Browncoat Tales

Taking Naps

2010-10-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

What do you do on slow days?

The company I work for has been experiencing a lot of them lately. I know that some of you may be jealous, and I would like to offer my personal apologies to you, but the rest of us are starting to get stir-crazy.

I'll admit that I'm a fan of naps after my station duties have been taken care of. Even with those few moments of shut-eye, I still get those moments where I just want to do something. The problem is, I'm sometimes too lazy to do something useful and sometimes feel to guilty to do something personally productive. TV usually wins the battle.

I am starting to rethink this though. Every time the idea pops up, I think of Greg Friese at Everyday EMS Tips and his article on dealing with EMS down time. In the article, Greg suggests the following ideas to beat boredom:

1. Read a professional (EMS) magazine.
2. Get some exercise.
3. Go above and beyond with station duties.
4. Read blog posts from your favorite EMT and Paramedic bloggers.
5. Listen to an EMS Podcast.
6. Complete a continuing education lesson (online).
7. Write a post for your own blog.
8. Write and submit an article to a professional magazine
9. Participate in an EMS Social Network.
10. Learn about EMS in other places

All of these suggestions are awesome. I won't lie that I've done quite a few of them myself. I thought that I might add a five of my own to the list, partially because new ideas are always helpful and also because some of us are stuck out on the road without a station nearby to post at. So here we are:

11. Detail your truck. Even when I used to work for a private service that kept me posted out on the road, I would keep a few basic cleaning supplies in one of the truck compartments. You'll be amazed at how far a little degreaser, window cleaner, and leather protector can take you. Shine the wheels, climb up and scrub the bugs off those hard-to-reach places on the top of the truck, get the dash looking pretty, and be able to take pride in your rig!

12. Write in a journal. If you don't have access to the internet or the station computer is just backed up, trying pulling out a notebook and jotting away. Maybe you'll write the draft for your next big EMS blog post, or just talk about how your day is going. If you have kids or will later on, they'll love to know what your day-to-day life was like. The best part about journaling is that it is stress-relieving. (Just try to keep your haikus to yourself!)

13. Get involved in your community. With a supervisor's permission, stop by public places and say hello. Having good public relations with your local hospital and schools can take you a long way. If that isn't an option, try posting your truck at a local park or somewhere that the public sees they can approach you if they need help. Be friendly and get out there!

14. Get familiar with your truck. Have you got a new stair chair or one of those fancy auto-CPR devices but haven't had an "opportunity" to use it yet? Get it out and learn yourself on it. It keeps you fresh in your skills and knowlege and keeps the public from doubting you when you need it the most. It looks good when we don't fumble with our equipment.

15. Get to know your partner. Having a good working relationship with your partner is a good foundation for having smooth EMS runs. Getting to know a little about the person that sits next to your for 12+ hours a day will help you to know what to expect from them when your working a code later on without time to chat. You build that certain flow that you see from the old-timers that have been doing this stuff together since the dawn of time. You don't have to be their best friend, but it would be good to make sure they trust you.

Hopefully, these ideas will help you the next time you wake up from a nap and run out of things to do. As for me, I think I've inspired myself to get out of this chair and go clean something!

EMS for the Cure

2010-10-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

After seeing all the pink flying around the EMS Bloggosphere, I got to thinking about everything being said and done for Breast Cancer month. I realized two things; I don't know more than one person with breast cancer (patients aside), and I have never spoke or done much about the subject.

The only person I have ever known to have breast cancer was my friend Sam's mom. I know the woman pretty well, as I have sat and talked with her on many occasions while visiting my friend. She has always been a strong and intelligent woman, and cared more for other people often more than she cared for herself. When she found out over two and a half years ago that she had breast cancer, it came as a shock to everyone. Sam and his brother were devastated, her husband seemed lost, and her friends and family were left speechless. We never expected it to happen to a person like her. In the middle of it all, there she was acting like it was no big deal. She was being strong for her family, like they were the ones with the illness.

That is the way I understand it to have happened to everyone. Nobody sees this coming. Nobody can be ready for it and nobody knows how to properly cope with it. We can't blame this on anyone, because there is no person at fault for their actions when it comes to a situation like this.

