| Cavalry Arms |
[Aug. 20th, 2008|03:32 pm] |
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These receivers are interesting. |
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| AAPI : dental : masks : lowers |
[Aug. 20th, 2008|01:08 pm] |
Took an interesting call this morning. Woman ran herself over with her own car.
Suffice to say it was a chore to pull that off, but she managed.
After the call, my good friend, Super Trooper, came by and we were trying to figure out how to write it up.
It seems that in NYS, the computer forms for vehicle vs. pedestrian do not allow for the driver and victim to be the same person.
Eventually Super Trooper decided the best way to do the report was to simply keep checking off all the “other’ boxes.
My advice was to call up to the Trooper Training School and ask one of the instructors, undoubtedly creating a new test question in the process.
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My tooth is feeling a bit better. Last night during my OSHA class it really started to act up. Bad enough I had to bail out early. Went home, popped some anti-biotic and went to bed around 8pm.
Took another anti-biotic this morning and it’s feeling much better. Obviously I’m working at not doing anything to aggravate it. However, yesterday it would throb and ache even if not harassed; today, much better.
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Gas mask sales are progressing with a few more out in todays mail. Anyone wanting to get on the Chemical Protective bandwagon should do so now.
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I am supposed to be getting in a score of AR-15 lowers today; 12 from STAG and 8 from Cavalry Arms. I anxious to see how the Cav Arms lowers are and if they are suitable for making a good G.O.O.D. rifle. There is the lack of parts interchangability vis a vis the stock and pistol grip, but it is a whole pound lighter. |
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| dentist |
[Aug. 19th, 2008|06:22 pm] |
I had my dental appointment this morning.
I have no great love of dentistry. My dentist is a swell guy and has bought guns from me. I have no problems with him, it's just his profession and it's tools and methodology strike me as having a medevial sort of quality (I feel the same way about orthopedic surgeons).
He wants to do a root canal. put in a post and then a crown.
Pricing for this excusrsion is:
$875 for the root canal
$275 for the post
$875 for the crown
Paying $875 for root canal sounds an awful lot like paying someone to kick you in the balls; you're parting with a lot of money for something you're not really going to enjoy.
For now he can't do anything till the swelling goes down from my bum tooth. He gave me a prescription for enough penicillin, amoxycillin and every other type of -cillin that I could carouse quite freely without fear of contracting any social disease.
Did I mention I don't have any dental coverage? |
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| tovarisch: batteries : teeth : General stuff |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|08:55 pm] |
For some strange reason, I've had a bunch of people add me to their friends list over the past 2 weeks. Usually someone will add me once a month or so, about a half dozen in the past 10 days. ?????
Whats really interesting is that a few of them have LiveJournals that are completely in Russian. Now historically, the Russians and I haven't senn eye to eye on lots of things, so why am i being added to their friends list?
The only thing different that I can think of over the past 2 weeks is that I made some posts to the Survivalist community, where I had not posted much previously.
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i FINALLY got around to replacing my motorcycle battery.
It's a distinct joy to now have my motorcycle reliably start when I want it to. I can also now dismount the rucksack on the back that has the battery charger, extension cord and jumper cables.
It did take 2 hours to change to battery, which seems a bit on the long side. However, I was doing it at nigt when all the stores were closed and I had to make the right sized bolt and nut to secure the battery cable to the battery.
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I havea dental apointment tomorrow to finally try and fix or remove a broken tooth. I have a thing about dentists, so when I lost a filling 5 years ago, I really didn't follow up on it as quickly as I should have. Hence tomorrows appointment.
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Wednesday I'm expecting a shipment of 8 Cavalry Arms lowers. Details to follow. |
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| Writer's Block: Running Things |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|03:08 pm] |
Appoint as many strict constitutionalist/10 amendment states rights justices as I could without actually breaking any major laws.
