From Battlefields to Fire Trucks: A Veteran's Journey Through The Fire Service

Sorry you're out on leave right now with the injury , but happy that I made room in your schedule , your busy schedule , to be here with us . I think we pretty much have gotten a little background on Tyler and Liz . We're just going to go right into tell us a little bit about you .

Robert Just get a little bit of your career history , a little bit of what you've done , and just start back in like the second grade and we'll just go up from there . So , no , just tell us a little bit about your career and all the things you've been able to be a part of , from law enforcement , swat , military , all those things .

I don't know if the guy was joking or not about being too short , but he was definitely not joking about being too young . He had to be 21 to go to the academy . So

I did some odds and ends things for a while , actually before that is when I joined the military . I joined at 17 , when I was still a junior in high school , and I've been in ever since . It's been a pretty good career I've done . My first little stint was a scout for two years and then my unit transitioned into tanks .

So I was a tanker for about nine years and then when I moved to St George , they didn't have tanks and their closest tank unit was Las Vegas and I didn't want to drive to Las Vegas . So it was already hot enough in St George .

They didn't have tanks and their closest tank unit was Las Vegas and I didn't want to drive to Las Vegas , so it was already hot enough in St George . I didn't want to add another 10 degrees to it .

So I stayed in St George and transitioned into artillery and did that for a while until I moved up here to Logan and then I thought , you know , I'm a paramedic on the civilian side . Why not go finish out being a medic in the military ?

So I went to the transition course and became the military's version of a medic and had a few different assignments throughout my career and a couple deployments and been to a few other places and stuff Anyway . So then Most of those places are classified yeah , if I tell you I have to kill you . Yeah , if I tell you I have to kill you , and anyway .

So yeah . So I started out in EMS 93 and just been progressing up to there . I mean , I always knew what my end goal was going to be , at least on the EMS side , and so I did that for a while . I started out full-time up in Idaho with two different services part-time with one service and full-time with another service .

Then we moved down to St George and I continued down there . Well , my father-in-law was the chief of police up here for Logan City for about four years . I think he retired in 95 or 94 . Anyway , he was the one that got me into law enforcement .

So I was a deputy down in Washington County for a while , did that , and then some openings came up here to Logan and we knew this is where we wanted to come back up and be . Was up here in Logan , closer to family , her family , my family .

That's when I got on with Logan City and from there my law enforcement career wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be . When I left law enforcement down in St George or the sheriff's office down there , I pretty much swore to myself I'd never put on another cop badge again until I came up here .

It wasn't the agency I was working for , just being a cop wasn't for me . I was up here about two months working for Logan City when I got a call from the sheriff's office up here asking me to come work for them part-time and I said sure , just as long as I don't have to do any of the other stuff .

I've been working for them part-time doing odds and ends and was with them about two months when I got asked to try out for the SWAT team so just backing up a little bit , um , what was your initial draw to the first responder world ?

He actually stepped on a piece of glass and it lacerated his foot so deep that he could open it up like a book , had my sock on the bank , grabbed it , wrapped it up and made it tight enough where the bleeding stopped . And you know , I had the only first aid training I ever had was from the Boy Scouts and that was about it .

But I mean , it wasn't nothing like significant right , and so from that it was kind of like oh , you know , that's cool , you know , and just always , you know , I would see the ambulances going to calls and it always intrigued me and so I thought , give it a try , see what it's like and see what we can do . Fell in love with it Day one .

I fell in love with it , yeah .

You brought somebody back or you changed somebody's life because you were there to help them Not necessarily from a traumatic side either , but from a medical side Somebody having a bad day , a psych issue or something and you were able to talk to them respectfully , talk them off the ledge and get them to comply with you without having to use any type of force .

And then see them two , three months later and they'd be like hey , man , thanks what you said to me that day , you saved my life . Things like that was the ones that was like , hey , I can keep doing this . This was what I want to do . I want to make a difference somewhere .

Try to make a difference for some of those people out there that were having bad days . Right , because that's what we do , whether we realize it or not .

life . Oh yeah , like some of them are fairly crappy you know what I mean Tyler and Liz .