Things are different now for Sam's family. His mom is a breast cancer survivor. For the moment, the cancer is in remission and she is regaining her strength more and more each day. She was able to make it to Sam's wedding when nobody thought she would be able to get out of bed. She was able to talk her husband out of his suicidal thoughts when he thought he would lose her. She is able to do so much that other people said she wouldn't be, because of her incredible strength.

I think of my own strengths, and I realize that they are nothing compared to hers. They are nothing compared to any breast cancer survivor or survivors of any other cancers. But their strength alone is not going to see them through one of the most trying times of their lives. That's where we come in.

If you've noticed, I've went pink too for the month of October. Like many other EMS bloggers, tweeters, and podcasters I plan to help raise money for the Susan G. Komen Passionately Pink for the Cure®, through EMS For The Cure. Their goal is to raise money from now until October 15th to treat, educate, and eventually cure breast cancer. This team was started by Epijunky in her blog post Passionate For Pink. The idea was forwarded to The Happy Medic and he ran with it. Here is a public service announcement he made over at Chronicles of EMS. Enjoy:

EMS for the Cure - Challenge from Thaddeus Setla on Vimeo.

So what can you do? What can we all do?

To start, make a donation to the team. I will be later this week on behalf of my family and myself, in honor of our friend Sam and his mother.

If you're an EMS blogger too, or you just want to help the Breast Cancer cause, why not go pink yourself this month? You'll find all the resources you need over at the Chronicles of EMS PSA.

-- Browncoat EMT

EMS 2.0 - What is the next step?

2010-09-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Unless you're new to reading EMS blogs, you've probably heard of EMS 2.0 by now. A phrase first coined by The Happy Medic, it has taken off like a wildfire. If you are new to the concept, here is a basic run-down from fellow blogger, CKEMPT at his site Life Under the Lights:

EMS 2.0 is a concept that’s time has come. The Emergency Medical Services is on the cusp of fantastic change.

What we call EMS 2.0 is the brainchild of Happy Medic, but it is the product of every EMT and Paramedic that has ever looked at what we do and thought of how we could do it better. Through the brainpower of the readers and writers in the EMS Blogosphere we’ve grown the idea into something powerful. Maybe even revolutionary. EMS 2.0 is the maturation of the Emergency Medical Services. It is the growth of the industry out of the adolescent trade phase and into a grown-up profession.

EMS 2.0 is spreading like wildfire. In a few short months, the idea is hitting the blogosphere like a freight train. It is not the paternalistic style of “change” in EMS that is usually crammed down our throats by outside influences, rather it is the ideas, thoughts, feelings, and yearnings of the EMS professionals themselves that is driving the movement. And yes, it is a movement. “Grassroots” would be a way to describe this… So would “Revolution”.

Join us. I’ve been writing on this a lot since I started my humble, little blog. I think that I’ve helped to kick start this movement… but I don’t own it, we all do.

I couldn't agree more. People like CKEMTP, Happy Medic, Rescue Monkey, Greg Friese, Rogue Medic, and many others have been pounding the pavement in every way they can to advance EMS and in many way, promote the values of EMS 2.0, but it seems the movement has taken somewhat of a back-burner.

This time a year ago, EMS 2.0 used to have a headquarters, as it were. Any person looking to discuss the industry and what it could be simply had to go to www.ems2.org, but I wouldn't suggest trying to follow that link now, because it no longer leads to anything.

Which is exactly my point. Where is it all going? I have noticed that several of the #fireemsblogs have links on their sites for EMS 2.0, and the content provided at those links is invaluable, but they are missing something. They are missing the bonding element.

I am here today to ask one thing: Is EMS 2.0 that important to us? Does it not deserve it's own home? Hasn't it become something powerful enough that we should gather to it, instead of bringing it to ourselves? We have been kind to it, enough so that we have all tried to provide a couch for it to sleep on in our blogs, but maybe it's time we all grouped together to take the next step.

What is the next step?

EMT-R-HUNGRY

2010-09-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of us do this or take notice of this, but EMS workers seem to have the worst eating habits possible.

Any time I clock-in to work a shift these days, I prepare myself for the worst (the worst food possible for my body). If it doesn't involve grease, sugar, and carbs in earth-shattering quantities, it probably won't be on my plate. Hamburgers, fried chicken, french fries, and soft drinks are the mainstays of my diet. Salads and any other foods that don't involve a deep-fryer have no place in the immediate future of my shift. Whatever does happen to land in my lap won't be there long anyway.

