I ended up in town today. A couple of times actually. It was
one of those days. One of my trips took me to a business complex across the
street from the Staunton-Augusta Rescue Squad. Back when the world was new,
when I was running fire and rescue, I would bump into them every once in a while.
I was a member of Stuarts Draft Rescue, but depending on the nature of the
call, sometimes more than one squad would be toned to respond to it. There was
always a rivalry between Draft and Staunton-Augusta. It was usually good
natured, but any conflicts were put aside when you got on scene. This
particular call was a multi-vehicle accident. I don’t recall a lot of details
other than the fact that it was night, there were several people involved, and
we were in a part of the county that we didn’t usually respond to. As it so
happened, I ended up loading my patient into a Staunton-Augusta unit and riding
with them into the hospital. I remember noticing the small differences between
the back of their trucks and ours. Little things such as where equipment was
stored. I didn’t have a lot of time to sightsee however, since I had a patient
to tend to. The thing that will always stick with me though is the moment where
the leader of the Staunton-Augusta crew leaned over to me. He looked at the
Draft windbreaker I was wearing and said, “You ought to take that off and put
on one of ours.” I didn’t have a lot of
time to think on it then, but it’s stayed with me through the years. Even in
the most hectic of circumstances, when you would swear that you don’t even have
a second to breathe, there’s always time to give someone a compliment, to tell
them that they’re doing a good job. It may give them a smile, or brighten their
day. Who knows, it may even be something that they remember forever.
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