Michigan Fire Fighters Training - State Of Michigan: Fill & Download for Free

“Ring sense is an art, a gift from God that flows out of a fighter like a great painting flows out of an artist, or a great book flows out of an author.” quote by all time master trainer Ray ArcelFirst of all, as far as trainers go, ranking them is extremely difficult. For one thing, in the old days, almost every trainer concentrated on one champion at a time. There were only a fraction of the champions - 8 weight classes and one title per weight class - as opposed to 17 weight classes and 4 sanctioning organizations today, plus interim, regular, and super champions. (and in some cases, champions in recess!) There are potentially 204 titles, 612 if you count regular, interim and super titles!CREDIT PICTURE BOXING.COMThat said, there are trainers who are regarded historically as grand masters, elite of the elite, and they are all gone now...The following list is drawn from various sources, and in the end, is an opinion based on facts.What made a great trainer, an elite Master of the Sweet Science?Joe Louis said in his autobiography “once that bell rings, you are on your own…you better be ready, and you better have a guy who makes sure you are ready, and who can tell you what to do if something happens.”“That guy” to make sure a fighter is ready is his trainer.Training hasn’t improved in any way the past 50 years. If anything there are less qualified trainers than ever before. Joe Frazier commented in KO Magazine, March 1999, ‘These guys aren’t trained by real champions, by great ex-fighters.”The best trainers in history were fighters who knew all the secrets of the game. Rocky Marciano's trainer, Charley Goldman, claimed to have had over 300 pro fights. Jack Blackburn, Joe Louis’ trainer, was one of the great fighters of the turn of the century and had over 160 pro fights. He fought the likes of Joe Gans, Sam Langford, and Harry Greb. They learned to fight by fighting, and then by working with other great trainers.That level of experience is completely gone from the sport today.Ray Arcel, Hall of Fame Trainer, who learned himself from some of the greats, like Benny Leonard and Whitey Bimstein, noted right before his death, "Boxing is not really boxing today. It’s theater. Some kids might look good. But they don’t learn their trade. If you take a piece of gold out of the ground, you know its gold. But you have to clean it. You have to polish it. But there aren’t too many guys capable (today) of polishing a fighter.”The Grand Masters of All Time:These are six trainers who took flawed fighters, and with careful training and cultivation, made them all time greats, “polishing” the fighter, despite very obvious gaps in their games:Jack BlackburnCharlie GoldmanEddie FutchManny StewardRay ArcelCus D’AmatoLet us examine the six Grand Masters:Jack Blackburn is, in the opinion of many, the greatest trainer who ever livedSam Langford, one of the greatest fighters who ever lived summed up Joe Louis when he said, “The Detroit Bomber is another Gans, whom I consider the greatest fighter of all time… He (Louis) can hit, he is fast and is no slouch at employing ring craft. I am glad I am still able to see enough to watch the boy. He is the marvel of the age.”CREDIT THE JULY 20, 1935 EDITION OF Chicago DefenderJack Blackburn made Joe Louis Barrow into the Great Joe LouisJack Blackburn is best known as the Hall of Fame trainer of the great Joe Louis, but he was also a great lightweight boxer who engaged in over 160 recorded professional fights from 1901 to 1923. (Blackburn claimed to have had 385 fights. In a time when boxing was illegal in many states, most of his fights probably went unrecorded.) That boxing career shaped Blackburn’s subsequent career as a trainer.Never a champion Blackburn still fought some of the greatest fighters of all time. He fought the legendary lightweight champion Joe Gans, “The Old Master” three times, all time great Sam Langford six times, (despite a major weight disadvantage), the great welterweight Dave Holly five times, future light-heavyweight champion Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, andHarry Greb, possibly the fourth greatest middleweight of all time.Blackburn even fought heavyweights Jim Barry and Gunboat Smith. Billy Rocap said the greatest fight he ever saw was Blackburn’s famous 15 round draw with Sam Langford in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Veteran historian Charley Rose rated Blackburn as the third greatest lightweight ever in his 1968 ratings.And Blackburn watched every bit of what trainers did during his 22 year career, and applied it to become an all time truly great trainer himself.Blackburn