Post 8
TheFossilMedic
If you're in this business for any length of time, then you're probably familiar with terms "post moves" and fluid systems.
In our system, we have a Post called Post 8. It can be a cruel and vile place to some. Your operation probably has one. Ours Is near the center of the city. It’s accessible to everything, and it can have you running a call in nothing flat. It's known as the "Vortex" of the system. A "Serpent" if you will. If you get caught in its grip, it can knock you down and tire you out quickly, and then eventually consume you. It can truly wreak havoc on an unprepared crew, but it can be the perfect tool for an incredibly busy system. Yeah, Management loves Post 8.
Newbie’s love the place too, for it can bring on that "pot-o-gold" of what is known as a "cool call". They need their fix of the adrenaline and the rush. The lights, the sirens, the dodging of bullets as they fly through the air, and they wind their way through the streets of this metropolis with the greatest of ease!
Unfortunately they expect that "pot-o-gold" on every call. That instant gratification fix. Most of the time it winds-up bringing them a mere "placebo” effect of a call such as the dreaded "Gomer Call" as they so distastefully describe it. They feel it is a waste of their precious time, for they are above all of that now.
Recruits hate Post 8, because it can bring on that terrifying first call. They sit there quietly with their FTO's getting poked and pumped-up for that sentinel event. It’s not an "if" proposition for them, its a "when". They wait with a lump in their throat. Wringing their sweaty hands and waiting for that ever so familiar "Beep, beep, beep, beep!" that echoes over the radio. It’s that tone that lets a crew know that they’re about to have their heads handed to them. Sometimes the tone is for them, and sometimes not. So if not, they go back to waiting and wringing their hands, and trying to put their hearts back in their throats. There still waiting for the possibility of that Sentinel call, but at the same time not wanting it all.
Fossils don't really care either way about Post 8. They do, because it's a busy place, and they know that they'd rather not be there. But in a positive way, it can make their shift move faster. The Fossils cool call days are, over and done with now. It’s just work to them, and it can be very hard work for fossils like me. Not that they'll get less care, but most of the fossils I know sit there patiently work on the patient. Slow and steady. They don't like the quick and messy approach to calls. Don't get me wrong we fossils like to run calls that are interesting. Just not necessarily the cool calls. Cool is a slippery slope that can go from interesting to scrambling in seconds flat. They can go from bad to good in seconds flat. Those are the calls that you never ever want to run again though.
Finally, if you or your partner happen to be stuck in the crosshairs of an unfriendly dispatcher, well you're about to get slammed into Post 8. And you’re probably going to be late getting home!
Sure, most good SSC's know how to work the system perfectly. They move the fresh units into the busier posts and areas and try to cover the off going crews. But if you wind up on the bad side of someone who feels like handing out some retribution a day, well you're going to be late getting home!
And your back? Well your back is going to be sore, that’s for sure!
So I'm not sure where I'll be posted today, its up to the EMS Gods for sure! But it will definitely be somewhere between hear and the talons of what is known as Post 8
TheFossilMedic
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See you on the flip side of this business
