Weekly Scrap #231 - Robert RJ Wynne, Authenticity and Challenges

Corley: Alright everyone, the scrap will be starting soon. And while everybody's logging in, while we're getting ready with the guest, I wanted to talk about this. The V50. Lots of people have heard about it. The V50. I am very, very proud of this. It started out a few years ago as a journaling project that I did for myself, and then I shared it with the vigilantes And over 70 vigilantes did the first trial run as we did it together. And then they helped edit And revise it and form it into what it is now, the V50 that you currently know. All about conquering yourself And it really is. The V50 is about this right here. It is body, mind, soul, and goals. Body, mind, soul, and goals. You set goals for yourself each and every day. The system is built in where you can set up each day that you want to set up. And then you prove to yourself that you are who you say you are. It's the V50 commitment. I'm super proud of it. You do it for a 50-day commitment, a 50-day commitment of the V50 Body, mind, soul, and goals. And you prove to yourself that you have the ability to set goals and then crush those goals. Proving to yourself you are. Who you say you are. It's a great way to build confidence. It's a great way to be a more effective person So I'm super proud of it. The body, mind, soul, and goals. It's all explained in the front of the book. And there's instructions All about conquering yourself. You can see this is a scoring page from Deep In It as I as I traveled through the V50 at the end of last year. I'm now in my third iteration of doing the V50 And it will make you it will form habits for you, it will it will make you a more effective person if you are willing to take on the commitment and complete the commitment. So I'm excited about it. I wanted to share it. The V50, Conquer yourself, you can find it. On FirehouseVigilance. com, of course the Vigilanties can find it in the Vigilantes Wagshop. V50. Conquer yourself Go get yourself one. Make the commitment. Make the make the commitment with your crew, your shift, your battalion. It's it is powerful.

Corley: It will make you a more effective person and I wanted to share it. So there you go. V50. Now let's get ready for the scrap. Starting soon, We are live, but we are not going yet because I am still pasting a stream key Hitting the button. Trying to go live on Instagram while we're going live here, so just bear with me Clicking the button there, messing with it You're good. You're good. Let's go. Let's go. Don't worry. Don't worry. This is all normal. Keep logging in. Keep logging in. We are going live. We're trying for the first time ever on the weekly scrap to go live at the same time on Instagram. But we've never done it before. So We're actually seeing if it will work here. And so far I'm having no luck doing so. Copying that. Let me try one more time here. Stop streaming. Stop recording. Everybody just come on. Keep on logging in. Get your questions ready for Robert. I will get there. I promise you. Robert Wynn: No easy questions. Corley: Only hard, fast curveballs. We'll try clicking this. Let me see. Connecting. Everybody, keep it coming. I'm not I'm not even interacting with the audience at the moment. I'm gonna try this one more time. One more time, then I'm gonna give it up. Weekly scrap number 231. Public. Next. Copy the stream key Robert, you feel awkward yet? No, I'm ready. This is the beauty of a live live show. You don't have to worry about it. All right, here we go. I'm gonna try I'm gonna try clicking this button. This is the last time I'm gonna try it. If it does not work, we're not going to mess with it tonight. Five All right. Once you're steaming oh I'm gonna copy this one time. I'm about to try one more thing and then I will really mean it. I I really do mean that this is the last time I'm trying it

Robert Wynn: Thanks everybody in the audience for being patient. Trying to take the weekly scrap to a whole nother level Corley: Man, it worked so beautifully this afternoon and now it won't. So all that being said, I'm closing Instagram. It ain't happening tonight. Weekly scrap, number 231. My guest tonight is Robert Wynn. He is 34 years old, dedicated, follower of Christ. He is a proud and grateful husband to his wife and his two incredible kids, not to mention A third one on the way in August. He's a fire apparatus engineer for Cal Fire, assigned to the MERSAD division. He has eight years in the fire service, is a state fire training instructor. He serves on multiple training cadres inside. Outside his department. Robert has a unique perspective to the oath, the mission, vision, and values of the American Fire Service. Robert credits who he is to the adversity and challenges that he has faced. overcome and is continually fighting to overcome, it is my pleasure to welcome Robert Wynne as my guest to Weekly Scrap number 231. Welcome, my brother. Robert Wynn: Corley, thank you so much. I'm really, really grateful to be here. I'm excited. I want to thank you and all the viewers that are tuning in and everybody else who's going to watch this or listen to it later. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day.

Corley: Brother, I'm excited to have you here. I'm excited for the conversation we're about to have. I'm going to catch you up on the on the the Com the the comments that that were coming in while I was messing around with Instagram. So Scott Hoke said, vigilantes in the house. LFG, LFG. Let's go checking in from Idaho from Charles Freeman. Stoked for tonight's scrap. Eddie Ivey, Greensboro, North Carolina. LFG from Neil Tito Scott Hoke says, I have no idea what the hat is, but it looks cool. AF. Now I want one. Ha ha. And absolutely CDF. And I do, I wanted to say that, Robert. I like this one even better than the last design because this one is very, very clear Robert Wynn: Change the CDF. Corley: Oh yeah, man. Robert Wynn: Change the culture, change the department, change the future. Corley: That's it. I love it. I love the message. We're going to talk about it. Daniel Vanduela said castle training checking in from the room next door Robert Ramirez. All sorts of people checking in. Max points already from Sean Bryant. It's a little early for Max Points, Sean, but we're absolutely getting it on. Here we go. Checking in from Illinois from James River. Okay, so everybody, thank you for putting up with the beginning. we tried something new. We were gonna go live on Instagram. Maybe it will happen next week man we thought we had it dialed in today but it did it it did not happen here going live so all that being said robert is there anything i missed in the intro anything you want to add

Robert Wynn: Corley, you crush it. I just I just want to, you know, publicly state that, you know, I I just want to lead this podcast in in my faith and allow God to to work in in his magnificent way. And I do want to give a huge shout out to my wife, Sandra. She's been holding it down and continues to hold it down. She is my best friend and I learn so much from her every single day. Corley: Love it. So all that done, let's do the beautiful sponsors. Let's get the sponsors done. The OG sponsor of the scrap is Keyhose. com. And there you go. We are through the sponsors We are ready to talk some firefighter stuff with a ton of beautiful people who are logging in to check out this scrap. So let's kick it off. Robert, I'm gonna just kick it to you. Right out the gate, not really a question, just kind of a, I want to throw to you and say your story of getting into the fire service and your story, the the Is it safe to say a convoluted journey along the way? Robert Wynn: Absolutely. It's filled with a a beautiful, wonderful journey of adversity and challenges that I think that a lot of people may be able to relate to even if it wasn't as significant or if it's more significant than mine.