Outlaw pantyhose. |
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| Georgia Guns |
[Aug. 15th, 2008|11:25 am] |
Russia Seizes Arsenal Of US Weapons In Georgia - Military
MOSCOW (AFP)--Russian forces have seized a "large arsenal" of U.S.-made weapons in the western Georgian city of Senaki including hundreds of assault rifles, a military spokesman said Friday.
"In Senaki, we seized a large arsenal of weapons including 664 U.S.-made M-16 rifles" and a number of M-40 sniper rifles, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told a news conference in Moscow. "There were 1,728 weapons total."
Guns are an international currency.
Every country that has completed a revolution/civil war finds itself awash in guns and the next thing you know, that large pile of slightly used AK’s or G3’s is being shipped to Lower Slobtnia as part of an aid shipment.
So, when the the Soviets Commies Russians whine about American M16’s being found in Georgia, I’m not terribly excited. While they could be part of a military aid package, they could also be part of a foreign aid package we shipped to Country A, who slipped them to Country B who then trans-shipped to Georgia. More likely, they’re from Viet Nam.
Viet Nam? Oh yes, that ghost is going to be around for a bit.
Here’s some perspective. In 1995, my M16A2 had the serial number 6554475. That’s 6.5 million. Figure total production to date 8-9 million.
Anyone want to guess how many M16’s the US left behind in Viet Nam? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Almost 900,000. Almost 1/5th of the total production to that time. The numbers of M60’s, M79’s, etc is likewise staggering.
So it’s really not surprising when we see Palestinians, Nicaraguans, Checneyans or anyone else packing an M16.
The M40’s, however, are a little harder to explain. |
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| FF2; M37 |
[Aug. 14th, 2008|10:56 am] |
Had my second FireFighter 2 (FF2) class last night in Stockport.
Not my best work.
Doing my Victim Search, I missed the victim on the first pass and didn’t get the victim until the second pass. We (I was part of a 4 man team) did amange to extricate and evacuate the victim from the building in the prescribed manner though.
My ladder skills were......rusty. I did well, but the guy backing me up pretty thoroughly screwed the pooch.
Water Supply Ops and Interior Attack were fine though.
The issue seems to be that we are trained to fight fires one way (the Official Way) and then there’s the way that we actually really do fight fires (Real Life). This is not to say the Official Way or the Real Life Way is good or bad; the instructors always stress that what we are trained to do is to be used as a guideline. Firegrounds are varying and challenging places and in many instances we will need to (as safely as we can) go against what we are trained to do and do things we were warned about in order to get a job done. The question is not so much “Did yuo do it the right way?” as much as it is “Did you do it as safely as you could?”
One other fellow my department went with me and it was very rewarding to see him get his rear end thoroughly kicked during the exercises. This is a fellow whose majot contribution at all the fire scenes is to whine, complain, smoke cigarettes and watch from the sidelines. He contributes almost nothing. Unfortunately, he’s also our captain. (insert eloquent shoulder shrug). He was greaty humbled by the end of the evening.
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And now, something for ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) montieth............
One really cool thing about going to train at other fire companies is you get to see what gear and apparatus they have. While searching for a secluded place in their cavernous truck bays to collapse and hyperventilate for a while, I saw this:
( Large military vehicle images behind the Tupelo cut............. ) |
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| Duplicity |
[Aug. 10th, 2008|07:20 pm] |
Duplicity, or having a dual standard, is one of those things that really anoys me.
The big trend in international politics lately has been the attempt to use international pressure to get Iran to stop it's nuclear research program. The rationale for this has been that, while there is no truly good place to have nukes, the Middle East would definitely be the bad place for them.
Fine.
My question is: If having nuclear weapons in the Middle East is so terrible, when we will the world start pressuring Israel to let international monitors in to view their program(s)?
It seems to me that anytime blanket Middle East policies are bandied about, they are presumed to be binding on everyone except Israel.
The common refrain that I hear is that since Israel is 'the only democracy in the region' the US must support it and the international community should look the other way when it comes to duplicitous policy.
