Another case of “Cover the Tattoo or Else” this just seems like a feeble attempt at screwing with the other team but still.

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Lyrics to Street Dogs- There is Power in a Union

There is power in a democracy, power in the land
Power in the hands of a worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don’t stand
There is a power in a Union

Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers’ blood
The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for
From the cities to the farmlands in the trenches full of mud
Cuz war has always been the bosses’ way sir

The Union forever defending our rights
Let’s fight the Right Wing, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union

Now I long for the time that they realize
Brutality and unjust laws cannot defeat us
But who’ll defend the workers who cannot organize
When the GOP send their attorneys out to cheat us?

Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own
Who’ll come speak for the skin and the bone?
What a comfort to widow, a light for the child
There is power in a Union

The Union forever defending our rights
Let’s fight the Right Wing, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union

With social justice and equality
For every man and woman who wants it
There is power in a Union

My view of the Dropkick Murphys during the song “Skinhead on the MBTA”

To all of my friends and family,

You may want to have one last look at me before July 8,  for on July 8th I am going to see the most epic-ly epic concert ever conceived by mortals…..and my face might just melt off at the sheer power of such a lineup.  I am willingly going to tempt fate like they did in Indiana Jones and look uponst the stage which by far Dropkicks and the Bostones clearly have more power than the Ark of the Covenant in this particular instance.  So at the risk of you never seeing my face again due to meltage you may want to have your final looks.

Signed,

Me

New Rule Compels Los Angeles Firefighters to Cover Tattoos

Ah yes,  the nearly age old argument about professionalism.  I engage in this argument on a near monthly basis with a variety of people all of which would be eliminated during the U.S. Geography 2^nd grade question on “Are You Smarter than a 5^th Grader.”  Most contest that to be professional by their narrow minded definition you simply have to “Look” professional placing heavy emphasis on polished boots neatly pressed (and dangerous I may add) polyester shirts.  Nothing is said of a Professional attitude and demeanor that you can in fact take the largest pile of shit in the department (or ten of them for that matter) dress them in a Class A Uniform and they still will be the most unprofessional professional firefighter to walk the face of the earth.  It’s their attitude that will give them away every single time, their air of incompetence, and general grotesque inability to do much outside of breathing the correct way.  Perhaps if management focused a little more on the Acting and a little on the Looking they might actually discover that people don’t particularly care how we look…Don’t believe me, look at the last 50 or so thank you letters sent to the department for services provided to the citizens I can guar-damn-tee they refer to “Acted Professional and Treated me like a Professional.” 

I can also tell you that a person well enough to notice scuffed boots and tattoos probably should have refrained from burdening the already abused 911 system with their petty bullshit.

For the next two years no one in my Local is allowed to say the following phrases;

“What does the International do for us?”

“They never asked our opinion on that?”

“Why did they decide that?”

“Why is our Per-Cap going to be spent on that?”

“They raised our Per-Cap for what?”

“Why did that Resolution get passed?”

“Why are we supporting him/her/they/them?”

“How come they don’t support more Republicans?”

“We didn’t know that was going to be ratified?”

“We didn’t know this was an issue going before Congress/Senate?”

“Why don’t we have Heart-Lung or Cancer Presumption?”

“Isn’t that what the International is for?”

-Or any of the other 1,000 questions and snide remarks heard on a daily basis.

By not sending our voice to the International through our Delegate vote we have lost our voice for two years on the International level.  Way to go guy’s,  way to knock us back a few more decades…you sure you aren’t in the Management Group….perhaps you should be.

Riddle me this….How is it a group of backwoods rednecks in a “Right to Work” state is a more powerful Union than us who have grown up in one of the strongest Union states in the country?

Today across our nation firefighters will pause and reflect on a tragedy that occurred one year ago today.  Last year 9 Charleston SC firefighters lost their lives in a fire that to this day the ramifications ripple across the country and have most of us still shaking our heads in disbelief.   Obviously the loss of any life in a fire is devastating,  as a Professional Firefighter who has seen more than my fair share of time in the “breech” what makes the loss of 9 firefighters in Charleston unpalatable is circumstances surrounding their deaths. 

When you are in the business where,  on occasion,  you walk a razor thin line between success and failure you fall back upon and draw from past experiences, training, equipment, leadership, and gut feelings to get you home at the end of your shift.  Leadership, equipment and training failures in Charleston have created Widows, grieving families and fatherless children.  The leadership or lack of in Charleston should be held to a criminal standard.  In the civilian world the case studies and precedents are clear let us change the circumstance.  Let us pretend that a truck driver was allowed to take to the road and he had not received the proper training to drive and he hit a bus killing 9 people…he would certainly be held to a criminal standard as would the people or company that allowed him to do so.  Tactics in the fire service change on nearly a weekly basis.  Command officers owe it to themselves and to the men they command to stay abreast of the latest information, the latest classes, the latest training.  We rely on them to see the much broader picture, to forecast the outcome, and to actively and safely mitigate the problem. 

Management of tactics change however management philosophy does not.  Take these two texts from a centuries old manuscript on leadership during warfare.

“When the men are well trained, rested, properly fed, clothed, and equipped, if their spirits are roused they will fight vigorously.  However, if physical or material conditions have blunted their spirit; if there is any imbalance in the relationship between command and troops; or if for any reason they have lost their motivation, they will be defeated”

“If the leader is weak and unenlightened in his instructions and leadership and the deployment of his troops into formation is askew, it is termed chaotic”

Centuries old management philosophy that still holds true today yet leadership by its very core definition is seemingly a foreign concept to those leaders who were on scene that day in Charleston.  Through inept, outdated, and antiquated tactics, strategy, and philosophy are directly responsible for such a tragic loss.

Across the country the same attitudes and directives of outdated tactics, below par training standards and inept leadership that exist in Charleston exist in fire departments to this day.  We are not advancing fast enough in the fire service we are simply dodging bullets playing a dangerous game and counting on mathematical probabilities.  Tactics, philosophies, training and attitudes that existed in the 70’s no longer have a place in the fire service neither do the ones possessed in the 80’s or 90’s.  We can glean valuable lessons from such tragedies as Charleston, Worchester, Brockton, and the countless other Line of Duty Deaths that occur across this country every year.  These lessons have been paid in full by guys who have been failed by incompetent leaders and outdated practices.  Lessons that our own incompetent leaders seemingly ignore……we are simply dodging bullets.

I know I am a bit late with this but you NEED to read these two books.

If you have seen the series “Band of Brothers” you will no doubt recognize the name Dick Winters.  This book is his own account of what happened to him and the men of the 101st during some of the most brutal battles of WWII.

Bagpipe Brothers is the account of the FDNY Emerald Society Pipe and Drum band following the attacks of 9-11.  If you can get through this book without shedding a tear…..you simply dont get it.  This is truly a gut wrenching story of loss and coping with loss while trying to add dignity and honor to funeral services.

July 8 ….the only thing that would make this lineup any better would be to add Street Dogs.  Two legends from the Boston Punk scene and my top two favorite bands of ALL TIME are coming this way.