The Jaws of Life

Our four man fire crew stood outside the dingy old apartment door hearing screams for help me please help....It was over 25 years ago we had been called to an assault and had a wait for police order in place. The crusty old Captain decided we wont stand here and listen to that girl so ordered me the rookie to kick the door in. It was a direct order so against my better judgement I gave the old apartment door such a boot it mostly came right off the hinges.
There stood a shirtless man shaking with a gun to her head. He looked into my eyes... slowly lifted the shaking gun and pointed it at my face .I had no training in what to do in a hostage situation so I just froze closed my eyes and waited to die. I could hear my heart pounding, I could not breathe, I and hoped it would be over quickly. BANG ... he shot himself in the head.
Shaking and in shock we still had to work on him until the man that just about killed me was declared dead. In those days there was no debriefing or thanks for saving her, only discipline for not waiting for back up. You can watch it on TV or in a movie theatre but you can never imagine the hopeless feeling and what it does to your soul. You can never wash it off. Your first responders are in situations like this all the time. Thank them for their service!
That was the first of my nine lives you will see in The Jaws of Life.