Sounds like a good policy, but.....eh. Not really. See, the United States are actually pretty open minded about who we call friend or ally. Right now the US makes nice to China, who is about as far from being a Democracy as John Edwards is from a condom dispenser. We're tight with the Saudi's and Kuwaiti's, but neither one has anything that approaches a democracy.
Touting Israel as 'the only democracy in the region' and using that as a continued justification for nation-propping doesn't seem right.
If the international community was serious about stopping nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, they would settle the Iran issue and then turn towards Israel and impose the same sanctions and threats of military action.Then they would shift attention to getting the North Koreans (again) to knock off their research. |
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| Scout Rifle bySavage |
[Aug. 9th, 2008|04:59 pm] |
Interesting gun came in today.
Savage Scout rifle in .308 Win.
(shown here on a bed of high quality gas masks that I have here in the shop)
I had hust price one of these for a customer. Dealer is about $465 and retail is around $550. This one came in without the scope and is $375. The front sight has been replaced with a Hi-Viz sigt. The workmanship on the front sight installation is not the best, but it works.
I added a 2x Leupold M8 scope that was here in the shop and I am really starting to like this.
Handles a lot like k98 zf-41 combo, but not as heavy and with a larger tube.
I’m going to take it out this afternoon and run some handloads through it and see how it handles.
Price with scope is $550.
So far, this isn’t a bad gun. It has the oversized bolt handle which I like. The rear sight is a Williams Guide aperature. There is a cantilevered scope forward of the receiver ring. Detachable magazine. Generally it’s not that much different than a standard 110 save for the bolt handle. |
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| Class Time |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|11:06 am] |
Started a new fire class yesterday, one of the first ones I’ve taken in a long time.
It’s the NYS version of FireFighter 2. It is the follow-up to the legendary and trying FF1 class.
Where FF1 ran 14 weeks 2 nights a week and a few weekends, this blissfully runs only 9 weeks, one night a week.
It’s over at the Stockport Fire Department, so it’s a short hump.
I was supposed to go with the CAPT and one of the other FF’s, but neither one showed up on time.
The class is interesting. It’s a post-grad class for FF1. In fact a lot of the men in it are just out of the most recently graduated FF1 class (whereas I am 3.5 years away from graduating FF1).
Last night was the usual paperwork, ground rules, schedules, equpment lists, etc.
We did a couple hours on building construction and hazards, properties of building materials and fire suppression systems.
The class time is usually the most boring.
The nice thing about FF2 however is that classtime is minimal and we will be doing a lot of hands on.
Next weekend it’s full war gear, SCBA and spare air for Interior SAR and Ventilation Drills.
My original plan had been to take FF Survival, which is the really rocking fun class. It’s also one of the requirements for FAST Team, which I want to take. Unfortunately, the powers that be rather carelessly scheduled FAST Team first and FF Survival second. Had they reversed that, I could have had Survival, that would have qualified me for FAST Team, taken FAST Team and be done with it.
In our county there are, in theory, 3 FAST teams. The number one team and the only one really worthy of the title and completely certified AND properly equipped and mounted is Red Rock. Red Rock is a small fire department but they have a superior cadre and most of their people are hard chargers. Their leadership cadre is composed mainly of state certified Fire Instructors and their ranks are usually younger people with a fair bit of dedication. Definitely hard core.
Greenport and Hudson have impromptu FAST teams. They have trained manpower, but they are not a full time time. Rather, they are assembled as needed. The result is that when there is a structure fire anywhere in the county and they are going to be doing Interior work, the FAST Team of choice is Red Rock.
Also this year, the department has rescinded the driver status of myself and several other people. While we are all licensed and all are certified (having taken and passed the State Emergency Vehicle Operators Course (EVOC)), we lack pump operator certificates.
