Photo By Sgt. Marco Mancha | Corporal James Blizzard has gone from serving his local community as a firefighter and...... read more read more
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Helmand province, Afghanistan – It was all he knew. The flashing red lights, the weight of the protective coat and pants, the piercing blare of sirens from the fire engine, and the close encounters with death were all too familiar. James, or Jamie as they know him in his hometown of Crisfield, Md., was young, seeking adventure, and he found it in the hazardous conditions and irregular hours of fire fighting. Little did he know the career would be short-lived.
Corporal James Blizzard went from serving his local community as a firefighter and emergency medical technician to serving his country as a U.S. Marine, now deployed to Afghanistan.
Blizzard started off as a volunteer firefighter for the Crisfield Fire Department, one of the nine fire stations located in Somerset County, Md., and was later certified as an EMT. The young man was still in high school and said it was a lot to take in, but he became attached to the lifestyle quickly.
“I was about as hardcore as you can get into the fire department,” said Blizzard. “I lived, ate, slept and breathed that stuff. Rescues, fires, emergency side ambulances, fire trucks – I knew everything about them. It was something that I really enjoyed.”
Although they put out fires, firefighters more frequently respond to other emergencies. They are often the first emergency personnel at the scene of a traffic accident or medical emergency and may be called upon to treat injuries or perform other vital functions, according to Blizzard.
Blizzard knew he’d be responding to various types of emergencies as a firefighter. It was the rush of the job that drew him in, but the reality of some unfortunate outcomes are what left him “burnt out.”
“I started doing it at an extremely young age and got a lot of experience in an extremely short amount of time, and unfortunately it didn’t end well,” said the 2005-Crisfield High School graduate. “(I) had a few bad calls that just kind of stuck with me and decided I needed a change of scenery.”
The new scenery came in the form of a new pair of tan combat boots, digital desert camouflage uniform, and an M16 rifle. On June 30, 2008, he left the firehouse and headed for the sands of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island to earn the title U.S. Marine.
Some may think the decision to become a Marine as an attempt to leave a life of hazardous conditions and crazy, irregular hours seems a bit strange. Blizzard said he didn’t do it for those reasons, but mainly because he loved to serve and the values in the firefighting community and the Marines Corps were similar.
“To me it’s as close as you can get to being in the Marine Corps without actually being in the Marine Corps,” Blizzard explained. “It’s all about the brotherhood. You have to be able to trust the firefighter next to you, know that if something happens to you that he’s going to get you out of that situation. Same thing in the Marine Corps; you know, if you get in a firefight, you know that the Marine to the right and to your left is going to do their best to take care of you.”
The experience he gained from being a firefighter and EMT gave him a head start at his Military Occupational Specialty school. After graduating the school and becoming a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear specialist, he was tasked to be an instructor and help teach hazardous material technician classes because of the certifications he acquired as a firefighter.
He taught HAZMAT classes on Camp Lejeune, N.C., for nearly nine months as a lance corporal, giving classes to noncommissioned officers, staff NCOs, warrant officers and officers, before leaving for pre-deployment training.
He currently works as a watch clerk in the Combat Operations Center for 2nd Marine Division (Forward). Blizzard said it has little to do with hazardous materials, but understands it is what was needed of him in Afghanistan.
“A lot of us would love to do our job as CBRN specialists, but at the same time, we don’t want to have to do our jobs because if we do, then everyone is having a bad day,” explained Blizzard. “So I really don’t mind being a watch clerk. It’s an important job.”
His job consists of tracking significant events happening throughout Helmand and Nimroz provinces, to include improvised explosive device strikes and small-arms fire engagements. Blizzard and other watch clerks work together to provide these reports, keeping leaders informed of activities throughout the battle space.
Of all the events he’s kept track of, none was watched more closely then the birth of his baby girl. It was one of the most special moments of his deployment.
“She was born about a month after I got to Afghanistan, so not being able to be there in person was hard,” admitted Blizzard. “But hey, a job is a job, and sometimes you just have to do it. The fact that everyone I worked with was very supportive and getting to talk to my wife about ten minutes after my daughter was born really helped.”
Blizzard also said the first thing he was going to do when he gets home is pick up his daughter and give her a big kiss. With the year-long deployment coming to an end soon, even his family is glad to see it finally coming to an end.
“We are starting to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’ll tell you what, it can’t come soon enough,” said Lenora Blizzard, James’ wife. “(James) feels very badly that he is missing out so much on our daughter’s life and all the ‘firsts’ that she does. When he comes home, it will be one of the happiest times of our life.”
Editor’s Note: 2nd Marine Division (Forward) heads Task Force Leatherneck. The task force serves as the ground combat element of Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.
| Date Taken: | 12.08.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 12.08.2011 01:16 |
| Story ID: | 81047 |
| Location: | CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF |
| Web Views: | 465 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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