Back in December, I started a post about the holidays - and one of my favorite quotes, found in a quite unassuming place in Katie’s parents’ house…

“As holidays unfold, and we’re visiting family, we often have to, well, you know, use the bathroom.

I was with Katie and John at the Burton household yesterday. As I was washing my hands, I looked to the right and saw this sign on the wall, with three simple words - Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

My friends in the business will recognize the phrase, as we use it all the time when we’re training new recruits to get them in the mentality to be successful members of a company, division, or section by not giving up when shit goes wrong.

It turns out that the quote was made famous in Heartbreak Ridge, a Clint Eastwood movie from 1986.

It’s a go-to phrase, and we usually use it when someone is in the SCBA confidence box losing their shit or a company made a bad tactical size-up or missed pulling a line and let that bad size-up or line selection ruin the whole evolution. Usually, we will let it go for a few minutes and then use the phrase and make it all a teachable moment if things are safe to do so. I’ve never heard or remembered it being said anywhere other than a fireground or a training pad. Or it’s a military thing.”

And that post sat. And sat. And sat. Until today.

The last few months have been trying. I have had to come to grips with a changing business environment at IEMS, changes in my Division at Gregg, and being on the grind for 189 out of 196 days, mostly to overcome challenges left behind from the last several years. I resigned from the Instructors Association, and I gave serious thought to leaving the business entirely.

But to what end?

As I write this, sitting on the Enchantment of the Seas, at the pier in Nassau, Bahamas, I’ve realized that the grind isn’t what’s wearing me down. It’s the blind loyalty I give, and the pressure to do a solid for someone when there’s no reward for me, either monetary, spiritual, or mental.

As a matter of course, we are always conducting a risk vs. benefit analysis. Does the risk match the reward? My allegiance is no longer a given. It must be earned. I believe in the long-shot as much as the next guy, but I’ve got to be smarter with my time and talents.

To my students, future and past - resist the urge to be suckered into the good cause. Volunteer for your community - but do it with your family and your life in mind. Take time for yourself. Keep yourself in the game mentally. Take care of yourself and your company or department.

In this business, nothing is free.