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AFC Recruits
Complete "SCBA Week"
 Monday
of SCBA week starts just as the Friday before, with two consumption laps.
These laps actually seem easier, the recruit has eaten and rested well all
weekend. The recruit is glad he decided to come back from the weekend. Group
work starts and the burn building is heated to make the exercises more
realistic. After several group tasks, the school begins to turn to more
individual activities. This is where a recruit learns to “pull his own
weight”. There is no partner to help the recruit to search the burn
building, pull out a victim, or complete the "nut and bolt drill". This
drill starts by the recruit having a full bottle of air, then searching the
building and locating instructors who are acting as victims inside. They
must complete this search in the correct order without any guidance, except for the training
received in earlier ex ercises. The recruit must conserve air and control
their breathing to complete this exercise with one bottle of air. After this
exercise, most of the recruits who have not quit, seem to have found the
right mindset and can complete the week.
When
Friday rolls around, it is the last day of SCBA week. The recruits are
required to complete three laps of the consumption course. The thrill of it
being the last day of the week is erased by the task before them. Three laps
take the drive out of people, but knowing it is the last day and last lap of
the consumption course, recruits usually can reach down and find the
determination complete all
three. They have been through too much to quit now. On Friday, the recruits
perform the spaghetti drill. The spaghetti drill is designed to help the recruit
learn to escape from a building by following the hose line. Several hundred
feet of hose are connected and manned by instructors throughout the
building. The recruit enters the burn building and must follow all the hose
and find every instructor in the building. The instructor gives the recruit
a poker chip whe n they locate him. If the recruit locates all instructors
and successfully brings out all of his chips, he has passed the last
individual drill of SCBA week. He must do this on one tank of air, in the heated burn building.
It can be repeated if the candidate fails, but it gets harder every time
because of the energy expended each time. Upon everyone passing this, the
only drill left is the “baby” drill. The recruits are split into three teams
and they must go in and find a hidden baby doll in the building. This event
is timed and the winning team is not required to clean up when the day is
complete. Yet, in the spirit of unity, the winners help clean up because
they know they are still a part of "the team, which usually has a name by
now, such as “hell fighters".
In
anticipation, those who pass “SCBA week " look forward to losing their title of
"recruit" for they have earned the right to be called "firefighter".
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