I had grand intentions of writing and sharing my perspectives off the crew last year at this time. What happened? Life, work, changing priorities…. Regardless, I am back and will try to follow through on sharing my mistakes and hard lessons learned over time.
There is a caveat to all this: I fell off the wagon. I guess I should say I am no longer recovering, but back to my addiction. I have come back home to my crew and am lucky enough to be the superintendent. I am going to stick with my message of a recovering hotshot, because these are the lessons I have learned. Granted, I will also sprinkle in some AFMO perspective now that I have had that perspective.
To be honest I would not trade my time away from the crew as an AFMO for anything. Having the perspective of district life again, trying to keep a ship upright when there are more priorities than the time of day. The appreciation for your people when you see them trying to make a difference. Seeing the struggle through the constantly changing priorities: Rx, Rx Prep, facilities, anything requiring labor, IA, Large Fire support, ect…
All of that really makes me appreciate being a hotshot, your priorities are pretty simple: Train to be good hotshots, then support prescribed burning and other project work until the call comes for large fire support. This appreciation and perspective will make me a better superintendent than I could have ever been moving my way up through the crew. For these experiences I am thankful.