mrhoneydo

If you still believe that, you must still be wearing 3/4 boots and fireball gloves.
The GFD has become a career department supplemented by the volunteers simply by call volume alone. It is totally unreasonable to expect volunteers to staff ALL 4000 plus incidents a year. Can't be done.
The majority of the ACTIVE volunteers are great people with a true desire to serve. But there are still a few "members" who consider the career staff "paid drivers" and will stand on their soapbox complaining that they are being picked on for being held to minimum standards regarding training and accountability. These "members" still conduct backroom politics to block funding and department policy changes because they don't want to lose their fiefdom.
Don't get me wrong. There are career staff who can be difficult to work with also. Not everybody is a model employee. But at the end of the day, both career and volunteer staff are there to help the citizens. But when you go to lengths to block funding or conduct backroom deals so you can retain your status you are doing the community and yourselves a disservice.
Before anyone says that I am volly bashing, I got my start in the volunteer fire service 40 years ago in one of the Greenwich fire companies (Sound Beach). I never forgot where I came from. I still retain that membership to this day. And I also volunteer in the town where I am currently residing for over 25 years. I also served 25 years on the career staff in Greenwich. So I think I am entitled to give my opinions since I have witnessed and dealt with the after effects of these situations first hand over the years.
So, the comments made by the above post still tell me that those members are still out there. They will stop at nothing they continue to block any kind of improvement that would benefit both the volunteer and the career staff and most importantly the citizens of Greenwich.
 
 

If you still believe that, you must still be wearing 3/4 boots and fireball gloves.
The GFD has become a career department supplemented by the volunteers simply by call volume alone. It is totally unreasonable to expect volunteers to staff ALL 4000 plus incidents a year. Can't be done.
The majority of the ACTIVE volunteers are great people with a true desire to serve. But there are still a few "members" who consider the career staff "paid drivers" and will stand on their soapbox complaining that they are being picked on for being held to minimum standards regarding training and accountability. These "members" still conduct backroom politics to block funding and department policy changes because they don't want to lose their fiefdom.
Don't get me wrong. There are career staff who can be difficult to work with also. Not everybody is a model employee. But at the end of the day, both career and volunteer staff are there to help the citizens. But when you go to lengths to block funding or conduct backroom deals so you can retain your status you are doing the community and yourselves a disservice.
Before anyone says that I am volly bashing, I got my start in the volunteer fire service 40 years ago in one of the Greenwich fire companies (Sound Beach). I never forgot where I came from. I still retain that membership to this day. And I also volunteer in the town where I am currently residing for over 25 years. I also served 25 years on the career staff in Greenwich. So I think I am entitled to give my opinions since I have witnessed and dealt with the after effects of these situations first hand over the years.
So, the comments made by the above post still tell me that those members are still out there. They will stop at nothing they continue to block any kind of improvement that would benefit both the volunteer and the career staff and most importantly the citizens of Greenwich.
 
 

If you still believe that, you must still be wearing 3/4 boots and fireball gloves.
The GFD has become a career department supplemented by the volunteers simply by call volume alone. It is totally unreasonable to expect volunteers to staff ALL 4000 plus incidents a year. Can't be done.
The majority of the ACTIVE volunteers are great people with a true desire to serve. But there are still a few "members" who consider the career staff "paid drivers" and will stand on their soapbox complaining that they are being picked on for being held to minimum standards regarding training and accountability. These "members" still conduct backroom politics to block funding and department policy changes because they don't want to lose their fiefdom.
Don't get me wrong. There are career staff who can be difficult to work with also. Not everybody is a model employee. But at the end of the day, both career and volunteer staff are there to help the citizens. But when you go to lengths to block funding or conduct backroom deals so you can retain your status you are doing the community and yourselves a disservice.
Before anyone says that I am volly bashing, I got my start in the volunteer fire service 40 years ago in one of the Greenwich fire companies (Sound Beach). I never forgot where I came from. I still retain that membership to this day. And I also volunteer in the town where I am currently residing for over 25 years. I also served 25 years on the career staff in Greenwich. So I think I am entitled to give my opinions since I have witnessed and dealt with the after effects of these situations first hand over the years.
So, the comments made by the above post still tell me that those members are still out there. They will stop at nothing they continue to block any kind of improvement that would benefit both the volunteer and the career staff and most importantly the citizens of Greenwich.
 
