When someone walked up to me and said, “Oh, you’re THE Charlie 10?” I knew that this had gotten bigger than I had ever imagined that it would. This tall tale is much bigger than me, or anything in my mind that I deserve to be associated with.
It all started on the first day of spring fire academy at the Illinois Fire Service Institute. The academy (at that time) was six weeks in length. During those six weeks there was challenging early morning physical fitness sessions, followed by intense and demanding hands on training often in environments that were immediately dangerous to life and health, with classroom sessions, and menial tasks such as cleaning mixed into our days. At the end of the day when you were sore, exhausted, and looking forward to going back to your hotel room to sleep you got your homework assignment for the night to fulfill the academic dynamic of the academy. It was much more than being taught to put water on fire; you were legitimately tested in every domain including physical fitness, work ethic, academics, and character discernment. Another factor that makes the fire academy challenging is the unknown and with that in mind I will do my best to protect trade secrets in this article. On that first day of academy as I stood in the parking lot with 33 strangers we were brought inside organized into three companies Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie and then assigned roster numbers. I was Charlie 10.
One of the first things we were taught was to “sound off”. This was a method of accountability. Accountability in the fire service is paramount and this is a very important lesson to learn. So Alpha Company would start and sound off Alpha 1 followed by Alpha 2 and so on. This would continue until the last man in Alpha Company sounded off and informed the Instructor that everyone was present. Bravo Company repeated in the same fashion and then Charlie Company. I had done similar things during my time in the military, and in the military when you sound off you do it loud and thunderous. When it came my turn I screamed Charlie 10 as loud as I could.
Throughout the six weeks we would sound off more than we would breathe it felt like, but we were learning that it was imperative to keep track of each other. Every time we would sound off I would scream at the top of my lungs Charlie 10. As we went on some of my fellow students in the academy would laugh or smile. We would sound off in the most miserable of situations: cold, hot, tired, sore, want to quit, and then from in the back CHARLIE 10!!!!!! In that moment even though we were miserable the guys smiled. I can remember there as times when yelling Charlie 10 wasn’t well received. There was definitely a time and a place. Gradually I figured out that groove. I was able to use it even when we weren’t sounding off. Advancing hose lines going through multiple bottles of air when we were all tired I would scream it and those tired miserable friends of mine would smile and keep going with me. Charlie 10 became a battle cry. We showed that fire, that academy, and that challenge our war face. Admiral McRaven mentioned in a commencement speech he gave at the University of Texas about a time during Navy Seal training when they were singing in the mud and it made it a little less miserable. Charlie 10 became more than my roster number, it was what got us through the hard times.
I am instructor now at that same Fire Academy and my helmet and jacket still say Charlie 10. In the minds of people much better than me, I earned that and I will forever be grateful for that honor. In my mind Charlie 10 does not belong to me. It is a mindset that can belong to everyone. Being Charlie 10 means you’re a team player. You aren’t focused on your own success but the success of the team as a whole. It means that you’re a hard worker. If you aren’t pulling your weight the team won’t care what you’re screaming. Being Charlie 10 means you’re intelligent and perceptive. It is not just being loud. It’s about learning when to be loud, and when to shut up. Being aware of how your team is feeling and what they need from you. Sometimes they need you to be Charlie 10. Sometimes they need you to shut up and do work. Being Charlie 10 means that being humble, being respectful, and being a student of the game is your highest priority. That is why this is so much bigger than just me and why it is such a high honor that the individuals I work with have allowed me to keep Charlie 10 as a part of me. I encourage you to make the Charlie 10 mindset a part of you.
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