October 6, 2010
NFFF Memorial Weekend Comments Off
I cannot believe that the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend is already over! This year is just flying by. I was really looking forward to going back to Emmitsburg to work the memorial as a family escort and now here I sit waiting for next year. It seemed like I wasn’t even there. There is always so much going on for that event and there is so much to do with the job that we are assigned, that it makes the weekend fly by!
This year I was one of the 5 family escorts for the Kilgore Fire Department families. This particular incident was a double fatality, so we were essentially dealing with two families plus the firefighters from that department that attended the weekend events along side of the families. Our job as the family escorts was to ensure that they were completely taken care of the entire time that they were on the National Fire Academy campus. From the time they arrived on Saturday morning until the time the national memorial service was over on Sunday, we served them in every way possible. We were their campus tour guides, shopping partners, babysitters, ‘counselors’, dining table saver, hand holders, tear wipers, and mostly a friend. It was our job to get them from activity to activity and to ensure that they were as comfortable as possible. I can’t think of a better job than that.
As last year, these two families and the firefighters hold a special place in my heart. When their loved ones died I was there to help them plan the funerals and to help guide them through their grief. Over the last 18 months I have worked with them on nearly a weekly basis in providing assistance with benefits filing and finding support services for them. To be with them at the national memorial is almost like coming full circle in my journey with them. It means the world to me.
This year I had the privilege of escorting the Kilgore families with a very dear friend of mine, Dave Reid. When I was in high school, he and his wife were my fire explorer post leaders. When I graduated I got to go to fire musters with them. They were both mentors to me when I was first starting my career in the fire service. When I moved to Texas, I lost contact with them but through the miracle of modern day technology, the internet, Dave had found me by a funny coincidence. Our families have been friends ever since. Even though they live in Maryland and us in Texas, I know that I have a home when I go to the East Coast. To come back together and have the chance to care for the families of fallen firefighters just makes me realized how truly blessed I am to have lifelong friends, especially in this industry.
The fire service is so much a part of who I am. When I was injured I thought that I forever lost that piece of my identity. Years later, I realized that I am more entrenched than I could have ever imagined or dreamed possible. I hate that I work in an area of the fire service that has so many individuals that are reeling from the loss of their loved ones and yet there is no place that I would rather be. I really am truly blessed.
Recent Comments