 What's up guys? My name is Isaiah Narvez. I'm a firefighter and I'm stationed out here in Germany, Spain, down in Maribas. I would say the main reason why I joined the Air Force in the first place was I would say the schooling and the better opportunities that it could give me. Growing up, you know, it was, I didn't really have all the opportunities in the world due to, you know, some financial reasons. So I knew, you know, the military was a good route for me and all the opportunities and benefits, school, travel and all that. So if I wanted to do something, I know the military could take care of me. So that's why I wanted to join and I also knew that it was a good stepping stone for my career and I'll go into my career as a firefighter. I know that it was going to give me the certifications and all everything that I needed to become a firefighter if I wanted to leave the Air Force outside. So I knew joining the military that had great benefits. It looked good on paper if I wanted to get out. The schooling was free so I've done a lot of school in here for free and I'm a certified firefighter in America too. Even though I'm fighting out here in Germany, fighting fires out here in Germany, in America I'm qualified. So if I do get out, I don't have to go through a long extensive period in some states to become a firefighter. I already have a head start and I have military under my name if I did get out. So it would say my name, military and all of my certifications. So that's why I joined the military because I knew it was going to be a good stepping stone for me and it could give me so much. So I've been in the Air Force since 2016 in February. So if I do the math correct that is three years and six months. So I've been in for three years and six months. I signed a six year contract so that means I got two and a half years left. So in three years and six months I am an E4. I'm a senior Airman and I just took my staff test I'll say about two months ago. And I'm going to find out around August 20, 23rd, 2019 this year. So I find out soon if I made it. So if you're watching this, there's a possible chance that I'm an E5 now or I'm still an E4. So that's it. So I've been in for three years, you know, I'm still kind of new. I got a lot to learn in this game and I don't have a lot of time left. And I'm still kind of debating if I want to re-enlist or get out. So the name of my job is, it's technically called fire protection. That's the professional name. But the street name, I'm a firefighter. Straight up firefighter out here in the military. Everything you see that a civilian department does, that's what we do. But you know some military things mixed in like some formations and some stations in the mornings. Some military qualifications we got to keep up like some internet training, some CVTs. All that, that's military stuff. But that's basically pretty it. Fire and then everything else is just fire related as in training, gaining knowledge, applying the knowledge, earning. So I'm a firefighter in the military and my AFSC is 3E751. So I am a five level. If you're comfortable or you understand AFSCs, it's 3E751. So I am a five level. When you first come in, you'll be 3E731. You'll learn that as you come in or as you progress, if you don't know. When I went into the recruiter's office and I went through the whole process, getting qualified and going up to MEPs, doing the whole duck walk thing and all that. I wanted to come in the military, no doubt about it, a firefighter. Because that's what I wanted to do in the civilian world. I wanted to be a firefighter. My whole goal was to help people and that's how I knew how to help people. Or that's the only really goal that I had in reach to help people. So that's why I wanted to become a firefighter. So when I signed up and I walked in there, I knew what I wanted. I knew what I wanted right away. Sometimes it's going to be a little harder for people getting what they want because at a certain point, after I went through MEPs and after I was 100% qualified, after I was to the point where I can sign for a job and a ship out date, there was no firefighter slots open. And my recruiter, being a recruiter, trying to bump up Air Force and all that, he was trying to convince me to sign open general or go something else, do something else. Because he was telling me there was no... He was saying that the career field is too small and that I would most likely be waiting a long time. And sometimes those words work on certain people because certain people have some situations where they want to get out and they need to leave and they just need to go. So that keyword, long time, can trigger somebody and they'll just sign for something else. But thankfully, thank God that I was in a better situation where I didn't have to leave so fast. So I told him I'm like, I'll wait as long as I have to. Just let me know when you have a fire spot. So I didn't sign open general because that means that any job in the general aspect you can get, they'll just give it to you if they need a spot. So I didn't sign anything open and I didn't sign anything that wasn't fire. If it wasn't fire, I didn't sign. So in about like two weeks, he calls me up and he's like, yeah, I got a fire job for you and the ship out date is in like three and a half weeks. So I signed it and three and a half weeks I was out. And so yeah, I mean, it was pretty simple for me. It was either I knew, I