When I went through school to do this , they didn't tell me everything that I would have to .

There's no other job in the world that gives you that gratifying feeling and that's a lot .

But I mean , I don't think he and his wife could have done that , or if they would have , it would have been a much harder situation . We took 30 minutes out of our day . We helped that guy out , and it wasn't until you said that I was like man , it does feel good . As unpleasant as it was , I feel a lot better after that .

Let us have that little victory . So thanks to them .

There's just something about that .

I know we were talking about this a little beforehand , Robert , but something that's just interested me about your military service versus your community service with the fire department is sometimes in the military those experiences

are separated from your hometown . They happen in a country far away or a place far away , and they happen , and of course that's its own thing to deal with and process .

But I feel like it's a little different too to also experience some of those disturbing events in your hometown and a house or an intersection or a restaurant that you drive by every single day . You know . And there's the positive ones , you know . Whenever you guys drive by that house you'll remember oh yeah , that's why I'm going to heaven .

But then there's those other houses , or those other places that you start avoiding because I don't want to remember or I don't want to have to think about what happened at that spot .

Anyway , I'm just curious , on your perspective on being part of the few that have experienced both , what your journey has been like , dealing with those , and what are some pros and cons or advice you'd give on each .

In other places , people don't get involved because if they get involved , then they become responsible , right ? So they just turn and walk away . It was God's will , right ? It was today , was their day and it was going to happen , no matter what we did . And you know and this is where you two may want to slide that way a little bit I don't agree , right ?

I don't agree Because sometimes there's things that I saw that were done intentionally and they shouldn't have been done intentionally . Whether it's here in the States or in a different country , what we do is the same right . Nothing changes there .

To me , the thing that's always been interesting was the reaction of those around you that saw it , whether it be family members , friends or bystanders , and that , to me , has always been interesting . Does that make sense ?

That's very different from a child and everybody is expecting you to fix this right now , versus the bystanders that just keep driving by .

I mean that was hard , that was hard . And especially it was hard when the parents or the family members were pulling at you and crying and screaming in their language of having you help them and you couldn't do nothing about it .

After a long career of doing this in so many capacities , have you found some helpful ways to process those thoughts or reconcile so that you can keep on doing the job ? Yes and no , there's been things that I've done .

That's probably not the most healthy way to deal with some of this stuff , but there's things that I've come to terms with , that I knew I did everything I could to help in those situations . And then there's people like you that you can talk to your buddies , your coworkers or those in the same career field that can understand what you're talking about , right ?

Fortunate for me , my wife was a nurse . She's still a nurse , but she was a registered nurse and so there's been , but she was a registered nurse and so there's been some things I've been able to talk to her about to kind of help through some of that process as well . So I mean , at least on this side of the ocean , but the other side not so much .

And I say that in respect .

You know it's different , right , but I noticed that though I noticed that if I'm with you guys and we're talking about calls and stuff , I feel comfortable talking about those calls , the military , talking about some of those other calls and stuff , not so much , right , but talking about different deployments and different situations and stuff we were in and different

you know circumstances and stuff , very comfortable talking to them about it . Law enforcement , same thing . You know some of the bad SWAT calls I wouldn't say bad calls , but calls that didn't end well around here , talking to the SWAT team and those involved , I felt comfortable with it , respectfully .

If I was trying to talk to you guys about that , I felt comfortable with it Respectfully . If I was trying to talk to you guys about that , I wouldn't be able to get those same words and feelings out , that I would be with them , as I would with you guys .

And it's not that you couldn't understand that , it's just being in that comfort zone of being surrounded by people that have experienced those same circumstances that in your mind , you know that or I wouldn't say you know , I would say you'd probably more along the lines of them being able to understand what you're saying and the words you're using , right , I think ?

The effort to talk about it goes way down Versus for me to explain to somebody who's not a firefighter . My effort has to go up to here get them to understand what I'm talking about , and if it's a traumatic call I don't want to put in that effort Like it's already hard enough .

