Finally, otr with my trainer...

That's a fact. It brings back some real memories. That's good for a guy that has a hard time memberin'.

 

gravdigr just like mattp mentioned it is something that will never forget you. I too served on my local ambulance service and the worst for me was holding a 2 year old child in my arms. You deal with it most days and keep telling yourself that everyday is a good day...try missing one and see what happens....

 

Keep doing this job long enough and you're bound to have more than a few "close calls". I've lost count myself...things like getting held up loading/unloading/fueling/etc. only to be further delayed by traffic that is backed up from a wreck that happened right when you WOULD have been driving through....or things running exceptionally smooth during the loading/uloading/fueling/etc. and then seeing the emergency vehicles speeding to the scene of a crash that happened right after you passed through....to the wreck you watch on the big road after you exited off to go around a backup that the truck behind you didn't take the exit and didn't stop...to the 4-wheeler who was too impatient to wait for you to move over after passing another truck so they squeeze through the narrow space between your ICC bumper and the other truck's front bumper only to end up on their lid in the median 20 miles up the road....

All you can control is your own actions....drive defensively and know what is going on around your vehicle at all times. Also, keep your log book up to date and legal, don't run over-hours, etc....make sure YOU are doing everything you are supposed to be doing and your ducks are in a row...in other words, CYA. Beyond that, there really isn't much you can do. $#!t happens.

 

Gravdigr, were you at , I enjoyed reading something from some one that is doing it right, taking the good with the bad, knowing that is how it is and aint a darn thing you can do about it. Keep us posted and keep up the good work brother, I think you are gonna be ok.

 

It has been awhile since he posted....hope everything is still going okay, I too enjoyed his posts.

 

I miss his posts too. I can't imagine with his attitude and realistic expectations that he's hit anything he can't overcome.

 

Glad you are still doing ok, gotta luv night dispatch. Hopefully you wont get an Auto, had one not to long ago for a loner, not bad in a traffic jam. i here ya about things being fixed and then they are not. My truck was in a couple of weeks ago for some PM follow ups amd to fix the AC, 5 days later I pick it up, 1 day later I am dead , wont start turns over barely. Fastforword 2 hrs wrecker gets there, he jumps it pops the hood and precedes to say well looks like you have new AC lines but the clutch is shot dont know how they missed that and I bet when they worked on the compessor to the AC they probably did not add enough oil back in so the batteries are not being charged enough. I drive in Chicago and alot of places you can not idle more than 5 minutes, especially on lower wacker drive, I have a lift gate which if I am not ideling I should only raise and lower 3 or 4 times with out starting up. Luckily I was not in the city that day double parked or backed into an alley when this happened. Got truck back everything seems fine. You do your job the best you can I guess it is to much for others I guess. Keep us posted and good luck.