 

If you still believe that, you must still be wearing 3/4 boots and fireball gloves.
The GFD has become a career department supplemented by the volunteers simply by call volume alone. It is totally unreasonable to expect volunteers to staff ALL 4000 plus incidents a year. Can't be done.
The majority of the ACTIVE volunteers are great people with a true desire to serve. But there are still a few "members" who consider the career staff "paid drivers" and will stand on their soapbox complaining that they are being picked on for being held to minimum standards regarding training and accountability. These "members" still conduct backroom politics to block funding and department policy changes because they don't want to lose their fiefdom.
Don't get me wrong. There are career staff who can be difficult to work with also. Not everybody is a model employee. But at the end of the day, both career and volunteer staff are there to help the citizens. But when you go to lengths to block funding or conduct backroom deals so you can retain your status you are doing the community and yourselves a disservice.
Before anyone says that I am volly bashing, I got my start in the volunteer fire service 40 years ago in one of the Greenwich fire companies (Sound Beach). I never forgot where I came from. I still retain that membership to this day. And I also volunteer in the town where I am currently residing for over 25 years. I also served 25 years on the career staff in Greenwich. So I think I am entitled to give my opinions since I have witnessed and dealt with the after effects of these situations first hand over the years.
So, the comments made by the above post still tell me that those members are still out there. They will stop at nothing they continue to block any kind of improvement that would benefit both the volunteer and the career staff and most importantly the citizens of Greenwich.
 
 

If you still believe that, you must still be wearing 3/4 boots and fireball gloves.
The GFD has become a career department supplemented by the volunteers simply by call volume alone. It is totally unreasonable to expect volunteers to staff ALL 4000 plus incidents a year. Can't be done.
The majority of the ACTIVE volunteers are great people with a true desire to serve. But there are still a few "members" who consider the career staff "paid drivers" and will stand on their soapbox complaining that they are being picked on for being held to minimum standards regarding training and accountability. These "members" still conduct backroom politics to block funding and department policy changes because they don't want to lose their fiefdom.
Don't get me wrong. There are career staff who can be difficult to work with also. Not everybody is a model employee. But at the end of the day, both career and volunteer staff are there to help the citizens. But when you go to lengths to block funding or conduct backroom deals so you can retain your status you are doing the community and yourselves a disservice.
Before anyone says that I am volly bashing, I got my start in the volunteer fire service 40 years ago in one of the Greenwich fire companies (Sound Beach). I never forgot where I came from. I still retain that membership to this day. And I also volunteer in the town where I am currently residing for over 25 years. I also served 25 years on the career staff in Greenwich. So I think I am entitled to give my opinions since I have witnessed and dealt with the after effects of these situations first hand over the years.
So, the comments made by the above post still tell me that those members are still out there. They will stop at nothing they continue to block any kind of improvement that would benefit both the volunteer and the career staff and most importantly the citizens of Greenwich.
 
 

If you still believe that, you must still be wearing 3/4 boots and fireball gloves.
The GFD has become a career department supplemented by the volunteers simply by call volume alone. It is totally unreasonable to expect volunteers to staff ALL 4000 plus incidents a year. Can't be done.
The majority of the ACTIVE volunteers are great people with a true desire to serve. But there are still a few "members" who consider the career staff "paid drivers" and will stand on their soapbox complaining that they are being picked on for being held to minimum standards regarding training and accountability. These "members" still conduct backroom politics to block funding and department policy changes because they don't want to lose their fiefdom.
Don't get me wrong. There are career staff who can be difficult to work with also. Not everybody is a model employee. But at the end of the day, both career and volunteer staff are there to help the citizens. But when you go to lengths to block funding or conduct backroom deals so you can retain your status you are doing the community and yourselves a disservice.
Before anyone says that I am volly bashing, I got my start in the volunteer fire service 40 years ago in one of the Greenwich fire companies (Sound Beach). I never forgot where I came from. I still retain that membership to this day. And I also volunteer in the town where I am currently residing for over 25 years. I also served 25 years on the career staff in Greenwich. So I think I am entitled to give my opinions since I have witnessed and dealt with the after effects of these situations first hand over the years.
So, the comments made by the above post still tell me that those members are still out there. They will stop at nothing they continue to block any kind of improvement that would benefit both the volunteer and the career staff and most importantly the citizens of Greenwich.