It's like we're in a unspoken competition with ourselves and each other to see who can devour our meals the quickest. It is true that we can be on a tight schedule where we are only allotted a few minutes to get our lunch or dinner in, but most of the time we end up sitting around the table with indigestion and tightly-buttoned shirts.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Our eating habits are borderline self-abuse. The more and more I think about it; I find it ironic that the people who sign up to protect the health of others seem to do the least to protect themselves.

Maybe the continuing education classes that we take should be a little more extensive in our personal well-being than just safe lifting techniques. It is entirely possible that we may just need to educate ourselves of the risks our eating habits pose to us. We might be able to take a note out of our brothers in the fire service on their exercise requirements. Perhaps a higher-calorie diet would be permissable if we are doing more to burn those calories in our daily grind.

What are your thoughts on the current EMS diet? Are you currently in a service that has implemented a plan to fight the obesity epidemic occuring within our own stations? How would you personally take charge of this situation?

Your ideas are always welcome!

-Browncoat

From the dusty trails...

2010-06-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

Soul searching has always been something that is both wonderful and painful to me. Wonderful because I realize all the things that I could accomplish in this life, and painful because of all the things I realize that I won't. Dreams are a horrible thing to bury.

These past few months, I've been like a ship with no rudder. Just going wherever the wind takes me. After a while though, I realized that I may never sail to a friendly shore this way.

School is the only way to get on track. I just can't decide what I want to be schooled in. Somewhere in the medical field is obvious, but after that, who knows? Unfortunately, emergency medical services doesn't put enough food on the table for a family in this economy.

It seems I need to find a harmony between wants and needs. I want to work in something where I'm happy. I need to work in something that I make a good salary.

Me and my guit-fiddle

2010-03-04T15:33:00.000-08:00

Who would have ever thought that I would have found myself in this position? I should change my name to the BrowncoatTech. I work an average of 20-26 hours a week in the ER with an average of 24-48 hours a month at EMS. I feel more comfortable in the ER now. I handle the situations better. I am able to use more skills in the ER and I feel like I really work as part of a team in the hospital.

The technicians are to an Emergency Department as wheels are to a vehicle. We get the doctors, nurses, patients, and their family from Point A to Point B. The doctors are the engine that power the vehicle, the nurses the body, and the patients and their family are the passengers.

I enjoy this environment. I enjoy this more than I do EMS. The Emergency Department has a steady pace that only gets as fast as the patients and staff members delegate it to. Emergency Medical Services, however, experiences great highs and lows in terms of pace. The mood is either sluggish or "balls to the walls," as the saying goes.

In short, I think I'm going to keep the medical field as my home. I might just tinker with the floor plans to the house before moving in for good.

Colder Times

2009-12-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

I've been in a bit of a ditch here for a while now. I have come to a crossroads in my life, and I'm not liking the options laying before me.

One road, is my EMS career. The other is my family.

Work has been slow lately. I've not been able to pick up nearly as many days at the county EMS as I was at first. Orientation hours combined with just being Johnny-on-the-spot when they needed me has run out. They haven't scheduled me to work at all next month, which means my only days on a truck will be when somebody doesn't show up and they need a quick fix. Worse than that was the news I found out last night.

Big Red told me a while back that he was planning on leaving the county EMS and taking a job with the next county over. This meant more money for him, and a good shot at a job for me. I was a shoe-in for the position. I'm in town, I'm dedicated, and I work as hard as I can. But according to Boss Hoss, I'm not qualified for the position because my title ends in "B" and not "P." Only a paramedic will do to replace Big Red, even though they could spend well over a couple of months to find one. I tried reasoning with Boss Hoss, reminding him that I want to be a paramedic and planned to start classes as soon as I could find a full-time EMS job, as well as some other facts that I've already stated above, but he had his mind set.

The hospital job isn't faring much better. I'm working almost 20 hours a week there on average. But even that is declining. The work isn't bad, although I think it's too hectic for what they're paying me on the hour. Boss Bubbles, my supervisor up there, doesn't even have to lie to me about the possibility of full-time employment. I'm at the bottom of a very long totem pole. The people at the top have been there for years, and they have no plans of leaving.

