Weekly Scrap #332 - Kyle Shuford, Getting outside your walls

Corley: I get asked all the time, what is a vigilante? What does it mean to be a vigilante? And so to explain that, I'm just gonna kind of explain where the vigilantes came from. When I started the group, I honestly thought there was gonna be like 10 or 20 people who really liked the scrap. That would want to be a part of the behind the scenes, helping pick out the guests and make the questions and things. And I never dreamed that the vigilantes would grow into what it has grown into. Over 700 like-minded souls. If you're a vigilante, you are never alone. We have members from across the country. We have members from across the globe. And it's just amazing what it's become. If you're in there, then you get to be in the Discord, and the Discord is where we do all of our dis Discussions and people go live and they talk and they ask questions and we have a channel for bitching and moaning for presenting classes. It's just it's amazing the fellowship that is involved in being a vigilante. And it's not just that, there's so many other benefits You get access to the Vigilante only swag shop. You get the 15% discount on all merch from Firehouse Vigilance. You get the after parties. You get the Vigilante get togethers when we're all at the same place and we get together and we raise a glass and do a toast and have the vigilante creed. You get the vigilante coin when you hit your one year anniversary with your number. The fireaways, the forums, the archives, all those quarterly projects that are coming that that you get to be a part of and get to be behind the scenes on, it's grown into something bigger than I ever imagined And I want people to know about, I want people to be a part of if you're not a vigilante, why not? I don't know, I don't know how how big it could be. I don't know. I mean the vigilantes are are where the work is at. They're the ones who are getting stuff done and it's phenomenal to be a part of it. I wanted to get on here and explain where it started, how it how it came to be, and ask you if you're not a vigilante, why not?

Corley: It go to patreon. com slash the vigilantes. That's where you sign up. It is five dollars a month. I mean it's You can't even get a cup of coffee for that anymore. Five bucks a month, and you get to be a part of this unbelievable group. Go to patreon. com, sign up, become a vigilante, and I will see you on the Discord. Firehouse Vigilance is weekly scrap number three three two. My guest tonight is Kyle Schufford. A 19-year Louisiana firefighter and currently serving as a Special Operations Battalion Chief with the St. George Fire Department. He's been involved with the Louisiana Firefighters Foundation since its start. In 2018, and helped create the annual Lyft Conference focused on developing firefighters across the region. Kyle's passion is building capable, resilient firefighters through realistic training, strong leadership, and a service-first mindset. He is married to his wife, Mary, 16 years. They have two daughters, Emma and Ava. Welcome, my brother, Kyle Schuford. I'm excited for our conversation. Welcome to scrap number 332. Kyle Schufford: Appreciate y'all having me on. This is gonna be great. A little nervous, but let's do this. Corley: We got it. Anything you want to add to the intro? Anything you'd like to add? Anything I left out

Kyle Schufford: No, no, you're good. You're good. That was that's everything. That sums me up in about 15 seconds. Corley: Audience, get your questions primed and ready for Kyle, for myself. Anything you want to ask, get them ready. We're gonna have some fun this evening. So with all that said, we'll do the sponsors so we can get to the scrap. Get the nasty stuff off you. Shower within the hour and wash your balls. All right. Sponsors are done. Introductions are done. It is time to scrap. I'm going to look at what the what the what the front row gang has been saying. And brother, you're you're you're a little popular with the roast already. the dragon is in here. And he he wants you to know he is skipping a episode of Fallout, the new episode of Fallout. to come and give you love. So he wants you to know that you are loved. So I wanted to throw it. Kyle Schufford: Grab a box of the Christmas tree cakes and enjoy. Corley: That is We actually texted about that. That is he he has leaned into it and he has owned it. He is the Christmas tree cake guy. No doubt about it all the things you can be known as, I think there's worse things to be known as, Chris. So I love you. All right. Let's talk about it. Getting outside your bubble to train. Everybody knows I always send a list to the to the guests and say, hey, tell me what you want to talk about. And one of the first things you said was getting outside your bubble to train. I love this topic. I think this is one of the one of the keys to the last decade probably of the fire service growth is getting outside your bubble to train. So talk to me about it. Talk to me about why it's important to you.

Kyle Schufford: look, you know, when I got on the fire department 19 years ago, I had a captain and you know this he's a Yat straight from New Orleans. So it's Sounds like he's from Brooklyn, New York, but from New Orleans, came over and he told me. He's like, man, Kyle, look, you're you're young. Become a sponge. Go learn everything that you possibly can learn. And the department, you're going to ask for it. If you ask, they're more than likely they're going to give it to you. So he said, become that sponge and go out. Whether it's a class inside the department that they say, hey, you know, we're offering a certification. He said never turn down training. And I took that to heart. from the time I was a young firefighter, you know, the first year we weren't really allowed to do anything because we were on probation. Speaker 4: Right. Kyle Schufford: But after that, the you know, some of the classes started coming in and immediately I I took that And said, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go start doing these trainings. And a lot of it was in state. And then probably around that five to seven year mark. we started getting opportunities to go out of state because that was right really right when all these bigger comp or these conferences started popping up. Right. And even then it was just out-of-state, you know, little organizations that had these classes. So I was able to start going to some of these. And the biggest thing that we're getting out of is You know, every department thinks, oh, we have this problem. we have it so bad, we have issues. And then when you go and you sit there and talk to some of these guys from other departments from all around the country, you have no idea. It's the same problems. And then there's others that are way worse than what you have. Yeah. so that was it was eye-opening. You know, it was really to the point where you're like, oh, okay. And then, you know, coming in, St. George, where I where I'm at, is is a suburb of Baton Rouge. So it it has about a hundred thousand people. We have eight stations, but it was a smaller department from where I grew up in New Orleans and then we have Baton Rouge right next to us.

Kyle Schufford: But when you come up, it's, you know, you're set in these ways. Speaker 4: And this is how you're trained. Kyle Schufford: And when you go to these firehouses, it's like, no, this is how you're going to do it But now when you're going outside of the conference into the conference world or these classes and and see some of these nationally renowned instructors, they they show you that that's not the only way. And it's not that they're preaching this is the way you need to do it. It's Hey, this is the way that works or does work or could work. And really seeing that and not bringing that one skill back and using only that skill, but it's like, hey, we could use part of that skill. Right Add it to what we've already learned. It's another tool in the toolbox. so you know, it's things like that that it that really opens your eyes and for younger firefighters, even older firefighters, because, you know, I have 19 years and I still go to classes. I still try and get out get out of our bubble and go see what the the rest of the the country has, what the rest of the fire department world has. Because we're not we're not the best. We're not We don't know all be all. It's everybody else has their own experiences, and that's the only way you're going to learn is experience in class and education.