Then you get to a point where you're just like you know what , screw it , I'm done talking , it just shuts you down .

Well , we went into the house and then I was standing there and this person said this and that you guys just automatically know so you can get straight to the meat and potatoes . This is what we did . This is how it made me feel and you know you're being understood and it's more therapy than like okay in class .

We're gonna talk about this and do you have any questions ? Keep your questions until the end . It's like oh man exhausting .

I mean , I know people joke about it with you a lot , but you also do a fair amount of fishing therapy , right .

in your lifetime in this career , those things will never , ever go away . And I don't care who you are , I don't care what type of therapist you are , respectfully , will never , ever go away . And I don't care who you are , I don't care what type of therapist you are , respectfully , they just never go away .

Because there are things that I think about on a daily basis that I experienced 20 years ago on my first deployment . There's things I think about that I experienced on my first pediatric traumatic arrest .

that happened , you know , 28 years ago , and they just never go away because you think about them all the time and I'm not sure why , and you'd probably have a bunch of therapists argue with me about this , but I don't think it's that I haven't dealt with it .

I just think that they're memories , that they're there for a reason , and I don't think they're there to help . I I don't think that they're there to let you forget , but to remember what you experienced in your life . So if you see it next time , you can do better . Right , because we can always do better , no matter what we do .

Every time that thought comes back , you get sent into this fight or flight mode and you now have the inability to be present with your kids and family , and that lingers for years . That's a problem right . That means you probably haven't processed that . It's just by having the memory . I think sometimes we have this false expectation as responders .

Well , as long as I still remember it , or as long as I'm still thinking about it , I must have done something wrong . But like I haven't fully finished processing that call or whatever . But the reality is , if it's not disrupting your behavior every day when you think about it , it is a process .

You should remember it to the extent that it betters you and that's your now experience . But if you're associating it with guilt or shame every time you think about it , that's something you should probably get some help with .

It's just that one time that gets me through that process of helping me be okay for a minute and then I can continue on right . So again , I know I probably get a lie by therapists right now , like that's not healthy . Well , no shit , I know it's not healthy . You know , for me it was at the time I dealt with it . Now I'm moving on .

My point is that every person's different . You deal with stuff at a different level , sometimes with the things you've experienced in your life , whether they're personal or what you've seen since you've been in this career . You have . I know you have as well . I'm not saying it's okay to be unhealthy .

I'm just saying for me , sometimes those unhealthy moments and I don't need to elaborate , I'm sure you guys understand what I'm talking about are okay for me at the moment . But then we move on , right .

Bad things are going to happen to good people and it's not that I want them to happen , it's that I want to be the one there to help you through it . That's probably unhealthy the mental trauma that you're discussing but it has to happen and we have tools in place to help us process that .

And captains , favorite captains , and I shout out to jackie anderson , one of our clinical yeah because I love her and I've started seeing her probably for two or three months now and she is someone that I go to a lot more .

So you know things at home I don't feel like I've been around enough to see a lot of traumatic stuff , but when I do go on calls and it hits close to home , that's where I need the help , sure yeah , well , I think , man , it's great .

I've seen it all but the reality is , I think , doing just exactly what you're doing by talking to the right people at the right time , early , right , yeah , reason to wait till you're 15 years in , like , okay , this is piled up enough . I should probably start talking .

The state had one that would come up and debrief some of our calls if we asked them to , which was good . Sometimes we'd talk about it with other crew members or whatever we needed to do , but I never really talked to a professional until I had an event happen to my family and that was my trigger point .

That was the time I had already been in EMS almost 15 years before I actually went and talked to somebody about and then it all . I mean it was just like the gates opened Everything from my military to law enforcement , to family , to everything I'd done in this job . The gates just opened and everything just started coming out . It was unfortunate .