Corley: Right on. Well lead it off and and and basically how it started and and go. Robert Wynn: Yeah, so I was I was the firstborn in my in my generation. my mom had myself and two sisters and I believe in transparency and vulnerability, so I'm just gonna go ahead and rip my heart wide open and give it to the to the viewers that are here listening early on I was exposed to a lot of physical and mental and emotion emotional trauma from my father. My father left at a very early age My mom shortly left after that to get into the military. She thought that it was best to sign her parental rights over to my grandparents. So at a very early age, I started dealing with a lot of abandonment, a lot of neglect, a lot of acceptance issues So throughout my childhood, I started to involve, get myself involved with a lot of different individuals just to kind of fill those voids from not having that from my parents. Fast forwarding to high school, my grandparents did everything that they could to try to really give me the best life that they could. I played sports, baseball, football, basketball. I excelled in school, but I was kind of living a double life. And throughout high school I wind up getting around the wrong crowd, making some wrong decisions and choices, and just kind of getting sucked into the enemy's world. And just really making some wrong turns. Shortly after graduation, I started to seek out a relationship with my father. And it was probably one of the best, worst decisions that I ever made in my life. in that, my father, there was only one thing that he was really concerned about his entire life, and that's where he was gonna get the next fix from. I knew my father didn't want anything to do with me unless there was some type of value or some type of purpose that would benefit him and the things that he was doing. And I was let go from a job that I had due to not being a responsible young man. And in that moment I decided to reach out to some of the friends that I had acquired throughout high school, the wrong crowd of course. And I started selling drugs to my dad. And I thought that it was a win-win.

Robert Wynn: I can put some money in my pocket and I can get to know my dad. Unfortunately. That if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. So eventually I wind up doing drugs with my dad. And that's when my life really kind of got turned upside down After being consumed in a life that I never was exposed to before around a whole bunch of individuals that want nothing to do except to consume you and everything about you and and don't care about you, I begin to s start to develop that same mentality. About six months after doing drugs with my father, I wind up getting arrested for it was a drug deal gone bad. And I wind up getting sentenced to 10 years in state prison in California I did seven and a half years of that time and during that time early on I really didn't get to learn my lesson. I still had the same mindset. I was still hanging around people that had the victim mindset I would say of Everything is everybody else's fault, not dealing with the trauma mentally, emotionally, or physically that I had been exposed to as a child. So about three years into my incarceration is really when I started to Realized that this was not the life that I wanted to live anymore. I was in multiple prisons throughout California, level three all the way down to minimum custody, but I woke up one day in my cell. And my my neighbor next to me in a cell, his name is Justin Westmoreland, he invited me to church. And I shared with him that I didn't want to do this anymore. I had everything that you could possibly want while being incarcerated. And I wanted to give it all up. I had nothing. I didn't feel like I was anyone. My entire family that did support me was on the outside. I had no real communication with them. I was really far away I had no direction in life at all whatsoever. And I started going to church. And while I was going to church, I met a lot of individuals in there that were never going home. People that were sentenced to life in prison. And these individuals They have a parole board and so they get to go before a group of people and they have to share with those group of people why they feel that they should be released back into society.

Robert Wynn: And so they have to do a lot of reflection. They have to do a lot of insight on why they committed the crime that they did and what led up to them committing the crime that they did. And I noticed that somebody who gets released from prison that is sentenced to life, they have less than a 1% chance of returning to prison But somebody who doesn't have to work nearly as hard or to prove themselves worthy of going back into society, eight out of ten people wind up going back to prison So the decision was really, really easy for me. So I didn't want to be the seven or eight out of ten coming back. I wanted to be the less than one percent that never came back to the situation that I was currently encountering And so I did what they did. I went to self-help groups. I started, I started to really reflect on who I was as a person. And it was probably Corley was probably the hardest thing that I ever had to do in my life was walk back to the very first time that I was traumatized by my father physically, mentally, and emotionally. I had to unbecome everything that I wasn't. I had to walk through that journey. with nobody, no friends, nobody to turn to, just me and my personal relationship with God. And it was hard. It was tough, especially in an environment where nobody wants you to succeed. being incarcerated with individuals that don't want to see you be better and don't want to see you do better and trying to thrive in that environment is very, very, very challenging. It's almost like the I would say it's almost like the the 1% of firefighters who want to change the culture that's fighting against the 99% that just want to do the status quo. And so I embedded myself in the Word of God. I embedded myself into the self-help groups and I started facilitating these self-help groups. And I found a lot of pleasure and a lot of satisfaction in being able to help other individuals with similar experiences navigate through life's trauma that was through at them from a very early age. And then about three years before my release, I went to committee. Every year you go to committee and my points had dropped to a level one, which is minimum security.

Robert Wynn: And the warden of the institution at that time asked me what I wanted to do. Funny story is that the one positive memory I do have with my father, I was about four years old in Sacramento, California, Station 17. is maybe about a four minute walk from my house. when my mom and dad were still together, my dad took me to that fire station. They have an engine and a truck working out of there And I told the warden that one of my childhood dreams was to become a firefighter and I didn't know that God would take me through this journey through incarceration. And it would be an honor to be able to serve as an inmate firefighter for the state of California. And so she granted my request and I was sent to a prison that had a firehouse. Once I was sent to that prison, I had a request to interview with the fire chief and two fire captains. They came to interview me. Two weeks after that, God blessed me with an opportunity to work at a firehouse at a prison institution. I went out there. My very first experience of a firehouse was two type one engines doing a forward lay and pulling cross lays. I was like, this is the best thing ever. And immediately I got to work helping re bed and hose. They kind of showed me the ropes. They kind of showed me the station. The station is outside the prison yard. We had automatic aid and mutual aid agreements with the local agencies that were in the surrounding area. We will we serve both prison institutions that were there on state property for all EMS and all fire inspections, all state fire marshal stuff. And that's really when I began my journey with the fire service. So I took everything that I have learned through my past experiences of early childhood trauma. And the things that I was able to put in my toolbox about unbecoming everything that I wasn't and having a very disciplined and consistent mindset. And I just poured it into the fire service. 365 days a year, 24-7. I never had a day off in the fire service when I was incarcerated. Every day I read, every day I studied, every day I trained. And in prison with those other seven in fighters, it's a it's a very, very highly sought job while you're incarcerated.

Robert Wynn: You get to make your own food, you have your own sleeping quarters, it's a real firehouse. You don't have to deal with the prison politics. You don't have to deal with the correctional officers or anything that's going on the inside. But one thing that you do have to deal with is individuals that don't want to be better. They just want to do the bare minimum. I was in several physical and mental confrontations with other inmate firefighters there because I was So to me, the fire service in essence really gave me an opportunity to capitalize on things that I've learned from my early childhood trauma and the things that I was able to overcome and experience. And that's why I'm really so passionate about the fire service for the opportunity that it has given me to be able to serve in a greater capacity than I ever thought. After being incarcerated I paroled from the state of California with over 21 certifications, state certifications, and the captains and the chief They how hungry I was. They put me in contact with a few people in Southern California. I became a volunteer shortly after being incarcerated. And I knew that one department, specifically in California, you know, gave people a second chance, individuals who may have a record who have gotten in some trouble. And that was Cal Fire, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And there was a couple other things that I had to do to get fully qualified to become a seasonal employee with them. So I worked, I worked four tens at a water distribution company and I volunteered at the fire station Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I'd leave Monday morning and go back to work. That was my life. was able to build relationships with other local agencies and training centers in the surrounding area, volunteered my time to to help train and go train at those at those training facilities and I met a chief who told me that they were putting on a class, the last class that I actually needed to be able to qualify as a seasonal employee for Cal Fire. At that time, I transitioned from Southern California to Northern California to be closer to my family. I was gone, you know, seven and a half years from them. So I wanted to start rebuilding some relationships with my family.

