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Episode 126 is different from the rest. It’s the introduction to Within the Trenches – Imagine Listening, an extension of the podcast featuring stories from the #IAM911 movement. What you are about to hear are true stories. While some have good outcomes, the majority are horrifying. A warning…if you suffer from PTSD or have suicidal tendencies this episode may be a trigger. LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK.
This episode also touches on PTSD in 9-1-1 dispatch and a look at the dark humor that comes with the job. A shout out goes to Dave, Tim and Amy of Darkness Radio for having me on their show. Below you will find links to my interview and a shout out to Mike of Sword & Scale for having me on episode #82 of his podcast. As always if you have any questions or want to be a guest on show send an email to wttpodcast@gmail.com.
Within the Trenches Continuing Education Scholarship – Web
Sword and Scale – Facebook | iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Twitter | Web | Episode #82
Darkness Radio – Facebook | Twitter | Web | Interview – Hour 1 | Interview – Hour 2
Episode topics –
- Imagine Listening featuring #IAM911 Stories
- PTSD in 9-1-1 Dispatch
- Dark Humor
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Get Your GIF on with Flixel!
Good morning folks and here’s a double shot of Tech Thursday on Jabber Log! It’ll be a quick one so bare with me. Do you remember all the animated GIF files from back in the day? Do you even know what I’m talking about? Well if not, think about the old construction images where the little guy is digging up dirt. The image was mainly used to show that a website was still being built. Others involved still images in a loop, and others, well…they were just plain annoying. It made for a very bad website and they were usually cluttered all over the place in early web design.I’m sure you’re thinking,
“So if the animated GIF was so bad then why the hell are you talking about it here?”
Well, the GIF has slowly made a comeback and now there is an iPhone app called Flixel that can help you create your own GIF’s. The app allows you to make some pretty cool ones too. Think of Instagram but animated. It’s a free app from the App Store and very easy to use. It comes with different filters, a way to share with the Flixel community and it’s social friendly. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and others can be used for sharing with friends and family. So if you find yourself scanning the App Store for something new, make sure to give Flixel a try. I have been using it since early this morning and I’m not only addicted to it but seeing the pictures of others is awesome! If you happen to join the Flixel community follow me @rmarti23 and click the link below for some very creative images that Mashable found. Cheers!
Source – Flixel: Make Your Photographs Move with This Easy iPhone App
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The Sh*% we did growing up.
In about 4 weeks my daughter Lola will be born. I’m very excited and can’t help but think of the mischief that my kids will get into. They are seven years apart but I’m sure they will get into some shit along the way that will cause my gray hair to sprout. My siblings and I did a lot of things growing up and I’m sure my parents were ready to pull their hair out. This is what wakes me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, thinking of the crap we did growing up. Will my kids do the same? They probably will but they will surpass my craziness and probably pull stuff that I would have never dreamed of doing. Growing up I was a good influence on my siblings…well a good influence in the sense of getting them into shit that we got in trouble for. Even though it was my fault though, I had to learn it from somewhere right? The answer is yes! A huge ass YES! It’s safe to say that my older cousins were to blame for some of the stuff I got into.I’m not complaining though. We had a lot of fun even if it was at my expense but I gained the knowledge and ability to influence those around me. For starters, I got into wrestling in the 80’s. The characters were awesome and the moves looked devastating. Actually, they felt devastating as well because I was the dummy who was there to experiment on. My cousin Russ and Joey were into wrestling and whenever they saw a new move I was the lucky one that was chosen to take it. I felt the wrath of Ric Flair’s “Figure Four Leg Lock”, “The Abdominal Stretch”, and “The Scorpion Deathlock”. It was all in fun but damn did it hurt! They taught me about the on going war between the red ants and black ants. This was taught by pitting them together so that they could battle to the death. We tested my cousin Russ’s cat Knievel to see how many times it would land on its feet when thrown in the air, and surprisingly enough it landed on its feet every time. We were baffled as to how it could do this so fast.
All of that seems minor but when there are no parents around at the time, it feels like you’re getting away with murder. When I got a little older it was my turn to shine. I had a younger brother Fernando (Nando for short) and my younger twin sisters, Crystal and Dee-von. One of the first things I can remember introducing to them was American Gladiators. Remember Joust from that show? I do and it was one of our favorite parts. So what better way to spend time with my siblings than to create our own version of Joust? We made our teams, gathered some pillows, and positioned our coffee table so that if we fell off it we would land on the couch. Pretty simple right? Not at all. The first few matches went well and it was fun but the last match came with an injury. My sister Dee-von slipped off the table and cracked her side on the way down. Till this day she still has a scar around her ribs. It was not good but she wasn’t all that hurt anyway. At least I don’t think she was all that hurt. Another good time was when my brother and I bought boxing gloves from an MC Sporting Goods store that was relocating. Everything was on sale so we bought the gloves for cheap. We boxed each other for a while and eventually we got bored. We were looking for something to do and decided to pit our sisters against each other. We brought them down to our spooky ass basement and put the gloves on them. We picked a side and began to coach them but they wouldn’t fight. We tried everything and finally I turned to Crystal and told her that Dee-von had said she was ugly.