I guess what I was trying to say is that sometimes it takes a triggering event for you to finally open up , to go get help and , if I can say one thing , don't wait for that moment to happen , because to me it felt like I took longer to recover from all that than I have in the past of now going to see somebody and talk to somebody and when I'm having

my days and my moments , or when I need to reset , to go talk to somebody , you know , of walking out with a little more clarity and feeling like I actually did reset , rather than taking a long time to

recover from everything that I just verbally vomited on to the therapist . It was hard . It was hard because I didn't know where to stop . I I was so confused . I had multiple triggers coming out or events that were all hitting me at once that I was trying to work through . And it was bad .

It was affecting me at home , it was affecting me here at the job , it was affecting my military , it was just affecting everything , and that was at that point where everything was really getting super unhealthy for me .

And some people that are still around today could probably be like yep , we've seen it , we've seen what happened to him and he was not in a good place . My point is don't wait until you have something like that happen . If you feel like you need to go talk to somebody , it's okay . It's okay to be not okay .

matter when you talk , it's going to be good to start that process , but I totally agree with you , the sooner the better to build that resiliency .

And really that call's been building up for a long time my trigger point had nothing to do with work .

And so , again , weeds are so much easier to pull when they're small , like taking care of yeah , like that I want to circle back to something you said . You said you felt it affecting your family a little bit , but also is like I can't . I don't think it's .

Last year , maybe the year before , we had that New Year's Eve party and right after that party me and Tyler were both like , if I grow up and my family is like Robert Stevens , I made it . Just like your whole family was there kids , older kids having a good time together .

We were both sitting there with our little kids and , just like man , I hope my family grows up to be like that .

It's on you , it's in your skin , it's in your brain , no matter what , and at some point when you get tired , your family gets tired and they may not tell you , but they get tired , and so you know . We've been through a lot with you , know , with my family , and I'll tell you they sometimes understand .

Sometimes they don't understand , but I think when they do understand they get it . And so when you see us here at these events they grew up with firefighters , they grew up with cops , they grew up with the military side . They've got the experience at all . When you see us here , it's them letting off steam .

They're building their own resiliency on how to help you deal with what you're dealing with , so that they can understand and try to help you Respectfully . I don't think they'll ever understand it , but they might get it enough to know that when you walk in the back door and you're not having a good day or you had a bad night .

They know you took your boots off at the door and not to drag that stuff in the house . They know you're dragging it in the house and it's just by your attitude , your presence , not talking , not saying anything . The list is endless , right , but you have to be responsible enough to recognize it yourself so that you know when you're tired they're tired .

Hopefully you can sit down and not necessarily talk about it in a sense , but to hopefully get them to understand at least a little bit of it and to also understand them too , so they can help you deal with whatever you're dealing with .

that's going through this stuff all the time because I know that impacts you , whether I admit it or You're trying to give them room to feel yeah or , like you said , build that resilience or whatever . Is there other specific things that you found , whether it was family time or opening up about certain parts of the job ?

You know , sometimes we don't talk about everything , right . I mean and she knows this because she's caught me a couple of times like , hey , you know , you've been home 12 years from your first appointment . I'd never even heard that story . Well , I was in a room full of guys that were there , you know , that experienced the same thing .

So I was able to talk about those things you know . And there's going to be times where you're not going to be able to talk about anything you know , and it may be two or three years before you're able to talk about it at all . And you just hope that they understand , because it's not that you don't want to talk about it with them .

They wouldn't understand . You just don't want to talk about it . You get tired and , like I said , I know you , you get tired , they get tired too , but you get tired .

But that's when you have to realize that at that point , when it's affecting you , you got to find a way to deal with it and each one of us is different when we go out on a structure fire . You're not going to put your bunkers on the same way . I'm going to right . I mean , yeah , it's going to be one boot at a time .

You're not going to put your bunkers on the same way . I'm going to right . I mean , yeah , it's going to be one boot at a time . You're going to pull your pants up , but what are you going to do next ? Are you going to put on your coat or are you going to put on your hood ?

So we all do things different to help us deal with things differently , to help us get through the whole situation . I hope that made sense . Yeah , man .

, we're also dealing with normal organizational exhaustion , Just like any other job , where you're trying to be validated for the good things you're doing , earn promotions and earn higher training and handling all that .

