I work as a firefighter in baltimore, fires are slowing down and the bs is picking up so I'm thinking about the CG and a career as an AST. I'd like to get a better idea of what I can expect, so I have a few questions and any help would be greatly appreciated>
1. Somewhere in the forums, a day in "a" school was described as two hours of pt in the morning, two hours in the pool, lunch, and two more hours in the pool. I was curious about nights and week ends, Do you train at night and is the schedule the same on the week ends?
2. Also, I believe dog show, described a day in the life as an AST as a mix of pt, maintainence, and show and tell in the locker room with bubblegum, where do cases fit in to the day, how often do AST's get to fly, and what is the ratio of bs cases, to legit cases. Also, how often on legit cases do AST's get in the water?
3. Where are some of the better places to be stationed to get good experience through call volume and how hard is it to get stationed there?
4. Finally, i believe there was a thread about AST "a" school wait times once your name is on the list, I may have missed the answer, but i couldn't find it in the thread, so I was hoping someone could shed some light on AST school wait times as well.
Originally posted by lumex: I work as a firefighter in baltimore, fires are slowing down and the bs is picking up so I'm thinking about the CG and a career as an AST. I'd like to get a better idea of what I can expect, so I have a few questions and any help would be greatly appreciated>
1. Somewhere in the forums, a day in "a" school was described as two hours of pt in the morning, two hours in the pool, lunch, and two more hours in the pool. I was curious about nights and week ends, Do you train at night and is the schedule the same on the week ends?
You usually have 1 night pool day a week, and expected to go to the pool 1 time on the weekend....the instructors check. 2. Also, I believe dog show, described a day in the life as an AST as a mix of pt, maintainence, and show and tell in the locker room with bubblegum, where do cases fit in to the day, how often do AST's get to fly, and what is the ratio of bs cases, to legit cases. Also, how often on legit cases do AST's get in the water?
You stand the Rescue swimmer duty 4-6 times a month on average. maybe a little more or less depending on where you are stationed. Also location matters on where you get BS cases compared to legit ones. I have heard places that are remote like Kodiak, when the alarm goes off it's the real deal. And Places like San Diego where I am, it's more often BS. And I have been a swimmer only SD so far, I have yet to deploy into the water for a real case. I have done more than 25 medivacs...3 sinking boats....and have done 2 inland cases. But again places like Kodiak, Elizabeth City..... have a much, much greater chance of getting a swimmer wet.
3. Where are some of the better places to be stationed to get good experience through call volume and how hard is it to get stationed there?
Kodiak, Cape Cod, Sitka, Clearwater, New orleans, Astoria....help me out on this one boys! I do not want to leave anyone out. And it's all needs of the service. Out of "A" It's a crap shoot, there are many factors that influence where you may go...1. is how the detailer decides who in your class gets what station, and is the station you want is open? So, that's kind of trick question. 4. Finally, i believe there was a thread about AST "a" school wait times once your name is on the list, I may have missed the answer, but i couldn't find it in the thread, so I was hoping someone could shed some light on AST school wait times as well.
Yes, School is like work. when it's quitting time, you can leave the base, go to the coffee shop, get food, drink a beer if your of age. There are rules on how far you can drive away from the base without routing a chit but nothing crazy like bootcamp.
And when your at work and not on duty. The duty swimmer is the guy who gets the case. That's what duty is.
