firefighters vs. police

most of yall know that my husband is a firefighter. he loves it and looks forward to going to work every day. it is the perfect job for him and there is no one i would trust more to save my life.

what james and i didn't realize before he became a firefighter was how much tension exists between firemen and police. it is especially interesting because james' brother and best friend is a cop (he just got promoted to detective, but same thing). the general differences i've observed between firemen & police:

schedule
firefighters--work 24 hours on, 48 hours off
police--work 8 hour shifts and rotate every few months (at least in rogers i think)

IMHO the firefighter shift is ideal. firemen get to sleep at the firestation (and each have their own bedroom!). firefighters also get paid to work out (police might, too). because there are not that many fire calls, firefighters have a lot of down time at the station and get paid to go to the store, cook meals, and watch football. police often joke about firefighters being lazy, but i think it is just a nice perk of the job.

tryouts
firefighters--must do a year's worth of school to tryout (EMT required), and it is tough to get a position.
police--no requirements. much easier to get jobs (not easy though).

james tried out for both police and fire jobs. even though there were more people at the police tryouts, he was offered jobs at both local police stations, whereas fire jobs were much harder to come by. there were always more police jobs available than fire (most firestations only had 1 spot available if any), i think mainly because the turnover was higher in police jobs.

public view
firefighters--revered by the community as heros
police--often feared or disliked even though they serve and protect the community

fire and police serve the same people, but the public view of each is drastically different. firefighters seem much more appreciated. they both have to deal with some tough emotional stuff like dead bodies and hurting families, and it takes a special person to handle these intense situations.

anyway, this post doesn't have a huge point other than to encourage everyone to respect both local law enforcement and fire/ems crews. and if you know someone trying out for either a cop or fire job, encourage them to keep trying--it can be a long road! and life doesn't necessarily get easier working as a cop or firefighter. i know wendy's written a post about how difficult it is to be a policeman's wife and i can't imagine how hard it is.

i asked james the other day if parker wants to be a fireman like his daddy if we should still encourage him to go to college. james' response, "definitely, because college is just awesome!" i am glad we had such a positive experience at jbu. i loved going to school there and living up the college years!

back to biggest loser. sorry for the scatterbrained post--i've been writing during all the commercials. love you all.