And these same guys and girls that you want to talk about these hard things with are also the same people you're probably going to be competing with for that next engineer spot or captain spot or whatever , right , and maybe you can walk us through a little bit of that , because Tyler just beat me on the exam and I'll never ,

People that were friends before , are no longer friends or had good relationships , are no longer good because either you beat them or did better than them or something , and it's sad you go into this lockdown mode where you don't want to talk to anybody . The promotional process in our department's tough .

I'm not sure if I'm the right person to talk to you guys about this , but you know because I've experienced it . It's tough . I'm not sure if I'm the right person to talk to you guys about this , but you know because I've experienced it . It's like having a bad call . Sometimes you can forget about those things and sometimes you can't . They're just tough .

But the one thing that I seen that happened on this last engineer's exam from you guys was everybody was willing to help everybody and that to me , me made me smile .

That was huge , because anytime somebody was like , hey , I'm going to take the engine down to the tower and go pump , that was sent out in a page or sent out an email and you know people showed up when they could and you helped each other Right , and to me that was huge .

It gives me goosebumps talking about it because that right there , that type of stuff when you guys are getting ready for promotional process , will help you through that process rather than everybody going their own way to do their own thing . Now , I'm not saying that that's necessarily bad for somebody to go do that , but it makes it a little more palatable .

I can't believe they didn't like him for whatever and you start pointing all these fingers .

How did that happen and why'd they pick them over me ? It didn't dawn on me until just a few minutes ago .

You know , when I teach PALS and ACLS which is some of the other things that I do , not outside of the department but with the military and stuff one of the things I always tell the group we all have our ways to do things and our own thought process to take care of certain situations right , and we might think we know it all , but we don't .

Before we start going through the skills and the testing process , my remarks to everybody is don't let your ego override your ass . Let your ego be bruised so hard that you're trying to blame everybody for your faults . The reality is you just didn't score well that day . They just beat you on a test test and your ego got bruised .

So now you're going to start blaming everybody else because your ego got bruised . But it's tough . Nobody wants their ego bruised , you know I mean . So how do ?

Being able to talk to them about my frustrations was good , because I knew they were listening to me . It wasn't like , well , you got two weeks to get over this .

So you either do it or you don't , because if you don't , then you're not going to be selected Right , but just by them listening to me and sometimes taking the time out of their day to call me and say , hey , this is what I seen today , this is what I liked , this is what I didn't like , this is where we can do better .

And then , from their feedback , I was able to make some changes , as they suggested and wanting to make my own self-improvement just for me myself , because I wanted to make myself better . Being miserable when you're at work is not fun . It is not fun because it affects those around you seriously , more than you know and and more than you'll ever know .

And you know , you always remember the good times that you had at work , the bad times , but you always remember that miserable son of a bitch that was sitting at the table , that was never happy , right , and you're glad that they're gone . Well , I didn't want to be that guy . I didn't want to be that guy that was miserable all the time .

So I knew I had to make some changes and stuff . But anyway , my point being is that by talking and having somebody you know having Nate , chief Thompson and Chief Hanning , other people talk to me and tell me where I needed to get better and even change my attitude a little bit , you know helped and so you know I got selected .

It was an interesting experience because everybody that I tested with in the engineer exam , I wanted them to do well and at the same time , I did not want them to do well . Sure , Because I wanted to do better , but the feelings of the group succeeding overwhelmingly that was the best part of the whole experience .

We , as the quote-unquote next generation of engineers , we did a dang good job .

The whole time , especially as I was driving through cones on the closed course closed course , closed driving course I was like dang it . Here it is . I just shot myself in the foot .

But I really hope that people show up and they do well , because I love and I respect all these people and I want them to do well and I want them to do better than me , because the better that they do , the easier my job's going to be . The better I can be for them , the better their experience through this whole thing is going to be as well .