Now the crossroads I mentioned earlier come into play. You see, the closest EMS jobs aside from county EMS are in the other counties. Two of those counties pay better than mine, but one has a college with a massive Fire/EMS school feeding it everything it wants, and the other requires you to be in peak physical condition with previous Fire and EMS training and work experience. Neither of which I am qualified for. The other surrounding counties don't pay nearly enough to merit the 45 min - 1 hour drive it takes to get there, and that goes for the big city with the private EMS jobs as well. Surrounding hospitals are the same way. Not only that, but the pay vs. hard work scale I mentioned for my current hospital would be worse in other places.

My crossroads are set before me. Do I choose to stay with EMS? It's the only career that I can say that I have truly loved. The work is selfless, the pay is dung, and the reward is only in the heart. But I LOVE it. I know that I could go for a few months or longer before I find the right place to work. In those few months, I could lose the only thing I love more: my family. They are the other choice. I couldn't ask my wife and son to stay with me while I go from poor to broke to worse. It's not fair to them. They've been through enough already while I pursued this adventure. My wife and I already know that the only way EMS could be financially rewarding is if I became a paramedic. Unfortunately, to get that money, you have to give that money. Almost $3,500+ that I don't have, and sitting without it for 2+ years while I take classes, stay up late, get up early, and never see home, all while going even further into debt because my regular work is suffering.

The choice I've made was a no-brainer, but it was so painful that it nearly brings me to tears every time I think about it. I looks like my time with EMS might be coming to a halt. Today, I plan to start the job search for something nearby that pays well and needs somebody full-time. My family needs me, and I need them.

I just don't see any other options...

Horse Needs Blanket

2009-12-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a look back last night at the week I've had. It made me exhausted just thinking about it. 43 hours of the last 75 hours have been spent at work. With traveling and small incriments of downtime added in, I'm looking at nearly 60% of my time being spent at work since 0700 Wednesday! That's a staggering number.

It is true that a lot of people put in more hours than that in a shorter number of days on a regular basis, and it is also true that I have done it before myself. But when work has been thin as it has for me lately, that kind of running will make you click your heels and hang your head all at the same time. It also gets you when you were only figuring on working 14 hours that week...

***

I got snow on my boots this morning. Wasn't really expecting it either. I must say that a bit of the cold stuff is refreshing every now and then, but not when you're running a box through it at 0630 on a 20 minute trip to the county line. Especially when your patient decides they really don't want to go to the hospital.

***

An APB has been issued by Browncoat in the county: Be on the lookout for a 24 year old zombie female. She was last seen dead in the driver's seat of a 4-door sedan stratigically parked with the front end hugging a telephone pole and her head resting against a spider-web of cracked glass in the front windsheild. Of note, she is probably intoxicated and has a recently developed bald spot on the top of her head and has what appears to be bloody strawberry blond hair...

Funny story from last night. Right before midnight, my partner and I got a call for a single car MVA vs. telephone pole with a patient in the driver's seat who is unresponsive (our above-mentioned zombie). Halfway there, our dispatcher advises that upon return to the vehicle, the caller and first responders on scene are unable to locate the patient. How could this happen?

Apparently, when the patient came to, they realized that even though they were hurt that it might not look too good on them with the situation they were in. Apparently, two open beer bottles in the back seat, half a case of Natural Light in the trunk, false tags, and a stolen car don't look good on the person doing the driving. They decided to hoof it the rest of the way and save themselves some legal embarrassment. I'm betting wherever they are right now, if they're still alive (and it's questionable) they've got one hell of a headache and they've got a bit of a limp in their step...

***

A miniture vacation is in order for me. I believe I'll go visit a big city for the rest of the weekend. I think I'll hunt down a set of scrubs for the beginning of my adventures in the hospital and hope that they have brown ones pretty cheap. A good relaxing time is in the cards today.

Big Boss and Boss Hoss would be proud...

Life on the Edge of Space

2009-12-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

Being at work for a laid back EMS service has it's advantages. One of the best ones being that I can write while at work...

All in all, life has been pretty slow for Ol' Browncoat lately. I logged in 48 hours of orientation with the company and had another 24 to go before I was due to be released to the streets on my own. All was going as planned until yesterday when a couple of employees already working here decided they weren't going to be able to make it in for the day. Big Boss found this out and started to fluster a bit. All he had in front of him was the guy assigned to show a new guy some of the ropes, and me.

