By Cindy Devone-Pacheco

Thursday’s keynote speech was delivered by Lt. Col. Greg Gadson who lost both his legs after his artillery unit was struck by an IED while on a tour of duty in Iraq.

Gadson opened his speech with lighthearted jokes about his lack of lower limbs. I mention this only because it was not only an immediate ice-breaker, but it really spoke to his integrity, perseverance and character. It also summarized his overall message, which was that none of us can pick the situations we encounter in life. We must play the cards we’re dealt.

But to play those cards, Gadson believes we must possess three key characteristics: pride, poise and a sense of teamwork. To be successful in any organization, be it military, fire service or civilian, you must have personal pride in your work and yourself. You must also exhibit poise, or grace under fire. To put it simply, you must do things the right way, whether or not anyone is watching you.

Finally, Gadson spoke on the word “team,” not as in being a “team player” or any other tired phrase, but as in possessing a sense of selflessness. For example, fire service professionals work as a team, but that team must strive to be selfless in everything it does, since other people’s lives often depend on firefighters’ selfless acts.

Gadson attributes his survival not to his inner strength, bravery or even the simple desire to live, but to his comrades, one of whom was only 19 years old, who placed tourniquets on his legs and kept him from bleeding out on a roadside after he was thrown several meters due to the force of the IED blast.

And when speaking on the economical situation currently faced by most, if not all fire departments, Gadson noted that he was impressed by the fire service’s ability to endure situations that would destroy many other types of business. “You’re mostly volunteers,” he said. “That’s very impressive to me. You’ve already figured out how to do this job on a volunteer basis. So if you can do that, you can figure out how to do what you need to do as firefighters to [persevere through these more difficult economic times].”

At times, Gadson was noticeably leaning against the podium to support himself as he spoke, but he clearly lives his message every day. In his closing words, Gadson reminded us all to not “let your circumstances define you. Let your character define you.”

Photo Courtesy John M. Buckman III

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