“WHAT!?”
That’s all it took and Crystal screamed toward Dee-von. They were about 4 or 5 so the gloves went all the way up their arms and they swung wildly at each other. Not one of them could connect with a good punch. Nando and I cheered and laughed as they struggled to lift the gloves. Finally Crystal connected and clocked Dee-von in the face. She started to cry. They hugged each other and cried together.
“You’re my sister and I love you.”
We booed them for stopping. The fun was now over and my brother and I ran. Why did we run you ask? They yelled very loud and we were doomed.
“DAD!!! DAD!!!”
My sisters yelled for our father and Nando and I split. All you could see was the smoke we left behind as we ran. We got upstairs and immediately went outside to play basketball. We started in the middle of a game of HORSE to throw off my dad but it didn’t help. We were screwed!
“Rich! Nando! Get your asses in here!”
“What’s up dad”, I asked sheepishly.
“Why are the twins crying?”
“I don’t know. Do you know Nando?”
“Nope, I don’t know what happened.”
“See dad? They must have been…”
“Don’t lie to me! They told me that you guys made them fight with the boxing gloves.”
“What!? Come on da..”
“Both of you get in the room!”
This was not good. We were caught and there was no way out of it. What made things worse was the fact that whenever we got in trouble like this, my dad would wait by our bedroom door to spank us on the way in. I had always let it happen but this time I was ready to shake things up. I decided to run in so that I could bypass his swinging arm and right as I passed him he snagged me. I was sure I could dodge it but I was not lucky. It hurt like a bitch and it was Nando’s turn. He took a deep breath and took off running. My dad swung his arm to spank him and Nando dodged it. I was happy for him and Nando was happy. He had the biggest smile on face until,
“NANDO! Now you just made it worse. I’ll be back with the belt!”
He started crying and I felt really bad for him. My dad never came back with the belt though. I guess he figured that Nando was scared enough to not do it again. This is just a sample of the shit we used to do growing up. I wonder what my kids are going to pull on me? Logan already has a crazy imagination so I’m sure once Lola is old enough they will be causing havoc for their mother and I. Can you recall anything you did as a kid to make your parents go nuts? Have your own kids done anything to trip you out enough to make you believe that it’s payback for the way you were growing up? Share your stories here, I’d love to read and comment on them. Cheers!
P.S. The picture is of myself, my wife, and my siblings. Whenever we see each other we make a point to take one F’d up picture to make our parents proud. 8)
HI Ricardo,
I’ve listened to a couple of your podcasts now. Thanks for helping to bring attention to the battle to change our job description. When APCO put out the word, I posted a story and forwarded the links on my social media pages. I first started dispatching in 1981 (ems) after learning to work to the radio to cover in dispatch (I was an EMT) and changed to 911 in 1987. Seen some changes over the years. Had some real nasty calls during my career. I even wrote a book about the profession (“What is your emergency? The history of Public Safety Dispatching in America”).
One of my busiest shifts, I handled simultaneous in-progress evens by myself: a barricaded subject on my main channel and a demonstration on my secondary. I’ve worked shifts where I ran back & forth from the bathroom (had a massive migraine but was by myself), had to deal with the passing away of my mother-in-law (again, by myself), and dealt with more craziness (spent 14 of my years in Berkeley – CA- than I can remember). I now handle LE for a wildlife department. A different type of stress.
Keep up the good work on our behalf.
Diana Sprain
http://www.dianasprain.net/
I heard about you through S&S.; I get it. I do. I have been an Animal Control officer for nearing 20 years. I work in conjunction with Police at accident scenes, death scenes, search warrants/dynamic entry, responding to animal incidents of aggression and vehicle collision. We work alone handling calls that can be dangerous, heated and emotional.
I have taken animals from long term death of Humans, suicides of owner and owner and pet. I have aided and been with animals as they die on our roadways, providing a pet the comfort of Human compassion so they do not die alone and scared. I deal with where Humans have failed their pets and only to be called “Nazi” or “dog killer”. All the while I feel there is not a better person who could do this job.
PTSD, I am not sure as I learn to compartmentalize my work. Maybe. On my days off, I don’t really want to be social outside of my home, I am but I have to push myself to do it. I get questions like you describe about the bad stuff. Too much to list really as the Human and animal tragedy intertwine.
Dark humor? Sure. It’s a coping mechanism. If I didn’t make light of what I see, it would eat me up, I think.
I tell those new to this job that there is no finish line. You will not be able to stand back and look over a job well done. It will be the same thing happening everyday for the duration of your career. Many of things will be stressful and emotional. Regards.