trained four fighters who went on to become world champions:bantamweight Bud Taylor,lightweight Sammy Mandell,welterweight Jackie Fields, andheavyweight Joe Louis.Louis was his pride and joy, who he felt he had molded in the image of the great technicians of his day, the vicious but cerebral Blackburn, the “Old Master of the Ring” Joe Gans and power punching Sam Langford.CREDIT FOR PICTURE OF THE GREAT JOE LOUIS AND JACK BLACKBURN: THE SQUARED CIRCLE AND TWITTERBlackburn was introduced to Joe Louis on June 25, 1934 and watched Joe sparring and hitting the heavy bag. Blackburn said later he saw at once Louis had natural punching power, something that could not be taught, but he also saw that he was completely dependent on his power, and lacked solid fundamentals.Blackburn talked of his observations of the young Louis, and what he thought he would need to become great, to the Pittsburgh Courier, on July 20, 1935 saying“Louis needed correction in everything except hitting. I had to teach him to back up his punches with the proper timing, accuracy and to instruct him in the proper art of balance. I trained him under the same methods I trained under when I was a fighter.”CREDIT COX’S CORNER, AND THE Pittsburgh Courier July 20, 1935 editionLouis spoke of what Blackburn gave him in his autobiography Joe Louis My Life:“He (Blackburn) saw my faults right off. I was hitting off balance. He corrected this by showing me how to plant my feet and punch with my whole body, not just swinging my arms. He said people going to fights don’t want to see a dancer or a clincher –they want to see a man who goes for the guts. He said I had strength and that I could beat or knock out anybody I wanted to if I planted my body in the right position.”Louis said his first week with Blackburn the trainer did nothing but hold the heavy bag and taught Louis how to actually punch correctly.CREDIT COX’S CORNER, AND Joe Louis My LifeBlackburn developed Louis into not only a boxer-puncher of extraordinary power and authority. Blackburn taught Louis to use short compact punches - and what Floyd Patterson described as the “best left hook in history.”And Blackburn came up with some unique training methods, for instance, Blackburn trained Joe Louis' jab and maximized his hand speed by having him catch flies.Charlie Goldman is in the elite five right along with Jack BlackburnThough Boxrec only has records of 43 fights, it admits Goldman had more - Goldman claimed to have had in over 400 fights, but most were unrecorded. Given the quasi-legal status of the sport in New York in the pre-WWI era, it was not unusual that no record was kept of many fights.Charley would say, in later years, as did Jack Blackburn, that it was their experience, the hundreds of fights, and their watching and learning from the trainers, that gave them the foundation to become great trainers.After his career as a boxer ended, Goldman began training boxers.Goldman, like Blackburn, trained four undisputed world champions:middleweight Al McCoyLightweight Lou Ambersfeatherweight Joey Archabaldheavyweight Rocky MarcianoJust as Joe Louis had been Blackburn’s crowning triumph, Rocky Marciano was Goldman’s.His first three champions, Goldman concentrated on improving their potent technical skills. But Rocky, he built from the ground up.When Goldman first met Marciano, the fighter was an inexperienced, short, overweight, stoop shouldered, balding, and clumsy, with the shortest of any heavyweight champion at 69 inches. In addition, Marciano was starting late in the professional ranks, and was light for a heavyweight.Nevertheless, Goldman saw something no one else saw, and began to work with Marciano. Goldman believed that a trainer should play to what a fighter is good at, their gift, and improve and refine it. He sought to turn Marciano's shortcomings into advantages. His adage was: "If you got a tall fighter, make him taller. If you got a short fighter make him shorter." With Marciano, Goldman made him shorter by teaching him to stoop down, and fight out of crouch. By having him stoop low Goldman made the already low target offered by Marciano that much harder to hit.Charley Goldman, who originally just laughed at the challenge facing him with trying to improve Rocky, in the end felt he had crafted a masterpiece. Goldman said, “I got a guy who is short, stoop-shouldered and balding with two left feet, (Rocky’s victims) all look better than he does as far as moves are concerned, but they don’t look so good (laying) on the canvas.”Goldman crafted moves that other trainers such as Cus D’Amato used later with similarly height and reach disadvantaged fighters like Mike Tyson. Goldman had a special 300 pound heavy bag built and