Protecting
the queen
Have
you ever played chess? According to Wikipedia, chess is a recreational
and competitive game played between two players. Sometimes called Western
chess or international chess to distinguish it from its predecessors and
other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern
Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar,
much older games of Indian and Persian origin. Today, chess is one of the
world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home,
in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.
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The
game is played on a square checkered chessboard with 64 squares arranged
in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player (one controlling the
white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen
pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight
pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby
the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to
remove it from attack on the next move. |
Think
about your fire department. Dependent upon where you are in the food chain,
a chess game is no different than your fire department. A pawn, a
back step firefighter. A rook or a knight, possibly a company officer.
A knight, may be a chief officer. What does this have to do with your fire
department?
If
you've ever played chess, all efforts are set forth to protect the queen.
Sometimes we sacrifice a pawn, rook or another piece to do so. In comparison
to a fire department, we are not in the business of "sacrificing" but the
analogy here is that like a chess game, every move we make is calculated.
Who
are we protecting? In this case, not the Queen, but probably the King or
the Fire Chief. Duh? What is that all about? Fire Chief is
ultimately responsible for what happen in his domain. While he is not there
for every call he is still responsible for every thing that you do
or don't do. Conversely, the chief needs to realize that without his defenders
he will be checkmated.
So
like a chess board, there are rules that we have follow. As a fire officer,
you have certain expectations. Standard operating guidelines, general orders
and other rules should provide a framework as to what and how we do business.
If we follow the rules, make prudent decision and put ourselves in a defendable
position we are protecting the queen. Are you protecting your Queen?
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About
the Author:
Chief
Ronald Richards has over 30 years of fire service experience, both career
and volunteer. Chief Richards recently retired from the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, having served as a Fire Marshal and Fire and Safety Specialist.
Prior to retiring Chief Richards was assigned to the office of Criticial
Incident Management to assist with the implementation of NIMS and ICS.
He currently serves as the Assistant Chief for Operations at Browndale
Fire Company in Wayne County, PA. Richards graduated from the State University
of New York with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fire Service Administration.
Richards is a PA State Fire Instructor and is the CEO of Task
Force 1, Inc, He is the founder of WithThecommand.com. He can
be reached at RRichards@Taskforce1.net |
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