About 14 years ago, Scott had just returned from a deployment with the National Guard. He got home too late to register for the fall semester at college. And, he wasn’t really sure he wanted to keep going. His ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) working full time, and National Guard commitment made it difficult to carry a full course load. It was looking like he would be lucky to graduate before he turned 40!
One day, he mentioned having an interest in applying for the fire academy. I thought it was a brilliant idea. So, I called his sister, Rebecca, and tasked her with getting him signed up. She got online, signed him up, he was accepted, and started on a career that has been perfect for him.
The fire department has a promotion process that I find narrow minded and discriminatory. It is all score based, with no performance assessment or job evaluations factored in. While Scott is brilliant, studying and test taking have always been a struggle for him. All because of the ADD. Therefore, advancement has been slow.
After several years of endless study and test taking, I think he was becoming really discouraged. The latest test was especially frustrating due to the lack of retiring captains. After talking to Molly about a few other stumbling blocks, it looked like Scott was going to miss out again. Wanting to enlist all the help I could on Scott’s behalf, I decided to turn it over to God. And, He answered my prayers! Scott was officially promoted to Captain on December 18, 2024.
The department held their annual Christmas party and promotion ceremony at the Mayborn Center in Temple. Several members of the family were able to show our support and attend. We were all so very proud of our firefighter!
The ceremony was wonderful and I am sure our proud smiles lit our faces. The feeling of brotherhood and family that the fire department has for one another was evident. We are so proud of Scott and his dedication to the community he serves.
No comments:
Post a Comment