Would You Want To Teach You? The Inside Scoop On Coachability

The best firefighters never stop learning—but not everyone is willing to be coached.

In Season 2, Episode 3 of Wind The Q, Lt. Dodson sits down with Firefighter Adam Hollis to discuss one of the most important traits in the fire service: coachability. Why do some firefighters grow while others plateau? How do pride, attitude, humility, and accountability affect your career? Whether you're a rookie firefighter, company officer, or seasoned veteran, this conversation will challenge you to take an honest look at yourself.

Do you think coachability is more important than talent? Let us know in the comments.

Follow Wind The Q everywhere for more conversations about fire service leadership, culture, training, and the stories behind the sirens.

#WindTheQ #Firefighter #FireService #Coachability #Leadership #FireOfficer #FirefighterTraining #Firehouse #Brotherhood #ProfessionalDevelopment #FirstResponder #EMS #FireCulture #FirePodcast #TheStoriesBehindTheSirens

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This episode Includes dynamic content. If you feel impressed to help support the show, follow the link below. If not, please continue to like, share, follow, and subscribe for more great content!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2605628/support

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Every firefighter wants to get better. At least that's what they say. We buy the books, we watch the videos, we follow instructors online, we travel to conferences, we post quotes about training. But wanting to improve and actually being coachable are two very different things because coachable doesn't mean you love training. Coachable means you're willing to hear something that you don't want to hear. It means someone points out a mistake, and instead of getting defensive, you get curious. It means asking questions instead of making excuses. Some of the best firefighters I've ever worked with weren't the smartest in the room. They weren't the strongest. They weren't the fastest. They were simply teachable. They understood something a lot of people miss. The day you think you've got this job figured out is the day you stop getting better. And the fire service has a way of exposing people who quit learning. Today we're talking about coachability, why some firefighters grow, why others plateau, how ego quietly gets in the way, and why humility might be one of the greatest tools you'll ever carry. If you're new here, welcome. If you've been with us since season one, thank you for coming back. Today's guest is firefighter Adam Hollis. Adam joined us in season one to talk about what it's really like during your first year in the fire service. Today we're going a completely different direction. This conversation isn't just for new firefighters, it's for firefighters with one year, ten years, thirty years. Because every one of us has someone we can still learn from. Adam, welcome back. It's good to be back. So everybody says they want somebody who's coachable. Um what do you think that actually looks like if you if you define the word coachable?

SPEAKER_05 2:37

Um, well, I think I mean, growing up playing sports, um I just by say since I could walk.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

Um for me it's been kind of ingrained into my head. And so I mean, throughout all facets of my life, that's kind of the attitude that I've really approached a lot of situations with. Because I mean it can be it's a very um versatile uh mindset. Yeah. Cause I mean, you look at it, if you look at it from a sports standpoint, you know, if you are struggling with some aspect of, you know, football, baseball, basketball, whatever sports you play, I mean, you'll have the talent that you naturally have. You know, some people are just yeah, gifted God gifted. Yeah. Um but I truly believe that can only take you so far.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

I agree.

SPEAKER_05 3:33

Because eventually you'll get to a point where you have to stop and kind of reassess what's going on. Um, because you're gonna hit a wall. Or you may not hit it may not be as severe as a wall, but it may be a little speed bump or something. Yeah. And a lot of the times becoming coachable or changing your mindset to that coachable mentality, being able to listen to somebody that's done it, you know, listen to somebody that's trained through it, listen to somebody that's lived it, um, will kind of push you past that speed bump or that wall that you're running into. Um like I said, it can be used more for more than just sports, you know. I mean uh uh something that nobody told me uh when I got married was you kind of you gotta be coachable. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, by your wife. You know, because you know, as as a guy, you know, you kind of want to be like, well, I know everything. You know, I know I know what needs to be done, I know what I gotta do, and you kind of get this mindset where like you're right all the time. Yeah. And the faster you learn that that's not the case, the better. And that's part of being coachable. That's right. You know, that's part of being coachable and and you know, listening to whatever your wife has to say, whatever you know her feelings are, if if you're doing something or if you're not doing something, and you know, she opens up to you about it, that I mean you gotta be able to take that's right, and be have that kind of coachable mindset so that you can fix it or be better or you know, whatever you can do. I know I had to uh pretty early on in in our marriage. And uh I honestly believe if I didn't have that, you know, coachable mindset that I mean that things probably could have ended for the worse. Oh yeah. Absolutely. So I mean you can take it from that. I mean, I know an another really big part of my life is is bodybuilding. And I mean, I literally have a coach and I would say 85 to 90 percent of what I do with bodybuilding is being coachable. Yeah. You know, it's one, you know, one month I'm you know, running through one workout split, and I may really, really enjoy it. Yeah. And then the next month, you know, my coach will see something and you know, she'll say, Hey, we need to work on this, like this is kind of lacking. Yeah. And, you know, she may make my workout split very like heavily leg focused or back focused. And I may hate the workout split, but I gotta I gotta do it. That's part of the program. Because that's what she sees needs to be, you know, done. And then I mean that you got your diet that you're working with, because I mean you have your off season where you're gonna be kind of maintaining, you may go into a body recon phase. Um and then once you start ramping up to get ready for a show, you know, your calories are gonna start kicking up.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:35

And you gotta be coachable in the mindset of, you know, being able to listen to her or listen to your coach, make sure you're making your meals, make sure you're meal prepping, make sure you're getting your your uh food intake like you're supposed to. Yeah. And then, you know, obviously it's gonna transition from that into, you know, prep. And prep is is huge on on a coachable mentality.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

That's true.