Robert Wynn: I met my wife shortly after I paroled from from prison. That was an that was probably the biggest contributing factor to me moving back to Sacramento. I didn't want her to slip through my fingertips. And I moved back to Sacramento. The class was held in San Bordino, about six and a half hours away. I had very little money. I had no car. I asked my grandmother if I can use her car, drove all the way down to San Bordino to take the Cal Fire Basic, which is at the time was the golden standard for you to become an employee with Cal Fire. It was their training, their way. And it is it was what you needed to do to become an employee. Corley: Right. Robert Wynn: And I drove down there. I slept in my car. I had a 24-hour gym membership. So that's where I would shower after trainings. I I did the subway foot-long deal of the day just to eat lunch and dinner because I was so passionate and hungry to become a member of of the fire service. And I was just really grateful to be able to be a part of something that was greater than myself. I I really, really want to highlight in in what I'm sharing specifically for this moment is is a lot of the things that we may find that's that's troublesome or or or difficult or why are we going through these things I think that if we just take a take a second and kind of take a step back and look at how grateful we should be for all the different things that we do have, that we do have the opportunity for the things that that are in front of us and the things that are coming in the future. I was able to get that class and I I applied with Cal Fire. for those of you that don't know what Cal Fire is, it's it's If not the or one of the largest departments to where over 12,000 employees, we operate from the Oregon border all the way down to the Mexico border. We have an executive team. We have 21 different units. So basically 21 unit chiefs. Our primary mission is the state mission, but we also contract with local governments, county and city to provide fire protection services We have state fire marshals.

Robert Wynn: We have pipeline inspectors. We have law enforcement. We have training bureaus. We have one of the largest training bureaus in the country. And I'm I'm very proud to be a part of of this department called Cal Fire. Right all. but I applied to the training center to work in the kitchen just to be a maintenance aide and help serve food for the students that were going through the required training to elevate their careers. And so my very first experience with Cal Fire was serving the people that were going to serve the people. And I didn't take that for granted. And every day in that kitchen in in those four walls, it has our mission, vision, and values up on those walls for you to look at every time that you sit down and eat a meal. Right all and so I was able to experience that. Shortly after that, I became a seasonal employee with Cal Fire. I did three seasons as a seasonal employee supporting the state mission, fighting some of the most destructive wildland fire fire fires in in US history and then I wind up promoting fire apparatus engineer. which is my current rank now. I worked in Napa County and I currently transferred to Merced County to come work. at a 1-0 station I currently work on by myself on a fire engine and serving 47 square miles.

Corley: There you go. That is the that is the condensed version. Robert Wynn: Yeah. I'm sorry I had to cut it short. There's so much information there. Corley: No, no, no. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. There's a few things I want to touch on. One is survival. Two is culture. There's, I mean, there's so much to touch on. So much to touch on. Yeah, we'll start with survival, just surviving. A part of your survival early, long before incarceration or everything that led to that, it was survival. It was connecting with your dad. It was and that led to the choices that were made and and trying to reconnect and and then of course those choices led to incarceration but in the survival I want to tie it to culture because you had to absorb the culture and try to survive in the culture. Robert Wynn: Yeah, so Charles Darwin, I I I always hear this thing and it's only the strongest survive. Well well Charles Darwin has a quote and it says that it's not the strongest that survive, it's those that are w most willing to adapt to change. And when I when I read that quote, it's something that stuck with me through all the adversity and challenges that I was facing simply because You can be the strongest mentally, emotionally, and physically, but if you can't adapt to the change that's necessary for you to elevate, then you're just going to continue to stay in the same place. And so those are things that I had to encounter with adapting to change, adapting to the culture and almost creating the culture that I wanted to be a part of. Nobody in my family has ever been a part of the fire service. Many people in my family have struggled with with drug abuse and just kind of getting by. And I didn't I didn't want that. I I I wanted more. I wanted to break that generational cycle of of

Corley: No, no, and I don't want to make this all about your incarceration time, but I do want to touch on some things people are asking what were you incarcerated for? It was drug charges. I don't know if you want to go more detail or not, but Yeah, I I was charged. Robert Wynn: I was charged with robbery. I I had a weapon. I thought I was You know, I thought I was El Chapo and some big time drug dealer, but really I was just somebody that was addicted to a drug that really took over my life and I made some poor decisions. I wound up getting charged with with robbery with a gun possession And I got sentenced to 10 years state prison. Corley: There you go. now surviving while incarcerated. Did you have to like I was listening to Fit to Fight Fire, so your story of the initial like you have to pick a side Robert Wynn: Yes. Corley: You have to pick a culture, basically, because I mean I what I'm wanting to know is how much of that does that affect your belief in culture and your your your outlook on culture, if that makes sense what I'm saying.

Robert Wynn: 100%. So while being incarcerated, there's predominantly you know four four prison gangs, you could say, and these people are ready to die for their cause. These people are are are ready to kill for their cause. And I have a battalion chief, battalion chief Brian White, and when him and I sit down at the at the kitchen table, he's he always brings up how how do leaders of terrorist organizations convince people to strap explosive device to their chests and go murder people. Like how come we can't have that same influence? How come we can't have that same impact? on the American fire service. These people were willing to walk into a store and blow it up and to tie it back to to culture. while being incarcerated, it's life or death. There's no in-between. You you either support it or you don't and I think that the the key takeaways that I got from that while being in the current position that I am now and trying to have the biggest fear of influence on the people that I work with, the people that I work alongside and the people that I work for is really understanding the overall mission and the vision of what we're trying to accomplish.

Corley: Dude, I want to know like people don't know our story. Like I met you I I want to say earlier this year, but it was last year because we've had a new year. And that that that trip from you you gave me back to my hotel room basically. We got to talk for an hour and I'm like, holy crap, I can ask this cat anything. And that is a vulnerability that just doesn't exist in in anywhere. And it's crazy. so I'm gonna throw some audience questions at you. Are you ready? Robert Wynn: I'm ready. Corley: First one is Scott Hoke Jr. wants to know how did your incarcerated history affect the willingness of people to work with you once you got hired? Robert Wynn: Well, for a long time I had that like subconscious idea that I was going to be judged or I was going to look down, be looked down upon. And that's a great question, by the way. So thank you. One thing that I do know is that we all have a story. Some stories are known more than others. And Corley hit it right on the head. Some of my core values, my personal core values are transparency, vulnerability. Honesty, consistency, and stability. And my wife can probably vouch for you if any of you ever get a chance to talk to her. The very first time that I talked to her on the phone, she didn't know that I was incarcerated And the very first time I got I got off the phone with her, I was with two other firefighters. We walked into a pizza parlor to get pizza. We ordered the pizza. And I told both of them at the same exact time, I have to tell her. And so I went back outside. I told my wife, Sandra, at the time, I said, there's something that I have to share with you. And it's completely okay if you don't ever want to talk to me again. But I believe in vulnerability and transparency and honesty. And I want to let you know where I've been. I want to let you know where I'm at. And I want to let you know where I'm going. And you can make your decision from there. And so that's kind of how I enter into any relationship or anybody that brings up my past. I just simply say I've been out of prison a almost six, six and a half years, and I say this is How I got to prison, this is what I've done to get to where I'm at, and this is what are this is where I'm trying to go.