"Browncoat, you've logged in 48 with us in orientation already haven't you?"

Yes sir, Boss.

"And you've worked for another company before, so you're no newbie to this work, are you?"

No sir, Boss.

"Congratulations! You've been cleared to work on a truck. Can you stay 'till at least 1900?"

I believe so, Boss.

And just like that, I'm all green lights for duty. In less than 24 hours, I've gained myself nearly 39 hours that I didn't plan to work but have no problems working, and I'm scheduled to pick up another 24 hours in the next week or so. Not only that, but Boss Hoss, the manager that trained me, has told me that he's looking to spend less time on the streets this month. This means I stand to collect a few more hours while he gets some office work done.

I've also found out through a friend, Big Red that works here, that he is looking into getting a full-time spot with a county just north of here. If he gets that and moves out of his full-time gig here, I stand to potentially gain a permanent place here in the county. This would be a nice slice of wonderful for the Browncoat EMT. When I find out more, I'll be sure to send a wave out to all those interested.

The First

2009-11-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

The tone dropped.

"Dispatch to Station 5. Be advised we have a sixty year old male having a seizure out on really far county road."

"That's damn near the county line." He keyed up the radio, "EC-6 will be responding." Then he turned to me while throwing on his jacket, "Come on Browncoat, it's time you got your feet wet."

My feet wet? I've been doing this for over a year and a half. Aren't my feet wet enough by now? That's when I realize that I'm starting to think exactly like my old partner from the private service. I throw on my coat and take off out the door, then hop into my designated seat in the back of the truck.

Ride alongs are the worst. You've got to show them your pretty face and that you're not a complete boob if you want to get the job. I had the advantage over newbies because I already had experience with an ambulance service. Many others have the upper hand on me because they've worked with a public service, not a private.

We're rushing down the road now. I'm not used to curves like this where I normally work. Big cities don't have a lot of curves. Being in the back of the truck makes it worse. Focusing on what to do for a seizure patient is hard when you haven't eaten in a few hours and you're starting to get motion sickness. I can get worse though.

"EC-6, be advised the caller has stated the patient has stopped breathing and stopped responding. CPR will be in progress when you arrive."

"EC-6 is clear."

Oh great. I'm thankful to have a patient with urgent needs for once. Today has been full of transports and weak elderly ladies needing a ride to the ER. I just wish they could have waited until after dinner, or maybe until the next shift came on, or maybe just any day that I wasn't here. That's when it hit me, and it really only took a second or two, that I had never worked a full code and I wasn't sure if I was ready to work this one.

Just as quickly, I realized that this was it. I didn't have a choice any more. I had made the choice long before I stepped foot in that truck, or before I walked in the door that morning, or before I even took the job at the private company. A code could happen at any time. It had just been my luck (or bad luck) of the draw that I had not gotten one so far. I had to get my head straight and start focusing on the new task at hand: how to assist the two medics I was riding with in saving a life.

We finally got to the house. I wasn't sure on what part of the county we were in, but I knew it was pretty far out. It had taken long enough to get there. I could hear the screams from inside as soon as I opened the door. One medic had grabbed the monitor, one the Auto-Pulse, and I had the jump bag. They were way ahead of me. Winding through the garage and into the living room brought me a great deal of shock.

A man lay on the carpet, trying to die. He was overweight, in his late fifties or older, his shirt was raised up a bit probably from the compressions, and his skin was just not right. I've never seen skin colored like that. It was like somebody had removed the pink and tan colors, and replaced them with ash and blue. His eyes were open and fixed and he was staring at me, but I don't think he knew it. His tongue was parting his lips. His wife screamed his name behind us, but I couldn't tell you what she was saying.

What kept me moving, I will never know. That image could have frozen me for a lifetime. My preceptor was doing compressions, the other medic was setting up a BVM and bagging him. I starting piecing together the monitor. The pads weren't already attached and I felt dumb setting it up, but there was nothing else for me to do. I wasn't touching that Auto-Pulse. It was the one piece of equipment my preceptor knew I wasn't familiar with, and it was the one piece that we had decided we would "get to later." Later was happening sooner than either of us had predicted.