SPEAKER_05 7:00

Um, because you that's when I mean your your mindset, your mental strengths really tested. Yeah. Um and you have to have that coachable mentality and just discipline as well to you know, stay the course. And then, I mean, finally speaking just from the fire service side of it. Um you know, I can't I guess I can kind of say I'm not a rookie anymore. I I got a rookie underneath me now. Um but in my head, you know, I'm still a rookie because I want to be a sponge. You know, I want to be a coachable firefighter. And, you know, what that looks like for me is, you know, whether we go out to do training, and you know, I think you know, maybe I feel like a hot shot that day.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:47

You know, maybe I get off the truck, I go take my vitals, and I walk over there to wherever we're training, I'm like, man, I'm about to just tear this up. Well then once we start the you know, the actual evolution, you know, I realize I mean just the other day, this for instance, like I realized very quickly that I am not a hotshot. I did too in the same drill. And so we did a search and rescue training um that our uh uh training lieutenant sergeant.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Yeah, new training officer is a lieutenant, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:21

Our new training officer, he put it on and uh it was a uh it was a search and rescue training with main focus on like a um oriented split search or a or a regular split search, but the main obstacle of the training was being blacked out. Yeah. You know, having an insert in your face piece. And for me, you know, I just got done with gypstick. I feel really comfortable being blacked out, or not just got done with gypstick, but it's still fresh on my mind. I know, I know what that feeling it feeling, you know, feels like being blacked out with no visual. And uh so that was that really wasn't an issue. Well, you know, we start our evolution, they tell us to go, I take the door, struggle taking the door. Um, so that was kind of like the first, you know, eye opener. Like, oh, well now like I'm I'm struggling taking the door, and then I finally get the door open, I step off to the side, well, I start masking up and you know, getting ready to go in, and I completely fumbled my whole, you know, putting on my PPE.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:32

Um I had both gloves on the wrong hands and both of them both of my thumbs sticking out of the bottom. You know. Oh goodness. And uh and I mean, I just I went with it and it, I mean, it turned out as as good as you think it would. And but at the end of that, you know, you know, our our training officer, he came up to us and he said, you know, y'all did this, y'all did this, Hollis. Man, like what happened? Like, you know, you're you did not get your PPE on the right way. You know, if you if this is an actual scenario, like you're kind of you have now become a part of the problem. That's right. You're not fixing the problem, you're you're becoming a part of it. And you know, that really that really hit me. Yeah. Because you don't really you don't really think about it like that. You think, oh, well, I just messed up. You know, I just put my gloves on wrong, or you know, I did this. But then once you get in that, you know, once you s someone tells you, well, you're supposed to be going in there to fix a problem, yeah, or mitigate a problem. Yep. And now you have become a part of that problem, and it hits a little bit more serious. And so at that point, you know, I could either be I could start giving excuses, I could start, you know, oh well, I was, you know, I couldn't see. Or like, you know, I had my insert in, or I felt like I was rushed. And you know, I could start saying all those excuses, or I could get mad and blow up or whatever, but instead you gotta hit that coachable mentality of well, yeah, I mean I messed up. That's I mean, I couldn't get my dang PPE on right.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

So excuses are lies we tell ourselves to justify our subpar performance. That is my that's my thought for today. And I actually uh in a conversation with firefighter Huskins, um, he said his daddy always said excuses were lies, and I got to thinking about that a little more and more. And that's just stuff we tell ourselves. Yeah. And it is so like so many people get in that same situation, and in your defense, that door it was it was destroyed before you got to it, and that affected your ability to get through it to a point.

SPEAKER_05 11:43

It was, but then I went back out there the second day, I picked up some overtime and and went back out there mainly to get more reps. That's really the only reason I picked up overtime and went out there the next day. I had no issue with opening that door. I mean, I mean I had it open as soon as I stuck the halligan in.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Well, that's that's something and we'll touch on this in just a little bit too, is those situations, like you said, you sometimes we go into those thinking, I got it, this is gonna be this is gonna go awesome today. Like I'm gonna teach this younger guy something. And then you get out there and it it exposes our weaknesses. And it may be a weakness, it's not that you from a broad scope don't know how to force a door. I know you do, I've seen you do it. But if we don't do it all the time, or or another task, like putting your gloves on, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_05 12:36

Well, no, no, check this out. So, I mean, the second day I had the same issue with the gloves, with with the gloves. I I got them on the right hand, but I got in such a rush that I went in with one glove on and then was like, well, I'll just put the other glove on while I'm going through the threshold.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:54

Well, I didn't all the way. I turned around and touched the doorknob with my ungloved hand and then started trying to put my glove on. Well, my training, I didn't know, but my training officer, he was right there. Yeah. And he said, He said, Alice, you just burnt your hand. Yeah. He said, and now you become like like the like yesterday, you become a part of the problem. And then he started hitting me with a little stick on the top of my helmet.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah, well, that's just a wake-up stick.

SPEAKER_05 13:19

But I mean, it's it's so like for me, I mean, yeah, I love search. I love it's it's I would say it's probably one of my stronger suits of uh as far as you know uh fire scene tasks. Yeah. But like for me, the most important thing that I took from that training was I gotta I gotta slow it down and put my dang PPE on.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Well, that's that's one of the things that we see though in those those training environments. It's not it wasn't your search technique. It wasn't because we had live victims. Yeah. It wasn't how you got the victim out. It wasn't the big things, it's these small things like getting through the door, getting your PPE on the right way. That's the things that crop up and and get us. It's not the big huge scope of what we're doing. Yeah. Um and I thought about you we were talking about coachable. Um I've been married a long time now, but I remember being young, I was twenty-three when we got married. She's a couple years younger than I am, and having to learn that it ain't all about me anymore. You know, it's about compromise and working together, and I have to let her know how I feel about things, and she's gonna let me know how she feels about things, and I have to be in a mindset where when she tells me, hey, this is this is how I feel about this, okay. I have to be able to accept that. And that's a lot of it is compromise. We learned that through years of marriage, but um that coachable, like we've seen guys, and I I won't call his name, but he had worked a long time in a I think a manager's position in another job. Came to the fire department later, and if we were ever sitting around and said, Hey, let's let's go to the bay and work on extra cash. No, I I just did that in Ricky School. I'm good on that. Well, let's go go over caribon or let's go whatever. Didn't really matter what you said. I'm I'm good. I'm I'm squared away on that. Like I worked overtime the other day and we we drilled on that stuff. It didn't matter what you brought up, he didn't want to go through it. He didn't want to train on it, didn't want to do this. Well, then when you finally got him to go over stuff, you realized he didn't have a clue what he was doing. He didn't want to get in front of a crew and screw up. So he just said, Yeah, I got it, man, I'm good. Well, that's terrible when you get on a scene somewhere, because it's gonna show itself. So I think that is a huge deal why being coachable is is important. Being able to take some somebody's recommendations, even criticism, because we run that same drill that you ran. Well, we're we were there together on our day, weren't we?

