My Brother is a Bad Ass!

My brother recently decided to follow in the footsteps of our father, our three uncles, our grandfather and his cousin and become a firefighter. He embarked on a 10 week fire academy program that was very strenuous and stressful and quite a physical challenge. Last week we were able to attend what they called "Family Night" and what I called "Bro's Big Skit." It was a chance for the trainees to show us what they learned. It was quite a night and we have never been so proud.

The first shot shows the guy on the left demonstrating sliding head first down the ladder. My bro can be seen at the bottom of the right ladder holding it for the guy climbing up it:

Next, my bro demonstrated how to carry an unconscious person down the ladder. Of course, he was carrying another student who was NOT unconscious which resulted in the instructor repeatedly yelling "YOU ARE UNCONSCIOUS!" and "DO NOT GRAB THE LADDER WITH YOUR HAND" which was quite humorous. My bro got the man down safely:

While the next demonstration was going on, the instructor had the remaining guys hunker down. Totally my phrase for it. I don't know what it is really called, but I do like the way my camera picked up their reflectors: My brother is the one in the middle with the frosted looking shield:

Next, they saved this dummy from a burning building:

Then it was time for a BIG fire:

And the guys had to put it out:

They then impressed us with their mad push up skills. Again, the reflectors are so cool:

And when it was over, we got to visit with my bro. The reason his shield is frosted is because he had to put out that big fire above before we got there and it actually burned him. Thank goodness for the shield!

The fire also got his arm and left his jacket with this cool flame like pattern:

Bro wasn't too fond of the not so cool blisters that he got on his shoulder and knuckles, however. He classified those as "only" first and second degree burns. Tough guy!

And, of course, I have been having camera issues lately with my memory card eating some of my pictures. It chose, on this day, to eat the picture of my brother and dad together after the demonstration. And although I took two of every thing else, I only took one here. Not to be deterred, I grabbed B's camera and took a picture of my camera. It is not the best picture and bro is a little grainy, but it isn't totally awful:

With only a week until graduation left, my bro went back to his side job at a catering hall when, wouldn't you know it, some lady fell, hit her head and was bleeding. Part of the training at the academy was as a first responder so my bro was able to jump into duty and assess the situation, keeping her calm until the fire department arrived. I am surrounded by heroes!

Soon enough, it was time for graduation, this past Friday. Here he is in his dress academy uniform:

And here is my Dad dressed in a suit and wearing his badge as he was able to present my brother's graduation certificate to him as he is a retired Chief:

My Dad presenting bro with his certificate:

And posing for me. These pictures were hard to take because I only had a short period of time and the lighting was awful:

See? My brother IS a bad ass. And a hero! We are so very proud of him!!

On another note, what am I to do with all of these heroes around me? First my Dad, then B, now bro? I am going to have to step up to the plate. I am going to have to find a horrendous car accident, with a guy who has been shot, administer aid to a woman who got knocked down in the madness and has a bloody head, then jump into a spinning car with a baby inside while calling 911 and inadvertently stopping a robbery in progress only to follow the robber down the street and continue telling 911 where they are headed.

Piece of cake.