No frills here..... just lace

Poor Rookies. I was once one.... glad I'm not anymore. When I was a Rookie, we didn't have the steadfast people in our Firehouse that we have today. They played jokes and pranks, yes.... but not as voraciously. Now we always strive to outdo ourselves.

One joke we played on a new Rookie was one of the best we ever did. We still laugh about it today and most new Rookies get initiated this way. We had a very innocent and very naiive Rookie named Ron. We played jokes on him constantly. One of the best jokes was adding extra garments to his bunker pants just before retiring for the evening.

We always lay out our bunker gear and boots beforehand for the next call we go on. The bunker pants are around our boots and the suspenders are attached to the bunker pants. When we get a call, all we have to do it "jump" into our gear and we are ready to go. It saves time for us. We grab the rest of our gear off hooks just before jumping onto the rig.

Problem is, when you are bolted awake in the wee hours of the morning, you aren't thinking too clearly the first few minutes. You go through the routine of "getting dressed" and gathering your gear as if it were second nature. But you wake up while on route to whatever call it is you are going on. Often it is nothing serious.

We were on the rig flying to the scene of a small fire and trying to fully wake up. As a new Rookie, this guy had a harder time coming to grips with waking up. The fire was a garbage container fire. This Rookie was instructed to help put the fire out. Water is doused on the fire and the Rookie is stirring the contents to make sure it is fully out. The neighbors have gathered around to watch as things unfold. One of our senior Firefighters is videotaping.

"Whatcha wearing, Ron?" one of the Firefighters asks. "You get your clothes inside out?"

Ron has no idea what he is talking about and continues to stir the debris.

"Didn't know you were into that, Ron," someone else says.

Half awake, Ron says, "Uh huh."

By now the crowd is talking, laughing and pointing at the Firefighters. With the fire in the garbage container out, Ron returns his equipment to the truck.

"Nice panties," one of the boys in the crowd yells. Of course, waking up and curiosity make Ron look around to see what "panties" the boy is talking about. He looks and looks and comes to the realization that the crowd is staring at HIM. Someone points. He looks down. Wrapped around his calf is a pair of red lace panties.

His face turns red and all he can manage to say is, "I'm NEW around here."

It's hard to get a pair of panties off your leg when you have a size 12 boot on.

~Ricky~