SPEAKER_04 16:16

Yeah, we were.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

And like I our our search and getting the victims out went okay, but there was parts that I should have done better, and the training officer called me out on it.

SPEAKER_04 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

And immediately you feel like, well crap, I but I had this and I had that. You can't worry about all that stuff. You take the line. And in the way that he delivered it was constructive. It wasn't brow beating you. Or degrading. Yeah, it wasn't that. It is all right, this is what you did, this is what we gotta fix. Because if you don't, this is this is what could happen. Yeah. And you've got to be able to take that and fix what you're doing or you're not doing and get better. We see we see so many people that just barrage of excuses. All the time.

SPEAKER_05 17:05

Yeah. Well, and and honestly, like in our in our career, I mean, being coachable and not being coachable could I mean it could lead to some very bad outcomes. Sure it could. I mean, it could lead to somebody v severely getting hurt or even dying, you know, on a fire scene. Yeah. I mean, you take you take, for instance, the guy that you were just talking about. You know, you get out on 75 and you're having to do some cribbing or you're having to, you know, pull somebody out of a ditch or or make an extrication or something like that, and you're telling your officer and you're telling your crew that you know how to do it, and then you get on the actual scene, I mean, you can put a lot of people in danger. Yeah, absolutely. Same thing with structure fire. You know. That's where it's gonna show up. And that's where, you know, being coachable is is important, but also just putting your ego aside. Yeah. That's a big deal too. Because I mean, a lot of us are in the fire service, we're type A personalities. You know, we want to be leading, we want to be, you know, macho men, we want to, you know, uh what I know is what I know, and you know, I'm always right, and and uh we get that big ego. Yeah, and you know, we don't you know, we don't really open up our ears. That's right. And when you get on a fire scene and you know you're out there with several crews, you gotta put that ego. You do you gotta humble yourself.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

That's right. Someone throw this question out. What is what's a trait that somebody may have that immediately tells you if they're coachable? They listen more than they talk. That's a good one. That's very good. I I agree with that one a hundred percent. You can you can read somebody pretty quick on if they're gonna receive your correction or your recommendation pretty quick how they're gonna take that. So it's a good answer. All right, so let's talk about growth. So you're how long you been in now? Uh we're a little over a year and a half now. A little over a year and a half. So you're gonna be working toward driving, relief driving very shortly. Gonna take my class F permit right after this, actually. That's pretty that's coming up pretty quick then. Yeah. Um FAO in August? I don't think we're maybe doing it next time. I think we're doing it next year for so but you're not, and you mentioned this a little bit while ago, you're not brand new just in the door anymore. You've got somebody that has come up behind you and you're starting to get into that place where you're a mentor and somebody else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

It feels weird saying like senior firefighter, but I because I just I'm like, I don't feel like I'm there yet. Yeah. But I mean, if you look at it on paper, I mean that's what I am. Yeah, that's true. It's it's honestly been kind of uh I wouldn't say stressful, but it's like, man, like I gotta make sure that I'm really on my on my P's and Q's because this guy's gonna be looking at at everything I do.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

And he is he's building that foundation for himself that you just did. Yeah. Um and yeah, everything you do, he's watching how you do it. You run a specific call. He's we used to say put on one more piece of gear than whatever your officer puts on. Yeah. Um he's watching you. And he's he's going off of what you teach him. Um with that growth phase, there's there's two words that come to mind that can destroy us or destroy somebody. Uh those two words are I know. So somebody says something to you, yeah, I know. I got it. And that leads you to a place where you you back off your training. And because if you tell everybody else, if they come to you with a recommendation or let's go do this or let's go do that, I got it, I know. After a while, you're not just telling them that anymore, you're telling yourself that. And then you have this incorrect perception that you know more than you actually know, and then we get back to what we just talked about, it starts showing up on scene, which is terrible.

SPEAKER_04 21:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Um, why do you think firefighters become harder to coach after they've been here a while?

SPEAKER_05 21:45

Um I can't I'll I I I will pre preface this. Uh I I'm not for certain just because I I'm still kind of new er. Like I'm not a, you know, five year, ten year, fifteen year, tenure kind of guy, but um I will say I pay attention. Yeah. And I think a lot of guys get in this mindset of like, oh well, I've you know, I've ran this call over and over and over again. I've ran a structure fire over and over and over again, I've ran Rex over and over and over again. And You know, they get to the point where they feel like there's nothing new to learn. Yeah. And what they've been doing, I mean, yeah, it it may have been working. Yeah. But the thing with the fire service is it it's constantly evolving. That's right. I mean, you have new construction being built, you have new technology coming out. You have I mean, just for instance, all these electrical cars, you know, if you if you try to fight fire with uh with the water on an electrical car like you would a normal car, I mean it's different. It is different. Yeah. And I mean that's just that's just a rescue a drop in the ocean of of different instances that could come up. And so they just I think that I I I I would use the word complacent kind of lightly, but also in a serious sense. Yeah. Because I mean I've seen it in myself a little bit. You know, you get to a station that you really like, or I mean you get to a station that you don't like.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:24

And you know, you may not want to train with the crew that you're with that day. Or you may have been training with the crew that you've been training with, and y'all y'all think y'all are just jam up and and whatever pops up on the cat or whatever you get toned out to, I mean, you you know what you're doing. Yeah. And so then, you know, you start kind of lacking on your training. You start lacking on, you know, educating yourself, continuing to progress what you could do on a on a scene, and you get in that complacent mindset. And then like I said, if if you're working with a a rough crew, you know, maybe they don't, you know, focus a lot on training. Maybe they don't really do anything. You know, maybe they just show up for twenty-four hours and then go home and never think about the job again until the next twenty-four rolls around.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

That's right, we see that.

