A Fear I Overcame

When I was in the Navy Reserves, I took a course called Firefighting and Damage Control at the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Long Island. If any of you have been there, you know where I am talking about. The course was two weeks long with the first week covering firefighting and the second week covering damage control. The first week consisted of a lot of classroom instruction (Monday – Thursday), then Friday was hands on. Now keep in mind I was a novice at this. I had seen firefighting on TV shows, but I was never part of the act in real life. Until that course. Yes, I was nervous, fearful, and Oh My Gosh all wrapped into one emotion. The key is not letting that show.

The hands on consisted of various scenarios. In each scenario we had to put out a fire in a different type of environment as it pertained to Naval situations. For some scenarios we worked with a partner, and for others we were put into teams of six. My fear at that time was claustrophobia. Let’s just say it isn’t my fear anymore.

Let me explain. This school had a small Navy ship built into the pavement for training purposes. The galley (kitchen) was below the surface. The stairwell to get to it was painted black. The fire (Yes, there really was one, albite it being controlled) was in the kitchen. My team of six headed down the stairs (keep in mind that if we didn’t do any of these scenarios, we didn’t pass the course). I was in the middle of the line of sailors heading down the stairs. We got halfway down. It grew darker. The walls closed in. I froze, slapped my hands on the walls on either side of the stairwell, turned and ran back up the steps. When I reached the top, my instructor asked, “What’s the problem?” To which I replied, “Claustrophobia.” He told me to relax and breath. He didn’t force me to go down. After all, I did have a choice. But I needed to pass that course. That fact kept slapping me in my head more than anything. So I said, “I have to do this. I’m going down.” And I did. I trotted down the stairs, met my team mates who where fighting the kitchen fire, took hold of the hose and did what I was supposed to do.

I know I made this sound like the decision was easy at the end when I decided to finish the scenario. But, trust me, it wasn’t. The fear of failing won out in the end. We put the fire out and passed.