A Firefighter’s Identity

Often people see a familiar face and don’t remember your name. They recognize and identify a person from where they work or from their occupation. Patients refer to their Physician by their title. They are also referred to as the Doctor that saved my life or that helped me through some kind of medical crisis. There are several careers that are dominated by alpha males and females. Firefighter’s with alpha male syndrome and how their career can change their identity.

In Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson’s essay “Alpha Male Syndrome”, they state “Alphas are aggressive, result driven achievers who insist on top performance from themselves and others. Courageous and self-confident, they are turned on by bold innovative ideas and ambitious goals, and they pursue their objective with tenacity and an urgent sense of mission”.

Firefighters are seen as strong, courageous and tough. They are clean cut and their bodies are in good physical shape. When they are out in the public they are always dressed in their firefighter gear or wearing their duty uniform. They are identified by a name tag that they wear on their uniforms that includes their rank and last name. When the public sees them in uniform they address them as Firefighter Nelson, Chief Olson. They have lost a part of their identity, their first name. The department creates business cards that state our name and rank and how to contact us. These cards are a type of Identification that we hand out to the public. Sometimes people associate us for what we did for them such as; you’re the firefighter that helped my grandmother or you’re the firefighter that visited my school.

The Fire Department is run like the military.  There is a chain of command that consists of an alpha male or female acting as the Chief. All firefighters want to become a chief. This statement may not be true, but this is the type of personnel the fire departments wants to hire. These alpha males/females work hard and strive for that next step up the ladder.  They are assigned projects and they strive to complete them better or faster than the last person.  This is their competitive nature, another alpha male trait. Donald Trump’s essay. Find the Greatness within Yourself, states: “I am a competitive person and to me, that’s a good thing. Staying competitive is the opposite of being complacent. Complacency is the ultimate enemy of success.” Firefighters have a better opportunity of being promoted to Lieutenant if he and or she is ambitious and has asserted themselves to be trained to the next level.  This ambition is another alpha male trait. With each promotion there is a great feeling of accomplishment of pride. There is always a pay incentive for each rank, but in the twenty plus years that I have in the fire service, I have never heard of someone working for that promotion to get the pay increase. They are striving for that next leadership role.
   
As mentioned before the fire department is run like the military. The Fire Academy has similar traits of the military’s boot camp. You typically start out the day with exercises. The drill instructor is there to influence you to do your best but he may yell at you like a drill sergeant and actually degrade you. Some people cannot handle this stress and end up quitting.  Others strive to the challenges and are already reaching for a leadership role in their company. Some firefighters vomit at the sights and smells they encounter at an emergency incident. They are not able to adapt to this and end up quitting.

It is this adapting to the horrific calls that we see that influence the changes in their identity. It affects them emotionally and changes their outlook and personality. The sight of a charred body or a shooting incident, where the force of the bullet has split the patient’s head open, these types of incidents have a way of haunting you.  These types of images affect a person emotionally for the rest of their life.  Without counseling they may have psychological difficulties. They begin to get de-sensitized in regards to their loved ones emotions.  This has happened to me.  For instance, my son fell and scrapped his knee and was crying because he was hurt.  I have caught myself brushing off his emotions by telling him that “he is ok, the blood is not even gushing”.  I should have comforted him instead of trying to make a tough guy out of him. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to prevent the horrific things that are seen. A good officer does limit the exposure to his crew by quickly identifying and securing the scene which will prevent his crew from the exposure of such devastating sites.

Many careers have alpha leaders that are known by their title or positions they hold and their actions or accomplishments. Our careers can change us without us even knowing it.  The influences by the people we come in contact with, by our co-workers or the events and actions we have endured on the job. Some of these changes in our identity can occur slowly over the years and some may change in a very short time. This can be a challenge in keeping ones true self identity.

A Fifefighter's Identity

                                                                                  

Often people see a familiar face and don’t remember their name. They recognize and identify a person from where they work or from their occupation. Patients refer to their physician by their title. They are also referred to as the doctor who saved their life or that helped them through some kind of medical crisis. There are several careers that are dominated by alpha males and females. Firefighters are alpha male or female their career changes their identity.
The Fire Department has a chain of command that consists of an alpha male or female acting as the Chief. All firefighters want to become a chief. This statement may not be true, but this is the type of personnel the fire departments wants to hire. These alpha males/females work hard and strive for that next step up the ladder.  They are assigned projects and they strive to complete them better or faster than the last person.  This is their competitive nature, another alpha male and female trait. “I am a competitive person and to me, that’s a good thing. Staying competitive is the opposite of being complacent. Complacency is the ultimate enemy of success” (Trump 242). Firefighters have a better opportunity of being promoted to Lieutenant if he and or she is ambitious and has asserted themselves to be trained to the next level.  This ambition is another alpha male/female trait.

“Alphas are aggressive, result driven achievers who insist on top performance from themselves and others. Courageous and self-confident, they are turned on by bold innovative ideas and ambitious goals, and they pursue their objective with tenacity and an urgent sense of mission” (Ludeman & Erlandson 226).

Firefighters respond to a variety of different types of calls. These calls can be challenging and quite stressful.  Some of the firefighters cannot handle this stress and end up quitting.  It is this adapting to the horrific calls that have the biggest influence on the changes in their identity. It affects them emotionally and changes their outlook and personality. Others strive to the challenges and are already reaching for a leadership role in their company.

Many careers have alpha leaders who are known by their title or the position they hold and their actions or accomplishments. Our careers can change us without us even knowing it.  The influences by the people we come in contact with, by our co-workers or the events and actions we have endured on the job. Some of these changes in our identity can occur slowly over the years and some may change in a very short time.