Corley: No, I love it. I love it. And and you know There's so many directions I want to add to to to take off with. But the first one is ignorance debt. And that is, you know, you don't know what you don't know. You honestly don't know what you don't know. And that's one of the best things about getting to outside conferences. And it's not just that because it's outside. That's not the only reason, but you can become siloed so heavily in your own department. You can become absolutely clannish and inbred is a term, you know, that that gets thrown around in but it is silo. And you don't know what you don't know. And that's the power of it. I love Brian Brush's quote. I've said it on here many times where he says, once you get outside the walls of your fire department, you realize that the fire service has no walls. And that's a powerful, powerful thing. And so I love, love, love. And and one of the best things you said was the the you go out and you learn a tactic. And you learn it from some of the best who've used it, who have who've tested it, battle-tested it in their jurisdiction, in their area with their response model That doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work in your area, in your jurisdiction, with your buildings, with your response model and your staffing and your equipment. But you've just expanded your horizons and says what could work out of that. And that's the part that really gets powerful.

Kyle Schufford: Yeah, we've you know I've been to some classes that from a lot of the northern firefighters. We don't have basements Right. It's it's just not possible because of the. Right. So, you know, but you can still learn stuff. About maybe you're not gonna go down and fight a basement fire. You know, one of the things around here in in in South Louisiana is, oh, we don't have basements. You're right, we don't. But we do have eye areas where we have a a building that's built into a a hill. to where you have a walkout basement. Sure. It's not truly a basement, but it's a walkout to where from the front you look at it, it's oh it's two stories. You go around back and it's it's three and it's got, you know, a little walkout but and it's a patio. But It can be used the same way. And there's other tactics that you can bring into it. Yes, it's a basement fire. We don't fight those. But what do they do? How do they do it? Let's let's figure that out. So you know that's that's one thing and I I hate going or hearing, you know, oh well that's not gonna teach me anything

Corley: And I've heard it, you know, Oh yeah, I'm sure you've heard it especially putting right it's you know I'm not well I'm not going there. Kyle Schufford: It's I'm not gonna learn anything that I I already don't know And and that to me, that's bullshit. If you have already have that in your mind that you're gonna go somewhere and you're not gonna be able to learn anything, these people that are teaching are not gonna Teach you something about your job, then it's time for you to retire. It's time for you to say, like, you know what? I'm done. Because if you know everything. Then then you've made it. You've done it. You know, that's how we end up in trouble is when we get on these calls and we're like, you know what, I don't I don't need that. right. You know, and then you had a class that you went to a month ago, a year ago And it's just another slide in your slideshow that, hey, I remember this. You know, and the worst feeling, and I've been in it. You show up on a scene and you sit there with your pants down. You're like, what the hell am I supposed to do?

Corley: Right. Right. Kyle Schufford: And and that's what scares me. And what scares me the most about showing up on scene is one not knowing what the hell to do and not knowing how to fix it and being the reason someone got hurt. That's that's my two biggest worries on and they're they go hand in hand. And that's my that's my biggest thing when I show up at work. I'm gonna make sure that I I can do the best I can to know what I'm doing and make sure everybody goes home. And that's what you're gonna learn, going to these conferences and getting it because some of these instructors, they've been in that position. They've they've They're gonna tell you about it and it's gonna be heart-wrenching when you hear about it. But that's that's the only way to you have to learn from your experiences and the experiences of others. Corley: Fireman Piv is coming at you. You ready for your first question from the audience? Let's do it. He says, with outside training, how can we help the more senior members? Or those that haven't been to outside training, how can we get them to see the importance of it, even if it differs from the department's SOPs or the way we do it? No no easy kickoff question, brother. Let's just go right down the pipe.

Kyle Schufford: Look, you know, it's The worst thing that you can do as a senior person, and I'll answer this in two different aspects. The worst thing you can do in my mind as a senior person is tell a younger guy, that what they are doing or what they're saying doesn't matter because immediately you kill their their push, their drive of the job. At that point they become no better than the the person that's sitting on on the couch and saying, you know what, I'm not dealing with this, or we don't have to do that. I've already done that. So the way to do it, I mean, for me is I want to hear it. I want to hear guys The biggest, I'll back up. The biggest way you can do it, show them what they don't know. Go out and train. Hey, let's go train on this. And when you go train on it and you can see them falling and fumbling on themselves. I've been there. You fall and you fumble like, no, no, this is how you do it. And then the the younger guy picks it up and they do it flawlessly And you're gonna you're probably gonna give them help, but it's embarrassing. You're you're gonna be embarrassed. And the way all of our minds are is we're we don't like, it's all competition. We don't like to be shown up. We want to know So when you're that guy, go back and show them like, hey, this is what we learned. If they don't want to learn and you have everybody outside a crew of three or four, even two, and you want to go train, go train. I promise you they're going to be the only ones inside and they're going to look around and be like, where is everybody? And they're going to go out and look. And even if they're out there and they just see what you're doing and picking up a tactic, that's going to go a long way because They went from sitting on a on a recliner or a couch to actually going outside and looking. And that's all you can do. In my mind, is you can try and bring them the tactics, but it may not work, but Go out and do it yourself. Sooner or later they're going to catch on.

Corley: No, and and and it's control the controllables and it's 10 pounds of pressure 100% of the time. I'll say all the all the cliches. but because and they are they are clichés. And I don't mean that I don't mean that to be dismissive with them. They they're clichés because they work. Right. And but they are. I don't want to be pithy with them. And Kyle Piv coming at you with another one. How can we help influence others that have the it's worked this far, why change or try new stuff? Like every how we've always done it's worked. Why change or try new things? Kyle Schufford: Research. Research it. Because I promise you somewhere else tried it too and did something and it failed. And if you're doing something that that's all it's done has ever worked, then figure out how to make it fail. And once you can figure out how to make it fail, Then you're bettering yourself. It may, it may make that tactic a little better and it may make your own way, but research it on your own and research it from other people that have used that same thing. Because I promise you. At some point, that thing, that that whatever it is, has failed. and if it hasn't, figure out a way to make it fail. So you know, okay, this is what can happen.

Corley: And the best part of that is if you go with Kyle's advice there and do it, the worst thing that happens is you can't figure out how to make it fail and you just strengthen your tactic that you have and you gain more confidence in it But you can also absolutely, and I and I guarantee you, Kyle's right, you're gonna find a way, you're gonna find the weakness in it because there is no perfect tactic. But it will make you stronger no matter how you slice it. And the best part is in today's Modern internet social media existence, AI existence, it's like almost impossible to stay ignorant It like you have to be you have to like do it on purpose to stay ignorant of all the research and the FSRI data, the UL stuff, everything that is out there, this firefighter rescue survey, the firefighter Mayday survey. There is so much research and data available to back up almost any point that you have to work to stay ignorant. Right. Kyle Schufford: And the days of us as as anybody in the fire service bullshitting somebody, trying to make up something and send it to work, it's over because The the younger generation, the first thing, I mean, even, you know, the the older guys, the first thing they're doing is picking up their phone. They're gonna fact check you And they're they're waiting for a reason to come back at you. Like, well, you know, this study says that this didn't work or this they did this and it did work. They're gonna come back at you. And so the days of saying, you know It's worked or giving them throwing them that BS, they're gonna they're gonna call you on it. So you better you have to know what you're doing and you have to know you have to do your homework. Absolutely, man.

