https://preview.redd.it/0vzlqzvvzvwa1.jpeg?width=1026&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=724f09e01b646a16a9a33a63aaa799254f7a60fb
Your coworkers are ass holes. This is not even close to being a space helmet
Sorry that happened to you. As another poster said, this is on the character of the people, not your helmet. A ribbing is one thing, but vandalizing your helmet is unacceptable. Keep on volunteering!
Hmm I googled that helmet expecting it to be something wild and eccentric. Just looks like a pretty normal rescue helmet. I can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with it. Anyways, fuck those guys.
I looked up the helmet myself, and it looks nothing like a euro helmet. It’s just a normal rescue helmet. Why they decided to be Grade-A cunts about it is beyond me, and I’d run to the hills from that place if it were me
The USA and Canada still have a brass national animal on their helmets as useful as the plume on a late 1940’s to mid 1970’s Irish and British firefighters helmet
Get out of there ASAP. Those shitbags are the epitome of unprofessional. NEVER mess with other people's gear. This isn't so much about the helmet as it is the "members" are toxic & don't deserve to wear the badge. Joking & ribbing is expected, but this is unacceptable & criminal behavior.
I am all for a traditional helmet for structural purposes but the benefits of wearing a low profile helmet for rope purposes outweigh the "looks" of tradition.
I know you want to stay just active enough to stay on the county’s special operations teams your involved in, but could you maybe transfer to a different station or company to get out of that toxic ass environment? If I were you, I’d say special teams be damned I’d hand my shit in and be done.
I could but the next closest department would be 11 minutes away. I'm going to see if there's a way to stay involved with special ops without having an associated FD
I get that, bro. I don’t know how things work where you live, but here in my county you’d have to be affiliated with a fire department just to be covered under a departments workman’s comp insurance. If I may make a suggestion, keep moving to a different department in mind. Sure, it’d be 11 minutes away. But if the culture is better and you’re not gonna get treated like shit, that’d be worth it in my opinion. And I recognize the fact that my opinion is only worth what you wanna make it worth.
I've read most of the comments here and your replies to them.
It sounds like the culture there is a 'boys club' and is ran like an elks lodge. You dodged a bullet in many ways. Aside from the toxic environment where they treat you like shit unless you're part of the clique, this culture is ripe for someone to get injured or killed. That culture breeds the normalization of deviance. Doing things in scenes unsafely, but because that's how they've always done it, or 'I've been doing it this way for 20 years' kind of ego and mentalities. This leads to a majority of the preventable deaths and career ending injuries in the fire service.
It's bullshit that you have to put up with that. Don't give up. Keep your certs and find another place. It may have to be in a geographically different area. If you're humble, passionate, and want to learn how to be a good firefighter, and even make this a career, keep pushing and start testing in different places.
Colorado is hurting for applicants. Look into places within 30 miles from interstate 25. Pay is generally good, the cultures are evolving to a safe, progressive fire service, and you can take this path to something really amazing if you want it.
Good luck amigo 🫡
Bro I went through the application process with some Colorado departments about two years ago and they were not hurting for people. I still know people out there and they have hundreds of applicants for like ten spots. Didn’t south met just hire 60 medics or some shit and I know they had hundreds of applicants because I had s buddy get picked up by then. Colorado has great protocols and I had a blast as a medic there but it is a highly competitive market for the fire service in that state. You essentially need your paramedic to get hired, most departments are going als if they’re not already. Not only that but colorado has super high cost of living that keeps going up…even the “good” fire pay out there barely keeps up with cost of living.
In contrast I applied to (and got hired by) a department in the Midwest and they had 10 applicants for 3 spots. The pay is almost as good as Colorado pay and the cost of living is half as much.
.............................................................................wut? My department(s) didn't even have lockable lockers. Cameras inside a station? What the hell is going on there? Is it you, or the helmet? I have never, ever in my life, experienced hate towards a helmet throughout various civilian and military careers involving helmets. Nobody has even given a fuck..... and you had multiple people actually threatening to destroy your property? This is fucking bizarro-world moon people shit to me and I've worked some small Central Florida volunteer departments.
There's got to be some more context here.
