"I REMEMBER"
began on 3/23/05
There have been major changes in technology, vehicles, in structures from fire houses to fire camps, in food, in safety, in use of ICS and teams, in what is politically correct, etc. Many have taken place in the last 20-30 years. Thanks to Old Wolf for starting the thread.

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I remember:

• No hard hats, no nomex, gloves optional.
• No radios on the line.
• Slit trenches in fire camp.
• C rations that were leftovers from Viet Nam.
• Engines with stick shift.
• Practical jokes, some of which involved tootsie rolls, rolled
  between warm hands to resemble "you know what" and left in
  strange and surprising places.
• Favorite hotshot crew songs pre mtv.
• Driving from here to there sometimes asleep in your food.
• Chants yelled out while working - rude and crude.

Old Wolf

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I am gonna call your bluff on the no hardhat part of your post, especially if you were
eating Vietnam date C Rats or Ocean Mice as we used to call them. And those Engines
were Tankers weren’t they? Otherwise I am there with you bro.

Backburnfs

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I can remember "K" rats my firefighting daddy brought home once (?1949).
We kids thought they were great.
And all the mystery meat variations of things we ate thru the years.
Some of them weren't so great and once you threw up on one of 'em you never wanted another...ever.

Yeah, engines were tankers.

Old Wolf

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Lighter PBY-1 photo. Ab tweaked the brightness. Still hard to tell about helmets. 

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I remember:

• As a GS-3 60 hours regular time or 40 hours OT paid a years tuition at
  an in state 2 year college. (Today same GS-3 at the same college takes
  245 hours regular time or 164 hours of OT)
• As a GS-3 820 hours regular time or 547 hours OT would buy a new car
  (Today same car same GS-3 takes 2850 hours regular time and 1900 hours OT)
• When the best find was an old orange fire shirt
• Hard hats were metal
• Fire shelter were optional
• No personnel tents in fire camp
• Paper sleeping bags and rain

RLL

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I remember when I was a GS-3 I could buy 10 gallons of gas for an hours
wages now I am a GS-9 and guess what, I can buy 10 gallons of gas for an
hours wages.

Thisisprogress

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Backburnfs

I can remember "K" rats my firefighting daddy brought home once (?1949).
We kids thought they were great.
And all the mystery meat variations of things we ate thru the years.
Some of them weren't so great and once you threw up on one of em you never wanted another...ever.

Yeah, engines were tankers.

Old Wolf

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• C-rations on Helitack in the 60's but I carried an old box Motorola which could 
  occasionally reach a tower from a ridgetop.
• No nomex (nor could we afford the fine boots worn by the regulars).
• Our first Hotshot buggie - a leased flatbed on which we built wooden toolboxes, 
  on which my crew sat, under a canvass top.
• I can't recall whether we installed seat belts.
• My Superintendent was an old gentleman in a uniform with disabilities that kept 
  him off the fireline and out of the woods.
• My crew had no prior experience at all.
• Morning football caused so many injuries we had to switch to jogging.
• Crew contest - see who could catch and eat a lizard first (wasn't my idea).
• My last bar fight - saved from personal injury by my loyal crew (the lady who 
  caused it was thrown out and the assailant and I bought each other a beer).
• Good morale but not enough fires.

"Foreman, 1971" 

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I remember when everyone carried a P-38 with them, just in case.... And for those that don't know what a P-38 is, it wasn't to ward off hungry Bears. It was to ward off hungry F/F's.
I remember when Air Tankers were Borate Bombers.

danfromord

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See also other entertainments, serious information and firefighter levities from days gone by... Add to any of these lists if you want to...
Just One More Time
SCRATCHlines
Wildland Fire Terms (not PC) and Irreverent Names
IMWTK (Inquiring Minds Want to Know)
Quotes to Live By

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