questions previous Drug use

[dinon03]

thank you

Thank you very much for everyone's input, including the pessimistic FWD guy. The more you or anyone else tries to discourage the more I am going to push myself to prove you wrong so once again thank you. I know i am a valuable asset and for those of you that are curious.. From this information I am going to continue my education and apply for places after I complete my AA and if an opportunity arises where I dont have to take a poly i will prob jump on it and if I have to wait a year and a half after school and take a poly i will do it honestly and write you a message FWD telling you that I proved you wrong !

[FWDbuff]

i will do it honestly and write you a message FWD telling you that I proved you wrong !

You do that kid and I'll send you a check for one beer. Good Luck and stay off the dope.

[nmfire]

...and if an opportunity arises where I don't have to take a poly i will prob jump on it and if I have to wait a year and a half after school and take a poly i will do it honestly and write you a message FWD telling you that I proved you wrong !

So you're saying you are going to lie on your applications to those departments since they're less likely to find out that you're lying to them? That's great. We definitely need more dishonest liars in the fire service. You've got a great plan!

Do me a favor, please tell use which departments you apply for as you apply for them.

[dinon03]

how are you even smart enough to be a fire fighter? i said i am going to be honest and ive looked at the applications that dont have polys and most dont ask about drug usage and if they do i will be honest...i will def not be applying at your fire dept

[simpllyhuge]

So you're saying you are going to lie on your applications to those departments since they're less likely to find out that you're lying to them? That's great. We definitely need more dishonest liars in the fire service. You've got a great plan!

Do me a favor, please tell use which departments you apply for as you apply for them.

This is such bull.

[OHFirestopper]

exactly, no one wants to work with a bunch of squares who have never even jay walked in their lifetime.

[paulLepore]

Bush would not have passed our background check.

[BoxAlarm187]

I'd rather work with a "square" (what decade is this anyway?) than someone who openly admits to continued use of pot and occasional use of cocaine. I'm glad that I didn't have to decide which departments I was going to apply to based on whether or not they give a polygraph or not.

[nmfire]

how are you even smart enough to be a fire fighter?

Well, mostly by not doing coke.

i said i am going to be honest

Yep. But only on the ones with a polygraph where your lying would be uncovered. What's your point?

and ive looked at the applications that dont have polys and most dont ask about drug usage

Yea see how that goes. McDonald's asks about drug usage. I'm pretty sure a job where lives could hang in your hands will ask if you've done drugs at some point in the application process. If you think they won't, your even less qualified than I originally thought.

and if they do i will be honest...

Right. If there is a polygraph. If not, you'll lie, which is the entire purpose of this thread you started.

i will def not be applying at your fire dept

Thank god.

This is such bull.

What? That we don't want a lying crackhead in the fire service? Have another snort.

[FWDbuff]

exactly, no one wants to work with a bunch of squares who have never even jay walked in their lifetime.

You know what....I was going to bow out gracefully with my previous post of telling the kid that if he made it I would buy him a beer. But your statement is such complete and total bullschit that I had to comment.

I was raised by my parents to be a law-abiding citizen, to have a good work ethic and earn my keep in the world. To respect my elders, and others in general. To be an honest person and loyal to my friends and family. I have never, ever one time allowed an illegal narcotic to enter my body, ever. When I was younger I do admit to some frivoulous consumption of alcohol, but always had arrangements for a DD, or to stay on the premises where we were consuming (like if we were camping, or at a friends house after a party.....) I'll even admit to some occasional drag racing as I hung out with a lot of motor heads and horsepower was our thing- that was our drug- thats what got us high. Not pot, not cocaine. But we were all firefighters- we knew the dangers of speed (as in MPH) and we took it in moderation. Occasionally we got caught, and the cops would just smack our wrists and threaten to tell our folks.

As for the drinking, whenever we would, we would ALWAYS consider ourselves "out of service." We never responded to any calls, because we believed in total clearance of the mind above all things- we did not want alcohol clogging our perception and judgement. Which is still a mantra I believe in to this day. It is my responsibility to be there for my brother firefighters first and foremost, above all else. I need to be there to do whatever I can to help them if they ever get into trouble. And goddammit that also means they had better be there for me if god forbid my azz ever gets into a precarious position.

If you azzholes want to smoke that ****, snort that crap, push it into your veins, or whatever else it is that you do, so be it. Do whatever. Just as long as you dont try to pollute the fire service by trying to get employed. And for those of you that have unfortunately made it past the hiring process, I only hope that you have stopped all drug use. And if you still happen to be using, I can only hope that you never get yourself or one of your co-workers hurt. The fire service is already polluted with enough azzholes using dope and alcohol, we dont need anymore. I wish every department across the country would enact mandatory drug testing- clear house, get rid of all the dope heads. You dont know me and I dont know you. The safety, health and morale of people potentially under my charge comes first and foremost above all else. If that means being viewed by outsiders as a "square" then don't apply. Newsflash: Many of the Fire Officers in this area all maintain the same attitude and views that I have. Zero Tolerance.

I never have, and never will need an illegal narcotic to get high. So if never having taken an illegal narcotic makes me a "square", then so be it.

[OHFirestopper]

You know what....I was going to bow out gracefully with my previous post of telling the kid that if he made it I would buy him a beer. But your statement is such complete and total bullschit that I had to comment.

I was raised by my parents to be a law-abiding citizen, to have a good work ethic and earn my keep in the world. To respect my elders, and others in general. To be an honest person and loyal to my friends and family. I have never, ever one time allowed an illegal narcotic to enter my body, ever. When I was younger I do admit to some frivoulous consumption of alcohol, but always had arrangements for a DD, or to stay on the premises where we were consuming (like if we were camping, or at a friends house after a party.....) I'll even admit to some occasional drag racing as I hung out with a lot of motor heads and horsepower was our thing- that was our drug- thats what got us high. Not pot, not cocaine. But we were all firefighters- we knew the dangers of speed (as in MPH) and we took it in moderation. Occasionally we got caught, and the cops would just smack our wrists and threaten to tell our folks.

