The State Of The ARTT

by Michael Reagan

  “Well, yeah. It will take me fifteen minutes to train you.”

  Maggie has a worried look on her face.

  Jesse says, “I can see the fear in you. Relax, there is nothing to it.” He trains Maggie up on parachuting fundamentals and then the pilot arrives.

  Pilot Hue Jackson says, “Hi, Jesse. It’s been a while. So this is the lady with all the parachuting experience you told me about?”

  Jesse says, “Yes, she is an expert jumper.”

  Maggie shakes Hue’s hand and smiles.

  Pilot Jackson says, “Very well, let’s load up.”

  Jesse says, “Okay, Maggie, choose a parachute pack.”

  Out of the three packs, Maggie chooses the pack with an American flag patch.

  Jesse says, “Oh, sorry, can’t let you use that one for this kind of jump. I modified this parachute to envelope quicker. It’s experimental. Choose from the other two packs.”

  Maggie replies, “Okay.” She picks another pack, and they board the plane. The plane takes off. Jesse looks at Maggie.

  Jesse says, “This is no different than entering a fire. There are variables you won’t know about until you get in a combat-like environment. Only then can you progress as a firefighter. As long as you keep your emotion clear, nothing can stop you.”

  Maggie asks, “What if something goes wrong?

  Jesse replies, “I’m with you, and we will deal with it on the fly. In a fire, you might get separated and disoriented. That is when you will be tested the most. You have to trust the firefighter beside you and your instincts with a clear mind and heart. What we do today will prepare you. I trust you with my life. Do you trust me?”

  “Yes, I trust you.”

  Pilot Jackson looks back from the cockpit and says, “We are over the drop. You can jump at any time now!”

  Jesse looks at Maggie and says, “Okay, remember how to slow and increase your descent. If your chute does not open, you go to the backup chute. If it does not open, you give me a thumbs down, and I will embrace you. Then we will both use my chute to land, understand?”

  Maggie replies, “You mean two can land with one chute?”

  Jesse replies, “You land a bit harder with two on one chute, but yes, it is possible. I can see the fear in your eyes, Maggie. Let it go.”

  Jesse and Maggie move to the door. Maggie has a discouraged look on her face.

  Maggie looks at Jesse and says, “I can’t do this, Jesse.”

  Jesse looks at Maggie and smiles. “I believe you can, and I think you will take that leap.”

  “Why?”

  Jesse takes off his parachute and throws it to the back end of the plane. He replies, “Because if you don’t jump, who will save me?” With a smile and Jesse’s face, his arms out wide, Jesse intentionally falls backward off the plane with no parachute.

  Maggie says, “Oh my god Jesse!” She blindly jumps after Jesse. Jesse slows his descent and maneuvers himself toward Maggie. Maggie dives toward Jesse. They embrace, facing each other in a hug. Maggie wraps her arms and legs around Jesse. Jesse puts his mouth by Maggie’s ear.

  Jesse says, “I knew you had it in you. I’m going to hook my D-ring to your harness, and I will wrap my legs around your waist and my arms around your neck. Then you pull the rip cord, okay?” Maggie nods yes. Jesse connects his D-ring and then holds on. Maggie pulls the shoot. The shoot employs, and their descent slows with a jolt.

  Maggie says, “I can’t believe you did that. It is the bravest and craziest thing ever!”

  Jesse replies, “In marine boot camp, one is broken of pride, fear, anger, and selfishness! Discipline in anything starts with discipline in the heart! You can’t get better at controlling emotion under duress until you are under duress! Be calm and trust in a clear heart, and it will help your situation!” They embrace face-to-face as they descend.

  Maggie says, “I might say this is romantic if I was not a lesbian!”

  Jesse smiles. He says, “Yes, you might!”

  They both smile. Just as Maggie looks like she wants to kiss Jesse, he looks down.

  Jesse says, “We are getting close! We want to land not directly but at an angle, so begin pulling one side!”