Robert Wynn: And it's completely okay because it's those those specific individuals that in my personal or professional life that may have a preconceived motion about my history or about my past, it just really shows how immature they really are with themselves to even question somebody with the journey that they've been on because we all have a past, we all have a story, we all have things that we have struggled with. So hopefully hopefully that answers your question. It really doesn't affect me at all. I I think that I have I have pretty pretty thick skin. Corley: No doubt about it. following up, Scott Hoke Jr. same, same, same person. second, with the adversity of coming in as someone that has been incarcerated, how did you overcome that to build those relationships with the people you work? Robert Wynn: with action. Action, action, action. That's the only thing that I can say. So one thing that I want to highlight about incarceration. When I sit down with new firefighters and I mentor them, I said, my my objective is not just to make you a good fireman. My objective is to help make you become a better person. So For me, my personal life is my profession and my profession is my personal life. I don't flip a switch and switch characters. I don't flip a switch and switch my morals and values. I'm the same. person that you're going to meet today that I'm going to be tomorrow. So with that being said, I've been scrutinized before, but I have no sympathy for other individuals that have been incarcerated because I've been there I've overcame the drug addiction. I've overcame the abandonment. I've overcame the neglect and acceptance. And if I can do it then you can do it. And if you need a little help, I'd be more than help happy to help navigate you through some of those obstacles and shortcomings that you're going to face. And and really in my incarceration, when I look back, those are that's some of the smaller obstacles that I I've had to face and encounter. I mean, being a responsible adult, being a father, being a husband, and and trying to be the best follower of God that I can be, those those things are actually a lot harder than being incarcerated or even being judged for being incarcerated.

Corley: Man, you got questions coming. Rick Arculta wants to know, he said, Corley, ask Robert to talk about being a waterer or a grower. Robert Wynn: Rick, stretching, flowing, and moving. Thank you, man. That's a great question. My pastor, he I went to church one day and it was a marriage. It was a marriage of counseling session all the all the people that were married stayed after after church and he simply said are you a waterer or are you a planter and nobody nobody understood what he was saying and he said that You never know if you're watering a seed that somebody planted in somebody or if you're planting a seed in somebody for somebody to water later down the road. And so I've always held on to that. And so every interaction that I have with individuals, I always keep that in mind that I shouldn't have any biases. I shouldn't be judgmental. I I should be super understanding. about who they are, where they've been, where they're going, and how I can contribute to that. And I'll never know if anybody that's listening to this podcast, if I'm planting a seed or if I'm watering a seed that somebody planted years ago. And that's the whole objective. Plant seeds and water and watch them grow.

Corley: That's beautiful, man. And I hope the scrap is both. I really do. that's my goal anyway. And And absolutely, I love that analogy. Jake Deal wants to know, do you think being incarcerated has helped you? Weird question, but it has obviously had some sort of effect. Robert Wynn: Yeah, I'd I'd say it's probably one of the most impactful things that have ever happened to me. People ask if I would go back and change anything. And honestly, I wouldn't. It it's developed so much character. It's developed so much grit it it has allowed me to really truly understand who I am and who I'm not as a person. Corley: No I I I want to say we were sitting there after this after the class. We had the little social at the Chief's house. Robert Wynn: Yep. Corley: And man, there was a conversation we had about Seeing someone else's point of view basically is what it was about. And trying to it was one of those t typical questions about how do you impact the culture? How do you make a change? You know, that kind of thing. And man, your insight into it was it it It honestly blew my mind. Of course, I didn't know you at the time. This was within 30 minutes of meeting each other. And so, and it was just this whole empathetic You don't know what other people are coming from. Quick rant, basically. And that's not the right word for it. It was like a like a Like you said, just cut a vein and let it bleed. It was it was it was powerful.

Robert Wynn: If if I remember correctly, I I've had this conversation multiple times. Talking talking with my chief, you you got to really understand who you're talking to. So I'm 35, I've turned 35 this year. But when somebody comes to talk to me, if I haven't really dealt with my emotional, physical, and mental trauma you may not be talking to the 35 year old Robert. You may be talking to the four-year-old Robert. So you have to be kind of caught cognitive of where individuals are at in their rehabilitation when it comes to their emotional, mental, and physical trauma. So they may be a 35-year-old person who's super dialed when it comes to certain things, but if you bring up another topic, you may be talking to the five, six, or seven-year-old individual who has been traumatized and they don't know how to receive that information because you're dealing with that seven or eight year old for that specific thing. And so I'm really huge at getting to know people not just professionally but personally and really becoming intimate with people and really understanding who they are so you can be a better service to them and kind of navigate around some of that trauma and ultimately help them get past some of those roadblocks that they may be dealing with.

Corley: Dude, I love it. I love it. I loved it then. I loved it now. It's powerful. It's powerful. Okay, I'm gonna throw a tactical question coming at you, sort of. Mike Bloom wants to know, can you elaborate a little more on how you work an engine by yourself? Robert Wynn: Yeah, so Merced County is one of the only counties in the state of California right now that operates with 1-0 staffing. currently there's 19 stations and nine stations, well eight now. that operate with 1-0 staffing. They're currently renegotiating some contracts to get additional staffing. It's it's the Central Valley. There's not a huge revenue here, but public safety is at the forefront of everybody's mind. So I am at a station in the city of Livingston. I have a type one engine, 750 gallons of water. We have a paid call firefighter program here. the unfortunate part right now, especially in this economy, you know, people are working one or two jobs and and it's really hard to get the volunteer or paid call firefighter response that you you used to get in the past. So being here I work at one of the busiest stations in Merced County. and it's it's definitely different than where I came from. When I came from Napa County, had a great crew. Great captain, great mentor of mine, Cameron Gangman. And we had one captain and two engineers. So we were riding 3-0 staff on that piece of equipment. I would say that being 1-0, my next engine coming in is about five minutes away. So I haven't had that many structure fires in in my initial or response area where I was first at scene. But it definitely does put you in on the spot with making sure that you're not wasting any time. I think everybody on on the scrap, everybody that's listening know that time is our worst enemy. And so it just has really took my training to another level to make sure that every move that I make is is accounted for and is working towards the people that we're trying to save.

Corley: Love it. I absolutely love it. Let me look at the questions. Robert Wynn: So so this is kind of the standard. So if if I pull up first, spring baked kits. My goal, my goal is to get out, do my size up, quick 360, capture utilities if I can. Be able to identify the fire, come back, pull the cross lay, charge the line. Me personally, I'm passing command. I'm pass command to the next engine, I'm going to work. That that that's me. but the the the standard for me and everybody that I train with is you need a charge line at the front door before your next arriving engine comes in. You gotta be doing work. You're not you're not moving around. You're not Twiddling your thumbs, giving a size up, like you're you're working and moving and doing multiple things at one time. Corley: Nice. Very nice, man. I'm looking. I'm getting distracted by the chat while I try to get the next question to come at you. When it comes, I want to talk culture. I want to get to culture because you got you're wearing the hat CDF. Change the CDF and that big C, man, change the culture, change the department, or change your culture, change your department, change your future. I love it, man. I love the message of it. Talk to me about it.