Now I can run the pumps, but the plan now is that all drivers have to be certified as pump operators as well. In a practical world, it makes some sense. In a pinch, I can still drive, and if it’s a structure fire, I’m going to be in the building anyway and not running the pumps. Still, it’s a pain in the ass. Worse because I can’t really do math to save my life and the Pump Operators course requires a bit of math to calculate line friction loss, drafting heights vs. water weight, etc. |
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| When the Revolution comes, they're going to use gas..... |
[Aug. 5th, 2008|01:05 pm] |
So you’re sitting around the house minding your own business when your pager goes off. You check your text message and it’s from the leader of your cell: The revolution has begun!
Time to finally restore the Constitution, shrink government (through attrition) and just generally Set Things Right.
Problem is, The Powers That Be are not going to look favorably on a sudden and permanent career change; they’re going to fight back.
And their first choice of weapons will be gas.
Now, you can be prepared.
Department of Homeland Security supplied these masks to NY State. The State put them in storage, never used them and then surplused them out when better stuff came along.
I’ve been chasing these for about a year and got in a -small- batch.
These are unused. Filters are still in vacuum sealed wrappers with an expiration date of 2013!
These are made by SEA and are their Full Face Mask Respirator FP-C — CBRN (their Homeland Security model) . The spec sheet is here . Note that these bad boys are rated to and tested against both mustard gas (vapor & liquid) as well as sarin (GB). Should work fine against CN and CS!
COMPLETE MASK KIT:
MASK - Each mask is unused and most still have the protective wrapper on the inside of the mask.
CARRYING CASE - Hard Case with strap that captures case lid.
VOICE METER - Voice meter kit w/ battery. NIB with instructions. On the one that I tried battery was fine and sound was excellent (if meter doesn’t work on the first try, take out battery and reverse it. Thats where I screwed up). I wish I had one of these for my SCBA!
FILTER - DP Filter in mylar/foil vacuum sealed pouch with 2013 expiration. Will stop, according to the spec sheet, all the Big Nasties.
FILTER COVER - Protects business end of the filter.
I have a small quantity of the Complete Mask Kits.
$50 each plus $10 to ship anywhere in CONUS/AK/HI via USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Packaging. PayPal %3 extra.
robert@vivasandson.com |
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[Aug. 2nd, 2008|05:59 pm] |
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| Twilight Zone |
[Jul. 31st, 2008|05:50 pm] |
One of my customers got married to a foreign woman whom he met here in the US.
His wife had been in the country for about 8 years or so. He met her about 3 years ago and after one year, they got married. Thus, the have known each other for only 3 years. This is the important part.
The other day, while she was going through a box of photos, she found a picture of herself in 2000 walking along the streets of Manhattan. The picture showed a crowded sidewalk with the Foreign Woman walking towards the camera.
Immediately behind her by a couple of steps.........the guy she met and married 5 years later!
Wow. |
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| It's not freelancing when it's your neighbors......... |
[Jul. 27th, 2008|10:23 pm] |
Adrenaline.
Usually a good thing. Fight or flight.
Also, in the older days, a pretty hand thing during 'cardiac incidents'.
In fact, the downside to adrenaline is that it can be addictive. You get a good rush a few times and then you start looking for trouble. Or fires.
"Don't freelance!" they tell us during Basic Firefighter Training. That means that if your company doesn't have a call and the neighboring company does, DO NOT grab your gear and go jump into their call.
Sound asleep this morning around 10:30 (I was up late playing Total Annihlation) and I hear sirens. Now Firebase Vivas has a commanding field of fire pretty good elevation over the surrounding area (about 750 feet) so sound travels really well.
I hear a siren and I start thinkng;'well, not a police siren. Hmm, not an ambulance siren. Sounds like a firetruck.". No big deal, then I realize it's getting closer.
Now there is NO reason for a firetruck to be up here. There are 8 houses and a business and we all sit back about 1/4 to 1/2 mile up a private road. That means that you don't just 'pass by'. If you're up here, it's on purpose and with intent.
