The two presentations that I reviewed for Unit 9 are Tucker Cooper’s presentation on Politics in the Fire Service and Jerry MacArthur’s presentation on Friends in High Places. In Tucker’s presentation he goes into detail about the article “Firefighters Feel the Squeeze of Shrinking Budgets” in which the author Jonathan Walters focuses on the effects of budget cuts. The presentation highlights the San Jose Fire Department and Jacksonville Fire Department. Both departments had been affected by negative political situations and resulted in employment cuts. Jerry’s presentation focused on the article he found titled “Why Firefighters Need to Be Involved”. This author talks about the effects of being active in politics and why firefighters should get to know elected officials. Jerry also focuses on how the University Fire Department is present in their political arena.

When comparing the two presentations side by side I found that Tucker’s article was focused on the effects of political decisions; while Jerry’s article focused on the importance of expressing your organization’s concerns to affect political decisions. It is clear through Tucker’s presentation that firefighters are affected by politics positively or negatively. Either firefighter …show more content…
Both presentations were able to provide reasons why each and every firefighter should be involved in politics. The greatest takeaway from the assignments was that it’s our responsibility as firefighters to get to know the elected officials so we can show our concerns and support for our fire departments. I feel like this will become more important as time goes on and cities are forced to tighten budgets. The only way that departments will continue to receive adequate funding to continue to operate will be by being present at city meetings and conveying concerns through conversation and