Recruit Class #15

Comments: 0

Recruit Class #15 firefighters have been with the department for 7 years now. The anniversary date was actually yesterday, but I forgot. Here is a rundown of who was in the class, and where they are now.

Dennis Duncan FF/PM 6 C-Shift
Todd Reighley Lt. Ladder 7 -A
Travis Simmons Lt. Ladder 2 – A
Kevin Bradbury FF 2- A
Mac Craft Lt. Engine 9 – A
Jeremy Bennington FF Engine 5 – B
Kelcey Branch Lt. Engine 13 – A
Doug Hurd Lt. Engine 13 – C
Barry Kincer FF/CT 6 – A
Rhett Fleitz Lt. ARFF – C
Betty McBride – Salem FF, went through our rookie school, still works for Salem.
Beth Norwood – left to work as a nurse
B.T. Butler – Currently a firefighter in Iraq
William Hayden – Went to work for Henrico Fire
Charles Williams – Quit

Battalion Chief Roger Manuel and 1st Lt. Phil Dillon were in charge of our Recruit School. Roger was a 1st Lt. at the time and Phil was a Lt. Our class was unlike any others. We got the pleasure of going 6 days a week in order to shorten the class and get us out into the companies quicker. What I will never understand is how the instructors got paid overtime, yet the students did not. It was not pleasant at all going 6 days a week. Especially for the guys like me, who had just moved to Roanoke the week before. We had some good times. Our hangout was Sagebrush (Stagebruff if you were B.T.) Steakhouse at Valley View, now the Golden Palace. We frequented that place. Then there was the brawl on the soccer field, we turned it into a contact sport. Kincer nearly broke Beth’s arm on the soccer field as well.

You want to know where we worked out? Victory stadium, we ran the steps, ran the track, laid in the wet grass to stretch, did pullups in the gym. But my favorite was when we would run, just run anywhere. Luckily we did not get the joy of running to the star as the class before us did. However, we ran a lot. Roger and Phil would just tell us to start running, so we would, and we would not stop until they said we could. We ran all over Roanoke. Then after all that they would give 13 men 15 minutes to get ready in a bathroom with 2 showers in it.

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!