SPEAKER_05 24:18

And so, you know, you got those guys that it's hard to want to be, you know, uh motivated around them. Yep. You know, it'll it'll bring your uh morale down pretty much well.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

We um we see that sometimes because our out stations typically tend to be more laid back than like headquarters. Yeah. Uh or our station four. Yeah. Um and we see I have seen really good guys get transferred to an out station. And the next time I work with them, like they have fell off. Yeah. And it's because I think the motivation is different. The crew culture is different. Yeah. Um I I think there's another side to it too, because we we have guys who have been here for five, six, seven, eight years. And they get into the spot that you just described where they've run some stuff, they got some experience, and they feel like they've already seen it all. So they don't train. They they're good with how they are, they don't want to progress. Um, so they yeah, they come in, they do the job, they go home, that never crosses their mind. It's just a job. Yeah. Um, and I think that's a dangerous place to be. I do like your haircut, by the way. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

It was it was kind of a sudden decision. But uh it was just it was so hot last week. It looked a lot better than it did last week. When when we got done with that first training, and I realized, oh crap, I gotta be back out here tomorrow. Yeah. And this heat, I was like, It was hot. I said, nah, it's gotta go. And so uh I was asking people around if anybody had an electric accident. And then one of my the guy, one of the guys that I was working with at the station, he was like, I think my wife has some. I was like, if you don't mind, will you tell her to bring them up here? And luckily she did. I could and I did call my wife. Yeah, I did run it by her first. Yeah, she was not happy.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

But you didn't listen to her coaching, did you?

SPEAKER_05 26:32

You did it anyway. I I told her to trust me. I said, I said, just trust me. I said it won't be as bad because I I've shaved my head in the past, and when I say like I I've like razor shaved it, and it was not a good look for me. Yeah. Um and I told her, I said, if you'll just trust me, I'm not, it ain't gonna be that short. Yeah. And so I so I took like a four guard to it and went out in the bay and we just We had a guy a few years ago, Tony.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

His got real long and he kept saying, Man, can y'all y'all cut my hair? Somebody's gotta cut my hair, it's terrible. So we found one a captain at the station, and he had some clippers with him. And he said, Yeah, man, I got I got these clippers, they work really good. So we go out to the bay, Tony sits down, Cap comes out with his clippers, he's got one guard for him, and like three teeth broke off. Oh man. But we cut Tony's hair. Nice. And it looked terrible. Oh it was it was hideous. He liked it, it was shorter, but it was rough.

SPEAKER_05 27:35

Well, luckily, the guy that had helped me cut my hair, he I think he did me pretty good, he cleaned me up pretty good. It was awful. But no, I appreciate that. I did, because when I got up, when we get when I went back out there the second day, it was night and day. Yeah, I was like, holy smokes, I feel like my head can breathe. I can actually feel the You couldn't let the heat out, man. It it was awful. And then every time I put my Nomex hood on, it just my hair would get in my eyes. I'm like, this isn't it. It was long. But I was told by my wife that this was the last time that I was shaving my head. So all right. Well, she's the boss. Yeah, she is. That's that's that coachability right there. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

She is the coach. Head coach. That's right. All right, so every firefighter remembers somebody who invested in them. And I if I start calling a bunch of names, I'll miss somebody. Yeah. Uh, because I've had tons and tons of people who invested in me and shared knowledge with me and shared their experience with me as I was coming up. Um and that is that's wonderful. That helps craft who we are and mold us. We take all of this information from each one of them and we build, we try to build a better version because we include all of them. Um, like I said, that is a big part of being coachable, but it can't stop there. We also have to share what we know. You mentioned having somebody coming up behind you now. Uh, if we take in all this information and we become really, really good, that's awesome. But we're not helping those behind us, we're not helping the fire service because we're keeping all this stuff in. But with all that being said, who do you think shaped you the most in relation to the fire service?

SPEAKER_05 29:22

It may take me a second because I I'm getting to the point where I've had a few. A few people that's really that's really come along. I could probably give you a a top five. I I my first year, I mean, I really had some like jam up good guys. We did, we did have some good guys. We did. And so, well, first, first off, a lieutenant officer of Northwest Georgia.

SPEAKER_06 29:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 29:50

All right. Or engine, and my bad, engine officer. Engine officer of uh Northwest Georgia. Okay. Uh Derek Dodson. Well, I appreciate that. He's he's definitely up there. Um Adam Sanbor for sure. Yeah. Um he helped me a lot just get kind of you know, getting my career path ironed out, getting my training really taken care of. Yep. Um he just has a lot he has a lot of drive, motivation, or just um he loves it. Like he loves training. He does. You know, he loves training. And uh, I mean, right there next to him I'd have to put Jared Robinson, you know. Yep. Because I mean he's uh he's the same way, big training guy. Um he's taught me a lot of stuff. Um he's also just been a guy that, you know, I see him at the gym, or I used to see him at the gym. Um and I could vent to him about some stuff going on. Uh Eric Huskins. Yeah. I mean, he is uh what's crazy is I mean, he's been with the fire service almost 20 years now. And he's still just an FAO. Yeah. But he is one of the most knowledgeable firemen that I've ever met.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

I've told him I would I would put him in the seat right now. Yeah. Like he's just easily. Yeah. He's just he's squared away. He knows. And it and his is from real world experience. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

And then uh probably to round it out, uh it's been recently, um, but uh Seth Bachman.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:27

Man, he um he's a newer officer. Yeah. And um he just has a good mentality. He does. And I honestly think that's one of for me right now, just kind of in in my chapter in my life and the season that I'm in, yeah. Uh that's really kind of what I've needed more than anything right now. Yeah. You know, because he just has such a positive outlook. Yeah. And you may you may have all this crappy stuff going on, all this drama going on, you know, whatever's going on. There's it's all it's in, it's in every firehouse across the whole United States. But he just has this way of looking at it, man. And like he he always says, because I because I have I'm like, man, I really don't want to wash the fire truck.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:23

Like it could be a weekend or it could like you know it's about to rain later that day, and you're like, man, I don't want to wash this fire truck. And then Seth will come in and he'll be like, if the hardest thing you do today is wash the fire truck, is it that bad? Is it really that bad? Yep. And then like, no. Like once you sit back and you actually think about it, no, it's just not bad at all. That's right. So, but no, I'd I definitely round that list out with with Seth. Just and may may maybe just a little recency bias, but for sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