knew what I wanted. So that's why it was simple. He was like, do you want this? I said, yes, I want this. And he was like, well, we don't have that. You can do this. And I was like, no, it's a simple straight up. No, I want this. And that's the only thing I'm going to sign for. So I guess when you show your confidence in the recruiter's office and you show them or show her that you want something and you know you want it, they're not really going to push and bother you with something else because it's a waste of time. So was this job something I wanted to do? Yes, it was. I answered that in the last question. This job I have about total like three, four people that were firefighters were currently firefighters in my family now. So it's always been kind of normal to me to hear about firefighting and to hear about experiences and just to know the job a little bit. So I guess that's why when I made the decision to be a firefighter or made a decision to be in a career to help people with firefighting came up because that's I guess what I've been known or that's what I've been taught growing up. So yes, this is a job that I wanted to do. And hopefully if I do get out the military and all that and I have to revert back to my certifications and military training, I could become a firefighter outside, outside the military, of course. So the other jobs that I was kind of interested in if I definitely couldn't get fire protection and firefighting like if I couldn't get that, no, like no questions that they told me straight up it was impossible. Another job that I was interested in getting would have to been something like in the medical field as in paramedics, EMT and all that because that's closely related to fire because firefighters we do respond to a medical in certain bases, in certain bases, this is Air Force in certain bases which they're changing now they're going to change that to all bases all bases are supposed to be running medical calls now but that's in the process now this base when I first got here they didn't run medical calls that was changed like probably six months to a year while I've been in here that's when we started running medicals with the paramedics in the med clinic so paramedic EMT that's what I would have went for try to go for if I couldn't get fire protection because it's closely related it's still helping people it's still medical field which I'm interested in I'm interested in the body I'm interested in how to like solve medical emergencies I love the anatomy it really interests me it's a very difficult field but I feel like if that was my field I would have became an expert in it just how I love putting my attention and my energy into the actual firefighting job I would say paramedic is the only one I don't really have anything else if I really had to choose something I would have chose if I couldn't have paramedic either I would have chose airfield controller because that makes money on the outside so when you join the Air Force or join the military just try to have a good plan because you don't know if you're going to be stuck in here or you don't know if you want to get out you don't know if you want to get out and so just choose something that one you want to do and if you can't choose something you want to do try to choose something that interests you at the same time but also could set you up on getting out as well so if I couldn't have fire or EMT paramedic I would have chose airfield controller because they give you everything in the military certifications, training, all that you get out you know you got your military preference you got your training and then you're already certified so and then you're already going to be making bacon get out so it's pretty simple just be smart when you join did I sign a four or six year contract? I entered that in the beginning of the video I said six years I'm in right now for three and a half I got two and a half left I would say sign for six I wouldn't say sign for four I would say sign for six because I feel once you get your job once you go through boot camp once you go through tech school if it's a lengthy tech school you're going to be over your six month mark once you get to your first base if it's a short tech school I would say you're about like four months in that's almost the same so it doesn't really take time for you to understand the air force, understand the military and all that I would say once you're about two years in that's when you can really start taking advantage of the opportunities because that's when you fully understand or not fully understand but you have a bigger grasp on it so I would say sign for six because once if you sign for four and it's like you're already two years in or two and a half you go on a little deployment those are the little ones or if you go on a big deployment six months you don't have a lot of time left so if you join the military and you're trying to do school or if you're trying to take advantage of an opportunity the military can give you and you don't have a lot of time at the same time then that will probably cause some more stress for you cause you to extend your contract or re-enlist if you know God forbid you don't want to make you fortunate to do something so sign for six take that extra two years it's not that bad it's not bad at all actually it gives you a lot more time to figure out what you want to do it gives you more time to realize what you like