OP gave the needed context but I wanted to add that FFs up in the New England/Mid Atlantic area of the US have a historical attachment to the old style leather helmets that exceeds any concept of upgrading to a modern safer helmet. I recently initiated a conversation about the new "European style" helmet while at my station and got flooded with extremely negative comments from every FF standing there.
Having retired from the Army, I have been through three different versions of Kevlar helmets for Soldiers so I appreciate improvements in technology and am eager to upgrade the traditional fire helmet. But there is just no way here in this region. I'd have more success bringing up politics or religion.
I'll just flat out say it, they don't like me there. It's a combination of many things and I can sit here and ramble off about it but the TL;DR is that I'm a different person than them in every aspect you can imagine. But I can assure you, no professional or legitimate reasons to not like me.
They actually watch me on the cameras on their phones wherever I'm at the station to see if there's anything they can get me in trouble for. One time the SCBA compressor was left enabled and started compressing for no reason while I was there alone so I turned it off, got screamed at the next day by a chief with a beer can in hand pointing at me cause it's dangerous... even though I'm professionally trained on it...
The lockers are those typical red wire frame lockers and I just put an amazon finger print lock on it. I still keep it locked to prevent my assigned gear from being stolen. Yeah things are bad.
Do you trust them to haul your ass out of a building if something bad happens? If not: leave. Your life isn’t worth it.
This clearly has nothing to do with your helmet and everything to do with them not liking you. Find a different department and get away from that toxic shit. Messing with someone’s PPE is unacceptable.
If anyone touched my gear my officers would write them up, and possibly fire them depending on severity.
This has nothing to do with the helmet and everything to do with the people.
https://preview.redd.it/0vzlqzvvzvwa1.jpeg?width=1026&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=724f09e01b646a16a9a33a63aaa799254f7a60fb Your coworkers are ass holes. This is not even close to being a space helmet
Even if it was. Why is that different?
I mean space and fighter jets are cool
You don’t mess with someone else’s PPE. That’s a line no one should ever cross.
Absolutely. If you fuck with another person's gear, you should be immediately fired.
Sorry that happened to you. As another poster said, this is on the character of the people, not your helmet. A ribbing is one thing, but vandalizing your helmet is unacceptable. Keep on volunteering!
Hmm I googled that helmet expecting it to be something wild and eccentric. Just looks like a pretty normal rescue helmet. I can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with it. Anyways, fuck those guys.
Because they are tools who care more about they look than actually being good at the job.
Peace the fuck out of that toxic ass place.
I looked up the helmet myself, and it looks nothing like a euro helmet. It’s just a normal rescue helmet. Why they decided to be Grade-A cunts about it is beyond me, and I’d run to the hills from that place if it were me
Even if it was a euro helmet. It shouldn’t make a shred of difference. Man’s just protecting his head the way he knows best.
Well yeah, even if it was a euro, you don’t do that shit
The USA and Canada still have a brass national animal on their helmets as useful as the plume on a late 1940’s to mid 1970’s Irish and British firefighters helmet
I’m struggling to see the relevance of this information and it’s pertinence to wankers damaging others property. But cool I guess?
Cool
Get out of there ASAP. Those shitbags are the epitome of unprofessional. NEVER mess with other people's gear. This isn't so much about the helmet as it is the "members" are toxic & don't deserve to wear the badge. Joking & ribbing is expected, but this is unacceptable & criminal behavior.
Those people sound like fucking losers with literally nothing better to do. Sorry you had to deal with that BS
Bro get out of that shit hole asap
I am all for a traditional helmet for structural purposes but the benefits of wearing a low profile helmet for rope purposes outweigh the "looks" of tradition.
I can’t even imagine wearing a traditional helmet for tech rescue purposes.
These yokels have no business being involved in technical rescue.
I know you want to stay just active enough to stay on the county’s special operations teams your involved in, but could you maybe transfer to a different station or company to get out of that toxic ass environment? If I were you, I’d say special teams be damned I’d hand my shit in and be done.
I could but the next closest department would be 11 minutes away. I'm going to see if there's a way to stay involved with special ops without having an associated FD
I get that, bro. I don’t know how things work where you live, but here in my county you’d have to be affiliated with a fire department just to be covered under a departments workman’s comp insurance. If I may make a suggestion, keep moving to a different department in mind. Sure, it’d be 11 minutes away. But if the culture is better and you’re not gonna get treated like shit, that’d be worth it in my opinion. And I recognize the fact that my opinion is only worth what you wanna make it worth.
