The First Days (Part I).

They keep us busy. Staying up past eleven feels irresponsible and downright dumb when you wake up at seven. Day one was paperwork, settling in, and a meet-and-greet with the staff and team leaders. Day two fitted us for uniforms and got us a bank account, and I missed the second Obama/McCain debate for a meeting on wildfire fighting. Day three had us shuttled to a doctor’s office for physicals, a drug test, tetanus & tuberculosis shots—I also requested and paid for a flu shot—and upon our return we were fitted for steel-toed work boots.

There was also a three-and-a-half hour meeting on the member handbook. They said to come prepared, so instead of napping I read it cover-to-cover in the 45 minutes prior. It was a wasted effort, as it was read aloud to us, cover-to-cover. After dinner were the first of the wildfire interviews. They were really hurting for members this year—this class is smaller, and showed a statistically low interest in firefighting. We’re separated into four units—Earth, Fire, Sun, and Water—and anyone who showed an inkling of interest in firefighting during the registration wound up in Earth unit. They made another push to sell people on it, and it worked out okay for them. They desired 30 members and had about 40 do interviews and go to the baseline physical tests.

I did well in the interview and had a 6:22 for my mile, coming in about fifth. I had about 30 push-ups and 60 sit-ups, and scraped all the skin off my tailbone doing sit-ups. It was an inconvenient place for scabs.