Many are very young, some still teenagers. Others have seen the world, have acquired an education or trade but still feel the need to give back. Most are also attracted to these roles because they are so different, no day is ever the same, life is never boring.
All this adventure and stepping up can come at a cost to both young and old minds and to the body as well.
While ACC is now a lot more user-friendly towards mental injury arising out of work there are still many hoops to jump through to get help. Not easy when someone is actually trying to just cope with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Not every First Responder will suffer flashbacks, depression, unsettled sleep, mood swings, alcohol or drug addiction, but enough do to give an indication that the human mind is a mixed bag for many. ACC needs to try to sort what is work-related and what is not.
When I was serving in the police there was a saying that gained currency amongst medical and psychological providers dealing with broken or stressed minds of police that what a cop sees, experiences, smells, touches, deals with in seven nights of a night shift week is what many people do not in whole lifetimes. Multiply that by the years of service for a First Responder. Explains a lot.
It is no different for fire people, paramedics and military, with different scenarios of course, but there are overlaps. Police, Fire and Paramedics deal daily with the result of car crashes, the smell of stale booze, blood, the broken bodies, the work it takes to just remove people from wrecks, dead or alive. Sights that are once seen and never forgotten. The smell of burns never leaves the nasal memory.
People don't die politely in crashes, it can be very messy. Who cleans up - Fire Service, Police, Tow Truck drivers. Who tries their hardest to keep someone alive until they can deliver them to hospital, often to lose that person on the way - paramedics.
Who has to walk up a quiet footpath in the middle of the night to knock on the door of parents or spouses and tell them that their child or partner has died? A young constable deals with the grief of these people; he or she might get neighbours or a religious leader to help. They may just make a cup of tea and sit with the family for a while.
Fire, police and military also face the very real threat of dying or being grievously wounded in the course of their duties.
More and more, police are called upon to make the worst decision any police officer can, to shoot to protect lives of others or self. Taking a life is not like in the movies; it is simply awful for everyone involved.
Military and police have systems to help members deal with the outcomes of these decisions. Thankfully military only tend to do this during war which, whilst seldom, is still frequent enough to be an ongoing issue for many serving and past military.
Police face these decisions daily on New Zealand streets nowadays, more than the public know. Mercifully normally everyone survives, the suspect sees sense.
So our young people, usually within a very short time, experience the sometimes very grim reality of their roles in trying to serve us. Sometimes it tires them out, makes them doubt themselves, and hardens them outwardly whilst inside they can be screaming. Year in, year out, sometimes for 40 years they carry on. Many fall by the wayside, life is just too short for all the hurt they see and live with. They return to "normal" society and just get on with things whilst perhaps also continually dealing with memories.
They, mostly, remember their time in their service with pride and are proud of serving staff that carry on. They did their bit.