That's a that's a good cadre, though, because that is like some of those guys are empathetic, and some of those guys are really driven. Yeah, some of those guys are both. Um some are compassionate and some are sympathetic, and um, it takes a little bit of each one of those. It's like baking a cake, it takes all these different ingredients. Yeah. Um, and that's that's kind of how I pulled from different people too. Like this guy was squared away, he may be more on the quiet, humble side, but he is squared away. Take something from him. This guy may be an in-your-face training guy, yeah, but pull things from him. Each one of those sections helps build us into something better. Yeah, it takes all of that. What do you think made their constructive criticism easier for you to accept? If you if you did something and they said, Hollis, you can't do that anymore. Or you're doing you're putting your gloves on the wrong hand, or whatever it was, what do you think made that easier for you to accept as opposed to a barrage of excuses on why it wasn't your fault? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:11

That makes sense it does, it does. Well, and to hit on that, let me go back real quick. If uh if you're listening to this and and uh you feel like you have helped me become a a better firefighter, and I didn't list your name, please don't take it personally. No, it's not. Uh so but uh but I mean those guys, they're just those five guys, and I mean I and and definitely others, uh it's just the way that they went about it, you know, and because they're looking at you and they're not thinking, Oh, this guy should know what he's doing. That's right. Because I I mean I don't. And and at those times where I was given constructive criticism, I definitely didn't know.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:57

And so instead of making me feel like an idiot or making me feel like I shouldn't be here or I shouldn't be a firefighter, you know, they took that into accountability and they were like, man, if we just tell them the right way to do it in a way that he understands, then this can be really constructive for them. That's right. And I mean, that's just how they that's just the mindset that those guys have, you know. Because they they'll they'll look at you and they'll say, you know, and and they'll look at you and they'll they'll think, all right. Either this guy really wants it, like he really wants to become a better firefighter, he really wants to progress his career path, you know. Yeah, or they'll look or they'll look at you and be like, dude, this dude don't care. Yeah. And I think me personally, I do care. You know, I I care a lot about the fire service, I care a lot about advancing my career path, and those guys know that. And so with them knowing that, they can come at an angle from, well, I really do want to help them out. You know, I really do want to see this guy, you know, really grow and flourish in the in the fire service. And so I think that's just how I think that mindset that they had, it definitely allowed me to take that constructive criticism and instead of going straight to, oh, well, I you know, this, this, this, this, this, you know, and giving excuses, I didn't I didn't really feel the need. Uh giving excuses honestly didn't ever run through my mind.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Yeah. That's good. We've we've had not so much now in the past. Um we have training over whatever topic, and it may not go flawless or perfect or whatever. And then we get browbeat with no clear direction on how to get better, we just get beat for messing up. Yeah. And that's not that's not a good training environment. Um, should we be corrected? Absolutely. But we talked about the drill that we did a couple weeks ago. I learned a lot in that drill. I'm not the fastest searcher. Yeah. I'm thorough and I'm not gonna quit, but I'm not the fastest at it. Yeah. Um, but learned things through that drill, some of it because I've seen I've seen shortcomings that I had, things that I needed to improve, and then certain things that Lieutenant Robinson pointed out to me that I needed to approve. And it was his demeanor and his presentation of that correction is what made it easier for me to say, you know what, you're right. I didn't do this the way that I should have, or or whatever the case was. I think how how that is presented from an instructor standpoint plays a massive role in the effectiveness of it.

SPEAKER_05 38:02

It's huge for sure.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Going back to coachability, it's it's not a it's not totally an individual issue. It can be cultural, it can be crew related. Uh we've said before that you're a product of your environment. Um how does how does a company create an environment where where people actually want feedback? So if we go to the bay and we've got the forcible door prop, how do we create an environment where people go down there? And it let's let's change the scenario a little bit. All right, they go down there on a Saturday afternoon by their self, and they go through the the door prop a couple of times and they they notice maybe they're not doing something just right. They go upstairs and they get their crew and they say, Hey, come watch me, critique me, give me feedback on what I'm doing. How does a company create that mindset, that environment, where it's okay to mess up. If you want tips, come talk to me, we'll go through it together. How do you think that comes about? Um because there's a lot of crews that just it's Sarity, don't bother me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:16

Uh I think um the first probably uh the most prevalent is just having a positive outlook. Yeah. Um because that translates into a world of things. That's really good. Um because I mean I mean, for instance, if uh just to take, you know, the crew that I'm on right now, you know, we're at station two. Let's just say, you know, I uh the forcible entry door gets put over there. Yep. And it's Saturday, and I'm you know, kind of running through my head, I'm like, dang, I struggled with the door, you know, last week during search. You know, I I want to hit this thing a couple times. And I I'll go ahead and say nine times out of ten, if I'm doing that and Eric knows I'm doing that, yeah, I don't have to go and grab somebody. But for the sake of the question, you know, say, you know, say, say uh I'm out there doing it by myself, you know, Eric's snoring on the recliner or something. Yeah. Or uh and let's say Ryan's looking over some uh some stuff on the computer, and and maybe Richie's in the you know in the workout room, getting hitting a workout. And you know, I get out there and I'm just having a brain fart, and I'm like, man, I cannot figure this out. What is going on? And I know for a fact if I walk in there and say, hey guys, like I'm kind of struggling out here, I mean they are gonna stop whatever they're doing and they're gonna come out there and they're gonna show me. Yeah. And um and you know, Eric, he may try to one-up you or you know, oh I'll I can do it faster.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

But he'll just take the door off the hinge.

SPEAKER_05 41:06

He probably will. Yeah. He'll probably just pick the whole thing up and throw it out in the parking lot and be like, that's what that's how you take a door. But uh but in all seriousness, I mean it's uh it's a I mean, there's just a positive crew mentality around there.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 41:22

And it's uh like I want to have your back because I know when the time comes, I want you to have mine. Yeah, we're all in this together. And I think that's kind of where you lose, you know, a couple people. You you you can't have that. Yeah. Like that's probably one of the worst mindsets that you if you have that mindset, you need to get out of the fire service. And you need to find something else to do.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

If we catch something, we're all going in the front door together.