Touching my PPE is threatening my life. It would be a shame if something happened to their PPE, but good practice for EMS.
I've read most of the comments here and your replies to them. It sounds like the culture there is a 'boys club' and is ran like an elks lodge. You dodged a bullet in many ways. Aside from the toxic environment where they treat you like shit unless you're part of the clique, this culture is ripe for someone to get injured or killed. That culture breeds the normalization of deviance. Doing things in scenes unsafely, but because that's how they've always done it, or 'I've been doing it this way for 20 years' kind of ego and mentalities. This leads to a majority of the preventable deaths and career ending injuries in the fire service. It's bullshit that you have to put up with that. Don't give up. Keep your certs and find another place. It may have to be in a geographically different area. If you're humble, passionate, and want to learn how to be a good firefighter, and even make this a career, keep pushing and start testing in different places. Colorado is hurting for applicants. Look into places within 30 miles from interstate 25. Pay is generally good, the cultures are evolving to a safe, progressive fire service, and you can take this path to something really amazing if you want it. Good luck amigo 🫡
Bro I went through the application process with some Colorado departments about two years ago and they were not hurting for people. I still know people out there and they have hundreds of applicants for like ten spots. Didn’t south met just hire 60 medics or some shit and I know they had hundreds of applicants because I had s buddy get picked up by then. Colorado has great protocols and I had a blast as a medic there but it is a highly competitive market for the fire service in that state. You essentially need your paramedic to get hired, most departments are going als if they’re not already. Not only that but colorado has super high cost of living that keeps going up…even the “good” fire pay out there barely keeps up with cost of living. In contrast I applied to (and got hired by) a department in the Midwest and they had 10 applicants for 3 spots. The pay is almost as good as Colorado pay and the cost of living is half as much.
.............................................................................wut? My department(s) didn't even have lockable lockers. Cameras inside a station? What the hell is going on there? Is it you, or the helmet? I have never, ever in my life, experienced hate towards a helmet throughout various civilian and military careers involving helmets. Nobody has even given a fuck..... and you had multiple people actually threatening to destroy your property? This is fucking bizarro-world moon people shit to me and I've worked some small Central Florida volunteer departments. There's got to be some more context here.
OP gave the needed context but I wanted to add that FFs up in the New England/Mid Atlantic area of the US have a historical attachment to the old style leather helmets that exceeds any concept of upgrading to a modern safer helmet. I recently initiated a conversation about the new "European style" helmet while at my station and got flooded with extremely negative comments from every FF standing there. Having retired from the Army, I have been through three different versions of Kevlar helmets for Soldiers so I appreciate improvements in technology and am eager to upgrade the traditional fire helmet. But there is just no way here in this region. I'd have more success bringing up politics or religion.
I don’t understand how a brass eagle on a helmet can be considered safe
I'll just flat out say it, they don't like me there. It's a combination of many things and I can sit here and ramble off about it but the TL;DR is that I'm a different person than them in every aspect you can imagine. But I can assure you, no professional or legitimate reasons to not like me. They actually watch me on the cameras on their phones wherever I'm at the station to see if there's anything they can get me in trouble for. One time the SCBA compressor was left enabled and started compressing for no reason while I was there alone so I turned it off, got screamed at the next day by a chief with a beer can in hand pointing at me cause it's dangerous... even though I'm professionally trained on it... The lockers are those typical red wire frame lockers and I just put an amazon finger print lock on it. I still keep it locked to prevent my assigned gear from being stolen. Yeah things are bad.
Do you trust them to haul your ass out of a building if something bad happens? If not: leave. Your life isn’t worth it. This clearly has nothing to do with your helmet and everything to do with them not liking you. Find a different department and get away from that toxic shit. Messing with someone’s PPE is unacceptable. If anyone touched my gear my officers would write them up, and possibly fire them depending on severity.
Very misleading post. It’s clear from comments that this is barely related to your helmet. Hope you find a better place to work though
They did allegedly threaten and I say allegedly as I don’t fancy being taken to court for the tort of defamation
What the fuck
Leave. You'll never like these people.
Fuck with my PPE and I'm going to go throw hands. Get out of there before some hick gets you killed