and you don't like I look back and I say if I would have joined for four I would have six months left trying to go to a new base and I wouldn't be able to go to a new base unless if I sign or extend my contract for another year and a half or two years and then I would have to stay here at this base and then all that time crunch and then I'm still not sure if I want to get out so you see now I'll have to re-enlist for another four years and once the first four years is up and you re-enlist for another four or two or three time starts to add up so I'm glad I signed for six cause now I got two and a half years to set myself up to leave if I want to go because I'm still not sure my tech school was in San Angelo, Texas Air Force basic training is in San Antonio which is about two and a half hours three hours south of San Angelo so once you're done with basic you get on a bus or after you're done with basic you get on a bus and you drive two and a half three hours to San Angelo and that base is a pretty small base it's a training base of course because you're going there to train and the base is I'm not going to say in the middle of nowhere because it has some good areas around there but it's pretty almost isolated a lot of dirt or sand, dry hot. I went during May, June, July and it was hot it was hot all the time I was sweating all the time that's what it is, it's hot and tech school in San Angelo if I recall correctly it was 64 training days meaning Monday through Friday was everything that counted if you train that day that was a training day Saturday, Sundays, holidays don't count so 64 training days that added up to about three months and it was simple as that Monday through Friday you was jobbing so it wasn't really that bad Tech school in San Angelo was fun I feel like it was fun because I was in a job that I wanted to be for another big reason too I'm the type of person to to make the best out of almost every situation so I was in a hot city, very hot and I was in the fire academy so I love the hot weather I love the fire academy because that's what I wanted to do so I had a great time Monday through Friday we would go to the fire academy we'll wake up around 4 o'clock in the morning maybe 3.30, I don't really remember that much but it was early, I think it was 4.30, I think I'll wake up at 3.30 to be there at 4 and we'll go eat go to the fire academy train, do certain weeks have certain milestones and certain subjects that we have to learn and go through like firefighter 1, firefighter 2 EMR as an emergency medical responder all that, so all that a firefighter we need to know, we go through it 1st month is this, 1st month is firefighter 1 2nd month is firefighter 2 3rd month is hazardous materials with EMR so I had a pretty good time I was learning what I wanted to learn I was acing tests because I was doing what I wanted to do and because I was having a great time the area in St. Angelo had some good spots, had some fun spots had like a river, had a couple nice restaurants I recall correctly that had a pet store, I love animals so I remember going there once, petting a cat no big deal but it was a great area just make the time great, be happy so for some people who don't know about the military or if you're thinking about going in, you don't know in tech school you have certain phases so don't think once you get to tech school it's going to be all freedom whatever you want the military has a nice hold on new people who come in so once you come in you're going to be in a certain phase I don't know what it's called now but you're going to be in a phase when you get in there so it's going to be like once you get to St. Angelo they're going to babysit you they're going to tell you you have to be in your room by this time you can't wear these clothes you can't eat this at this certain place for a certain amount of time I think like four weeks is the average time so if you stay out of trouble for those four weeks and show the military that you can follow the rules and stay out of trouble then that's when they'll give you the freedom so you have the extra two months to have fun so if you don't mess it up in the first month and go crazy and get drunk and crash a car or come late to your dorm room then you should be fine so don't think once you get there it's going to be all fun and games once you get there it's going to be work but just know if you put in the effort first and keep your discipline that everything else will follow the enjoyment, the stress the stress free and all the excitement that you hear from everybody so just keep your head down work hard, stay honest and just do your thing and everything else everything positive will follow you so for someone who hasn't really thought about so much about military and the jobs I know I found this out and basic, darn basic your job could only bring you to so many bases there are certain jobs out there that could only bring you to two bases out of all the bases that the military has there are some jobs that could bring you to like ten or even one but the good thing with firefighting is that every base needs firefighting like every location you go to they need protection from any type of accident emergency because fires don't they don't criticize on location or where you're at it doesn't start anywhere so the good thing with this job is that if you want to travel this job could help you travel because every base needs firefighting