To the paramedics of my agency....

Just a quick note to say... I don't give a damn!

If you don't like working here, quit and go find another job. I don't want to listen to your bellyaching and bitching about how bad this job is or how horrible and clueless the management is.

Why don't you join up and go over to Afghanistan or Iraq, then come back and tell me how much you hate this job - or how shitty it is. At least at the end of your horrible twelve hour shift, you can go home. Try going on a multi-week mission, where you're getting shot at with AK-47's and RPGs every freakin' day, you sleep on hardpack dirt and you eat all your meals out of a bag. Oh yeah, and you're 7,000 miles from home.

You think it's so horrible that you're asked to work overtime? Try being in a combat zone for a year then when you're finally ready to re-deploy home, you're told you've gotta stay for another three months. I mean, hey... you dodged bullets for this long, what's another three months?

I'm sorry that you're asked to upgrade to crew chief (with an associated pay raise). I hate it for you that you can't remain a responsibility-free paramedic, riding 2nd for the rest of your career. Well, guess what... as soon as I got what little bit of rank I had, I was put in charge of a truck and three soldiers. I didn't want the job, but I put on my big-boy britches and did it. It was time to step up.

Sorry for the rant, I just had to vent. I know that as a new, inexperienced employee, I don't have much room to talk. I do, however, retain the right to marginalize your bitching. I think I earned it.