Beardsforever

Thanks for enlisting and serving. Lord knows it's not the job for me. Even non-combat positions.

I'm a fourth generation Okie, and proud of it. My brother has been with the TFD for 15 years, so I know a bit about the life of a firefighter and what they go through. Please tell your father that I thank him for his service, not only during the bombing but throughout his career. Firefighters are overworked, underpaid and DEFINITELY underappreciated.

I was in Norman the weekend before the bombing, attending a school event at OU. I was a senior in high school at the time. I can only describe my reaction as utter shock upon hearing of the bombing, and I remember thinking how crazy it was that I was just in OKC (I hardly ever go there). I have visited the Memorial a couple of times though, and it is a special place. Anyone even passing through Oklahoma should make a point to go there.

As a side note to everyone else on the thread: there's something you have to understand about firefighters/emergency responders. The ones who make it a career have the innate ability to compartmentalize what they experience. If they didn't, they would rapidly go insane. My brother explained it to me this way years ago: you have to be able to remove yourself emotionally from the situation, or you will never make it. It's almost like you have to force yourself into a state of detachment and uncaring, even though what you are actually doing is more hands-on and caring and serving to your community than anything else you can do. It's a balance that requires a special person with a special psyche. We should all be thanking our firefighters and police officers right along with our military personnel. To paraphrase Winston from Ghostbusters: Firefighters see shit that would turn you white.

Best question of the thread.