every Air Force base needs a firefighter so either it's all military civilian or mixed there's firefighters there and if I recall correctly I just looked at the dream sheet or I've been looking at it firefighting could go to practically any base you could take little deployments bigger bases, remote bases isolated bases different branches bases, marine bases army bases and all that every base needs a firefighter so if you're looking to travel and you want to be a firefighter this is the perfect job because you can literally go anywhere ok so firefighting in a nutshell but firefighting in a military in a nutshell because that's what y'all want to know everything is a lot more I don't know I would say complicated or simplified I don't know everybody has a different take on it so I would say firefighting in a military in a nutshell what I can tell you what I do on a daily basis from when I first got there as in training and being a newbie to now being more experienced in almost an E5 Staff Sergeant NCO if you understand those terms as an airman almost going into a supervisor role so firefighting in a nutshell in the military when I first got there so when I first got to my base here Germany Spakendalm basically in process got my shift at the time they were running 24 hours meaning 24 hours on and then 24 hours off it's different at every base some of the bases do run 24s a lot of them some run 48 48 is different to every base you go so this base when I first got here was running 24 on 24 off with the K-Day meaning once every 2 weeks I'll get 3 days off in a row so when I first got here I was new I didn't have anything under my belt I had no training I had the little bit of certifications that Tech School gave me but that's just a bare minimum so I'll go to the station in the morning as a newbie got my shift going we check out the trucks all the equipment is on there make sure the truck turns on make sure the truck pumps water make sure the pump is working right make sure all the equipment on the truck is working so when we're responding to an emergency all the tools are there all the equipment all the medical stuff everything works everything is filled oxygen tanks are filled spare air bottles for the mask so we can breathe they're filled and ready to go all the trucks are ready to go because the last thing you want is not having your pack ready or not filled with air so when you turn it on you have no air and you're just sucking in the mask and suffocate so that'll be the first thing the second thing is training as a newbie expect to train train train expect supervisors NCO, Staff Sergeant, Senior Airman E4 to E6 maybe E7 sometimes even E9s coming out every once in a while to get on you and to make sure you know your job to ask you questions to harass you just have in the fire department I'll just say have thick skin because if you come in there willing to learn you'll be fine if you come in there thinking not to throw shots at anybody but if you come in there and you're a prior fire and you act like you're high speed and you know it all you may know it all but on paper you're still a newbie so just be humble yourself you may know it all but if you do know it all just you know that there's something to learn every day so after the truck check out train train train there's things called CDC's to get to the next skill level because when you come in you'll be at a 3 the next one's a 5 so to get to the next skill level you need things on your belt you'll need an ARF airport airport rescue firefighting that's with the airport side because we're military we protect jets big cargo planes refuelers civilian aircraft that come in all kinds of aircraft helicopters all kinds so that'll be the first thing that you'll be trained on is ARF the second thing will be structural called pumper and that'll teach you how to operate the the fire trucks you see on the civilian side you know the ones that drive on the street that you see all the time that's what you'll be learning next and the third one the last one is called NWS the mobile water supply meaning you'll basically know how to conduct operations on how to be a mobile water unit so if someone needs water over there but they can't get water over there you'll know how to conduct the operations to bring water to them and know how to pump it so as a newbie you have a whole year to learn all those learn it pass the test and then pass qualification test with the vehicles get your licenses and move on to the next one so that's a nutshell for the newbie once you hit your 5 level life gets pretty I'll say pretty simple or more slow down once you get your 5 level you come into work check out the trucks that never changes you check out all the trucks all the time check your assignments see where you're at and if you have any newbies you're training with the newbies not actually like training with them to get as in like you're a newbie yourself you're training with them as in you're helping them you're teaching them you're asking them questions to help them get better you're showing them the way you're not neglecting them you're being a good airman to make sure the people around you know what they're doing especially in this job because someone doesn't know what they're doing and you go into a burning house or you do a car fire or anything dangerous with them they don't know what they're doing they make a wrong step something blows up something falls on them