SPEAKER_05 41:49

Yeah. Exactly. And I mean, it's not just you and your crew. I mean, it's you and you know, engine, you know, four, or it's that's right, you know, squad four, tower one. It's somebody else that's showing up that showing up at that scene with you. Yeah. That you also, you know, they're counting on you to have their back and you're counting on them to have your back. That's right. Um but I to to r you know round it back out and come back to the uh original question, I think that one, having a pie like having a positive attitude in your crew definitely can lead to opportunities for helpful and constructive criticism. Um I've said it probably since I mean almost the beginning. Uh your officer. Yeah. Your officer really sets the mood. That's right. Um I mean, you can say what you want about your your admin office, you can say what you want about your battalion chief, you can say what you want about your captains or whatever. Um and I mean if your captain is your officer, then you know it's a little different. But I mean, it starts at that. Who whoever's whoever's riding front, I mean, that they're gonna set the mood. That's right. That's exactly right. And that's on a call, that's at the station. Yep. I mean, that is I mean, even on on my off days, you know, if I if I, you know, get an email or I get a text message or I'm um, you know, I'm seeing like, oh, like I'm getting moved to a different station. This is who my officer's gonna be. I mean, it affects me. Yeah, it changes you because you're you're thinking, like, oh man, I don't, you know, I don't know if I'm I'm probably not gonna enjoy this shift. Yeah. This coming up shift. Because you you know, you have those officers that that set the mood either the the right way or they set the mood the wrong way, and it just trickles down.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

That's that's exactly right. That that mood is set, we've talked about this before. That mood is set walking in the door that morning, and then it carries over for the rest of the day. And I I try, especially structure fire bangs out. I try to keep the same demeanor the whole way through from radio traffic and everything. Because we've been around those officers that go en route and they're screaming already.

SPEAKER_04 44:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

They're so ramped up that they don't even remember Responding to the call later. Um, I try and but we all like I've been in this almost 13 years. My heart rate still goes up. Yeah. You still this is what we signed up for. Yeah. Um but your officer, or if it's a sergeant riding up for that day, yeah, they determine the mood for everything. Um and that's where you get a lot of the buy-in back from the guys. Yeah. Is based on that. So good stuff.

SPEAKER_05 44:52

And I mean, I I'll give credit to you. And I I think there's I actually think we only had that Thornwood fire together. We had it um That was last year about this time.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Five Street. What we weren't really together.

SPEAKER_05 45:06

We weren't together separate crews, but but but riding I mean, I even going back and thinking about that that Thornwood fire, I mean, I was in the back and the whole time from I mean, even from the point that you know we got the tones and to the point where we turned on Grassdale and saw the header, I mean I just remember you being calm. Yeah. And even though I made some choice decisions and even though I was in the backseat ramped up, I mean, just hearing like your calm demeanor over the radio, I mean, it still allowed me to I mean, even though it wasn't the right decision, you know, I got kind of this headset of like, okay, well, I'll I'll also be calm and think about okay, what can I do to help the situation? And I mean, I I did what I did. Um did you learn from that situation? Absolutely. That's what matters. And I think there's there's officers that they do get ramped up, but in a good way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you get you get some of those guys that you know, you know, you get a header, you know, you get a call come in or a structure fire come in and they're excited because they love it, yeah, but they're also able to keep their demeanor. That's right. But they also can get you pumped up, you know, they can get you excited, kind of like uh like uh like a weight room coach or something for a football game.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

You know, they get you pumped up, but when you get on scene, you're not so pumped up that you're running around you know, but you're pumped up to the point where like, man, I'm about to go in there and just destroy this fire. Yep. Or I'm about to go in there, I'm about to find every single person that's entrapped in this. And that's what you need. That's right. But then you have you know, you have the other side of that coin where I'm in the back, you know, and I mean it could be as something as as simple as like an electrical incident.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:06

You know, you you may have a power line down and and some lights are out, you know. And you know, you get an officer in the front seat that's you know, stressing out or they're freaking out, you know, I mean, that's gonna meet and I I mean, and you they may not realize it, you know, but you're in the back seat, you're sponging everything that's happening. Yeah. And, you know, if you hear you hear, you know, some unsteadiness over the radio traffic, you hear, you know, you're kind of looking at their body language and they're kind of, you know, freaking out. Mm-hmm. I mean, now I'm in the backseat like, oh my gosh. He's got the experience and he's freaking out. It must be something to freak out about. Yeah. And that and that that sets the tone for the rest of that scene. That's right. And it's just I mean, it's just something that And and I know, I mean, it's easy to say with me b right in the backseat, and then hopefully eventually I'll be able to be in the front seat and you will one day. You know, I want to be I want to be that guy that either has the calm demeanor or the guy that, you know, gets my crew excited but also controlled. That's right. You know.

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Alright, let's move into this is gonna be rapid fire. Okay. Rap rapid fire segment. One habit every firefighter should eliminate Laziness. That's a good one. What is the most what is the most overrated phrase? I'm on squad. All right. Okay. Cancel squad. Cancel squad. Okay. Oh man. What is the most underrated skill? Putting your PPE on. Ooh. The correct way. That is a good one. That is so fundamental. That is awesome.

SPEAKER_05 49:02

Dude, it really, it really is. Because I mean, you think about it, and not to interrupt the rapid fire, but I mean, it really has been so eye-opening to me. Just from last week. Like, I mean, you if you tell me to put a pull a pull a crossway, I know I mean, I know how to pull every crossway. Yeah. I know how to pull a triple, Cleveland, you know, Minuteman, modified Minuteman, whatever you want me to pull. Yeah. I can pull a Scorpion, I can do whatever you want me to do with a high rise pack. I can do all that. You know, you tell me to cut an A-post or a B post or a C post, I can cut a A-post, B post, C post. You want me to do a dash roll? I can do a dash roll. But once the go like once the going gets tough and the tough gets going, remembering to slow down and put your freaking PPE on the right way.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

It's those fundamental things, man. That's where we Yeah. That's where we slip.

SPEAKER_05 49:56

Yeah. And the thing is about that is you're not gonna have a you're not gonna have a a whole training day on putting your gloves on. Of putting your PPE on and putting your gloves on. That's something that you have to on your own time go back to your station or on your off day and practice. That's right. So, but that that's my little sobop, but Okay. Absolutely, absolutely underrated skill.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Okay, what's one book every firefighter should read?

