Within the Trenches

I have been holding back and it's time to let go. I have been posting on anything and everything and I am proud of what I have done but for some time now I have wanted to talk about what I do for a living. One day I will write a book about what I have been through but for now...this is the beginning. It is rather therapeutic to talk about what I have gone through and although some may frown upon what I am doing, I feel it is necessary to cope and move on. I have been dispatching for several years now and I have heard it all. I have heard funny calls with naked males walking on stilts by the living room window of an elderly man, two drunk people pooping in driveways, and stoned out acid tripped people who see what's not there. They are interesting and somewhat easy but along with all the funny calls are the calls no one wants to hear. The ones that cause nightmares and when the call is over all you can do is pick up the next one and move on. There is no time to cope. There is no time to pick up the pieces because the next caller needs your help as much as the previous one.

I have always compared taking a 911 call to pressing the gas pedal to the floor and letting go of the steering wheel. The calls are intense but you stick with it to the end. What's hard is when you work in an area where you grew up. The calls are harder and you can't tell the person you know them because it could make things worse so you grit your teeth and stay professional. I say the calls are hard because I answered when my grandmother died. My family was playing the waiting game and my partners in dispatch had arranged for me to leave once it happened. The phone rang and for some reason I hesitated. I looked at the screen and it was my mothers cell phone number. I answered and heard my cousins voice on the other end. My grandmother had passed away and I suppose it was meant to be that I would take the call. It was very hard but this is what I do. It was my duty to take the call and up until now my posts have been funny and light and I will get back to that but believe me when I say, I feel better.