The worst are friends or family. When I came on in 81 most of the Officers were hard battle worn guys that had been in the military. When something like this would happen, they would take you off to the side. And they would show you how to cope with such an expirence. Most likely when you shift was over, you all met at a local bar, and bury yourself into a bottle. I quess I have a vault somewhere in the back of my brain that I store all of these memories in. Every once in a while the door will creep open. Then you relive the scene all over again. Today the FD has head bangers on retainer that come to the firehouse and sits down to talk with the new breed of Firefighters. Which I quess is a good thing. But you can always tell when a guy has a lot of time on the job. Because he's the one off by himself working on a piece of equipment, waiting for his shift to end. Dave