SPEAKER_05 50:26

The Bible. Easily.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

That's easy. I read that. That was easy. What's one thing you hope firefighters remember about this episode? I would I'd like to say the coachability.

SPEAKER_05 50:37

Um like being coachable, but also when you are coaching somebody, both sides. Keep in mind there's a way to go about it that's effective and a way to go about it that's not gonna do any good. I would like to say that. Um but honestly, I mean, just keeping keeping a positive attitude is probably the most important thing. Cause it just stamp like it it avalanches into so much good. Like if you're if you come to work with a positive mindset, it's just gonna it's one, it's just gonna it's gonna spread.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 51:21

And then that's where kind of everything else starts falling into place. Yeah. Um, and then the same thing with negative outlooks. That's right. It spreads. It spreads.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Uh that's one thing I was thinking about while you were talking is how important the coachability is, and then flip side being able to coach others appropriately, yeah, correctly, um, for a positive outcome. Uh, another thing from this episode that we've touched on over and over and over, we we're always training practicing these more advanced skills. And we touched on this last episode, which was season two, episode two, the round table. We always push toward these advanced skills or this advanced stuff. That's great, but you've got to master the fundamental stuff first. Yep. Um, and we all at some point, so we did a drill in the spring, um, and we did a live fire burn. And walking up to the house, I've got my helmet on, like, I'm ready. And Lieutenant Robinson said, Hey, put your hood on. I've never forgot my hood a single time, but that one day I did. And it was a live fire burn. If I would have gone in the door, I would have known it. Quick, yes. So those little things, I mean, that's even with 13 years experience, there's little things that we still have to work on that are just fundamental stuff. Yep. Uh so yeah, that's kind of that's what I've I have got out of this too, is the coachability from both sides, but also the fundamental stuff. Get that first and then build off of that.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

All right, before we wrap up, is there anything we didn't cover today that you think firefighters need to hear about coachability, like we've talked about? Uh humility or continuing to grow kind of open discussion before we close out. Anything on your mind?

SPEAKER_05 53:34

I th I mean I just think it all it all wraps together. I mean, you talked about, you know, coachability, humility, um, fundamentals, I mean, all of it. It's all it's all one big puzzle. Yep. You know. That's right. And every one thing will immediately reflect on the other. Um, because I mean, if you're not humble, then you're not gonna be able to be coachable. That's right. You know, if you're not coachable, then it's gonna cause issues uh in your career, it's gonna cause issues with your crew. Um you're gonna start trying to make excuses for yourself. Um and uh eventually you'll just be you're gonna be in a rough spot. That's right. Um and then you know, touching on the fundamentals. I mean, it's it's the foundation of everything that we do. That's right. Um, you know, you can you can be hazmat tech, rope tech, with water tech, whatever tech you want to be. But at the end of the day, if you show up on that scene, whatever it is, and you don't have your fundamentals down, then it's not gonna matter. That's exactly right. Um because I mean if you can't and and just to pick on myself a little bit, you know, if you can't put your gloves on right, nothing else matter. Nothing else matters because you're not gonna be able to do anything else on that scene.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

Um so just going over the fundamentals, um taking those skills and working on them on your own time, yeah, is gonna be super important. That's right. Because like I said, I mean, we're not gonna have a whole training day of what the fundamentals are. Yep, we've already done that. So um other than that, I mean, just keeping a positive outlook on it really as much as you can. Yeah. Um we have a guy, J. Ray, he just retired yesterday. Yep. Um, or yesterday was his last shift. And uh he always said you know, the only thing that you need to be worried about is what you can control. That's right. And really the only thing you can control is what your address is. Yeah. You know, just having that that positive outlook and knowing and this is this may be the most important thing, is knowing that people are looking at you, not just in the in the station. I mean, we go out into the public all the time. And knowing that people are looking at you and your body language and how you're talking and how you're carrying yourself, it will immediately affect them. Yeah, absolutely. And if you come off the truck or shoot, if you even go into Dairy Queen to get a freaking blizzard and you just are radiating negative energy, it's going to affect everybody around you. Yep. But if you get off the truck and you're positive and you're laughing and you're smiling, you're gonna brighten somebody's day, and you're and not only just random people, but the guys that are on the truck with you that day or the guys that are at the station with you that day are gonna feel the same way. That's right. And honestly, that's that that'd be the most important. Yep. That's good advice.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

So for season two, this will be our third episode for season two. Uh, we started a new segment called Faith and Fire. Um, and it's just uh we do it before we wrap up every episode, we take a few minutes. Um whether you're a person of faith or not, I think the principles still apply. Um, whether you're on the job or off the job, but we just go over a verse and we talk about it for a minute, and it's just you know, short, but um we just tie it back into whatever we've talked about. But Proverbs 1215 says the way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. And I think that goes right back to our coachability. Um sometimes we get to a place where we feel like we've got it all figured out. Absolutely. And and everything's good, and we want to just say I know, and we don't want to listen, and we just move on. But we have to be in that mindset where we listen. Uh as an officer, talked about this before, pulling up on scene to a structure fire. I do my 360 and I'm looking for a bunch of different things, but that don't mean I can see everything. Yeah. If we get off the truck and you see the roof sagging, tell me that you see that. We have to be able to take information from it, and you said you've been here for a year and a half. I have to be able to listen to your information. And if you tell me the roof's sagging and I look at it and I think, well, it's we got time to get in, we've got a victim. Yeah. Well, let's go get the victim. But if you tell me that and I look up there and I say, you know what? He's right. That that roof is sagging.

SPEAKER_02 58:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

There's no viable life in there, we're not going in. Yeah. So you have to be to a point where you can take all that advice and all that information and process it. But uh, that's the verse for today that I wanted to share. If you've got a verse, go ahead and share it. Well what was that verse again, Proverbs? Proverbs 12, 15. Oh, verse 15. The way a fool seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

SPEAKER_05 59:02

This is I like the I like the verse after that too. Read it. It's uh it says a fool is quick tempered. But a w but a wise person stays calm when insulted. There you go. And uh I think that that kind of that touches on fire service again a little bit. Touches it right on what we've talked about today. Because I mean, how many times have you know somebody insulted you or tried to get under your skin?