Corley: Great questions. Piv, thank you. What do we got here? Dirk 121, reping Southwest, says LA, so I'm assuming SWLA, Southwest Louisiana here, but on the job in Texas. How can we promote, show the value of local non-government training? versus the FEMA funding trading, free but specialized to the bean counters. Ooh, that's a, that's a, I love that question, but go ahead. Kyle Schufford: Yeah, what about easy questions? Corley: Welcome to the scrap. Kyle Schufford: All right. Corley: Hey, I'll dial one up. Someone send a soft toss to Kyle, okay, to make him feel better. All right. No, go ahead. Kyle Schufford: So no, I mean, you know, dealing with with that, I've been to some both. I've been to the the FEMA training actually in Texas. I just got done with last year with the the TEAKS USAR specialist but as far as, you know, the local training, I mean, that's one thing that we did in a department is we tried to find And we even did it with with Lyft was we tried to find local instructors that can bring in and then because everybody's got their forte Everybody has their, you know, I like to be a a engine company guy or a ladder or I'm very I'm good at VES. You know, find them. I promise you they're out there and they're not hard to find. You can put an email out to other departments and and Really just say, hey, this is what we're looking for. the networking. That's the other thing that you know I didn't really touch on when the outside training is the networking.

Corley: Oh, yeah. Kyle Schufford: Networking is incredible. Going to these other places and and finding out and talking to those, you know, those other instructors or those other those other students that are there. and getting their numbers, their emails, that's where you find out, okay, hey, you're right down the road from us, or you're in, you know, the state next to us That's where you can say and and watch their their social media like you were just talking about. They use it as a tool. Oh man, this, you know, Corley just did this class here. or they just brought this class in. That's that's where you say, hey, you know, where'd you get this class? Or what do you, you know, do you have any other classes? That's where you can bring those classes in as a local organization. and as far as the funding Yeah, that's tricky. because the departments, there's departments that are on budget crunches and and You gotta know how to play it and and you know, dealing with you know public and private funds and bringing in sponsors for that, you know, that's one of the reasons that how we did what we did was we had to start a foundation you know, and kind of that's helped us with the the monetary stuff to where we could if we weren't using public funds. I wish I had the answer for it, but it's it's It's tricky. You gotta you gotta get creative. And there's one thing I know about firefighters in general is we're good at being creative and working our way around things. you know, even whether it's good or bad, we'll we're good at we're good at going around things.

Corley: I love this question. I love this question coming at you because you have a unique perspective being a being as you've been involved with Lyft and you may not have insight, but it's a great question coming at you because of where you sit. do you think that, and this is from Jim Ed Mills. He wants to know, do you think that most people going to conferences are paying out of pocket? If so, how do we get admins to see the advantages of supporting and assisting with that investment? Your opinion? Kyle Schufford: My opinion, I've seen both. I've seen a majority of them are fire departments. because Like with Lyft for for instance, we we have a lot of fire chiefs and and and departments that have bought into it. Right on. I think the individual you'll have a a a group of individuals that'll pay for it because they love their profession. They want to go see all these different places because of all the reasons that we talked about And how to do how to get the departments to buy. And I'll tell you what we've done. They want to talk to you. Fire Chiefs don't check emails As much as they cause they get a thousand of them a day. and I just learned that because you know it's you send something like, oh I I didn't get it, or it's lost within, you know, all of the the different things that they sent. But you call them. You know what that's what we did with Lyft is and we've done it for the last seven years is we call these fire chiefs and we try and set up meetings with them and we go sit in front of them and explain to them. This is what we have. This is what the benefits of for your department. And we offer it to not just the people that they're going to send, but we want that, hey, for free, we want you and your training staff to come down. Go jump from class to class, see what you are investing in and what you're sending your people to go see. If if you don't like it, don't come back. But I promise you, we're going to give you a product that you're going to like. And that's that's the best way to get them to buy in is show them what the worth is.

Kyle Schufford: Show them how it's going to benefit their department. Because like we said, every department's a little different. And there's some departments that are a lot different. Do some research. It's not just as easy as, oh, this is our department or this is our conference. This is what we're doing. Go talk to them. Go find out what they want And then every year go back to them and say, hey, look, this is the classes that we had. This is the classes that we're thinking about bringing in. What do you what do you need? What do you want? North Louisiana is much, much different than South Louisiana. So we we try and get to the to get their ideas and that's how you get the departments to buy it. And the individuals We try and do stuff, just like I said, our our experience is we try and do the giveaways. We try into where these individuals that want to go that maybe their departments can't Can't fund it because we know that the the conference registration is a small part of it. It's the lodging and the travel. So we try and give it to them as as cheap as possible. Or we try and do some giveaways to make it to where the individual can come. We don't want the we don't want funding to hold them back.

Corley: Right Obviously you gotta you gotta pay for the conference, but at the same time you're doing you're doing everything you can to get people there that want to be there. No, I love it. I absolutely in fact we give the vigilantes have been signing up using the vigilante code for the the passes. So Fireman Piv's got a soft toss for you. As requested, he said, favorite thing to train on. Something you feel you've improved on the most. Kyle Schufford: All right, it's not gonna be the most popular answer. Oh I'm intrigued. I just got promoted and to I'm actually taking a I'll be taking a test for it beginning of next year to a it's a shift commander, it's equal to a battalion chief for special operations. So we're trying to build a division. Biggest thing I've trained on, and it's been on the job training and also a lot of research is figuring out how to manage people. And when I say that, my biggest problem I've ever had as an officer coming up is going from buddy to boss. It has been the hardest problem I've ever had. And the only way to get through that is figuring out what others have done and researching, okay, how do they do it? And watching watching other Other officers do it, you know, because, you know, I was always told you can learn from everybody. You can learn from very good officers and you can learn from very bad officers You can learn from very bad officers of what not to do. And that's kind of how I did it. And I know it's not a, like I said, it's not a, you know, getting out, getting on the field and training. But and and getting dirty, but this is this is one that I know everyone can use because I've had some officers under me that that I've seen enough. I actually laughed at him because, you know, it not not on you know not to just ha ha you know good for you but it's like you did this to me. Right. You know and and And then turn around and I see it happen to him. And it's like, yeah, man, like, like this is what I can help you with. And it and it the training, and you're always learning, because everybody's got different aspects of it.

