the comedian. That's right. There's one in every department. Seems like these people have no filter. Sure, it's fun when they're around, they make you laugh, and are all about having a good time. And yes, every comedian I have worked with are good at the job. But on the call, they always seem to say something that make the rest of us reply, Woo! What did you just say? Here's one. Some years ago, I was partnered with an EMT named Steve. He's a fun guy that is always up for anything and isn't a good EMT. We go to what Dispatch described as an attempted hanging. A young couple were having an argument when she wrapped a belt around her neck and told her husband, I'm due. After we arrived, Steve took her out to the ambulance and started the evaluation. She was upset, obviously, and cried while recounting the effects. Upon ending her story, Steve asked a question that made me do a double take. He asked, Was the butt real leather or fake? The lady stopped crying, had a confused look on her face, and said, it was real leather. Without missing a beat, Steve Connolly stated good. Because the ink on the fake leather bleeds into your skin, and it takes forever to get out. Just when I was about to tell him I'll take over, the lady started chuckling and said, Ha ha, I needed that. Not every comedian is that lucky. Take for instance, Krista. Now she's a medic with a long history of milk, missing a filter. Always bluntly telling the truth. She showed up with the shift supervisor on a murder suicide call. A man shot another man and his lazy boy through the temples at point-blank range, then shot himself at another round.
SPEAKER_02Two detectives, three other officers, my partner and I were all there during the investigation. When our supervisor asked Kristen what she thought of the deceased in the chair, Kristen leaned down to the man's temple instead. I could see the wall on the other side. Well, guess what? She was towed away outside. We did laugh about it later.
SPEAKER_03Then there's the firefighter that earned the nickname the Live Saver. His name is Jake. And he didn't get that nickname because he stayed live. Oh no, no, no, cookie. He got it for something even Hollywood riders couldn't conjure up. We were all dispatched to a house for pots with DOA. Upon arrival, we found a man in his 30s sitting on a couch cold and pale with rigor kicking hands. We think he was fixing a lot that electrocuted. We had Jake stick around to help us move the body once the investigation was done. Jake stood in the kitchen waiting when he noticed a bag of individually wrapped lifesavers on the counter. He grabbed one, started sucking on it.
SPEAKER_02One of the officers asked Jake, what are you doing? He said, I'm having a lifesaver.
SPEAKER_03The officer said, those are his. Of course, the dead guys. He said he won't be needing them now. Besides, they didn't help him anyway.
SPEAKER_02Talk about that.
SPEAKER_03We were all laughing on the inside, trying to maintain our own professionalism. But everyone wanted to stay with good comedians are everywhere. See them on your team, your awareness is tied for quite a bit. Wait for that moment. Will they stay stuck in the answer situation or do we go to the office afterwards to watch them get disciplined? Po either way. It's quite interesting. Oh yeah. That was actually a fun one to do. Oh my gosh, that was fun. Well. Anyway, thank you. First of all, a couple shout-outs. Ten eight fire and sagebrush coffee for sponsoring us. Give them all of a huge uh just go check them out. Go check out 108fire.com. 10, the number the word 10, take T-E-N number 8, the word fire, all one huge word.com, or Sagebrush uh coffee. And they're actually located in Bethpage, Tennessee. I need to get over there actually. Uh next time I'm I'm just gonna have to go over there and get some refresh. They got coffee, some refresher drinks. Uh I have to try their tea. But anyway, thank you so much for sponsoring us, and we look forward to wonderful partnerships together. Um, but yes, we're here at the end, and this has been about motivation. Well, besides squirrel theta. But um yeah, motivation is is a huge thing. Stay do whatever you can to keep motivated. I know this job is tough, and I know it'll drive you absolutely nuts, and and so forth and so on and so forth. But there's ways to do that, and then when you leave the shift, when you get off, go get get get away. That's another thing. Get away from being a firefighter, from being a paramedic, from being a law enforcement officer. Uh you had to, you know, if somebody something's going on around you, that's different. But go do stuff that's not related to being a first responder. And you'd be surprised uh how how that helps. But yes, stay motivated, stay everything, stay blah, blah, blah, blah. But uh, sorry about that. My mom's trying to call me. Hi, mom. I would put her on the one one day. I'll have to have my mom on it'd be quick. If I can even get her on. That would be awesome. Have my mom as a as an interview. Speaking of which, next week, uh next week, next episode, we're gonna have an interview uh with uh a very uh wonderful young woman who um well I'll just you'll just have to you'll just have to tune in. You'll have to listen to our next episode and listen to this this lady. She's got a fascinating story that has led to a new state law Yeah. We're gonna have her on uh in the next episode, and we're gonna have some fun time then too. But until then, we have come to the end of this episode of 911 Squirrel. Hopefully you've had you've have had some fun and also learned something. Stay motivated. If you have stories, know someone you want us to spotlight, have questions, comments, have a small business you want to do us to give a shout out to, please email us at 911squirrelpodcast at gmail.com, or go to the socials of Facebook, Instagram, and tune TikTok, all under 911 Squirrel Podcast. Thank you for listening, every member. You are part of the team, the world's largest team. And I mean that sincerely. We're all over the place. So help each other, stay safe, and God bless. Thank you for tuning in. This has been 911 Squirrel, the podcast for first response.