had Rocky pound it with both hands to increase both his punching power, and his endurance. “He can hit,” said Goldman, “but I taught him to punch!”Goldman introduced wind sprints in addition to Rocky’s morning runs of up to 10 miles. He also introduced a novel way of using a speed bag but not like anyone else does or did, he had Rocky hit it with hooks and slow power shots to work on his accuracy.In the end, Charley Goldman took a guy who on paper would never have made a club fighter, let alone undisputed heavyweight champion, and made him into the #3 heavyweight of all time, and the only undisputed champion to retire undefeated at any weight.Eddie Futch, “Papa Smurf”Four of the five men to defeat Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick, were trained by Eddie Futch. Muhammad is quoted in Muhammad Ali: A Life as saying “Eddie was put on the earth to make sure I stayed humble!”Born in Mississippi, Eddie moved with his family to Detroit when he was five years old. As a young man, he began boxing and in 1932, Futch won the Detroit Athletic Association Lightweight Championship, and in 1933, he won the Detroit Golden Gloves Championship. He trained at the same gym as Joe Louis, the Brewster Recreation Center Gym, and sparred with the future champion. Heart troubles prevented Futch from turning professional, and not wanting to leave the sport, he began training boxers.Eddie trained four undisputed boxing champions:heavyweight Joe Frazierheavyweight Riddick Bowemiddleweight Don Jordanlight-heavyweight and heavyweight Michael SpinksIn addition, he trained a horde of alphabet champions, including such great fighters as Alexis Arguello.Futch is probably best remembered for training Joe Frazier and Riddick Bowe. With Frazier, Eddie had many of the same problems that Charley Goldman had with Rocky. Frazier was short, fat, and had no reach. Yet Futch crafted a merciless body punching swarmer who is one of the top 20 heavyweights of all time. Like Goldman, Futch believed in emphasizing a fighter’s gifts, and working to refine their technique to play to their strengths. With Joe, his teaching how to use head movement and the bob and weave lead to Joe’s having the best defensive numbers of any heavyweight champion in history.With Bowe, Futch said he had the most talent he had ever worked with. His challenge with Riddick was to keep him focused and away from the “all night buffet.” When it was obvious to him that Riddick, who had begged him to train him, was no longer willing to make the sacrifices to be great, Eddie walked away, leaving large training fees behind.Manny StewardEmmanuel Steward trained the last great undisputed heavyweight boxing champion, Lennox Lewis, and then he made Wlad Klitschko a great fighter.Emanuel "Manny" Steward, born on July 7, 1944, and who passed on October 25, 2012, was a figure associated with boxing his entire adult life. He was a boxer and trainer. He also was a highly regarded commentator for HBO Boxing.Emmanuel Steward trained a total of 41 alphabet world champion fighters throughout his career, most notably Thomas Hearns, through the famous Kronk Gym. Later he trained heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis, and Wladimir Klitschko. His heavyweight champions had a record of 34-2-1 combined in title fights.Steward is a member of both the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Steward was also known for his charity work in Detroit, Michigan, especially in the area of childhood education.Steward was born in, of all places, Bottom Creek, West Virginia. At 12 years old he and his mother had moved to Detroit, Michigan, after his mother's divorce from his coal miner father. In his early adulthood Steward worked for a short time at other jobs, before his boxing career began. Steward fell into his life's work at Brewster Recreation Center, famous as the home gym of Joe Louis and Eddie Futch.Steward began an amateur boxing career there at 15. He was 94 and 3 as an amateur, during which he won the 1963 national Golden Gloves tournament as a bantamweight.Steward intended to go professional, but he had difficulty finding a manager and starting his career. His best managerial offer came from a California group that included Eddie Futch. But that offer would have required Steward to relocate to California. Steward was extremely close, and very supportive of his mother and his two younger sisters, who were still in Detroit. After much agonizing, Steward decided his family came first, and he turned down the offer to stay in Detroit with his family.In 1964, Steward married Marie Steele, who would be his lifelong love, and he began working at Detroit Edison Company as a laborer. He worked his