Kyle Schufford: So that's the biggest thing I would say to train on is how to be a manager and a boss. But still have those relationships because it's probably one of the trickiest aspects that I can think of. And then as far as I'll I'll give them this like you know, for As far as the physical portion of it, I love like structural collapse. I love use our. I love getting my hands on things and and actually getting out there and and figuring out issues Right. To where it's not just easy, I I want to get, I want to be challenged. And you know, we just like I said, we just finished that USAR specialist class and it was five different times we had to go out to to Texas and and and do week-long classes. And it was it was a test. You know, I'm I'm not the youngest anymore. And the guy I went with is he's actually older than me. I'm I joke with him all the time. I think he's actually 47, but I joke with him about 60 him being sixty, but you know, that's one of those things that we went and and we were thought. You know, you have to look at a that guidebook the core army corps engineers guard guidebook and and that's what I want. I want to I want to be tested. I want to I want to have to think. So that's probably one of the most you know into trainings I've had and that I like doing

Corley: I love it. No, great, great, great answers, especially considering the the the BC position you're taking of special operations. So you're moving right into a passion. So that's that's that's a killer. I absolutely love that There you go. That was the soft toss from Kyle from Kyle. I think it's Kyle Piv. I'm assuming it's Kyle Piverall. So if I'm wrong, fireman Piv, let me know. With the new expectation being we are Jack of all trades, how do you balance trainings to be knowledgeable and competent? Like where do you have what's your what's your personal algorithm for Specialization versus keeping everything up to speed. So great question, by the way, from Seth Drew. Seth Drew. Sorry, go ahead. Kyle Schufford: No, this is this has been something that we've actually talked about because you know, in the last year, our disciplines that we need to know are it's I think it's like 13 disciplines. Yeah. You're not gonna be an expert at 13 disciplines. You're not. You can be competing in 13 disciplines. It's going to take a lot of work. Corley: I was going to say with a lot of work, you can stay competent. Kyle Schufford: We're not going to sit there and be like, oh, I'm competent in ropes and I haven't touched a rope in six months. It's that's not going to happen because even the most simple or not, you're going to sit there and and have to think about it. so it it doesn't matter. You know, we always are you know the biggest thing we hear is I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. Well, in our mindset is, you know, we're going to be a master of one. And that's going to be our specialty to where if we have a you know with the special operations each each shift is gonna have that guy or that girl that knows that and they're gonna teach everybody that to make them competent and they're gonna make it fun and interesting and that's what we try and push You're gonna drive yourself crazy and you're gonna, I think you in my mind, you're gonna fail at trying to be a master of all trades. It's it's not gonna happen. So find one you're really passionate about and be really damn good at it. And be very good at that one specific skill and be confident that you can do the job of all the rest of them.

Corley: I like it. I like the I like the approach. Alamo area fire photography coming at you says what training gaps I really don't like this I mean I'm not nothing against Alamo Area Fire Photography name or firefighter piv I just don't like the YouTube thing where you have to use their at handle. I liked it when I knew the names. I did. I'm not gonna lie. Kyle Schufford: I know Alma, that's David. Corley: Okay. Well, David's got a question coming at you, which is what training gaps do you see most often with newer firefighters coming into the job today from your chief officer position? What what training gaps are you noticing more? Kyle Schufford: So I've done some rookie schools where I've been hands-on and we've seen them come in. I mean We've always thought it as, you know, when you're in a rookie school, you're building the foundation. That is that you're learning to pass the test, learn the basic skills by the book. The real learning doesn't start until you you hit the floor. That is where you're going to be tested from the guys on the floor, guys and girls on the floor. They're gonna, I mean, it's relentless that they're gonna make sure that you know what you're doing. but biggest thing that I've seen is search and it's starting to to come around and and you know I Looking through the book of search and the work of search with y'all, you know, it's and what y'all done has been great because me coming out of rookie school, it was all right Everybody on all fours, grab that boot in front of you and don't let it go.

Corley: The human centipede. Kyle Schufford: Right. And this was actually I'll I'll throw Chris one. He just had a podcast with some some of our people on it. Megan Aaron and they were talking about the same thing. It's the the search aspect of it is in rookie school, it's all right, you we're making a left-hand pattern. Everybody stay. It's you know, grab their boot, don't let it go, and then the next thing you know, you know, You lose them and everybody doesn't know what to do. And then you get on the floor and it's you get to a door and and a captain says, Hey, you go left, I'll go right. We'll meet in the middle. And you got a firefighter just looks at you like, what the hell did you just say? I might die if I don't hold on to a boot. Yeah So that's probably the biggest thing, you know, is the search. Also, the other thing that we were And I'll give a shout out to him and he he made this he kind of refreshed us in my mind like last week was Aaron Cowell. He's one of my captains and this dude's a diesel. Like you can't stop. He doesn't stop eating, but he is like you're not gonna stop him. He just ran a 5K and smoked all of us. But he's you know, he's one of those guys that He comes in and with a search and he had made a grab and he brought it up, but you know, the you have to search for the hose line Like, no, if you're going in doing a search, like yes, you should search while you're on a hose line. That's that's part of our job. But there's also times where we're gonna put a search crew in And we're not going to have a O's line. It's part of the job. Hey, get in there because you're going to slow yourself down with it. And the guys and girls coming out of rookie schools, it's like, hold on, you want us to split up. You want us to, you're going to take a nozzle and a hose from us to where we don't have it know where we're going. And that's one of the biggest things, that in building construction. Because it goes hand in hand when you do a search.

Kyle Schufford: Like I tell young people, young firefighters all the time, like, don't be a robot. Don't show up on scene and just follow that captain or the lieutenant. Yes, listen to him. But you need to think look at look at buildings and figure out, okay, what are these windows? Are these windows bathroom windows? Are there vents above it that can tell you, hey, that's a kitchen, that's a bathroom? Is the window high? Is it glazed over? You know, what's learn layouts of houses, which nowadays it's a little more into it because the the houses now they're they're just making things up. I think they're just dropping things on a on a plot plan and saying, okay, this is a good place for a bathroom. But you know, but We want them to learn it and the other thing that I try and tell younger guys is don't just go into when we make medical calls That's when you pre-plant. We're not going to be able to just go and do a pre-plant of a house. But when you go on these houses, a lot of them, if you look at the street, they're all cookie cutters. Oh yeah. They're throwing them up as fast as they can. So they can the builder can make the money. He it's out of his hands and they're gone. So when you go into one house, look at the look at the the neighborhood. If they're cookie-cutter homes, all right, cool. We got These houses are all maybe switched. So the doors on the left, but this one's on the right.