If you're making yourself better , then you're going to do that much better on a call and the challenges we're faced with in this profession .

the temptation to get sour and be like screw this , I'm out . Then how many of us would have not had that benefit of you ? know , and so I think , going through that , if you can have the perspective of thinking ahead a little bit this isn't just about me , but you know I could have a lot of positive impact on this department by keeping my head up .

Keep moving on and I'll just give it a better shot on the next one .

I had other offers from a couple other departments and I knew the grass wasn't greener on the other side , it was just a different place and different people and probably the same atmosphere . They asked me well , haven't you left yet ? You can leave anytime you want . And I said , well , I'm not sure .

And they looked at me and said , well , is it because you got something to give ? You got more to give . And that was kind of like an aha moment for me and I think that was some of the chain at the you know my . I guess the changing my attitude type thing was I knew I still had more to give , just didn't know how much more .

Did I give that call everything that I had ? And then , on the bigger perspective is the career . I don't want to leave this career feeling like there was something left to give and I went out early .

Whoever is driving the ship can create the atmosphere that you're in or create that attitude sometimes , because if the ship's going straight and it's nice and it's not swaying from side to side , it's good . When it starts swaying , you start questioning should you be there or should I be here ? Are you making the right decisions ?

I've worked for some people all three careers . It is really you know they . In your mind it's's like I'll never be like you , and that's good right . But there's others that you've worked for . You're like man . I wish I could be like you by helping support those people .

You know they're doing the best they can right and when they make changes in the organization . Sometimes it's accepted , sometimes it's not , but what you have to do is together as a group , support it the best you can and do what you can to help make that atmosphere good for everybody , so that everybody's not coming in sour every day .

Hopefully that made sense .

Oh , absolutely , are you know when you are dealing with not getting that promotion like it seems like that's just as impactful . Oh yeah , but it also

seems like the solution is very similar . It's just by having people to talk to about it . Yeah , you had Nate and some guys that sounded like those conversations or those turning points that just helped you shift gears a little bit . I know , after that last exam it's nice to have people . I know I can just say anything I want .

I can vent , I can say things I'm going to regret , maybe things that aren't true .

But it just allows you to get it out of your system and then they can tell you how much of an idiot you are , Like , okay , this is where you should probably not think that way anymore . No , that guy doesn't hate your guts because he did better than you or whatever right , but they help you bring , give you that reality check .

I probably have seen that more with what we have at the helm now and I'm talking about our administration than I ever have between all three services that I've been working for , and I don't want to say that they've been bad , I'm just saying that them having their finger on the health and well-being of the department has been more prevalent than I've ever seen .

It Right , and that's huge , you're absolutely right . Process . It can be just as traumatic as a multi-casualty event response or whatever big event that has that impact on your life , as anything . When those types of things happen and if we're talking as a group , you know , hey , I didn't like that . What the hell are they thinking ?

They're a bunch of dumb asses . You know reality that's . That's not the case , so don't fire me , chief . The point I'm trying to make is when we can talk about it with each other and maybe you're not seeing what they're trying to do and we talk , then maybe you can see what they're trying to do .

You may not agree with it , but at least you can , you know , brings it back into perspective so you can see it right . That's actually part of the resiliency program bringing it in perspective , right ? Those you guys heard of icebergs . You know everything you see on top looks fine and dandy , but underneath it's a disaster , or vice versa .

By bringing it back into perspective or bringing it back to center mass , that can help you with that whole mental process and being open-minded about it too . Like I said earlier , don't let your ego override your ass , because it doesn't make you better than everybody else by resisting . It just makes you look bad .

Okay , my perspective is off yeah , I had my wife tell me that a few times , repeat what you just said and then think about it and it's like wives significant others but I think it circles back to liz's point being able to find somebody now like a clinician , if you're at a spot or you don't know who that person is on the department you want to talk to or

feel comfortable sharing some of your frustrations . I think clinicians are perfect for that because they have zero ties to the department . They are bound by a confidentiality .

You can say whatever you want about your captain or the chief or whoever is bugging you , and they can help you put the right perspective to that without letting those thoughts poison you and ruin a good opportunity for a happy , positive career . And so I don't think it would be possible to go to a clinician for too small of a reason .