way up to the apprentice electricians program, and then journeyman electrician and finally master electrician.During the summer of 1969, Steward's 15-year-old half-brother, James Steward, left West Virginia and moved to Detroit to live with him. Sometime later, James asked Emmanuel to teach him how to box. Emanuel had been out of boxing for some time, but he agreed to coach James.In 1971, Steward and his brother James Steward, went to the Kronk Gym, a noted gym for amateur boxers in the 1960's, and Steward became a part-time coach at Kronk, first coaching his brother, and then other fighters as they noticed his meticulous attention to detail, his preparation and knowledge of the sport.Steward began by training amateur fighters. He was a great success, and eventually began to train professional fighters.Steward got his first champion on March 2, 1980, when Hilmer Kenty won the world championship by knocking out world lightweight champion Ernesto España. But Steward became best known for his work with welterweight Thomas Hearns, whom he managed to change from a gangly feather fished amateur into one of the most feared punchers in boxing history.Later in life, Steward again came to public attention and acclaim with his training Lennox Lewis and Wlad Klitschko. Both of whom said on many occasions that Steward's work correcting defensive flaws led to their rising to the top of the ladder professionally. Both were highly gifted offensive stars whose weakness was a questionable chin. Steward devised a style for each that played to their strengths, covered their weaknesses, and left them all time greats.Steward said many times that he simply took what a fighter did best, worked out the kinks, and then tried to find a way to compensate for any weaknesses they had.It sounds easy, but of course, it was not.Steward died on October 25, 2012, after undergoing surgery for diverticulitis at 68. He rightly belongs in the pantheon of great trainers, and genuinely good human beings.Cus D’AmatoCus is unique among the great trainers in that he had a system he believed in, and he sought out fighters who fit it. BUT, what separated him from other trainers with a system was his ability to adapt it to his individual fighters. Cus was not rigid in its application - for instance, his legendary peek a boo worked differently with each of his champions - he would tweak it to match their skillsCus had three undisputed world champions:heavyweight Floyd Pattersonlight-heavyweight Jose Torresheavyweight Mike TysonCus, like all of the old school trainers, was a great amateur fighters but like Eddie Futch and Manny Steward, he could not make the leap to the pros for health reasons. For him, it was loss of vision in his eye.Cus instead made the leap to trainer. He began his career in earnest when he opened the Empire Sporting Club with Jack Barrow at the Gramercy Gym. Cus lived there, at the gym, for many years. According to Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story Cus spent his time at the gym waiting for fighter talented enough to be "champion", but his best fighters were routinely lured away by "connected" managers, leading to a lifelong hatred of wise guys on D’Amato’s part. One fighter developed to contender status by D'Amato was Rocky Graciano, who signed with another manager in order to get a title shot, and went on to become middleweight champion.Finally, in 1952, Cus spotted a young middleweight training at the Gramercy Gym, and convinced the 17 year old kid that his style and training could carry him to a world title. In the kid’s case, a weak chin required special protection, and Cus’s peek a boo, developed years before for Graciano, was a perfect fit.But Cus showed his genius in adapting the peek a boo to the kid’s unique talents. He taught him to dart in and out, firing lightning quick combinations, then darting back out before his opponent could tee off on him.The kid was Floyd Patterson, and Cus trained and managed him to the world heavyweight title.In 1956, Cus spotted another youngster, this one on the army boxing team, and convinced him to work as a sparring partner for Patterson. From there, the kid decided that Cus’s training methods and peek a boo would work for him too, and that kid, Jose Torres, ended up as light heavyweight champion of the world.But Jose, who had 3 inches of reach on Patterson, and a better chin, (he was only KO’d once) used a variation of the peek a boo that Cus altered to fit his longer reach and stouter chin. Jose simply used side to side movement instead of darting in and out, while still firing the rapid combinations typified by the peek a boo.It would be almost two and a half decades after that, 23 long years, before