The Church Ladder

Well, Thursday at fire school we did the Chruch Ladder. It was interesting to say the least. They call it the "Church Ladder" because when you are doing it, you are praying "Lord, just take me now."

What it is is we take a 24 foot extension ladder, extend it, attatch a couple ropes to the top for side-to-side stabilization. For vertical stabilization...the rest of the class holds it up at a 90 degree angle. You proceed to climb to the top. Then you climb over the top, and come back down the other side. It is an insurance nightmare.

We each went three times. Should make today much easier, climbing up ladders at a 75 degree angle up the side of a building. Much more stable. But the tallest ladder is either 40 or 50 feet for today, I don't remember which. So it is a bit of a trade off. The fact that we will be carrying each other as "victims" down the ladder doesn't help matters either. Should be interesting...and the weather will be HOT.

Fortunately, I am now the platoon's lieutenant. Hopefully I will get the platoon to stop being a bunch of slackers and actually do something for a change. I am tired of them doing the bare minimum of everything.