SPEAKER_01 59:35

Your immediate thought is to get defensive. Even going back to coachability once. Yeah, yeah. Literally. Somebody when Lieutenant Robinson pulled me aside the other day and said, Hey, you did this, this, this, we need to you need to work on that stuff. Immediately, I want to be defensive.

SPEAKER_04 59:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:54

Oh, well, I couldn't see and yada, whatever. You gotta think through those things. Stay off the defensive side and take that constructive criticism. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:06

I mean, I I did it. I mean, as soon as as soon as we got our uh, you know, we we met after the the drill was over, you know, he was like, Hollish, you know, you you uh you didn't have your gloves on right, they were on the wrong hand. And then when you went and grabbed that victim off the bunk bed, your glove came off. Yeah. Um and he's like, the fire room's right next to that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:32

You know. And my first reaction was, oh well and I and I said this, I'll own up to it, you know. I said, Well, when I'm gearing up outside of the structure, I'll be able to see.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:48

You know, I'll be able to make sure my my gloves are on the right way. And he immediately came back with that shouldn't matter. Yeah. You should have your fundamentals down to the point where you can put your entire turnout gear on blindfolded. Yeah. That's true. And I mean, that that is true. Yeah. I mean, you uh you think about it. Even for a fire alarm call, fire alarm call, we're getting geared out.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:17

Every time. I mean, you would think at this point, at least uh in my career, I should be able to put all my turnout gear on the right way. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, just being able to like you said, try not try not to get defensive. That's right. Just take whatever's being told to you and be coachable with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

That's right. All right, so let's move back into the personal stuff. We've done this before, and you told us you were an L O fella.

unknown 1:01:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

Last time. Are you still an L O fella?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:48

I I've honestly I kind of changed uh no, uh hold on. I ain't changed. I'm still I still like listening to my Ella Langley, but uh I've been kind of on a different music kick recently. Uh more just calm stuff. One guy, uh Ben Howard, he's a really good lyricist. Okay. Um honestly his songs are more like poems. Like if he's just singing a poem, uh him and uh another guy named Dustin uh Tebbett, really calm music stuff that I just kind of put on in the in the background while I'm doing my you know my college class stuff. But I gotcha. Um absolutely still an LFL.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

Still a LFL.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:33

What about podcast? Anything new? Nothing new uh other than I mean I've I've been listening to Why in the Q. Oh well. I mean that's awesome. But uh I I've been I just so I've been busy the semester really started kicking up. Yeah. Um the beginning of summer. Yeah. We're just now finishing up. So my off days have literally been like get home, go to the gym, come home, start work, start my schoolwork.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:03

That's why I'm in the middle of my bachelor's right now, and it's the same way. And my daughter gets married next week. So it's been it's busy every day.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:12

I know she's g so she's getting married next week. When's the y'all have a date for the next one? Not a well or like a time.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

June of next year. Okay. Um so my oldest will get married next week, then my second oldest will get married June of next year, and then my third will be graduating with plans to uh it's kinda up in the air. She may stay local for college at this point, but eventual plans of moving off. Uh so yeah, we'll go from four to one in a relatively short time span. That's gonna be uh an adjustment.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:51

That uh what is it called emptiness syndrome?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

Start it may start realizing. Yeah. So uh yeah, big change short term. Um and I I I've said this before, I'm super proud for 'em. But from a parent side, it's a little sad too. Yeah. It's because we're moving into this next chapter, and they've always been homeschooled, we've always done everything together, and then they won't be there anymore. Like I said, I'm proud for them.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:23

100%. Uh I don't want it to sound like I'm not at all, but it's like a bittersweet. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So on the on the podcast, interesting thing happened last night. So we flew back from Houston.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:35

And we're getting on the plane, and guy sets in front of me, and I had on a Y in the Q T shirt. And uh he said, You a I have this awesome mustache.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

He said, Are you a firefighter or a police officer? I said, I'm a firefighter, and we talked about wear and stuff. And uh he said, So do you have your own podcast? And I said, Yeah. And so we talked about that and why and stuff, and he was a federal officer. Gotcha. Uh federal, I think he said correction officer. And um, so he listened to Sambor's podcast flying back to Atlanta last night. Cool. Uh so yeah, it's pretty good. We talked for a good bit. Heck yeah. Super good guy, seemed like and um so yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:22

I've been wearing that uh that t-shirt you gave me to the gym, and I've had a couple couple people walk up to me and they're like, What's that? What's uh what's Y on the Q? I'm like, man, you gotta go listen to it. Best podcast ever. Dude, there's a guy on there, the engine officer in Northwest Georgia. He's a beast. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

Somebody comments on that every time. I walk into the station now, and that's what they say. There's the engine officer in Northwest Georgia. It's become a tagline, I guess. All right, let's close it out. So, Adam, I I do thank you for coming back. You always bring an awesome perspective both times you've been on. So I've I appreciate that, and your openness um and your ability to call out your lessons that you have learned, such as when and when not to wear pants. Yeah, uh, things like that. Uh so yeah, there's that. But uh like I said, I appreciate you coming back on and I hope we do it again in the future. Absolutely, yeah. Um your willingness to keep learning. So I talked about you telling us about some things that you went through and whatever, but that that whole willingness to keep learning. And I seen that when we were together. And I appreciate that because um so many people like we talked about today get to a point where they just quit, they get comfortable. Uh, and we talked about how comfort is stunting our growth. Yeah. Uh so yeah, I think it's a big deal. Um, today's conversation, I think it's top to bottom. Firefighter to chief. Like this is it's awesome because it doesn't matter what rank or what level you're at. We all go through these ebbs and flows of being super motivated and then maybe backing off a little bit and you know, and making mistakes and learning from 249. Um that's really what it's all about. None of us know everything. Um none of us have arrived. It doesn't matter if it's your first shift or your last shift, there's always something to learn. So if this episode has challenged you, don't just think about it. Ask yourself one honest question. Am I as coachable today as I was when I got hired? That answer may tell you exactly where you are in your career. So thank you for listening to One on the Cue, the stories behind the siren. Stay safe, take care of your crew, and take care of your family.