Cus finally found another kid who fit his mold for a fighter. After Patterson and Torres' careers ended, D'Amato worked in relative obscurity. Cus had become convinced that the best way to mold a champion was find a young troubled kid who needed a purpose, and give them that while teaching them to fight. It was 1979 when Cus found the kid who would be his masterpiece in a nearby Juvenile Reformatory.Cus took in a 13 year old kid named Mike Tyson, and again, tweaked his classic peek a boo style to suit Tyson’s particular strengths. Like Torres, Tyson had a stronger chin than Patterson. But Tyson was far stronger than Torres, so Cus again adapted his style to his fighter, and unlike Patterson, who would dart in and out, Tyson just bored in range, and fired away.Cus also actually used training methods with Tyson than Charley Goldman had used with Rocky.Again according to Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story Cus, familiar with Rocky’s routines, thought that using that bag for a limited time would best help Mike develop his potential power. At 13, Mike was muscular and weighed nearly 200 pounds.Cus realized that, due to Tyson’s size deficits, and his lack of reach, that a style to counter those deficits would have to bring, as Rocky did, incredible power and endurance.According to Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story, Cus used to claim that “there is no such thing as a natural puncher. There is a natural aptitude for punching and that is different. Nobody is born the best. You have to practice and train to become the best.”Cus beleived Mike needed to have incredible punching power in both hands, and, as Rocky had, enough endurance and stamina to use his style for 15 rounds. (this was before the Manicina-Kim tragedy inspired the reduction of championship fights to 12 rounds) So Cus put Mike on a 300-pound bag, unbelievably heavy for a 13-year-old, and told him to develop his natural punching power in both hands.Cus knew Marciano trained using this technique and was quick to get Mike on the same routine, as he saw Mike with many of the same weaknesses in size and reach that Rocky had to overcome, and also with some of Rocky’s strengths, his natural power, and willingness to work.Mike at that time was an original gym rat, and after his workouts, studied film for hours!Mike ended up using the “Rocky Bag” for five years, until he was ready to fight as a pro!Cus never got to see his masterpiece, his pride and joy, win the undisputed title. Mike won his 11th fight as a pro on Nov. 1, 1985, and Cus died 3 days later.Cus the trainer was better than Cus the manager, who tended to protect his fighters too much by putting them in only with fighters he was convinced they could beat. But Cus the trainer was a genuinely great trainer; his ability to craft a system that both protected smaller or weaker chinned fighters, and which was also a deadly efficient offensive system, coupled with his willingness to tweak it to each fighter’s individual strengths and weaknesses, and his ability to incorporate good ideas from other master trainers puts him in the elite of all time.Ray ArcelRay Arcel was a great trainer, a technical master, who could indeed “polish” great talents into great fighters.Arcel was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 30, 1899, the son of Rose and David Arcel, who were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Romania. He moved to New York City before he was six years old. Arcel grew up in Harlem.Growing up when and where he did, Arcel took the path of most resistance and trained to be a boxer at Grupp’s Gymnasium on 116th Street and Eighth Avenue.“You had to fight in those days,” Arcel related to Ronald K. Fried in Corner Men. “You lived in a neighborhood where you were challenged every day. We were the only Jewish family there, but that’s an old story. Of course, fighting in the street meant nothing. Wherever you’d go, you’d see two guys fighting. If you didn’t fight you were yellow.”As with other great trainers, Ray was unable to make the jump to the professional ranks, but loving the sport, wanted to stay a part of it, so he began working with the trainers at Grupp’s first, and then he himself began training fighters at Stillman's Gym, right by the old location of Madison Square Gardens, on 8th Avenue, in the 1920s.Ray had the following undisputed champions:lightweight Benny Leonardlightweight Roberto Duranlight and welterweight champion Barney Rossmiddleweight Tony Zaleheavyweight JJ Braddockheavyweight Ezzard CharlesRay also trained the great Larry Holmes.The first heavyweight Arcel trained was James Braddock for his fight with Joe Louis in 1937. Over the years, Arcel