I get my pager off a nightstand and open it to countywide. MVFC calls out ernroute. OK, I figure no big deal, they're probably taking an EMS call (my company doesn't run EMS calls). I look out the window and sure enough, an MVFC vehicle rolls by. Wait a sec....thats not the EMS bus, thats the Water Tanker. Hey whats that smell?
F*CK!!!!!
Pants, skivvy shirt, shoes. Out the door into my truck and a sherp left up the driveway to a column of smoke.
Sidebar: I live in a nice little compound. You leave the county road and enter a private road/drive that ascends to the top of the hill here. There are 8 widely scattered houses, all owned by members of the same family who also own the large peat packaging plant up here. It's a very nice arrangement. Since it's all one big family (except for my family) living up here is very casual; especially since it's all private.
I get to the peat factory. Pickup truck fully involved with a 40 gallon spare fuel tank and pump in the truck bed.
MVFC is dropping hose and guys are getting into their wargear.
I'm watching, figuring that they have it under control. Say hi the usual people, do the whole 'down home' thing we do at fires.
MVFC chief comes up to me. "You got your gear on your tuck? "
Me? "No chief, it's at The House."
"We're short (pack qualified) men, grab some gear, I don't care whose, and pack up."
Cool. Car fire not even in my district I can get a piece of it!
They HEAVY Rescue (40-9) truck is there and it has all their guys' gear bagged up on it. I find a bag with a name that I recognize as a fellow my size. Suit up, grab an air-pack and away we go.
Typical truck fire stuff. Hot and heavy for a few minutes, knock it down, grey smoke. Halligan bars and overhaul.
The trucks wasted although the tires and rims are still good and should fit my truck. Need to talk to my neighbor about that.
As we go through the cab we come acroos what was a very new tool set that, we are told, was one of two brand new $300 Craftsman tool sets.
The box is metal and too hot to handle. I grab it with a pair of pliers and get it out of the wreckage. I open it and everytool inside (was a nice socket set) is blackened. I pick up a ratchet and socket combo with my pliers, dip it into a puddle and watch it hiss, bubble and steam. The things were heated that hot! probably lost the temper. I'm going to ask my neighbor if he's going to save the tools or not. If now, I was thinking that since their Craftsman and have a lifetime warranty........
And that was my morning.........
Then in the after noon we got toned for a car fire, again in MVFC's district, but we got toned as mutual aid.
Blazing Exploroer parked next to a house.
Melted some of the siding on the house.
I screwed up and grabbed the wrong turnout bag, so I had to make due with turnout gear that was assigned to someone --signifigantly-- bigger than myself.
Two car fires in one day; lifes good! |
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[Jul. 26th, 2008|05:28 pm] |
Today was the county firemans convention parade, so I had to take off from work this morning, get the fancy parade uniform and go sweat at the fairgrounds.
5 guys from other companies went down from heatstroke. Parades wouldn’t be so bad if the guys in the company could march worth a damn.
The cool thing about the parades is you get to see what gear other companies have. One company had a former US military M715 that they were using as a bruch truck.
As much as I keep thinking I’d prefer an M37 for mys elf, that M715 was kind of cool. Still had most of the military accessories and fixtures, and had been tweaked out with brushfire gear, small pump, etc. Nice.
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Interesting call last night 2 districts over. Motorcyclist hit a moose. Most people don’t know it, but there are moose here and now there is one less. 600 pound male moose had both it’s front legs broken by a motorcyclist. State Police shot the moose at the scene. |
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| Mr. Bad Example.......... |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|04:31 pm] |
ME: Me
HA: Heir Appearant
HAH: HeirAppearants Hematologist
HA is sitting on an excam table in jeans and skivvy shirt.
HAH: You're pretty skinny and tall. (Casts glance at HouseHold6) Must be those Chinese genes.
HA: What're Chinese genes.