  Maggie pulls her right handle, and the parachute descends right. They land smoothly at an angle, and as Maggie’s legs get tangled with Jesse’s, they fall down. Maggie straddles Jesse on top.

  She says, “I can’t believe you jumped without a parachute.”

  Jesse replies, “I had the modified chute on, but I didn’t tell you because you wouldn’t jump unless I did what I did.”

  “You’re right. I probably would not have jumped, but that was messed up.” Maggie gets up and helps Jesse up. “I was scared until we embraced, and then it was amazing.”

  Jesse says, “To break your trust in fear, you just needed a nudge out of the nest. I knew you had it in you.”

  “You definitely tested my limit today.”

  “Your skill set is getting better. Hey, tomorrow, Chow is going to show me his samurai fitness routine at the station around noon. Are you down?”

  “I’m always down.”

  “Okay, let’s roll these chutes and hike back to the hanger.”

  Around noon the next day, Jesse walks in the Fire Station 7 cafeteria to eat lunch that firefighter Chow made. Chow is at a table eating and sees Jesse.

  Chow says, “Jesse, grab some chili and have a seat.”

  Jesse gets some chili and sits across from Pete Chow. He says, “You got mess duty again huh?”

  Chow replies, “I get it more than anyone else.”

  Jesse starts eating. “That is because you are a great cook. You are looking down. Are you all right, Chow?”

  “Sometimes, I get too sensitive. My offensive defiant disorder kicks in. I can get a bit defensive. Road rage, you name it. Have you ever felt discriminated against?”

  “I can’t say that I have. Have you?”

  “Even though I was born in America, I have always felt like an outcast. It seems to be a struggle having friends of other races. I find myself getting angry about the smallest sign of disrespect.”

  “I felt like that when I first got stationed in Okinawa, Japan. I didn’t know who I could trust. It depends on where you live. Some places are integrated well, and some are not. Ethnicities isolated by borders or economics breeds pride, racism, hatred, and possibly violence. Isolation of groups in the Middle East led to terrorism against many. The struggle to make and keep friends of other ethnicities puts you on the front lines of the battlefield against racism. Don’t let it wear you down.”

  “That is not easy for me.”

  “Not as easy but possible. The emotion you allow in your heart is a choice. Chemical imbalances in the body can’t make you more prone to give into an emotion. Don’t let what is outside of you dictate what is inside of you.”

  “Maybe you are right. We still on for samurai fitness after lunch?”

  “Of course. I got my axe, and Maggie might join us.”

  “The more the better.”

  Later that day, Jesse, Chow, Maggie, and Stewart are doing Pete’s samurai fitness routine. They use wooden samurai training stick swords.

  Chow explains, “A samurai had to be able to make hundreds of sword swings against heavy armor. A weak swing could cost you your life. The proper way to swing like a samurai is to transfer all your torso weight into your arms holding the sword. Do this by pulling the elbow of your top hand on the sword back until it can’t go back anymore. Then extend the arm of the lower hand, and fully turn your front shoulder around as fa
r as it can go. Let your torso move the sword. Do this over and over again from left to right and right to left. The more weight behind the swing, the more calories and fat you burn.”

  Just then the bell rings. Dispatch advises it is a chemical fire from a person trapped on fifth floor in the downtown district.

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “Saddle up! We got a chemical fire in the downtown district. Be advised, there is a festival is the area.”

  Jesse says, “I am on it.” He pulls out the fire engine with the crew. They quickly head into the downtown district, and despite the sirens and flashing lights, there is no way around the festival crowd. Jesse sees the highway exit nearby and knows they only need the next exit to get to the chemical fire. Jesse heads for the highway.

  Once on the highway, Jesse almost makes it to the exit before he sees more traffic backed up for the festival and the emergency lane obstructed because of construction. Jesse looks to his left and then decides to cut across the highway over the grassy median. He takes the fire engine over rough terrain. Everyone in the cab is thrown up and down in their seats. Stewart looks at Jesse as Jesse is having a ball, whipping his arm above his head like a cowboy riding a bull.