trained fifteen members of the Joe Louis Bum-of-the-Month Club, and told Fried that he “got tired of seeing those guys stretched out!”Arcel, who told his family he was tired of boxing, retired in 1940 and took a job in private industry. But he still went to the fights, just as a fan. Then he saw Ezzard Charles, who he called the greatest talent he ever saw, and he was right back in boxing. (when Charles got drafted, Ray again left the sport until Charles returned after the war…)Ray fell afoul of the Mob in the 1950’s, and it nearly got him killed. Arcel began arranging fights for ABC. Unfortunately another network with close ties to the IBC (International Boxing Club), run by Frankie Carbo and James Norris, began suffering the financial strain. On September 19, 1953, Arcel was standing outside a Boston hotel, having just returned from Yom Kippur services, when he was attacked by an “unknown assailant” and hit in the forehead with a lead pipe. He suffered a concussion, spent nineteen days in a hospital, and was lucky he wasn’t dead. Getting the message, Arcel retired from boxing for eighteen years.Arcel did not fully return until 1972 when he began working with Roberto Duran. Ray’s last champion was Larry Holmes, who he worked with until 1982.Arcel believed, as all the Masters did, that his job was to find and polish the natural skills of a fighter, and encourage what they did best. He believed after that his job was to find a way to cover the fighter’s weaknesses, which all of them had. He trained over 2000 boxers and said of his craft, “I never considered myself a trainer, I considered myself a teacher.”Ray, like all the Master’s, believed an out of shape fighter was a danger to himself. Arcel parted company with Duran when Roberto was partying after losing to Leonard in their rematch.Journalist W.C. Heinz is quoted in Corner Men about Arcel, “Ray Arcel is more concerned with the fighter than the fight.”Silver continued, “The best you can say about Arcel, and there have been other trainers like this, but they’re certainly not in the majority, he was the type of trainer that if you had a son, and that son insisted on becoming a boxer, Ray Arcel was the one you’d want to train and condition him…Ray Arcel above and beyond anything else, looked out for the health and well-being of his fighter.”What was Ray Arcel proudest of in his life? According to Fried in Corner Men, it was the fact that he had trained 2,000 boxers, and not one of them ever got seriously hurt in the ring.All of the Great Trainers, the Old Masters, are gone todayManny Steward was the last of them, and we will not see their life again.Freddie is a good trainer - but not even remotely in the class of the true greats.CREDIT FOR QUOTES AND DETAILS IN THIS STORY FROM:Confusing the Enemy: The Cus D’Amato Story by Dr. Scott WeissCorner Men: Great Boxing Trainers by Ronald K. FriedChamp in the Corner by John JarrettIn the Corner: Great Boxing Trainers Talk about Their Art by Dave AndersonJoe Louis: My Life by Joe LouisRay Arcell: A Boxing Biography by Donald Dewey

Actually, the majority of them. I joined the navy, and I actually thought I got one of the worst jobs when it comes to converting it to a civilian job. I mean, seriously, can I load bombs for an airline or fix their machine guns? No. But, after I retired a retired Captain that I had met called me up and asked if I was looking for a job. He hired me to be a tech writer for his company, writing training materials and tech manuals for the military.But, most of the people I worked with in the military were aviation maintenance people, working on our planes. Most of those folks got out of the Navy with an Airframes and Power plant certificate, and went to work at airlines or in aircraft factories. Same with the folks who were the electricians and electronics experts.Do you think that the average CB can't use what he learned in the service to build roads or buildings on the outside? Same is true with those who repair the electronic devices or repair the military vehicles. I also know MANY people who worked in the deck forces on navy ships and worked in the ships power plants who went to work on civilian ships either at sea or up on the great lakes.I also know former navy pilots who went to work for airlines, and one who went to work as a corporate pilot for a cereal company in Michigan. And, last time I checked, if you are an E5 Navy Mess management Specialist, you were qualified for a license in Hotel/Motel Management in several states.Actually, most jobs in the military can convert to a similar civilian job. Even if your actual military job won't, you will still be pretty-well qualified to be a fire fighter or police officer.