Robert Wynn: Yeah, so I I've been chewing on this for quite some time and obviously super nervous with trying to create anything in a fire service. you know, we're not we're not the friendliest bunch when it comes to to good ideas or trying to do things. So I sat on this for a little while and it just really just really hit me. I was working at St. Elena Station, talking with my captain. I wrote it out on the board. He told me that it was a great idea. and supported me throughout the kind of infancy stage of of creating change the CDF. And I just kind of dove into it and I took some of my personal experiences of the culture that I came from, the culture that I experienced, and the the type of culture I wanted in the future. And and ultimately what I came up with is what type of fire department do I want responding to my great grandkids And that's that's important to me because we all know that decisions and choices that were made 20 years ago are the decisions and choices that we're dealing with today. Corley: I love that. Robert Wynn: And so having and looking at the American Fire Service and culture in the fire service today Like yes, we can we may be able to change one or two people. We may be able to change one or two stations. We may be able to change a department here and there. Which is great. And we should never stop fighting that fight. But the fight that I'm fighting is the type of fire department that I won't respond into my great grandkids when I'm not here. I I I pray that I'm here, but when I'm not here. Like, what type of people do I want responding there? And the work that we do today, the effort that we put in today, the sweat that we put in today. That's what's gonna matter 30, 40, 50 years from now. It's up to us.

Corley: Dude, I love that. Like I love what you want you rescue to you. You know, I love that mantra. You know, like be the firefighter you want responding to your house. But you're talking about a whole nother level of leave it better than you found it. Robert Wynn: Yeah. I'm sure a lot of people have heard heard the term of, you know, the Titanic was a big ship. It takes a lot to turn. And so it doesn't matter if every single person that's a member of the American Fire Service flipped the switch and wanted to change today. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done. There's still a lot of policy that needs to be changed. There's still a lot of training standards that need to be changed. There's still a lot of specs on fire apparatuses that need to be changed. There's a lot of demographics and response areas that need to be changed. So all these things, taking all these things into account. you know, every city, every county, every state, I'm I'm imagining has some type of general plan, a 10-year general plan or strategic plan. Well, I will I would like to develop something with with all the individuals who are very passionate about serving in a capacity that sets the standard, not just meets the standard, but sets the standard for a 30 or 40 year strategic plan to get to the fire department that we would want responding to our great grandkids.

Corley: Dude, that's power. I love that. I'm gonna I I'm gonna beat that drum. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try to give the the credit to change the CDF whenever I quote it, but I'm gonna quote it and I'm gonna quote it often Robert Wynn: So I'll share this one thing with you too. This just popped up. So I had an individual come to me. With Calfire, there's a lot of turnover. 12,000 employees. and there's there's a lot of turnovers. So one day you have a good crew, the next day this person promotes or gets closer to home or puts a transfer in. And this individual had a conversation with me. He's been in the department for 20 years and he was like, I'm getting tired of investing into people. Like I invest, I got a good crew, things are running good, and then they're gone. I have to do it again. I have to do it again and I have to do it again. And I just shared with them that the investment that you make in the people doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the American Fire Service. So When people get fed up of training, when people get tired of teaching people new things or when they get a new individual, like that investment that you make, That return doesn't belong to you. That return belongs to the American Fire Service and you're just hoping that that individual takes that investment and then reinvest it. So now you're working with a whole bunch of capital. We have no capital in the American Fire Service right now. We don't. And so that investment portion of of investing in the people, we have to get out of the mindset that that investment belongs to us. We have to stop making it about us. No, it's about the American Fire Service. So keep investing. Keep investing. Keep investing.

Corley: Well, dude, I don't know if you can the power, brother. Chris Butler asked, this was the original questions asked. I'm gonna throw it at you now. Chris Butler said, Robert, what does accountability mean to you? How does it affect leadership? Robert Wynn: Chris Butler, Cowfire Training Center, Wally, thank you for the question Man, there's just so much to chew on right there. You got personal accountability, you got crew accountability, you got leadership accountability, you got department accountability. And I'll just start off with individual accountability. If we're going to create an a standard of accountability for ourselves, we have to ensure that that accountability is in line with our personal, professional mission and vision and values. What are we trying to accomplish? What is that endgame like? We have to make sure that it's in in in alignment. And that's why I'll start there. When it comes to leadership, something that I've been struggling with, and I think that every department struggles with, is that you have individuals in leadership positions that want to hold the troops with the boots that are in the field doing the work accountable to a certain standard and they don't think that that accountability doesn't pertain to them. But I can tell you one thing for sure The patch that I wear on my sleeve is the same patch that that leader wears or that that battalion chief wears or that assistant chief wears. And that patch doesn't belong to me or them. That patch belongs to the public. So first things first is are we being accountable to the public and is it is Is the public are we educating the public enough to keep us accountable as a fire service? And the answer is no. We don't educate the public enough. to inform them of the things that we should be doing, how we should be operating, because it's kind of a a close-knit crew. But that patch that I wear It doesn't belong to any of us in the fire service. It belongs to the public. And that's the thing that we need to be accountable to. And when people are not accountable to the patch, to the mission and to the oath, I hope that there's strong enough people that may be under them that can hold them accountable.

Corley: Wow. And that's just the personal accountability side. Robert Wynn: That's just the individual personal accountability. I think when you when once you start getting into leadership, you have to understand that you're you're not leading individuals, you're leading leaders. And so that transition has to take place, right? As a as a fire apparatus engineer or a company officer, I'm leading individual firefighters. Once you get to the captain and battalion chief level, you are expecting your company officers to be leaders. You don't you shouldn't have to lead them individually. You're leading leaders. So you have to change your language and how you approach those those individuals. And I think that a lot of people, specifically for our department, if they haven't been exposed to a lot of opportunity to grow and develop and become a leader. they still have that leadership quality of leading individuals and not leading leaders, not trusting their people. Corley: Wow, man. okay. Sorry, brother. You got a ton of questions. I'm just trying to figure out which ones to throw at you. I love your message, my man. I really do. Like, and this whole interview was based off a one hour 40, probably a 50 minute car ride and I was like no you have to come on the scrap and we have to talk about this more and that's what it was based off of Scott Hoke coming at you again. He's asked a few questions. He says, How does the prison-based fire service differ from where you are now? What would you change in either arena and what would you merge between the arenas, if anything at all?

Robert Wynn: That's a great question. So working for the fire department while incarcerated, man, they had some really great standards. It was it was really high standards and and the captains and the chief there they understood that they were taking incarcerated individuals and responding out to the public and they never ever wanted individuals to know in the public that inmates we're serving them or that they would they would even question that inmates would be able to provide a service to them Right. And so the the one thing that I would probably bring from incarceration into The the free world, I would call it, is the standard above reproach. Never giving anybody anything to use against you Like we have to we have to set the standard. A captain of mine shared with me that there's there's three types of people. People that meet the standard, people that exceed the standard, and people that set the standard. Which type of standard do you want to be? You wanna we wanna continue to raise and set the standard no matter what we're doing. And I can tell you Hands down in the short time that I've been a career paid fireman outside of incarceration, there's individuals that I don't want responding to my family. There's individuals that serve communities that should not be serving our communities at all. I would take a couple inmate firefighters over some individuals that I have worked with or that I know of that that work in the public service. They shouldn't be public servants.