They can help you figure out the things that are keeping you from being confident and push you to that next level .

I'd hope people remember that clinicians aren't just there to put band-aids on all our bad feelings , yeah , and also there to help us build strength , build mental resiliency , give us tools so that not only can we maintain where we're at , but we can actually get way better . I think that's an awesome resource we have as a department . I think it's super .

Um , I don't know how unique it is , but it seems unique that we're in a spot where we get it all for free . The department's put us in a position where you can get all the help you want from a clinician at no cost . I just hope everybody remembers that , especially people that haven't been on the department that long .

I look at some of our current probationary firefighters . It's like , especially during that time . Right , you don't want to complain . Right , because you're the new guy . Yeah , you don't want to complain , right , because you're the new guy . Yeah , and that can be a hard spot to be in , where you have this huge load on your plate and so much pressure .

Everybody's watching you and you're not in a spot where you can complain . You haven't built the relationships yet . You don't want to be branded as a complainer . So I hope those guys are taking advantage of clinicians because you can go , say whatever you want out of your system and then carry on , get back to shift reset , ready to go .

But knowing Robert a little bit , I knew that was the greatest term of endearment I could have received .

He's like are you an idiot ? What did I forget ? And I was like I don't think so . And he's like well , we're about to find out , went through , I did my test , I was waiting for hey , you did a good job . And he just looked at me and goes next I'm still waiting , close to 15 years . Am I an idiot ?

The more you're in this career , the more you're going to experience both sides of that mental disruptive event , whether it's a dramatic call or a promotional exam . It's normal because this job is so deeply ingrained in who we are . You should be taking promotional exams as seriously , because it's not just the job , it's not just another spot to fill .

It's part of this life .

job would , and I think that's okay . But hopefully people know that there's plenty of resources and tools especially more today than I think there ever has been to help get through some of these things so you can still have that awesome career . So thanks everybody for being here today .

Thanks for all your words of wisdom and maybe by next episode or the next one , we'll find out if Tyler so just a couple of quick things .

Just the resources that you guys are putting out there and putting together not only for your mental fitness but your physical fitness as well . Right , I could probably compliment this for the next three hours of just how great you guys are doing and I really , really , really , truly appreciate it because you are setting us up for success .

That's huge , because this is going to pay dividends long after I'm gone and you guys are the next captains or chiefs or engineers or whatever you're going to do in this career . It'll show right . Keep that momentum going , even on those bad days . Keep that momentum going because this career needs what you're doing now .

From the careers that I've had , they've all have their challenges . You know the military's trying to keep up on their health and well-being for their troops you know , um , uh , I think it . I think the the uh poll is like , and it's sad . It's still sad , but there's an average of 15 service members a day that are still taking their lives .

I think it's happening more on the public safety side . We're not hearing about it as much as we are with the military . Um , and you know , in public safety , including law enforcement , fire , ems , all of it and I think it's happening more than we know .

This is what's going to help reduce that , what you guys are doing now , and I hope it spreads like a good flower , not a bad weed . I appreciate you guys too . I appreciate all the support you've given me .

I know I'm a busy guy and I'm gone , and sometimes you guys got to pick up those pieces when I'm gone and when I know when I come back , those pieces have been picked up and you guys are still continuing on to do what you do is that's huge , and especially when you hear good things about the people you work with , right .

So and then the one last thing to my family . You know they're , they're the foundation of why I'm here . You know they're , they're the foundation of why I'm here . You know they are the cornerstone , and I know they get tired . Sometimes they wish that as soon as I walk in that door , I'd turn around and walk out .

In fact , I think my daughters even told me a couple of times Dad , we're not your soldiers . They get tired , just like we do too . I've already mentioned it , but they're the ones that are going to be there all the time . And I can tell you personally , without them , my wife , my three daughters , my boy I can't say enough about them .

They've been such a huge support , even on my bad days . If I could give them a stack of medal certificates or just a thank you , that's huge for me .