By Ronald E. Kanterman
正如你们中的大多数人已经知道的那样，康涅狄格州布里奇波特的两名消防员于7月24日死于职务。布里奇波特（CT）消防局（BFD）遭受了我们所有人都认为是不可想象的 -双重死亡（LODD）。一个洛德很可怕。简而言之，两倍是糟糕的两倍。
The funerals for Lieutenant Steven Velasquez and Firefighter Michel Baik took place on Friday, July 30. As we all know, a bit of us is always torn away when we hear about an LODD anywhere in the country, or even in the world. When it’s nearby, it cuts a little deeper.
Working in Connecticut brought it closer to me this time. One captain, two lieutenants, and I met at the firehouse at 0630 hours and headed south to Bridgeport. The five days of heavy planning by the BFD, the Connecticut Statewide Honor Guard, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), the Waterbury (CT) Fire Department, and the FDNY Ceremonial Unit (on requested mutual aid) had paid off. We pulled in to parking fields just off the turnpike and parked among the 400 other marked and unmarked fire service cars. There were 50 buses in cue waiting to take us to the church a few miles in to the city.
Between 0730 and 1000hours, the start of the ceremonies, the uniformed crowd swelled to almost 10,000. There we were, amidst a “Sea of Blue,” as noted by Bill Manning, former editor of188金宝搏是正规吗. Bill had created this metaphor in a speech he delivered in Washington, DC, in October 2002, honoring the fallen firefighters from 9/11/01 and the rest of the country in 2001. We were six-persons deep for a quarter mile.
The processional came up slowly, police motorcycles from all over Connecticut out front, then a few limousines, BFD apparatus and cars, the caisson with Lt. Velasquez, the entire BFD on foot, pipes and drums，以及充满家人和亲密朋友的公共汽车。州长，布里奇波特市市长，其他官员，康涅狄格州紧急管理和国土安全部以及州消防元帅办公室的贵族，伊斯兰国际贸易委员会。自从Velasquez中尉以前在那儿工作以来，来自马里兰州乔治王子县的消防员也有大量的消防员。
I’ve been here before. Most of us have. The look on the faces of the BFD members as they marched by looked the same as thefaces of members of other fire departments that have marched by in similar fashion, and for the same reason. As the honor guard commander called us to attention, I noted the rear door of the first limo opening. Out stepped Mrs. Velasquez holding her one-year-old daughter.
You can’t swallow hard enough to make that lump in your throat disappear，因此您将注意力转移到其他方面。尽管付出了努力，但不受控制的泪水使您的脸偏下。您只是无能为力，您无法阻止它。
然后，荣誉卫队指挥官称为“现在的武器”是从棺材上取出凯森的软管时。用右手到帽子的峰值，10分钟后疼痛会降低。当棺材被带走并带到教堂时，我们所有人都持有将近15分钟的时间。我们都在阳光下呆了两三个小时。一直以来，您对自己说：“这与我无关；保持手臂，”我们都这样做。
Once those who belonged inside the church got there, the honor guard dismissed the detail until, of course, we aligned for the exit. That’s when the unwanted reunion started. I turned around. Behind me was Mike, an FDNY battalion chief whom I hadn’t seen since 2007 at the National Fire Academy. We had previously met in 1996.
As we’re catching up, another FDNY deputy assistant chief from the Bronx approacheD，我们重新点燃了我们的友谊。我朝着一棵树下的一个阴暗的地方搬进了伯爵，霍克塞特（NH）消防局消防员和一名荣誉卫队指挥官，我有幸每年都在国家堕落的消防员基金会纪念周末工作。
As I waded through the Sea of Blue, I saw Connecticut chiefs and firefighters I knew. We shook hands and acknowledged the day’s tragic circumstances, knowing that this is the first funeral of two for the day. As I headed for the Red Cross canteen for a bottle of water, I recognized Brian, a pipe and drum major who also works the National Memorial Weekend who has traveled up from Fairfax County, Virginia, with a half dozen others from his department. As I left his company, I started to look at shoulder patches walking by. The local six-state area (Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania) were pretty well represented. Then two guys from the London Fire Brigade walked by. Among the Sea of Blue, the many out-of-town fire department shoulder patches I spotted included Washington DC, Ann Arundel County (VA), Jersey City (NJ), FDNY, and Boston. There were too many to list here. There were hundreds.
I hearD我的名字叫，我的老朋友杰夫（North Plainfield）是当地的IAFF总裁（NJ）。我们拥抱并讨论了这一天的悲剧，然后赶上了。这个场景整天都重复了 - 不仅仅是我，而是大多数出席人士。然后，我意识到我在布里奇波特的一次不必要的聚会。由于我们聚集在一起的原因，我们都不想在那里。很高兴见到老朋友，同事和同志，但在这种情况下并非如此。
As they placed Lt. Velasquez back进入凯森（Caisson），游行队伍从教堂驶离，我们向最后一份致敬。人群朝公共汽车前进，前往下一个教堂，却重新做到了。更多的团聚，重新燃烧，握手和拥抱。更多追赶。一切都处于最坏的情况下。
在一个短暂的瞬间，我忍不住想，史蒂文和米歇尔把我们带到了一起。我安静地感谢他们，我自己。我也想到，这是几年前在fdny中尉的葬礼上发生的。在服役前几天，我在想一个我很久以前就知道的船长，他在FDNY中担任了营负责人，然后继续进行了另一项任务。我记得清楚地问自己：“我想知道帽子发生了什么吗？”当时我的助理负责人，我正在史坦顿岛（纽约）的另外10,000名成员的蓝海中行走。我听到了一个熟悉的声音。我转身。他在那儿，在我身后走，与另一位退休成员交谈。我用力地拥抱了他，以至于我从他身上喘口气。 The lieutenant in his ultimate sacrifice had brought us together. An unwanted reunion.
My charge to all of you in our great American fire service is to keep in touch. Make a phone call, send an e-mail, send a text, or–dare I say it?–write a letter. I know that we’d rather see each other at a picnic, a ballgame, a wedding, a retirement party, or perhaps in Orlando walking through the Magic Kingdom with our families looking for a mouse. Let’s do whatever we can to NOT have to meet in a Sea of Blue.
感谢您的牺牲，史蒂夫n and Michel, and rest in peace. Although you brought some of us together again, we will promise to take an alternate course of keeping in touch. You are gone, but you will not be forgotten.
罗恩·坎特曼（Ron Kanterman）是一名34年的消防队老兵，拥有市政，工业和政府经验。他拥有学士学位和两个硕士学位，已经发表了许多文章和一本书，并为许多消防服务教科书做出了贡献。他是康涅狄格州东南部一个部落国家的职业消防主任，并倡导National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