and or something dangerous could happen that they could have avoided because they didn't know what they're doing so as a 5 level that's what you'll be doing you'll be training and all that and after the training you'll be doing your training to them because you have some CDC some qualifications you still need to get as a 5 level every level has different qualifications so you'll just be working on that but since you're at a new level you already showed your supervisors in the military that what is it that year you're competent you can you can train you can keep your head down stay out of trouble all that so they won't be really much on you you still got time limits and all that but they're not going to be very much on you they trust you now you know you're you're basically an adult in the military now no matter your age you're an adult in the military now you're at your 5 level so they'll they'll back off you a little bit and if you start veering off or showing them that you need to someone on you all the time then they'll jump back on you so job as a newbie and as a 5 level that's a nutshell job in the military as a firefighter all together come in check your trucks train train all day there's gyms at the station if not go to the main gym on the base work out on calls, emergencies just like a regular firefighter would just stand by all day waiting for an emergency if not you're training getting yourself better so the advice I'll give to a new airman that walks through the stalls I already done this because we received a lot of good new people a good amount of them so the advice that I give out when I see new people and they come to me and they ask about the job and the Air Force and all that I would say just be humble and open your ears and if you don't know something ask because those three right there will get you so far in the Air Force will get you so far in any type of career because of the being humble aspect someone tells you something as in this is a way to do it or someone teaches you a new way to do something or trying to explain something to you and you think you know humble yourself know and tell yourself that there's different ways of doing things there's stuff that you don't know and just listen just listen to the person trying to help you just be humble because if you're humble yourself you're showing other people that you're coachable you know how to listen and you're willing to do do things differently or the right way and that you're not going to be stubborn or hard to work with or have a bad attitude so being humble asking questions when you don't know something is very important because there will be times where I'll listen to a speech or listen to someone teaching something and they say something an acronym or something a piece of equipment the name I don't know and there have been times where I didn't ask and there has been times where I went a decent amount of time not knowing something because I didn't ask and that kind of goes on to the humble this part humble yourself but I know I would have had a simpler time asking the question I was going to look down on you for asking a simple question or if you think that question is too easy or I shouldn't know this by now I shouldn't ask that because they're going to look down on me no they're going to look down on you even more if the situation comes up and you don't know but you thought in your head I should have asked that question a week ago when I didn't know instead of being stuck in a certain situation like this and you don't know how to do it because you never ask so stay safe be humble, ask the question and work hard, work hard that's it, that's the advice that I'll give to new people for the job and for the Air Force career that's what they need that's what you need to progress and be successful that's it, it's that simple alright cool so that's basically firefighting military in a nutshell so I really hope that I covered a lot of details I really hope that I shared some knowledge with you I really hope that I gave y'all something new as in like oh I didn't know that before, I really hope that I was helpful with this so if you want to see more of the area or if you want to see more of the life in military and how I enjoy it with me and my wife we're on YouTube, we're on Instagram you can follow us or look us up on Instagram and YouTube we've got the same name, it's called the Nar Clan it's gonna be T-H-E-N-A-R-C-L-A-N the Nar Clan so if y'all didn't catch it my first name is Isaiah, my last name is Narvez so Nar Clan, the Nar Clan get it, yeah so I thought it was pretty catchy so first name, last name, that's my Instagram the Nar Clan YouTube and Instagram if you want some more insight if you want some more pictures or whatever, follow us, subscribe and you can to see more info and just a better view on how we live our lives out here and what you could be doing out here in Germany if you want to become a firefighter so that's it, if you have any more questions go to my Instagram use my first and last name Facebook, whatever, if you have any more questions please hit me up, I'll be happy to answer any type of questions you have I want to be a firefighter, how do I get water out of a hose so hit me up on Instagram IsaiahNarvez I-S-A-I-A-H N-A-R-V-A-E-Z hit me up you'll see in my face any type of questions, just hit me up alright y'all, so that's it remember hit me up, subscribe, catch me out there peace