Stick It!

Four firefighters from Maywood, Illinois were suspended or refusing to follow a command. That command was to remove American flag stickers from their lockers. Union President, David Flowers, Jr. was one of the firefighters relieved of duty.  Flowers refused to remove the Marine Corps sticker on his locker. The sticker was placed on that locker by Flowers's father, a Vietnam veteran and former Maywood firefighter. Flowers, Sr. passed the locker down to Flowers, Jr.

Maywood Fire Chief Craig Bronaugh issued the memo requiring all stickers to be removed, including the American Flag and Marine Corps sticker, because he felt that the stickers were a form of racism.

I believe it is safe that a fair census would be to tell Chief Bronaugh to stick it. Do these firefighters have to remove the American Flag from heir uniform? Should they take down the flag on the flag pole too? This is a slippery slope that Bronaugh is going down head first.

Helmet stickers is something nearly every firefighter has. Stickers range from 9/11 to glow in the dark eyes, to Maltese crosses. My company has a strict policy on stickers. We are only allowed to have our last name on the back of the helmet and one sticker underneath the back brim of the helmet.

At first it may seem like this policy is unfair. I have come to accept it and actually like it. Some firefighters have an extreme amount of stickers on their helmet. Sometimes all these stickers makes me think they gave a 5 year old a pack of stickers and the helmet for fun.

If you tell your firefighters to taken the American flag off different things, whether it be off helmets, lockers, trucks, out of the crew room, you can be sure that someone will throw you into the smoke!