  The fire engine then skirts up the side of the off-ramp, the wrong way. It works, but a cop is quickly in pursuit of the illegal maneuver. They arrive at the chemical fire. Jesse looks back at the firefighters in the cab.

  Jesse looks back smiling and says, “Not quite as fun as bull riding or off-roading in my jeep, but it was fun, right?”

  Everyone in the cab is silent with a startled look except Stewart.

  Stewart smiles, looks at Jesse, and says, “Cowboy.”

  Jesse and the crew quickly jump into action. After doing a quick assessment, they see more entrance obstructions.

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “I can’t believe it! What is with this town? We have had more obstructions in the last two months than I have seen in my career. Not sure if we still have survivors in there, but everyone, man a hose, and maybe we can control it from the outside.”

  Jesse says, “You can’t go where I go. I’m going for the person on the fifth floor. Jose, I’m depending on you for some fire hose cover on my way up.”

  Jose replies, “You got it, Jesse.”

  Jesse takes off, running.

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “Damn it, Jesse, wait! It’s too engulfed! Chow, see what you can do about clearing the obstruction in the front.”

  Jesse finds a window twenty-four feet off the ground and throws a small military special operations grapnel hook attached to a rope through it. He uses the S-wrap climbing technique and wraps the rope around his right leg and climbs up the rope using his left foot to lock the rope on his right foot as he climbs. He climbs through the window and takes off through the building like a cat.

  A burning beam falls near Jesse. He swats it away with his axe like hitting a baseball. Fearing nothing and anticipating everything, Jesse moves through the burning structure. Jose aims the fire hose through windows, around areas Jesse radios he is at. Flames are everywhere. Jose’s fire hose keeps the flames off Jesse just enough.

  Jesse makes it to the fifth floor and finds an unconscious woman. He knows he has little time to get her breathing before she gets brain damage. The room is disintegrating. Jesse uses the handle of the axe and pokes a hole in the wall. Then he puts the handle through a loop in the rope. Finally, he puts the handle back in the hole in the wall and forces it in and down to provide support for repelling. Jesse then handcuffs the woman’s hands together and puts her arms around his neck. He then holds his breath and puts his oxygen mask on her. He repels her safely to the ground and paramedics tend to her. She starts coughing. Lieutenant Kendrick walks over to Jesse.

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “You’re right, I can’t do what you do. I have never seen a firefighter as bold, as skilled, and as lucky as hell as you are.” Lieutenant Kendrick smiles and shakes Jesse’s hand. Jesse picks up a hose, and as he starts shooting water at the fire, he hears Chow over the radio.

  Chow speaks over the radio and say, “The front entrance is blocked by debris, and there is no way out the backside. I am trapped and almost out of air.”

  Jesse runs and gets in the fire engine. He puts his seat belt on and then proceeds to ram the fire engine into the front entrance scattering debris. Maggie has the nozzle of a hose, shooting water at the fire, and Stewart is in support behind her. They watch Jesse ram the burning obstruction in the entrance of the building with the fire engine.

  Concerned, Maggie says, “Oh, my god.”

  Smiling while looking at Jesse, Stewart simply says, “Cowboy.”

  Stewart looks at Maggie on the hose and says, “I was about to do that, but my boy beat me to it.”

  Maggie replies, “No, you weren’t.”

  Stewart says, “It would have turned you on if I did though.”

  Maggie rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a smirk.

  Then Lieutenant Kendrick runs by Maggie and Stewart, yelling, “Keep the hose on the fire! I will check on Jesse.”

  Jesse then backs the fire engine out the front entrance. Jesse gets out of the fire engine and walks through the front door. He sees Chow, and he smiles. Then he starts twirling his axe in the samurai motion like Chow taught him. Chow puts his fist into his open palm and bows his head to Jesse in a custom Japanese gesture.

