Bill Walck:  

3 yrs of college for mech eng/metallurgy. We reached the moon and the engineering job market tanked so I went to work. I spent 3yrs as a steel fabricator, making custom truck equipment and repairs of same. I then spent 34 yrs as a professional firefighter. The scope and actual nature of this job is significantly different than you would assume, especially given the TV representation. As most of the time is spent waiting, the job takes on the elements of scenes from "Barney Miller" with it's collection of oddball personalities. I spent most of my time as a pumper conpany captain and handled something on the order of 20,000 alarms. Many were nothing, many silly or a matter of educating people, lots were alarm system malfunctions. Some were gross, like discovering that the "gas smell" in an apartment was actually due to the cellar being half full of bagged garbage. This happened a number of times and one time it was one room in an adjacent apartment that was occupied. Lots of medical assists and auto accidents. More than accidents were actual fires, which are, in many cases, true emergencies that are growing exponentially every second. They are only dealt with by the application of appropriate force, by coordinated individuals that never number enough. They are a real slugfest with a relentless opponent. Fortunately this opponent obeys the laws of nature and this is what is exploited to bring the situation under control. Notwithstanding, the physical challenges are significant as is the danger. I was fortunate to not have been seriously injured although I had a number of close calls and a couple of very close calls. I think my personal closest was having the propane tank on a gas grill someone had in their living roo...Expand for more