Lookin to be ONE HELL of a fire season........
I was on Laguna Hotshots for a couple of years and on Type 3 Engines (600 gallons, 4x4, 5 personnel) before and after. Currently an Engine Operator.
There is no harder work than the Hotshots. Hike in, fly in, drive in and work for 14 hours and back out, sleep a couple. Do it again the next day for a 14-21 day roll. Occasionally those exceptions happen where you pull a 24 hour or more shift.
Recently I read something on here where some old grumpy man said that young kids don’t want to work these days. I am currently doing a Squad Boss detail with our Type 2 hand crew (Hotshots are Type 1) and had to collect the crew members driver’s licenses to scan them in for a federal driver’s license. Under 21 licenses look different than over 21. I was amazed that about 3/4’s of them were under 21. They all have hard on’s to make the Hotshot crew next year. Some real athlete’s. A lot of men have never worked nearly as hard as these kids work. It’s always been kids that work the hardest. From the days of CCC’s to the early hotshot crews and smokejumpers to my crew.
Remember them, gents. When you’ve got some rippin *** fire in your local forest or in your county there is a bunch of hardcore 18-25 year olds out there punching in miles of fire line.
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I was on Laguna Hotshots for a couple of years and on Type 3 Engines (600 gallons, 4x4, 5 personnel) before and after. Currently an Engine Operator.
There is no harder work than the Hotshots. Hike in, fly in, drive in and work for 14 hours and back out, sleep a couple. Do it again the next day for a 14-21 day roll. Occasionally those exceptions happen where you pull a 24 hour or more shift.
Recently I read something on here where some old grumpy man said that young kids don’t want to work these days. I am currently doing a Squad Boss detail with our Type 2 hand crew (Hotshots are Type 1) and had to collect the crew members driver’s licenses to scan them in for a federal driver’s license. Under 21 licenses look different than over 21. I was amazed that about 3/4’s of them were under 21. They all have hard on’s to make the Hotshot crew next year. Some real athlete’s. A lot of men have never worked nearly as hard as these kids work. It’s always been kids that work the hardest. From the days of CCC’s to the early hotshot crews and smokejumpers to my crew.
Remember them, gents. When you’ve got some rippin *** fire in your local forest or in your county there is a bunch of hardcore 18-25 year olds out there punching in miles of fire line.
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