Speaker 4: Yeah. Kyle Schufford: But you have a layout. That's where you pre-plan. And and that's stuff we're not teaching in in rookie schools. We're teaching, hey, look building construction. You know, houses are made of wood and they have combustible elements and type one, type two, type three, type four, type five. Corley: Right. Kyle Schufford: And and that's it. You get you get numbers, but you're not getting a lot of people. Corley: It's like over their head anyway. They're just they're okay. Yeah, whatever. Right. Kyle Schufford: So when they show up on scene, that's their time. Show up and figure out, hey man, these big bay windows are probably going to be a kitchen or a living room. some kind of big room. That's what we're trying to I try and push is don't be a robot. Start thinking because God forbid that guy in front of you Something happens to him, you have to be the guy that gets him out. You have to be the person that can figure out that problem because no one's around. So and that and that's I think that'll cut down too on some of our problems with you know anything with with Maydays. Corley: Beautiful, beautiful question. Great answer. and then and and really touching on the the meat of it and the new the new recruits the the younger generations coming into the fire service and and the education that they are Receiving, but not getting, if that makes sense. What the the the gap.

Kyle Schufford: Yeah. Corley: And that's the delta. The delta between the two. Kyle Schufford: Right. And that's and that's not putting down any kind of training academy because they're doing what they have to do And to get them through and they're going to prep them in the time that they're allowed. But that's where a lot of people have like they're they're learning, yes. When they get on the floor, they're not seasoned firefighters. They're seasoned firefighters when we make them seasoned firefighters. And that's a job that every crew and company officer and even senior firefighter, they have to embrace and say, hey, this is our guy. Corley: And you've probably seen the the a lot of people have been quoted. I don't know exactly where he said. I mean it's his it's his it's his mindset, but Scott Thompson's quote of we want our we want our recruits to be firefighters before they're janitors. I'm paraphrasing it, but it's it's going around right now. But it comes into the and I bring that up because we're getting these kids out of a recruit school, whether it's a state school, a local school, a county, whatever, vote. And they're coming in, or or even your department's probationary school, and they're coming out of the academy and they're reporting to duty. Man, if you're the company officer, if you're in charge of that company and he's assigned to you, You better be assessing his skills day one and finding out what he's capable of and what he's actually able to do and not assume anything about him because that that kid's life is in your hands.

Kyle Schufford: Absolutely. Because at the end of the day, as an officer, you're going to have to answer to somebody. And it's more than likely going to be their family if something happens to them. Or it could be them. That's the other thing is If something happens, how do you look at them and say, hey, look, I I messed up. This kid looks at you like you are a you are a god. You know, you're you know all that you've been doing this for this many years. You should know this and you just put at that point he's questioning everything you're doing. So, you know, that's how you you have to make yourself better as an officer or a firefighter. You have to figure it out and let and You don't want to get stumped, stumped like I was telling you. I mean, that's the worst feeling is is for them to ask you a question and you not know the answer. And you know, the best thing to do is go find the answer. You know, that's one of those Test questions we always get on promotional exams, you know, if somebody asks you a question, what do you tell them? Do you just bullshit them or do you go find the answer and tell them, hey, I'll figure it out? And that's That's what we have to do.

Corley: Absolutely. Absolutely. Great answer, brother. Daniel Valenzuela 3624 says, I don't like this question. I want to see what you think. If your department could send people to conferences. And we're talking hypothetically. If your department could send people to conferences, who would you send? The dialed-in go-getters or the disgruntled ones to hopefully help them find their passion? Kyle Schufford: Both. Both. So you know, there's a story out there. I'm not gonna mention any names, Chris, but you know, his he told us And his story really resonated with me is a lot of people have changed the way they feel and looked at the job by going to these conferences. It is a it reignites the passion. And that can that that holds true for the most dialed in guy too. Because You know, being dialed in, you're dialed into what you see right in front of you. You love this job at this department and how we do things. And when you go to these conferences, whether you're kind of on a on the downslope or or dialed in is you're seeing all these different people, these like-minded people that want to be better and you have really no choice but to be like, man, what This is this is the greatest profession in the world. You know, why am I upset? Why do I not like this? Because at the end of the day, we have to remember what we got here for. we got on the job. It wasn't because of the the money or God knows it wasn't because of the money, but it you know it wasn't because of the the the time off. You know, we're working 24-hour shifts most of the time You got on because you wanted to help people and you wanted to provide a service. And that's what we have to get back to. And I think going to these conferences and going to these trainings is really That opens your eyes. It gives you re- it repurposes what you're doing and why you're doing it.

Corley: I love it. The I like it because Chris Dragon Scott and myself both have a very similar story of how the outside instructors completely reignited our love. and our passion for the job. And so when you brought that up, it instantly just hit me with the wave of it. And I'm like, yeah, man, it's so don't write off the disgruntled because a lot of them still have that fire. It's just been buried by a lot. So don't write them off. Try to figure out a way to reconnect them. Try to figure it out. Kyle Schufford: And look, you know, sometimes those those disgruntled people that are in the department when they go and they get they get reignited on on the passion, they're gonna be more, they're gonna be a stronger tool. than what they were before. They're gonna be the ones that preach, hey man, look, this is the the valleys that I went through and here I am. You know, I I have 12 years on a job. I have 15 years on a job. And, you know, that that that dangerous five to seven year mark where, you know, every young firefighter thinks, I've figured it out, I've learned everything. And then they start saying, oh, I don't need to know this, or I don't need to know that. That's where that valley happens. And when they come out of it and they figure out and they can get to that that passion again, they're gonna be your biggest asset in the department because they've seen the low and they got back to the highs. So the high, low, high, and that's where they're gonna be. They're gonna, they're gonna make sure everybody around them is, hey man, I've been there. Let's let's keep going

Corley: Right on. And it's a powerful. Yeah, no, that's that's great, Kyle. I love it. Absolutely love it. Dirk 121. I like this question. He says, speaking of management. And we got a lot of questions, so I hope you hope you don't mind. It's been fun. Let's do speaking of management. How can a young company officer structure training plans slash calendars in a department that does not have a robust training program? Kyle Schufford: Good luck. You know, we and a guy and look, I'm I'm I'm speaking with my experience. I can show you the calendar at my department. And we have probably something every day from seven in the morning until sometimes eight or nine at night. And I hear it and I and I deal with it too, is like, you know, we need to go train. When? When are we going to go train? I've been dealing with this a little bit on on as a manager because you have guys that they come in and they do their their part-time job, whether whatever it may be. And they come in and and they start to say, oh, you know, we'll we'll train later. My thought is, is no, we'll, you know, we look at the calendar first thing in the morning and our our assistant chief of the ship sends it out and says, hey, this is he launches the boat. And it that's what he tells us every day is, you know, we're launching the boat and this is what we have on the calendar. So everybody gets it on the ship. They know exactly what we're doing for the day We're grown ass adults. We have to learn time management. As an officer, as a company officer, your biggest thing is making sure everybody goes home and managing the time of your crew. And in our minds, we we think, okay guys, look, if you can give me until noon, I want you to bust your asses. I don't want to be out there. We're not training every day six hours. It's not, it's not realistic because at the end of the day, you're gonna have burnout. So, you know, and God only knows if we are out there and we're sweating and it's August in Louisiana. I mean Two hours, you're you're you're headache, dehydrated. It doesn't matter. So let's go out, let's hit the core points, let's let's make sure we we get the goals and objectives that we wanted to hit, and then we go inside and do a tabletop the the the idea of we didn't have time to train is that's an excuse.