Corley: No, brother. I had to write down a timestamp. You gotta quit throwing timestamps. I want to I want to give a quick shout out, Carrie. Carrie Parker. Brother, we tried to go live on Instagram. It worked phenomenal this afternoon. Everything was looking good. And then we wasted like the first two or three minutes of me fumbling about and we could not make it happen. And it was live. So we had to finally say, not happening. So Instagram would not we're gonna try again next week with Clyde Gordon. We tried tonight, but I'm just letting you know we tried. It did not work out. phenomenal, brother. I don't know if you can beat those the three. At the 850 mark. I'm gonna that might be the soundbite of the night. So far. Great question, Scott. You've thrown three great questions. Robert Wynn: Yeah, thanks, Scott. Corley: pull in the next one. When it comes to culture, how have you used your past experiences to influence the culture where you are now? This comes from John Velez Jr. Robert Wynn: The functional fire company. Culture must be chosen, not enforced. So my father unfortunately struggled with certain things that ultimately affected the culture that he wanted to be a part of or or that he wanted to lead to his children. So I I have taken the complete opposite path and I wanted to create a culture with my wife and my children that was fruitful, that was positive, that was thriving, that was inspiring. And when you look at culture, it's never a concrete thing. You can add and you can take away. We just have to be very mindful of what we are adding to it. And when when we add to it, we have to ensure that we are adding the right elements to reinforce the culture that we want. Now having eight years and it's eight years is not a lot in the fire service. and and and some people would even question why is somebody with eight years fire service experience even talking about the fire service when there's people with 30, 40 years of job experience. And the only thing that I would say to that is that And this kind of ties into what we talked about earlier, is I this is just an opinion, and it's okay if it's controversial. I believe that we don't have bad leaders, we have bad people.

Robert Wynn: So individuals that have not come overcome some of their childhood traumas or have been experienced or exposed. to other bad people. It's called a learned behavior. So you have individuals that work in the fire department that maybe maybe had a captain that used to ride them, tuck in your shirt all the time, make sure your boots are polished, make sure that you Suck all the air out of the hose before you rebed it. Get all the rocks out of the tires. Ice down the chiefs ice chest or whatever the case may be If you were to if you were to take that individual, I would love to see what that individual is like at home with their wife or husband and kids or their family members. Are they are they the same exact way? Are these people displaying the types of morals and values that we want in our profession and that we want in our society. Like there's there's no difference. Like we are a pillar of the American culture. The fire service is a part of America and the the morals and values that we have in the fire service are the same morals and values that we should have and want in our society. Good people, honesty. transparency, vulnerability, having empathy, having sympathy, understanding where people are coming from. So To me, it's it's just really important that people are in alignment with their personal morals and values and their professional morals and values.

Corley: Boom, dude. at first when you say no no bad leaders, just bad people, or the difference between bad leaders versus bad people. And I and I I don't know. It doesn't sit good with me because I don't like bad people, but I I think if you say broken people and that haven't dealt with Robert Wynn: it does that make sense that that's that's a good term so the the the the reason why i came up with that because when you look up the definition of leadership like you can't change the definition of leadership it is what it is so how can you put something in front of it that contradicts exactly what leadership is. And so leadership doesn't change. Leadership doesn't change. The people that are in those positions is what change. Their mindset, their behaviors, their experiences, their traumas, their perspective, those are the things that change when somebody has that leadership title. And so that's when I I came up is that we don't have Bad leadership. We don't have a leadership problem. We have a people problem. Corley: No, no, it's beautiful, brother. I love it. I love it. I'm not sure. Dude, there's too many. Ricky Archuleta wants to know question number two Courtley. Ask Robert about his presence at City Council meetings and the work he has done to connect with the community and the desire to be held accountable.

Robert Wynn: Man, that's a great question. when I when I transferred to Merced County, so Livingston City is an incorporated city within Merced County and just I mean, there's no other way for me to say it. That there's been a lack of leadership in in every element on the county side, on the city side, and on the fire department side. people not doing what they need to do to ensure that the people that that we serve are getting the very best service and getting what they deserve. So my very first introduction to the city council, you know, I showed up in my class A uniform and I just kind of gave him an introduction of who I was and I read him the oath that I took when I became permanent employee with Calfire said this is my promise to you that's what I told him this is my promise to you building relationships with your constituent con constituents and taxpayers or city elected officials is really, really important. You have to be able to articulate and build relationships with those individuals for them to actually see what the fire department is all about. We just don't go to structure fires. We just don't go to medical aids and we just don't go to hazmats. We're more than that. We are we are the community of whatever community that we're in. And it's imperative that we show that. We shouldn't just be there with the apparatus bay door shut waiting for the call. We want to be engaged. We want to be involved. I've heard, I think Ray McCormick said it that You know, there used to be all kind of times when kids would get out of school, they would stop by the fire station, they would hang out, they would play games, they would throw the football around. You just don't really see that anymore. and that's the unfortunate part is that we're not really advertising ourselves as a profession and we're really not advertising ourselves as professionals in in in that element of things, to be able to have people support us and I've I've made it a personal agenda of mine to ensure that that when it comes to ask For a new contract when it comes to ask for more money or when it comes to other fire departments coming into the city that I work in and putting requests for proposal in to try to take over the fire district I want our relationship to be so strong and I want enough trust and faith in the community that I serve that they don't even care how many zeros they're at the end of the dollar sign.

Robert Wynn: They know what they're going to get when they when they get our fire department showing up. Corley: Boom. Robert Wynn: And no, go ahead. Go ahead. On that note, I I actually wrote something because this has kind of been pondering on me, so I'll just share it really quick. So I hear I hear a lot of firefighters and a lot of departments advocating for more money, better equipment, better shifts, new stations, and so many other things. I'm okay with that only under one exception. The one exception is that you are living up to the oath, the promise, and the sacrifice that your family has made to the taxpayers. to the constituents and to those that you serve. If we as a fire service ask for anything, we have to first be sure that we have given the public what they deserve. And all the public asks from us is to perform at the highest professional level possible to ensure that we do everything that we can and that we are prepared to save their life. The decision and choices are in your hands and your hands alone. So the reason I came up with that is you can go to any fire station, any department across the country, and they're always going to say we need more staffing, we need more money, we need better equipment. And the example that I use is if you were to go to a steakhouse and you were to buy a $100 T-bone steak, but they only brought you half the steak and you still had to pay that $100 for half the steak, would you eat there again?

