Drinking Culture In The Fire Service: Building Bonds Without Alcohol

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good morning, it's uh Nate from the Dry Life. I hope you are all having a safe and wonderful Memorial Day. Um and among the barbecues and other events, maybe hitting the lake, um please remember uh what this uh what this holiday is all about. Alright, so um today I want to talk about uh drinking and f and the fire service. As as many of you know, I am a volunteer firefighter. And uh you know my experience um when I when I joined the fire department uh years ago, I was at the I at the time I was drinking. And um I look back on that now and I see that it was uh you know it was sort of a handicap at the time, um, because if I you know decided that you know if I was gonna drink that night, then I would be unavailable to assist with the fire calls, that type of thing. And I remember at the time that that didn't really sit well with me, um, because I wanted to make myself available. Obviously, when there, you know, there were times that perhaps I was on call or or I knew that a lot of my fellow firefighters were not available to respond to calls, I would uh I would not drink, but um I found that after I quit, uh it was it was great. I was available for everything. Um I didn't have to worry. And uh yeah, I was just available. So anyway, that's that's really not the uh the topic of today's discussion. It's uh just kind of setting it up. So back in the day, it was very common for uh fire departments to have beer and other alcohol available at the fire department. And um, you know, if you if you paint a picture of that, um, you know, these these folks would go out on a fire call, come back to the station, and um and have a few drinks. Very common, very common back in the day. Um not so much now, but it was uh it was just part of the deal. Um and you know, you would unwind uh uh after uh stressful calls. And now that it isn't um now that it isn't uh common or or now that it is very rare, um, you know, you you can you could certainly look at that as a as a positive, you know, um just from the standpoint of the effects of alcohol, and um you know, the inability for firefighters to respond to calls or responding to calls while under the influence of alcohol. You know, you could look at it that way and and certainly see the benefits of not having that be a part of fire departments um for the most part anymore. But I think there's all there's also a um a downside to that, and it has to do with with uh I guess camaraderie and and perhaps therapy. Back in the day when you know when folks would do that, would they would drink at the fire station, you know, regularly, uh there was no doubt camaraderie that um that developed there. Hanging out with with fellow firefighters, perhaps talking about um you know the fire call and whether or not they knew it, they were discussing and talking about situations that may have not been so pleasant. Um, you know, as you know, there are there are calls where you're simply helping um an older person uh get to the hospital, get into an ambulance, that type of thing. Um but there are also those calls that um are more tragic. And you know, back in the day, after those calls specifically, maybe you had a few drinks at the at the fire department. Maybe you talked about the call. And even if you didn't talk about those calls, you were there to support one another, and just be there with each other. Uh and you know, yes, alcohol was involved, but you know what? Uh there was there was a sense of of leaning on each other through those through those moments where you needed to lean on each other. Well, fast forward to uh here and now where you don't have booze at the fire station. And I think there I think there's a um uh there's a lack of that camaraderie. You know, there there's a lot of different uh ways in which the fire service has changed throughout the years, and you know, it's I think it's incumbent upon fire stations, fire departments to figure out how to um make an atmosphere where firefighters are bonding at the station outside of training, outside of fire calls, or just simply after fire calls instead of you know going back home immediately after the call, which is you know the case in a lot of uh a lot of circumstances, uh how do you promote that type of camaraderie that was so prevalent back in the day in today's world without alcohol? I'm not condoning alcohol, but I I would say that, you know, talking to some of those quote unquote um old timers, that the ability to hang out and talk about things was very beneficial. And you know, you see um you see the rise of mental illness and in first responders and uh the stresses of this job, you know, finding those outlets is important. Um so there's there's kind of a dilemma here. You you you remove alcohol, and the um the sense of just hanging out with uh you know you you remove that and uh so what do you have? What what do you have to fill the void? Well, there's a you know, there's a billion things to do. Um and and it's just a matter of of implementing it, having something there, you know. The idea that uh a beer cooler was was um the fire department therapist is you know ridiculous to think about, but at the same time, you know, maybe there was some truth to that. So I guess um, you know, that's that's kind of the dilemma I'm I'm I'm posing is that uh while it's a good thing that um folks are not drinking at the fire station, there is a downside to the um that camaraderie, that team uh aspect, that brotherhood, that sisterhood of of the fire service that is um maybe diminished in a way, you know. But it you know it's it's it's um it just I I I think it just takes some creativity. How how do you how do you create that type of atmosphere without alcohol? Well, you know, it's a it's the same as any kind of gathering, you know. You have you have uh friends over for dinner and um where alcohol was present uh prevalent and now maybe not so much. Well, do you still not I mean do you not get together? Well, you know, maybe maybe a few folks drop off and perhaps think these types of uh engagements are not fun anymore. But for the most part I think things carry on and um you really see who can can get together without alcohol. Well, maybe that's the same that the same idea can apply to the fire service. Um and just going back to to the um the increase of of mental illness for fire service members and unfortunately the idea of uh seeing more suicides, um, you know, that that definitely needs to be addressed. Um and perhaps, you know, without you know, alcohol being available at the fire station, um you know, perhaps these folks are going home and um drinking alone, which poses all kinds of other problems. So there's a dilemma. And um I think uh I think there's there's there's gotta be a way. There's gotta be a way for this, and I think naturally with the fire service there is that bond with those those folks that um are beside you on emergency calls um I think it's um that's never gonna change uh with the fire service, but you know, finding the finding that um that additional link, that additional bond, you know, outside of the actual calls and outside of the actual training and community events um that will be crucial moving forward. So anyway, that's you know, that's kind of the one of the topics I wanted to talk talk about today and be really interested in how you see this, whether or not you're in the fire service or not. I mean, it's it's one of those things. And I and I'm sure it's um it takes place in in other workplaces too. Um maybe not at the work sites site, but maybe happy hour. Same kind of idea. Blow off some steam after after work. Um love to love to uh read your comments and um get your take on this and post some some ideas out there on how we can how we how we can um while changing the culture not change the nature of those relationships and the importance of coming together. Alright. Well again, hope your uh Memorial Day is a safe one. And uh please take a moment to remember what the what the holiday is all about. Alright, have a good day.