Kyle Schufford: That's all that is. You always have time to train. You can go train when you're going to the fuel to get fuel. You can go train when you go to the store You can train while you're riding in the truck, coming back from a call, going to a call. It doesn't matter. There's always time to train. You as an officer have to manage that time and keep the people in your on your crew engaged. Corley: No, it's beautiful because it's called the company standard for a reason. And that's because the company sets the standard. And yeah, your department can absolutely set a standard that you need to meet. And and and if they provide you the resources and the time available to do so, you should absolutely meet that standard. But that's not most people's scenario. Most people's scenario is busy work and duties that have nothing to do with training, all crowding out the calendar. Meanwhile, you're expected, but Kyle crushes it. You're ultimately the one that's responsible for their for their competitions. Yeah, everything. Everything. No, 100% great great answer. Great, great question. Man, you guys are killing it tonight. Absolutely killing it. Love it. the other part on that is buy-in because he talked about it. Taking them out there in the two hours in Louisiana heat. Depending on where you're at, of course. But go to your crew because every crew is different. You could have a crew full of go-getters where you almost have to pull the reins back You know, and most company officers would kill for that. Well, most company officers who were into the job would kill for that. But you could also have crews that aren't aren't that plugged in, aren't you know, they the people that would If given a choice, I'd rather go sit in the day room. And the key to it is is getting to know them and and and getting their buy-in to the training and say, listen, what will you give me? What will you give me? I'll give you this, you give me this. And I'm not saying transactional. But it is getting that buy-in by letting them have part ownership of what makes what makes them go?

Kyle Schufford: What makes them go? I mean that's and now I mean You know, it's like I said, I talk about my crews and and I I'm lucky. I really am. I have I have some very, very good firefighters and officers under me I think our age, we figured out the other night, our age is up there. I mean, my youngest guy is 31 or 32, and that's a firefighter. so I have some older guys, but even then you still have you still have a lot of hurdles you got to cross with with older guys because you're dealing with I'm older. you know I I know this or I've done this, you know, who are you? I've kind of dealt with guys that that I've been on the job and they got on a little later and they're the same age as me. And I have I I I've ranked and And I'm not one that I'm I'm gonna pull rank. I don't I don't like doing that if if we're training, I'm gonna try and go out there with them unless something's going on. But You have guys that are younger that are sitting there are the same age as you and lower rank or seniority, and they come on like, who are you to tell me? We're the same age. Like it's it's not about age and it's about respect and you gotta figure out how to earn that respect. and and again make make sure you know how your guys and girls tick because Something that works for one person is not going to work for the other. And that's, again, that's learning how to manage your people is a big, big hurdle.

Corley: No, man, without a doubt. Dude, you've got you've crushed questions. I want to get back to one of your topics. I and man, work-life balance, mental health, and staying in love with the job. I love this topic. It's a hot topic right now in the fire service. I'd like to touch on it because you are heavily involved in the job. And then you also put a lot of your own energy into something that is very much into the job. And so talk to me about the work-life balance. Kyle Schufford: It's tough. it took me a long time and I still don't have it figured out. you know, I I think I've I've cheated my wife and kids because of the job. you know, going to I always thought I had to be, you know, like we talked earlier, my one of my captains, my first captain told me anything that they they offer, sign up for. Well, that's great, but make sure that you have parameters on that because it's great as a young firefighter to where you don't have the the kids or the wife. And you may, but you have to you have to understand like And this is gonna sound really bad to say, once you leave this job, this job's still gonna go on without you. Oh yeah. It's it's gonna continue. You know, I I don't want to say I'm gonna say, but you're you're just a number, you know, because they're gonna continue, but what's not gonna continue is what you have at home. You have to make sure that you know that just as much as you nourish your your profession. And you have to learn how to balance that because there it goes both ways. You can have somebody that that's worried about home. And not so much the job, you got to try and figure out how to get them. Okay, look, well, I'm not telling you not to worry about your family. That is not what I'm telling you. But you have to you we have to be responsible enough on the job. But for me, it was You know, I was gone. I was go, go, go. I I'll take classes and I get home at five or six o'clock at night on my days off. And and it just it wore on me. And I I know it wore on on my wife and and two girls, but You know, they always feel it's like, oh, Kyle's in, or dad's in a mood, you know, let's stay away from them.

Kyle Schufford: you know what? It it's it's tough. And I'll tell you, you know, I've the mental health side of it, I've struggled with it for a long time. And I don't I try not to, I haven't put it out there. You know, my wife, she'll probably watch this later and, you know, tell probably yell at me for this, but You know, she has anxiety. And, you know, when she starts to have that, you know, those anxious moments, and I try and tell her something, she's like, you don't know what we're what I'm going through. You don't have it. and going and Buying into this job and doing everything that we possibly can, it wears on you mentally. seeing what we see that no one ever should see, and then trying to keep it from your family because they don't need to hear about it. They don't need to see it. That wears on it. And, you know, there's times where we keep it cool, calm, collected in front of people. And then on the side, we're we're We're dying. You know, we're dying on the inside. there's times I'm I'm driving down the road and you know something triggers it and I just start like I tear up my eyes. I don't know what the hell it is. And I know it's either I've put too much into something, I'm stressed out, or You know, I'm going down the road and like well I've just I've fucking lost it. Like I I don't know what's going on and take a breath and you smack yourself in the face and like get get your handle on it So mental health is real. I don't care if you think that you're the strongest firefighter that's ever come to this world. It's gonna wear on you. The things that we see and the things that we do are gonna wear on us We have to be able to separate and disconnect from the job at times. I think I sent you one of the things is being too passionate actually will bring you it bring you on a downside to this job because this job doesn't doesn't give back what you put into it. and I'm not bashing this job. I love this job with all my heart. I will do everything I can, but I've put a lot into it.

Kyle Schufford: And like I said, at the end of the day, you you go home and you're you the the department continues with you. That seat that you were just in is filled by somebody else. When you retire, you know, congratulations, you had a party, people are going to mention your name at a dinner table and tell about all the stupid shit that you did. But at the end of the day, you're you're just gonna be a number. You might be a name on the wall. and you gotta understand that that that's the family aspect of it. You have to be to separate that. And I've struggled with that for 19 years. and I think I've finally got it to where I go home and I try and put my family first. I try and sit with the girls. And look, my my my daughters are seventeen and about to be fourteen and and they're at the age where, you know, we were talking about before was that I I'm dad, but hey, look, my friends are going to do something. I'm out. So, you know, it's it's hard. The mental health part of it is very hard. And and what I'll tell you is try and Find somebody that you can talk to. Find somebody that you can relate to and find those other firefighters. The mental health thing that used to be the stigma of we don't talk about it, that's that's in the past, man. Move on. Let's let's start talking about it. Let's start figuring out because the the suicide and the drugs and the alcohol. I mean that's It's not worth it. It really isn't. So we have to be our brother's keeper. You know, we we throw that around all the time. Then we need to start being that person.

