re: Any firemen/firewomen on here? Career questions

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If he starts now he can be retired by 50-55 with damn near a full salary

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I guess that's part of the lure to offset the low pay but the tax payers are on the hook for that, I live near Ft. Worth and whoever was in charge of managing the pension fund screwed up big time a few years back, didn't help that it was around our recession(08-ish,) the pension was underfunded and they had to increase millage in several areas to keep paying the pensions, created quite an uproar for a day or two but the silent masses just keep paying their increased taxes while there's been a full scale assault on private sector retirement plans for over forty years

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several of the guys from my high school football team and other guys I knew from playing football against from other schools became career firemen, there were some pretty good athletes in that fire department

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It’s was a metaphor. Don’t think all the football players would be better firefighters or band and beta club members. Which would you want to come save your family??? I knew some nerd would melt when I said that and here you are.

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He's aware he won't be a millionaire, lotsa sleepless nights, tragic events, etc but the appeal of being what he calls "the closest things nowadays to a real superhero" is calling to him.

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Sure there are some negatives. I have a friend that started out of high school. He's a captain and owns a couple other businesses. He may not be a millionaire, but he'll probably be one shortly and he can retire from the fire department before he's 50. That doesn't seem to bad to me.

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A lot of the suburbs around Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio pay their firefighters really well. But they're not just "firefighters", your kid would also need to get his EMT certificate so he would need some form of "college." A lot of the big Community College systems in Texas have programs for it. If you live near Dallas, Collin County CC has an awesome program. I think Houston CC and Lone Star CC also have programs.

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Agree, pay is better in Texas.

Although not just EMT, but a Paramedic. He'll have to pass fire school and ride the box (ambulance 911 calls for several years) until a spot opens up on the engine which often takes several years depending on seniority.

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Start a side business like lawn care/chimney sweep/handy work/etc that he can do on his days off to offset the low starting salary.

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My elderly mom is always preferential to the firemen with side jobs.

I could see my son going this route so this thread was insightful and helpful. He’s smart but doesn’t feel like college is for him. He’s a hard worker. Doing side job type work while in high school currently. He just loves being on the go and not idle.

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Is there a question there?

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I think the OP was trying to beat Bobby Hebert’s question/statement he asked Les Miles after the 2012 BCS championship loss.

Go to Texas pay is better

Go Air Force first. There are dedicated firefighting specialties within, then when he gets out he can go work for a city/county doing the same thing. Consider the benefits of mil service years later with retirement and such.

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A couple of my associates left other careers because they felt called to be fire fighters. They all made it less than 3 years. They didn’t fight fires as a job. They diverted traffic, responded to OD’s or the same illegal immigrants house because they didn’t want to go to the hospital due to fear of deportation, ect, etc…. For $50k a year

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Depends on city of course. Big cities fight lots of fires, medium cities do also. Small cities fight a few, towns don’t fight many.

Wildland Fire

Might be some good information here to browse through.