Within the Trenches

Good afternoon everyone! Whitney and I are back with episode 11 of Within the Trenches. This week we spoke with Cheryl, a dispatcher and Critical Incident Stress Management, (CISM) team member with SunComm in Yakima, WA. This was an interesting episode because we were battling with the Internet, our friend and foe. We dealt with some issues over Skype and the audio was cutting in and out but after...

Good morning everyone I hope you are having an excellent Saturday. This past Wednesday Whitney and I sat down with two different dispatchers to record episodes 10 and 11. This way we can post one this week and post the next this coming Wednesday. It gives us some time to contact more people and come up with new things to do on the show. We are currently working on topic driven episodes with Whitne...

Good morning! I hope you are ready for a few stories from America’s hat. This week on Within the Trenches, Bobbi of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) joined us for episode 9 over Skype. Her stories and training were not only interesting but if I had started out my dispatching career in her center I might have gone insane. I mean, think about it, “911 where is your emergency?” “I have a bear...

Hello everyone! Whitney and I are back with episode 8 for our back to back episodes week of Within the Trenches. In this episode we chat with Dan, Director of Chilton County E9-1-1 in Alabama. Our topic of discussion takes us back to April 27 2011 when a swarm of tornadoes destroyed the surrounding area. Dan has a very extensive background in emergency services so it was very interesting to get hi...

Good evening folks! Whitney and I are back again with 1 of 2 new episodes of Within the Trenches. This week we Skype’d with Joshua of West Bloomfield Township PD in Michigan. The topic of this episode is one of great importance. No dispatcher or anyone out in the field ever wants to hear, “Shots fired. Officer down,” but it’s something that some of us have heard throughout our years of duty. If yo...

Good evening folks! Whitney and I are back with episode 6 of Within the Trenches. This week was a little different for us in the sense that we were pretty slap happy up until the beginning of the show. Crystal and Jen, of Ottawa County Central Dispatch Authority, joined us to tell their story and experience in 9-1-1. All four of us work the night shift and for Whitney and I, we worked from 4:30 p....

Good evening folks! It’s about 00:39hrs and I am finally getting the chance to post episode 5. This episode was not only fun but it was extra special. Announcements were made, thank you’s were given and there was a special guest. First off this is an open invitation for any emergency services dispatcher in any state or country that would like to take part in this show. On behalf of my new co-host...

Good evening folks! Within the Trenches is back with episode 4 and boy have we picked up some steam since the beginning. This week I had the chance to sit down with Barry County, an Emergency Medical Dispatcher (PSAP) & AeroMedical Service Controller from Dublin, Ireland. Yes, you read that right. Barry had some excellent stories that I’m sure you will enjoy and we talked about how I was confused...

Good afternoon folks! I hope everyone is having a great day. This week on Within the Trenches I sat down with Trista of Allegan County Central Dispatch to tell her story. We talked about how she got into the profession of emergency services as well as how callers can screw up her name. We touched on the many questions we ask and how the night shift of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. can bring horror over the rad...

Good afternoon everyone! The past couple days have been a whirlwind. I mean this in the greatest way possible too! Within the Trenches was the basis of my Kickstarter project and yesterday, with 38 hours to spare on the campaign, the project was fully funded. That’s right folks, the project was funded and has surpassed its goal. It happened almost overnight and I can’t tell you how happy I am. Sup...

Good evening folks! I am very happy to announce that the first episode of Within the Trenches went live today. My good friend Whitney joined me and I have to say that it went great. For those who don’t know what Within the Trenches is, this is a podcast version of a segment with the same name on Jabber Log that revolves around 9-1-1 dispatch. I started writing about my experience about a year ago...