ME: (Tugging on HA's pant leg) They're kind of like these, just cheaper workmanship. |
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| How do you keep a straight face while saying this stuff???? |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|11:20 am] |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7523708.stm
Read down to the boldfaced (type-wise) part..........
Iraq banned from Beijing Olympics
Haider Nawzad and Hamza Hussein rowing on the River Tigris
Seven Iraqi athletes from five different sports qualified for the Olympics
Athletes from Iraq have been banned from taking part at this summer's Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee has announced.
The team was already the subject of an interim ban after the Iraqi government replaced the country's Olympic committee with its own appointees.
Under the IOC charter, all committees must be free of political influence.
As a result the team of two rowers, two sprinters, one archer, one weightlifter and one judo competitor cannot attend.
"We sent a letter to the Iraqi government today saying that as the situation stands today it is unlikely to have Iraqi athletes at the Beijing Games," said IOC spokesperson Emmanuelle Moreau.
Hussein al-Amidi, the general secretary of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, said: "This morning we were informed of the final decision of the International Olympic Committee to suspend the membership of the Iraqi Olympic Committee.
"It's a final decision, there is no way to appeal. This means that Iraq will not take part in the coming Olympic games.
"It is a blow to Iraq and its international reputation, its athletes and its youth.
"I swear those athletes who have been training... they phoned me today and they were crying and were very upset."
The committee which the government dismissed was elected in 2004, in line with the Olympic movement's regulations.
Its chairman, Ahmad al-Samarra'i, and several other members were abducted by gunmen while attending a meeting in central Baghdad in July 2006.
They have not been seen since.
The Iraqi government said it took the move because the committee was corrupt and had not been functioning properly.
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Wow. Iraq had such a great reputation before this, and now............. |
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| Writer's Block: Your Dream Dinner |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|11:40 am] |
Theodore Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler or Ridley Scott.
Roosevelt - I want to hear his take on world affairs
Hitler - I'd like to hear his side of the story
Scott - Lets discuss cinema |
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| A big splash.... |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|05:31 pm] |
Took a distictly rural fire call.
Toned out for Automobile Accident Personal Injury - Lawnmower Rollover. ????????
OK, 15 and I jump in to the -2 truck. 15 is driving amd I'm on shotgun/radio.
The call is way the heck back in the sticks.
We roll up and a very heavyset woman was riding her lawn tractor along the road. She got to close to the edge of the road over a culvert and her and tractor went over the edge, fell about 6 feet into a creek with the lawn tractor on top of her.
By the time we pull up a neighbor has shown up with a front end loader and chain and uses these thing to get the tracor off her.
Now she's lying in the creek (about a foot deep) and about 6 feet below grade. Myself and 3 guys from the rescue squad are trying to strap her into a backboard and at the same time round up more bodies because, hey, she a BIG girl!
3 squad guys, me and two bystanders get her strapped in and get the back boadr up just as the -9 rescue truck arrived. 30 and 51 are riding the rescue truck. A couple of guys show up in POV's and now we have enough men to pass this broad up out of the creek to the team that will carry her to the ambulance.
We get her in the ambulance and do a quick inventory; she's in a fair bit of pain and a decision was made to call for a helicopter.
The adjoining fire district was toned out and instructed to set up a Landing Zone on the Taconic Parkway.
The ambulance takes off, we do paperwork and clear the scene.
Back to the firehouse and I hang up my bunker pants to dry and drain my boots. |
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| I know me, but do you know me? |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|10:07 am] |
27 and I were riding in 47-2 on an exercise. We were doing water shuttles, filling up an underground cistern at the training tower.
27’s 10 year old daughter was riding in the truck with us.
The place where we were getting water was next to a local fuel dealer who had a 100,000 gallon storage tank on his property. We were discussing whether they dike around the tank was sufficent to hold all the fuel should the tank fail.
As we discussed this, the 10 year olf girl chimed in and asked:
“What is a dike?”
Any suggestions on what I should have said? I don’t think I was ever handed a better straight line. |
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