Corley: Beautiful. No, no, and and I think a lot of people understand exactly what you mean when you're talking about driving down the road and something hit you. I mean, I think everybody who's done this job for any length of time knows exactly that moment. And it's not any specific thing, it's just hit you. And so, and and one thing that really drove it home for me, we had a we had a battalion chief retire after, I don't know, 37 years on the department. And everybody, I mean, for me, he was a huge mentor. And I remember saying, holy smokes, when he leaves this place, the wheels are going to come off this place. Like there's no way this place can run without him. And he left. He walked out the door, drove off. And it was like fate because the tones dropped. Like as he was the gate was closing on him. And the tones dropped. And people got on the rig and took off to take that call. And it just hit me. It's like It's just gonna keep on rolling. The tones are gonna keep dropping. The calls are gonna still be made. And it's just the way it's the nature of the job, the nature of the beast. And it doesn't mean that it's not the greatest job on earth. It is Yep. So no, great, great, great. Yeah, absolutely. Let me s let me swing back over to the questions. To the questions. I want to see if there's any others I want to draw grab. There's still a good dozen questions sitting here. I like it. There's a lot of different ones. I like this one. Do you see the fire service ever getting away from the IFSA Fire Academy to a more real-world job training style academy? That comes from Jim Ed Mills. I like the question, the hypothetical What's your what's your take?

Kyle Schufford: My opinion is no. You gotta have the standards. You gotta have some kind of standard because if you go to the real world life I mean, what we were talking about earlier, every every place is different. You know, every even in Louisiana, every city, every department, they do their own do things their their their way. When you train to a standard such as IFSTA pro board, it's all a standard. You have to hit certain JPRs for that competency. and like I said, you're building that foundation. so no, I don't I don't ever see us going away to a rookie or an academy or a rookie school or however you want to say this just based on real life because we have to get to that that standard for them. It's we owe that to them. Corley: Yeah they all the the what I'll tack on to what Kyle says is the actual changing of the standards what would have to change. Because all the standards, the the the JPR exists for the reason. The 1001 exists for a reason or whatever it's becoming now, whatever the new one is. is becoming now it exists for a reason it's because there was a time when everybody just kind of did their own thing and some people had no training whatsoever and and It was just the authority having jurisdiction. The AHJ got to got to signify who was what. And we actually created a standard. And that's the reason these academies exist. And that's the reason why. It is set where it's at because that's what's something that everybody should meet as a baseline, but it does not mean you're ready.

Kyle Schufford: It's like that old adage, you know, every policy has a name on it. Yeah. There's a reason why this policy is in in effect. And the standards are there's a reason why the standards are the standards. And it's because of of past experiences, past, you know, the history that something something happened to make that that standard what it is. Corley: And I hate the term minimum standard because, you know, it's just a standard. It's not a minimum, but it that is what it is. It is a minimum that you could meet and still be say that you've met the standard. And if we went away from that I don't know what that looks like without changing like raising the standard is what making the standard more realistic. That might be a discussion to have. But getting rid of it. And saying everybody gets to do their own thing would get us into because some people's own thing is hey guys, let's just say we did it. And there we go. Let's go watch, let's go watch Step Brothers. Yeah, absolutely. And I love Step Brothers, but Okay, this gets us to book or books that you think firefighters should be reading.

Kyle Schufford: Okay, so it's not a firefighter book. It is A leadership book. So we had this this guy come for a our keynote Jason Redman. Oh yeah. The trident forged and unforgiving of a Navy sea leader. This the story of that is incredible. And it goes into a lot of what we're talking about, especially with the passion. You know, going down, starting high, going down to that valley, getting high again. You know, that's that's he did that. He he got to the pinnacle of his career as a Navy SEAL and then made some bad decisions and and different decisions brought him to going back to being an army ranger. That's where they put him. And then he went back and and worked his way back and And ended up getting his his rank back. And, you know, I say we went he got to the mountain and then he was in a firefight. and if y'all ever have seen or heard his story, it's incredible. He was shot multiple times. And this this book kind of goes into it and it talks a lot about his perseverance and how He after he hit that mountain, he came back down after he got injured and had to relearn everything. and once he did he got back to where he is now and now he's He's telling people his story and and explaining what it goes into, you know, how he got out of it because the man was I think he had I I I think on one of them it said he had probably 30 surgeries on just his face. one of his arms he you can tell he he has partial use in it, but and talking to him, he's you know he's a down-to-earth. Oh, guy that just I mean and it also talks about his his marriage, you know, what how how strong his marriage is because of it. in all the trials and tribulations. So if you're a a leader in the fire service, whether you're from firefighter to chief, that's that's one of those books that I would recommend reading. And it's the tried it's an awesome Jason Redmond. The Trident Jason Redman, the forging and reforging of a Navy SEAL leader.

Corley: Love it. Awesome, brother. All right. We have a thing we do. It is called the Five Questions for Firefighters. This is the 5. 0 version. There are no right answers. There are only your opinions. And the points are arbitrary assigned by me with the help of the YouTube audience. So Kyle Schufer, are you ready for the five questions for Firefight? Right. Here we go. Number one. You can do anything in the world except be a firefighter. What would you choose to be? Kyle Schufford: I'm gonna go to the lamest thing ever. I'm gonna be a teacher. went to college to be a teacher, American history teacher in high school. I had some impactful teachers in high school. so that's what that's what I would do. Corley: I don't think it was lame. I was surprised when you said it was lame. Kyle Schufford: That's what my reaction was, because I think that's a lot of words coaches, fighter pilots, astronauts. Right Corley: I think it's awesome. American history specifically, you have a passion for it? Kyle Schufford: I do. I do. It's just something that I always love, love learning about. Corley: Awesome. No, teacher as one of the, I think One of the greatest anyway, no, I could I could go on and on and on about teaching. So I absolutely love it. Max points out the gate. No, one for one. The only thing that made me hesitate was when you said it's lame. I'm like, no. Wrong answer. Wrong, but no, I can't.