As for the drinking, whenever we would, we would ALWAYS consider ourselves "out of service." We never responded to any calls, because we believed in total clearance of the mind above all things- we did not want alcohol clogging our perception and judgement. Which is still a mantra I believe in to this day. It is my responsibility to be there for my brother firefighters first and foremost, above all else. I need to be there to do whatever I can to help them if they ever get into trouble. And goddammit that also means they had better be there for me if god forbid my azz ever gets into a precarious position.

If you azzholes want to smoke that ****, snort that crap, push it into your veins, or whatever else it is that you do, so be it. Do whatever. Just as long as you dont try to pollute the fire service by trying to get employed. And for those of you that have unfortunately made it past the hiring process, I only hope that you have stopped all drug use. And if you still happen to be using, I can only hope that you never get yourself or one of your co-workers hurt. The fire service is already polluted with enough azzholes using dope and alcohol, we dont need anymore. I wish every department across the country would enact mandatory drug testing- clear house, get rid of all the dope heads. You dont know me and I dont know you. The safety, health and morale of people potentially under my charge comes first and foremost above all else. If that means being viewed by outsiders as a "square" then don't apply. Newsflash: Many of the Fire Officers in this area all maintain the same attitude and views that I have. Zero Tolerance.

I never have, and never will need an illegal narcotic to get high. So if never having taken an illegal narcotic makes me a "square", then so be it.

This thread got started by a habitual drug user, almost everyone on here would agree that it's a shot in the dark for him to get a job in the fire service. However what everyone else is trying to argue is that most places will not disqualify you if you have minor past drug use in the past (atleast 3-5 years ago, or if you were a minor). I'm pretty sure that most people in the fire service that have past drug use weren't shooting things into their veins, most have done minor drugs such as pot. If a dept is going to pass someone up on the list because of minor drugs many years ago and hire someone further down on the list than so be it. If the department wants to hire someone not as smart and further down on the list only because they haven't tried any drugs in their lifetime than they should note on their application that any past drug use will disqualify them. Every department has their own standards on drugs. Apparently in "Pee-ayy" they don't tolerate anything. There are many other great departments out there that will overlook minor drug use. The person that started this thread is going to need many years of being clean and a miracle to even have a shot in most departments.

[jeffrobombero]

Well said FWDbuff...

Unfortunately, there are many of us who didn't make the same choices as you. For some, like me, it was a big mistake in my past, but for me, it is/was in my past.
I have grown up, put that idiocy behind me. I am married now, and raising a family in the Christian faith. That alone, it seems, doesn't fit with the fire service either.
I have learned from my mistakes, have forgiven myself and can forgive others too. So long as it is clearly in the past. I don't even drink anymore.
By the endless grace of God, there I go. Some fine folks in the fireservice have made the decision that I am not that person anymore and just might be taking a chance on me. I know I am in good company, with many others who are as "square" as you are too.
The thing about this poster to me is that he wants to have his party and his cake too. If it is truly something behind him, then he needs to put some years in between to show that it is just that. From his posts, I don't see it, and he certainly doesn't show remorse or regret. It's been almost 20 years since my partying days, and although I didn't do the nose candy or anything considered to be a dependency drug, I was not choir boy.
I think we all have our demons to face at some point. It just depends upon how you get past them.
The original poster needs some time to reflect and find out how bad he really wants it. He's going to have to separate his old life from the life he wants now and that should take years.
I was once like him. Fresh out of that lifestyle and thought I was all that. Thinking of ways to be devious and find the loopholes. Thank God I didn't get anything back then. I would be a joke of a PO or FF, would have not had the maturity I do now and would find myself (especially as a PO) in situations that I don't know how I would have handled back then.
I've taken my share of criticism for my past and been shot down for many things. I gave up for better of a decade and relegated my life to something else entirely. Ain't no shame in that.
But I made a personal decision to follow Christ, another decade has passed, I started volunteering and that feeling of service welled up again. 20 years later and I'm waiting for the call, and I am very humbled by the fact that I got a second chance.
If this guy makes some tough choices and truly changes, he probably deserves a second chance too, but that's not his call, my call or anyone else's call besides those folks who will evaluate him. I hope for their sake, they make the right decision and for his sake, he has a big helping of humble pie and has truly stepped into a new, clean life, and is honest and forthrightabout everything. But he needs to move on right now and put some years of upright living between now and then.

Thanks for your service FWD. If I make it to the badge, I hope that I am one that you wouldn't have regrets about hiring if it were with your department.

Thanks.

[OHFirestopper]

I'd rather work with a "square" (what decade is this anyway?) than someone who openly admits to continued use of pot and occasional use of cocaine. I'm glad that I didn't have to decide which departments I was going to apply to based on whether or not they give a polygraph or not.

Well boxalarm you could pass a polygraph, but I don't think you could pass a spelling test... What is "privilged?" lol I'm just messing with you.

[simpllyhuge]

exactly, no one wants to work with a bunch of squares who have never even jay walked in their lifetime.

well I don't agree with this at all.

[lebryan22]

dinon03 As far as people saying that no Fire Dept. will hire you ..that is very un-true there are private fire depts that run there own physical test/aptitude test and questionnaires...your in GA... I was a firefighter in GA for 2.5 years until i moved to dc email me and ill give u some info..man let me tell u never give up on your dream no matter what anyone says [email protected]