Corley: No, you're spot on. Robert Wynn: The answer is no. Right. So like are are are we are we giving the people the level of service that they are currently paying for now with what we have? The answer is no. The answer is no. So how can we as a fire service be so consumed with asking for more money, asking for better equipment, asking for all these different things where we're not even given the people that we're supposed to be here for what it is that they are supposed to be getting right now with what they're paying. Corley: Now I have the timestamp. 9. 01 PM my time. Sorry. Brother, I don't know how popular that message will be with the bulk of the American Fire Service, but I can tell you it's very popular with the people that are listening right now. Because that is a powerful message. And I don't think there's been anything you've said that hasn't been powerful. Robert Wynn: well I'm I'm sure that everybody would agree it doesn't matter what the non-believers think. Like it doesn't It doesn't. Corley: David's I'm gonna read you a few. Very well written. This guy may be preaching. This guy be preaching. Got me fired up. it's from Mike Bloom. David Sinner said, want, want, want, but what are we giving Jake Deal said my head almost popped off my shoulders. Jake Deal also passed out max points with a 100. Oh, Dan Bender even threw max points in. Damn. That's his damn, not my damn. 100%. Okay, I can't even keep up with all of it. Mike Allenson got me fired up. What a call to greatness. No, absolutely. Okay, let me go back to the questions. I don't want to shut you off just yet. I'm getting close to getting to books and talking about five questions. when people Good questions, good questions. How do you differentiate between the people? This is Scott Hoke, which is his fourth question. He's been throwing some good questions at you. Scott Hoke Jr. says, How do you differentiate between the people that don't want to learn? versus the people that don't know they want to learn. What is your standard approach to each person?

Robert Wynn: Scott is his name. Scott. Scott, I'm gonna give you my personal cell phone number and you and I can chat as much as you want. I love your questions. That's a really great question. So before we are firemen, we're a people. We're human. And every human being has They they have something inside of them that maybe somebody hasn't found yet. So if somebody doesn't want to learn That's one thing, but is that actually set in stone? Have we been able to connect with that individual yet? Like what are we talking to that five-year-old individual or are we talking to that 35-year-old individual? Because at some point that individual had to learn to get to where they are at. And so being able to tap in, and I I used this word earlier, but being intimate with with people is not a bad thing. Being vulnerable with people is not a bad thing. Being transparent is not a bad thing. I think that society and most of the the fire service has has kind of shut themselves off from just being A person and communicating, sharing their thoughts and ideas and their feelings and emotions. And it's okay as long as you don't allow your feelings and emotions to overwhelm your actions And so having somebody who maybe doesn't think they know how to learn or the the second part of that question is This is kind of cliche, but leading by example. I I've had a fire captain when I promoted to engineer, I thought I knew a lot and I I I I really, really learned really, really fast how much I didn't know. And I think that mentorship and succession planning is something that we are horribly failing at right now in my department and in the fire service. Grabbing somebody by their belt buckle. Not physically, we don't want to abuse anybody, and giving them the why. explaining to them, navigating them to help identify their why. Once we Once we are able to uncover, cover, and peel back all the layers of this specific individual, whether they don't want to learn or whether they don't know how to learn. is uncovering those layers to help them understand what their why is. When somebody understands what their why is, They're unstoppable. There's nothing that's going to get away in the way of this individual accomplishing or overcoming anything that they want.

Robert Wynn: The why is not preached enough and taught enough and shared enough in society. In our personal lives and in our professional lives. Why? Corley: Boom. Brother, you it you got it, yeah. I don't even want to even talk. Brian Medina said it best. This scrap is definitely a keeper. This message is off the charts. And want this saved and shared at my firehouse when I go back on shift. Thank you three exclamation points at the end. Absolutely. Emotional intelligence from John Velez Jr. says such a great skill to have. so Dan Benderson, Scott Hoke is on fire tonight. Great scrap contributions, brother. No, he is he's been the audience MVP tonight. I think, yeah, he's been killing it with the questions. Yeah. Brock Pisasco said I met that I meant this guy I met this guy two years ago and we ended up being work partners working with Robert is on a whole different level. He is honestly awesome guy. He brought out the best in me. Thankful for you, brother. So there you go. A personal testimony saying this guy's not full of crap. He's a real deal. Robert Wynn: Thanks, Brock. Corley: I love it. Okay. I'm gonna move to Book or Books That you think firefighters should be reading. I'm a huge reader. I'm a huge fan of reading, but I want to hear from you. I'm always looking for new ones.

Robert Wynn: The Bible The Bible, I would have to say, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey, Principle Centered Leadership by Dr. Stephen Covey. Honor and com yeah. honor and commitment failing forward by John C. Maxwell was probably John C. Maxwell's Failing Forward was was probably one of the best books I've read. I've I've I've read it twice and I I take nuggets from it every time that I read it. Failing Forward. It's okay to fail. Just don't quit. Corley: Love it. Some of my absolute favorites. Kobe, Seven Habits, Highly Affected People is the book that changed my life when I was like 27. Years old. 100%. Love the book. anything by Maxwell. So no, I absolutely love the books. Absolutely love the books. And of course, the Bible is the number one suggested book of all time. when I teach the class and ask people about books and it is absolutely the number one that comes out each and every time. With that being said, it is time for one of my favorite parts of the scrap. It is called the Five Questions for Firefighters. It originally started as one question, but that question was kind of negative, so we added some more to make it more positive.

Robert Wynn: And then over time Corley, I don't want to hijack your show. Okay. Just one last message to the people. I I I did this and it was probably the most significant thing that I did while being for my department. Corley: Okay. Robert Wynn: Every single one of us have taken an oath. Every single one of us. How many of you can tell me how many words are in your oath? How many sentences So the reason I asked that is I went to a graduation where our director swore in a hundred brand new company officers. And I did some research on our oath. Our oath is 115 words, comprised of five sentences. The word I or my is brought up 11 times. Giving you that personal ownership. And so I challenge anybody that is listening to this that has taken an oath in the American Fire Service to go out there. And research your oath. Count the words. Look at the verbs. Look at the the nouns and pronouns and adjectives in there that actually give it substance There's about 25 words in my oath that give it the very heartbeat of what it means to be a member of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Everybody talks about mission, vision, and values. Everybody can repeat the mission, vision, and values of their department. But I challenge everybody on here to go take a deep dive into your oath. Do the research on it. Who created it? How many words are in it? What does it mean to you? Write a report on it. And really become intimate with that very thing that you promised to the American Fire Service and to your families. That's it, Corley. Thank you.

Corley: No, no, 100%, brother. No hijack whatsoever. I'm just trying to segue. Because that's such a challenge. And now I gotta get you back to the five questions. So we'll head back there with it star. It started as one question, moved to five. We're now at the current thing, which is five questions for firefighters, version 3. 2 There's no wrong answers, only your opinion. The points are arbitrary, assigned by me with the help of the audience. So, with all that being said, there's already been max points given out all night tonight, but not the point. My friend Robert Wynn, are you ready for the next Five Questions for Firefighters version 3. 2? Robert Wynn: I'm ready. Corley: Here we go. Number one, what is the skill? That has carried you through your fire service career. Robert Wynn: Consistent communication. Corley: Talk to me. Robert Wynn: I think five pounds of pressure one hundred percent of the time. It's really important to be consistent when when when you look at relationships that you develop when you look at friendships that you develop when you look at your personal and professional interactions with people And the number one thing is to the public, how consistent are we being and how much are we communicating with those certain individuals I I chose consistent communication because that is the segue into every other element of a relationship I can't read your mind. You can't read mine. I don't know what you want. You don't know what I want. You don't know what is offending me. I don't know what's offending you. But if we can sit down like adults and have communication consistently throughout our relationship, we're gonna have a pretty good healthy relationship.

