(This podcast has limited explicit language which some may find offensive.)
Frank Martinez is a to-the-core backstep firefighter. He has spent a large part of the last fifteen years on one of the southeast's busiest technical rescue teams. And as Frank says, he's been slayin' it.
For this episode of our podcast we talk to Frank about what he feels is most important about being a tailboard firefighter and whether spending a career perfecting your craft on the tailboard (and not promoting) is an acceptable goal.
Our jumping off point for our discussion with Frank is "What do new firefighters owe the fire service?" As is our normal mode of operation, the conversation flows wherever it wants to go after that. We talk about:
Why We Hesitate to call MAYDAY
The Benefits of an Informal Critique
The Best Advice Frank Ever Got
Proving Yourself and Being Worthy
Being Part of Something Bigger Than Yourself
Frank answers our Pivot questions and gives us, what we now consider to be, our favorite war story so far in the short history of this podcast: The No Mas Cantina Fire.