The medic with the BVM wanted to set up to defib and tube, so I took over airway. Immediately, I noticed the breaths weren't making it into the airway. It was that tongue. The tongue was blocking his airway. I had never threw an airway adjunct before either. First time for everything. I was surprised at how easily the OPA slid in. The other medic had attached the defib pads and my preceptor had the Auto-Pulse halfway ready. The monitor wanted us to shock.

"I'm clear. You're clear. We're all clear." I didn't know people actually said that exact phrase. The medic at the monitor hit the shock button and the man's arms flopped like he was lazily reaching for the ceiling.

*****

That man didn't make it. Another crew arrived, the Auto-Pulse performed it's compressions, and we took a trip to the local ER. The ER Doc had him pronounced after being in there for less than 30 minutes. The medic who was with us didn't take it so well. He had gotten a pulse in the back of the truck on the way there. It was faint, it was irregular, and it didn't last, but he got it. It was his fifth code since he had become a medic just a few months ago.

I wanted to write this down. It's important to me to remember. We learn from our past experiences and the experiences of others. Although this didn't happen long ago, I could have written it at any time and it would still been as vivid in my mind.

I'll have to say that those medics I rode with that night certainly fit the bill for Big Damn Heroes. It doesn't matter whether you save the victim you're trying to help, what matters is that you try your best to save them.

In the Saddle

2009-11-18T02:50:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, I became the Browncoat for the purpose of speaking my mind without fear of retaliation and to protect the names of services I work for, people I work with, and myself. This move was partially influenced by a white shirt who felt what I was writing under my own name was too... racey for their service. Obviously, I didn't want to lose my job, so I made changes to what had already been said and stopped writing as much as I had been.

The funny thing was, it wasn't good enough. The private service I work for decided to let Ol' Browncoat go yesterday on suspension under a false and absurd accusation. That was the service's way of telling me, "We're going to fire you. There's nothing you can do about it. You can't defend yourself either. We just need three more days to push the papers through."

I'm not going to go into details about what the accusation was, because it's really not important. Suffice it to say that it was in regards to my level of patient care. This tickles me a bit. The one that sent me off had been watching me and my involvment with a group called EMS 2.0.

The whole goal of this organization is to constantly improve pre-hospital care by being knowledgable of every skill we train in, and then using that information to help us provide the best patient care possible. It strikes me as odd that a person doing the best they can to improve their skills and provide the best patient care possible would be let go for those same exact reasons. Of course, there are other cirmcumstances that played their part in the mess, but that is for another day.

Long of the short, Browncoat wasn't hung up to dry completely. He used a couple of references, dropped a couple of names, and landed himself two part-time jobs at the local hospital and with the county EMS service in the same day of being suspended.

Funny how that works, ain't it? I've managed to put a thorn in a purple bellie's paw and landed myself a great gig all at the same time.

Got to go for now. I've got to be at work in an hour!

-Browncoat

Enter The Browncoat EMT

2009-11-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

What is a Browncoat?

In the series "Firefly", Browncoats or "Independents" were named after the simple, brown dusters they wore as uniforms during the War of Independence. The simplicity of their gear was greatly due to the fact that technology and resources were scarce on the Outer Planets. Conversely, the Alliance's soldiers were called "Purple bellies", because of the purple-tinted body armor they wore on their chests.

This may sound a bit "geeky" to some, but to me it has a great deal of meaning. I used to go by a different name when I wrote about my experiences in EMS, but I ran into issues with censorship from my employer. They viewed my blog as a liability to their company and the people working there. They implied that if I were to continue, I would be reported to the state EMS Boards.

This became my "war" for independence. I felt that it was a mockery of sharing and education to not be able to write about what myself and so many others did in EMS. The purpose behind EMS blogging is to see what others do, how they do it, why they do it, reflect on ourselves, and apply that new information. It is about growing as EMS providers. Unfortunately, we are all being monitored and censored in some way, shape, or form. We are led to express ourselves minimally out of fear of what might be done to us by our employers and EMS governing bodies.

The stories and the truths; they must be shared somehow. If this is how it must be done, then so be it. There will be a day in the future when we can express our thoughts and share our ideas freely without fear of outrageous consequences.

Until that time, I remain the Browncoat EMT.

Let's go be Big Damn Heroes.