Corley: Brother, a beautiful man Man, absolutely beautiful. And the thing is, there's no wrong answer. I just love hearing the why what what the why behind the answer And absolutely I love Scott Hogue Jr. says there is nothing Robert can say that generates less than max points when and he said when you believe you achieve, but he said when W-Y-N-N-E So for what it's worth is he like your best friend or something because he is like yeah on fire We just might be did we just become best friends you just became best friends no, absolutely. Solid max points from Josh Weiss. Consistency is always a win, max points from Dan Bender, Mike Allen said max points. Absolutely. Communication is key from Larry Dow. There you go. Max points number one. All right, number two, it's Job Town. It's time. You're in route and responding. Think of the scene from backdraft, slapping the tape into the tape deck. What song are you playing while en route? Robert Wynn: So, you know, I thought about this long and hard. Corley: And this is yeah, this is the one I've probably given more thought to than anything else on the scrap, but go ahead.

Robert Wynn: I I pray. I pray, Corley. I think that you know in in those moments of of when you know it's the call I I I pray to my God to to be in me and work through me. Because there's nothing that I can do without him. Corley: No. Dude, that's powerful. I can't argue with anything you just said. I can't add it to a Spotify playlist. But it is powerful, which takes us to number three. What is your favorite fire service tradition? Robert Wynn: Oh man. You know, I I wrote an answer down, but I think it's too I put training and being a pillar of your community. If I had if I had to choose one man, this is tough I would say being a pillar of your community. And the reason why being a pillar of your community to me is being a favorite fire service tradition. Is the first time that somebody calls 911 shouldn't be the first time that they meet me. We should have built relationships. with the community in every possible way for individuals to know who we are. We're just not a building in a community. Corley: We are the community. Ooh, that's strong, bro. That's very strong. I love it.

Robert Wynn: But training is a is a is a close backup. Corley: Yeah, I can't I can't argue with that either. great answer. Max points. Kids love firefighters. No, I love it. And it doesn't have to be meet you personally, but meet your department. Just having that having that presence that says we're more than this building. We're more than this red truck. Robert Wynn: Yeah. Corley: No, I love that. Dude, I absolutely love that, man. number four. This is the one that's on the clock. So Sam, do we have a clock, Sam? Robert Wynn: Don't worry, I got it written down. Corley: Okay. All right. Sam's got a clock, he's gonna hold up So you can see the clock. The audience can't see the clock, but you have one minute. Who are the four people you would put on your Mount Rushmore of the fire service and go? Robert Wynn: My wife, Sandra. Cameron Gangman. Brian White. And Justin Chaplin. Corley: All personal? That's what I'm guessing. Robert Wynn: My wife, yes. On a side note, not to hijack you again, everybody always remembers the faces on Mount Rushmore. But nobody remembers the hardworking men that sculpted Mount Rushmore. Corley: You're right. Robert Wynn: Right. So when I when when I put these four people on Mount Rushmore, these are people that have chipped away at me through my personal and professional lives. to create who that who I am today.

Corley: Right on. Robert Wynn: So never forget that Mount Rushmore has some of the most iconic people on it. But don't ever forget the people who put in the time and effort and long hours to to chip away to make away to make it happen to make it happen. Corley: No that's beautiful. That is beautiful. Robert Wynn: Be a chipper. Corley: Easy max points and and also 16 seconds. I'm not sure what the record is. But 16 seconds very beautifully done. Was it 15, 14, or 16, Sam? 16. Okay, I was doing math. I was doing math. Max points, max points. Dang with four hearts from Carpe Fuego. Showing love for the sculptors. Max points from Dan Bender. Yeah. Your builders are who you are. I love that, Larry. Larry Dowell said your builders are who you are. Very well way to sum it up. So here we go. Fifth question, final question. It is the question. It's the question that will be here forever. Heavy fire. Searchable space. Would you rather be assigned to the nozzle or first in on VES? Robert Wynn: I was waiting for this question all night. I share with all of you that I work 1-0 on a fire engine. I'm doing both. But to answer you, I'm taking the nozzle. I'm taking the nozzle. I'm I'm going to work I believe I don't necessarily use the word aggressive. I think that this should be the standard. Nothing that we do is basic. It's essential. If you are on the nozzle and you have a good crew that you're working with, you should be searching off of that hoseline. The nozzle was providing cover fire, protecting the people that are behind you, and they're searching. So yeah, I mean if you can get in on VES and make a grab, great. But the crews that I work with and that I train with, I mean, we're we're we're racing against you.

Corley: Right on. And I love the fact that you rock you rock 1-0. You got the 1 slash 0. So you can honestly answer both. You know, you can't. But absolutely max points for your answer. I love it, brother. I absolutely have it. That officially makes it 231 scraps. I can't even believe I'm saying that number. 231 scraps in the books. My brother, Robert Wynne, thank you. so much for sharing a your passion b your conviction c your authenticity d your vulnerability with us this evening if someone wants to get a hold of you how can they go about doing so Robert Wynn: And call me on my cell phone number nine one six six zero seven zero four. 2-4 or you can find me on Instagram at change the CDF. Corley: There you go. Change the CDF. absolutely, man. I love it. Everybody else, go to firehousevigilance. com, the vigilantes, go join. Five bucks a month. You can sign up for a year. We'll be posting a link for the after party. Right after this. Sam, I never even asked. Okay, good. Robert has agreed to come on to the after party and and be roasted by the vigilantes. So that will be happening here in a few short minutes. we're gonna bust your chops so good. It never happens. So we just keep threatening people and it never happens. very proud of this. everybody go. if you want to make a change in your life that stays, if you want to habits V50 Go check it out. Go become a vigilante. Get your V50 commitment journal. Do all that stuff next week coming up on the scrap. One of the best dudes on the planet. We're going to ride with Clyde. Clyde Gordon is back on the scrap. I'm excited about it. Followed by BC John Johnson out of Texas and then the OG Smoke Daddy, no longer the Smoke Daddy. Now, the executive editor of fire engineering chief David Rhodes coming on the scrap once more to talk about the changes, talk about the future direction of FDIC and all that is going on. Man, I'm telling you. I thought 2023 was just killer. And then now 2024 is saying, oh yeah, hold my beer. That's basically what's going on. Because you killed it tonight. The guests that have come, the guests that are coming. So 2024 is already in full effect.

Corley: Vigilantes, if you're gonna be part of the scrap after party, look for the link in the private group. Sam is gonna post it. Robert is gonna come in there and get roasted. All of that being said, audience You absolutely make the scrap amazing. You're the ones that drive the force, the questions tonight. specifically were just on fire. So thank you so much for being here. Robert Wynn: Thank you all. Thank you so much. Corley: Thank you, Robert. And I hope the tone stays silent unless it is burning. Everybody, stay safe out there