  Lieutenant Kendrick walks over to Jesse and says, “Don’t get me wrong, I loved what you just did. It was some real John Wayne firefighting, but do you got something against that fire engine?” Lieutenant Kendrick then smiles.

  Jesse replies, “Someone once told an old wise saying that the price of winning is high.” Lieutenant Kendrick and Jesse chuckle.

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “Good answer. Captain is not going to like it though. You know, I will do what I can for you.”

  Jesse says, “I’m going to go back in one more time to make sure there is no one else there.”

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “Damn jarhead, take a breather.”

  Jesse replies, “Got no time.” He goes back in with some rope and an axe. He clears the first floor then the second and third, fourth, fifth, and then the roof. Then he hears a cry for help from the next roof over. A man couldn’t find a way down because the chemical spread to his building and consumed the third floor.

  Jesse takes his rope and rigs the lightweight grapnel hook he used earlier to it. Jesse then twirls the rope and releases over to the victim’s roof, which is two floors higher. It catches. Jesse pulls it tight and ties it off. Jesse then takes off his fire coat and pants to lessen his weight. Jesse then mounts the rope on top, head first, using the commando rope crawl to horizontally transverse the rope.

  Jesse reaches the victim’s roof. Once Jesse reaches the roof, he takes off his harness and puts it on the victim. Then Jesse locks the harness D-ring to the rope. Jesse nudges the man off, and the victim zip-lines over to the lower roof. Then Jesse puts some rope over the line and zip-lines over. They both walk down together, and the victim gets medical treatment.

  Jesse approaches Lieutenant Kendrick and says, “Found one more. All floors are clear.” Just then a policeman walks up to Jesse.

  Sgt. Russell Harris asks, “Were you driving the fire engine to this scene?”

  Jesse replies, “Yes, officer.”

  Sgt. Harris says, “You’re under arrest for driving the wrong way up highways on-ramp.” Sgt. Harris grabs Jesse’s hand and puts it behind Jesse’s back. Jesse gives him the other hand to handcuff peacefully.

  Lieutenant Kendrick says, “What the hell are you doing! We were dispatched to an emergency!”

  Sgt. Harris looks at Lieu
tenant Kendrick as he is moving Jesse toward his police car and says, “Back down or you are next! You can tell it to the judge.”

  Jesse looks at Lieutenant Kendrick and says, “Don’t resist him, lieutenant, I will be okay.” Jesse is put in the squad car. Lieutenant Kendrick throws down his oxygen mask in frustration as he sees Jesse driven away to the police station.

  Later that day, the crew gets back to the fire station, and Captain McMenn sees the damage to the fire engine. Captain McMenn looks at Lieutenant Kendrick and says, “Let me guess, Jesse?” Lieutenant Kendrick nods yes.

  Captain McMenn says, “Tell Jesse I want to see him in my office ASAP.”

  Lieutenant Kendrick replies, “Well, that is going to be a problem. Jesse was arrested by Sherriff Deputy Sgt. Russell Harris for going up an on-ramp the wrong way.”

  .“Jesus, are you serious? Emergency vehicles can do that if necessary. I will take care of it.”

  Jesse is sitting alone in a waiting cell for thirty minutes, and then he sees Captain McMenn in front of the bars.

  Captain McMenn says, “You wrecked my fire engine and got busted by the cops. What the hell, Jesse?”

  Jesse replies, “I am sorry, Captain.”

  Captain McMenn says, “Don’t worry, I got the charges dropped. I would have done the same in that situation, but why did you wreck the fire truck?”

  “Chow was trapped and running out of oxygen. I made a decision to do what it took to save a life.”

  “That is going to cost the city at least ten thousand dollars if we are lucky. You are making my obsessive-compulsive disorder act up. Then I will end up micromanaging this station.”

  “How much is a life worth?”

  Captain McMenn looks down. “You are right. As you know, the city’s financial situation has made money tight. You did the right thing. There was no other way, so you did what you had to do.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, the crash bent the bumper back in position but at the cost of the windshield and grill.” Both Captain and Jesse smile.