There are two real paths here: career and volunteer. You can, realistically, switch between the two as much as you want, but the approach might be slightly different depending on your focus.I went to college at LSSU (in Sault Ste Marie, MI) for Fire Science, with the intent on becoming a career firefighter. To my knowledge, there are only five 4 year programs for Fire Science in the US. I was told there are 2 out west with a Wildland emphasis, another like LSSU (structural emphasis) in Ohio, and one for continuing ed (for people with 10 years on the job looking to make a rank) in Indiana. EKU and Oklahoma State both have other related programs, but I’m not sure that either has a 4 year for actual firefighters.While at LSSU, I got an additional BS in Chemistry, and started on a long and crazy road which lead me to my current job as the GM of a manufacturing plant. So, I never even tested for a career department. I had money thrown at me, and before long a family, and then far too many obligations to leave the private sector and take a pay cut as an entry level fire fighter. That’s life.To satiate my need to lay hose and cut holes and get as much training as I could (and justify a 4 year degree in Fire Science), I joined a volunteer fire department the year before I graduated from college. (Almost every volunteer department in the country is looking for people, and I have a strong sense of civic obligation from my days as a Boy Scout. You will see a lot of crap thrown around between career guys and volunteers, but at the end of the day, the mission is exactly the same. In Michigan, the training is identical. Hopefully, the career guys see a lot more action, though. I’m no longer cheering every time I get a working fire. I don’t wish that on anyone, and I would be happy to never have another fire in my township again.)My point here is that I would suggest joining a volunteer department as soon as possible. You can literally have zero training, and as long as you work hard, and show a willingness to train, most departments will see you as an asset. They will most likely pay for your training, and as soon as you turn 18, get you certified to Firefighter 1 and 2. (This varies by state, but in Michigan, 1 and 2 is a full firefighter. Driver, pump operator, incident commander, etc. will come later, but FF 1 and 2 is the needed standard to enter a burning building. You used to be able to do them separate, but they are almost always combined now.)The reasons for joining a dept. are many fold, but mainly, you can never get too much experience. Your department will brief you on any state-specific requirements you need to complete in order to get hired on a career department, should you go that route. They will let you know what training is beneficial, and what’s crap. They may even sponsor you for a scholarship or give you a paid-on-call position. There aren’t many careers that let you “test drive” them, but the fire service is one!(I also didn’t get certified until May of my Junior year of college, so I missed out on a lot of time. To get your instructor’s cert in Michigan, you need 5 year of being certified. For some states, you need a certain number of years on a department to get your officer certs. Being certified would have eliminated at least one whole class from my college load, and would have allowed me to take higher level classes earlier.)After graduation, you can do three things:Realize that you want to make piles of money as an engineer or a business tycoon or an underwater basket weaver. That’s fine and dandy, but please consider remaining on a volunteer department, if you have them in your area. Actually, you don’t even have to graduate to stay on…Find a career department to test for. Some departments (like FDNY) take anyone that passes the test and receives a good enough test rank (no FF experience needed) and then run you through the academy. Others want to have a FF cert. Others want you to be certifiable as an EMT within a year, be certified as an EMT already, or even be certified as a paramedic. This will vary by municipality, but the last option is growing in popularity. The money is in ALS runs. To get the paramedic licensing, there are a lot of community colleges with programs or even volunteer ambulance crews that will train you, but you could also try door number 3…Attend a 4 year fire science program. Please note: This is not to make you a firefighter. This is to make you a better candidate for an officer’s rank, and more apt to be promoted after a few years as a grunt. If you never want to be a white hat (Fire Chief), I suggest getting hired on a department before continuing your education. A four degree is certainly not needed to get hired as an entry level firefighter in many cities, but it may help.