Kyle Schufford: My wife's gonna kill me because she's a teacher. So I'm gonna get home and she's gonna get you in trouble. Corley: Number two, it's job town. It is time Yeah, there we go. Max points. Teachers are often the first mentors in a kid's life. There's no doubt about that, man. I can't there's there's teachers I still think about that had a huge impact on me We need more good quality teachers. 100%. So yeah, you're everybody agrees except for the lame part. That's the caveat. And that's for Mrs. Schuford also. Number two, it's job town. It's time. You're in route and responding, just like the scene from Backdraft, slapping that tape into that cassette deck. What song are you playing while in route? Kyle Schufford: All right. So most of the time when we were on the in route, it was always something with a call. Like whatever the call had, we we would just start singing. But when you're gonna put me on spot, so right above it from Lil Wayne and Drake. Corley: Right above it. Kyle Schufford: Lil Wayne and Drake. Give a little Louisiana nod too with Lil Wayne. Corley: We're getting there. I don't know. I mean everybody knows it's not my wheelhouse, so I will have to take it. With Wheezy, you get max point. One, two, two for two, max points. Yeah. Dirk 121 said Louisiana native LFG so there you go. Two for two. Number three, cold weekend at the station. Cold weekend at the station. Checks are done, truck checks are done, training is done, you put in your PT. In other words, you're not being lazy. You've taken care of business. The food is cooking in the crock pot and you're in the day room and lazy day now. You're clicking through the channel. Nobody cares what's on. Everybody says, I don't care. I don't care. I don't. What's the movie you stop and watch? All of No matter what point you got to it, no matter how many commercials you gotta sit through, what's that movie for you?

Kyle Schufford: Alright, so Well I'm gonna keep it the the holiday feel. National lampoons, Christmas vacation. Christmas vacation where it is, I'm gonna turn on and watch them. You know, we have me and my buddy joke all the time. You know, one of the One of the quotes, you know, Merry Christ Christmas, kiss my ass, kiss his ass, kiss your ass, happy Hanukkah. You know, that we tell each other that all the time. but National Lampoons, Christmas Corley: I love it. I absolutely love it. Max points three for three. Number four is on the clock. Now here's the new rules. It started last week. New rules are you have to get done before the clock is over. Talking about the answer to the question. You can't give four names and then talk for five minutes about the people You get one minute or you don't get max points. And so who are your Kyle Schuford's four people he would put on the Mount Rushmore of the fire service? Go Kyle Schufford: All right, so two are gonna be personal, two are gonna be legends. There's legends, Todd Edwards, that dude has no brakes. I've seen more of Todd Edwards' leg Last year lift. He's he his passion and desire to make others better is on match. The second one, Mike Dugan. Mike Dugan, he is a legend. Period. Nothing else needs to be said. My personal ones is my first captain, Eric Schneider. He was my fire daddy. Taught me more about being a firefighter and doing it the right way than anybody else. And then lastly, he's going to hate me doing this, but it is my brain and the everything, all the operations. Mike Campbell. Dude's the epitome of a firefighter. Hard work, integrity, brutal honesty. He'll tell you if you like it or not. lift wouldn't be what it is without him.

Corley: Boom. 48 seconds, four for four, max points. Todd Edwards, Mike Dugan, dude, two of the best dudes on the planet, 100%. And then Eric Schneider, Mike Campbell. Personal. Personal. And you said he's the brains. You're the brawn. He's the brains. Kyle Schufford: He's the brains. I'm not even the brawn. You're just the work. I mean, I think he's he's got oh yeah. Corley: I love it. No, absolutely love it. Max points four for four. On time, follow the rules, set the follow the expectation. And so that takes us to the final question, the question that never changes. Heavy fire, searchable space Would you rather be assigned to the nozzle or first in on that VES? Kyle Schufford: All right, Nozzleman. This is all my my rescue guys are gonna go against me, but Nozzleman. fire goes away, so do most of your problems. VES serves saves a person. The nozzle saves everyone. Corley: I can't argue. I can't argue with the logic, and that's why I asked the question because I love to hear people's logic. And that officially makes it five for five, max points by Kyle Schuford. That officially puts 332 scraps in the books. If people want to get a hold of you, find out more information, find out about Liv, find out about Louisiana, find out about anything you've talked about tonight, what's the best way to do so?

Kyle Schufford: Email. Best way to email me is the world's longest email, but it's Kyle or K Schufer. K-S-H-U-F-O-R-D at Louisiana Firefighters. com. It's all spelled out. L-O-U-I-S-I-A-N-A-Firefighters. com. Corley: That is a long email. It is a very long email, sir. Okay, where am I? Let me find my notes. Yeah, I'm still pulling up the notes. All right. Two things before I'm done with you. First one is I need a challenge. to give to the audience that they need to accomplish before the next scrap next Tuesday. Kyle Schuffert's challenge to the scrap listeners. Kyle Schufford: Be get comfortable being uncomfortable. Go out and do something that you normally wouldn't do. And that goes for you and your crew. Make them make them uncomfortable, but make them learn how to be comfortable doing that. That's the biggest thing. And I was I was taught that And it was brought up to me about a year ago again. Start getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Corley: Nice. Nice. I love it. Find something you're not comfortable doing. Make yourself do it. Great challenge. Second thing is who needs to be on the scrap or come back on the scrap. Either one. So I because there's been a lot of guests, and even I forget who's been on. So who do you want to see have another scrap or have a scrap?

Kyle Schufford: So there's this guy, there's a guy that I've I've come pretty pretty close with, Eric Johnson. He is the owner and operator of Squad 58 training. That dude is passionate and loves this job. And he's very into the training aspect of it. Great dude, Eric Johnson. Corley: Okay, I got it written down. We'll add it to the list because there is a long list and I always go to it when it's time to start booking. Housekeeping time. Go to patreon. com slash the vigilantes. If you're not a vigilante, I'd I can't I I talk about it every week. We're getting ready to have an after party where we're gonna go in, we're gonna bust Kyle's chops about how how he did on the scrap. It's vigilante-only after party. It's a lot of fun. The best thing is the Discord. The Discord, there's so much going on in there. it's hard to explain. If you want to find like-minded souls, if you want to find support, if you want to am is posting the link to the after party as we speak, coming up next week on the scrap, Anthony Kasanis. That's gonna be I I'm excited for this one. I'm excited. I I'm excited every week. I don't know why. It almost becomes white noise when I say I'm excited And then following that is the end of the year special, Rick Lasky coming on for the third year in a row to close out. Chief Rick Lasky is going to close out the year. We're going to look at the year 2025 in review and talk about the state of the fire service. with Mr. Pride in ownership himself. And I, man, I love having conversations with that man. So bring your questions. It's going to be a good time over the next few weeks as we close out 2025. All right, enough jabbing for me. Let's get to the after party. Thank you once again, Kyle Schuford, for, dude, an unbelievably fun and knowledgeable scrap. Audience. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you all. Oh, 100%. You make the scrap magical each and every week. It would not exist without you. Without you, the scrap. Is just me and Kyle having a an enjoyable conversation without any interruptions. And that's no fun at all. So thank you for showing up. Thank you for your questions.

Corley: You guys make it great. I love you all. So months don't scrap. I hope the tones stay silent unless it is burning. Speaker 5: This job will never be safe. So stay smart out there.