George Blackmore:  

talion chief, division chief....back to working a 24on/48off schedule (love it!)....firefighting is a calling & still provides a great sense of fulfillment... Military served 4 years in USMC reserves as anti-tank assault infantry....never did much but spend weekends out at Ft Hood Tx digging holes, doing patrols, humping thru the woods...after that spent 10 yrs in the USAF reserves as a firefighter and got to go overseas many times during the 15day summer camp (england, germany, korea)....was activated in '91 for desert storm and spent 6 months in phoenix az filling in for firefighters they sent to saudi (was a let down at the time)....enjoyed it until the clinton era downsizing shrunk the military and they cut many firefighter jobs in the reserves...nowhere to go except shreveport la to retain my rank and that was too far to drive, so i got out....better off for it now, but my military service was still valuable to me...