Rank

[Timmy]

I pose a question to you all:

Is rank in a volunteer organization necessary??

My volley service is a first aid (BLS) military based, we have sergeants, corporals, officers, superintendents, commissioners, acting officers, discipline officers, officer of fleet, officer of training, team leaders, officer of operations, staff officers, regional officers you name it, there’s a rank.

Most of these people who hold a ‘rank’ are complete tossers, I agree someone should be the ‘boss’ but it’s completely unnecessary to have all theses ranks. I have not heard of any other volley service that have ‘ranks’. Once theses members do there little NCO and Officer Courses, they get stripes and pips on their epaulettes and this seems to go to their head! Nice level headed people turn into complete moronic ***holes!

When we go out on duty (standbys) these particular individuals feel the need to wear ‘COMMANDER’ or ‘TEAM LEADER’ or ‘LIAISON’ written in nice big fluorescent yellow words on there reflective vests just so you know who they are.

These people who wear COMMANDER on there vest have no more qualifications than the next person, apart from the little bit of leadership and event management they may have picked up on these waste of time NCO courses. But yet they walk around with the ‘look at me, get out of my way attitude’. It is quiet embarrassing being on duty with these people as it does looks stupid to the public eye and doesn’t do anything for our image as a first aid provider. To make the situation a whole lot ‘sadder’ there are groups of members (privates, NCOs) who ‘get off’ over theses people, they flow them like a pack of little girls, can’t make a decision for them selves, you know the type?

They also run around acting like their ‘paramedics’ some first aid officers even run around telling people their ‘paramedics’ and that our service is a ‘paramedical’, which couldn’t be further from the truth!

They also insist on ordering around Doctors and unfortunately if the doctor isn’t the same rank or lower then they must do what they say… When I say this I mean a doctor still over ranks the officer treatment wise but anything else.

What do you think of this and how do you suggest my service put its act together?

[Imagine89]

I pose a question to you all:

Is rank in a volunteer organization necessary??

My volley service is a first aid (BLS) military based, we have sergeants, corporals, officers, superintendents, commissioners, acting officers, discipline officers, officer of fleet, officer of training, team leaders, officer of operations, staff officers, regional officers you name it, there’s a rank.

Most of these people who hold a ‘rank’ are complete tossers, I agree someone should be the ‘boss’ but it’s completely unnecessary to have all theses ranks. I have not heard of any other volley service that have ‘ranks’. Once theses members do there little NCO and Officer Courses, they get stripes and pips on their epaulettes and this seems to go to their head! Nice level headed people turn into complete moronic ***holes!

When we go out on duty (standbys) these particular individuals feel the need to wear ‘COMMANDER’ or ‘TEAM LEADER’ or ‘LIAISON’ written in nice big fluorescent yellow words on there reflective vests just so you know who they are.

These people who wear COMMANDER on there vest have no more qualifications than the next person, apart from the little bit of leadership and event management they may have picked up on these waste of time NCO courses. But yet they walk around with the ‘look at me, get out of my way attitude’. It is quiet embarrassing being on duty with these people as it does looks stupid to the public eye and doesn’t do anything for our image as a first aid provider. To make the situation a whole lot ‘sadder’ there are groups of members (privates, NCOs) who ‘get off’ over theses people, they flow them like a pack of little girls, can’t make a decision for them selves, you know the type?

They also run around acting like their ‘paramedics’ some first aid officers even run around telling people their ‘paramedics’ and that our service is a ‘paramedical’, which couldn’t be further from the truth!

They also insist on ordering around Doctors and unfortunately if the doctor isn’t the same rank or lower then they must do what they say… When I say this I mean a doctor still over ranks the officer treatment wise but anything else.

What do you think of this and how do you suggest my service put its act together?

Was I supposed to laugh? Why is in funny stuff?

[Timmy]

Cause it is funny! Amusing to see these people in action!

[JPINFV]

Personally, I don't feel the need to address anyone by a rank in EMS. Yes, you do need some sort of internal 'rank' in any organization (be it private, sargent, general, etc or associate manager, assistant manager, manager, general manager). Specialization is nice, and some things are not worth the trouble to semantically redefine (Field Training Officer, for example, could probably use a better name). The company I work for doesn't really use military ranks in name (besides FTOs, and arguably the term "crew chief) with the management functions bearing management titles (operations manager, training coordinator, etc), but they do wear military ranks on their lapel (FTOs wear an "F.T.O." pin on their lapels).

[Chrisclark]

It doesn't matter. If a real leader shows up in the scene those clowns will bow down to them. If not, they won't last long.

[Timmy]

Those clowns have way to much ego and big headness to bow down to anyone!

[BEorP]

1. If there is a rank structure, an MD should automatically be given a higher rank than most members.

2. Rank structures are everywhere but that doesn't always mean they should be followed. There is a campus response team that I am involved with at the university. I am just a regular member, outranked by our supervisors and executives. When on a call though, I really don't care what someone's "rank" is if the pt outcome will be better if I take charge. I'm not saying to ignore rank or that I would ever disobey an EMS supervisor with a real ambulance service, but I am saying that if rank is just handed out based solely on seniority in a first aid organization then sometimes it must be ignored when someone has more medical knowledge.

[Timmy]

1. If there is a rank structure' date=' an MD should automatically be given a higher rank than most members

[Chrisclark]

^ sounds like somebody needs a spanking

[Asysin2leads]

The only rank I really recognize on scene is medical authority. We do have the paramilitary set up in our organization, and I do address my lieutenants as such on scene. In the office we are mostly on a first name basis. I do like to remind our 'chiefs' though when they get a little too high and mighty for my tastes that they really are no more than civilan administrators and have no real command authority.

I think there does need to be a formalized command structure, particularly on a large incident, but people need to not go overboard and just get silly.