Veteran's Affairs Plus W/ David L. Washington

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Music 0:42
what's going on Good Morning

Dave Washington 0:49
Las Vegas. This is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I'm Dave Washington, your host. I have two colleagues that we'll have some discussion with shortly. I got a few announcements, however, and once again, I should say that they are fire service colleagues, both served in the position of fire chief. That's John Ryan and Al Nero. Be with you guys shortly, gentlemen. Once again, this is Veterans Affairs, and I just want to say that once again, I want to express condolences to those families who lost family members. And I did mention it last week, but I think it's worthy of being mentioned again, and that is our condolences to those family members who lost folks on those airplane crashes the other week. So again, express condolences. And of course, Bonnie janell's services will be this month as well, and we know Charlotte and Charles. They will miss her, as the rest of our community will. So with that, I want to mention coming in the desert. It will be at the West Las Vegas Library theater this month. So go on the library's website, and I trust you'll be able to find that information. We did have Oscar Robinson, the producer and director of that show. We had him on last week so you can listen to that, that show. Just go to wherever you get your podcast, and you'll get all the information you may need in regards to coming in the desert show at the West Las Vegas Library theater. With that, I got Fire Chief John Ryan, retired, John, we're going to start with you. Would you tell us what branch of military, because I think you served in the military back in the day I

John Ryan 2:25
was I was in the Air Force, Air Force.

Dave Washington 2:28
So what was your What was your? Mos yo?

John Ryan 2:31
I was a weapons mechanic. So

Dave Washington 2:35
you deal, so you make sure all those bombs will come out of them planes as they get ready to drop, or what have you.

John Ryan 2:40
Yeah, in fact, I loaded the bombs. I loaded conventional bombs and nuclear bombs. So

Dave Washington 2:47
how many years did you serve in the military? Four years, four years, and you decided to stay here in Vegas? Yeah,

John Ryan 2:54
I when I came back from Vietnam, they sent me to Nellis, so I decided to stay here. Okay,

Dave Washington 3:01
and where were you born and raised? John,

John Ryan 3:04
near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Okay, all

Dave Washington 3:07
right. Mr. Al Nero, what's going on? Al, it's all good. Give us a little bit about your background, if you

Al Nero 3:14
would. Yes, I was born and raised in the city of Oakland. Oakland, California. I after high school, I tried to enlist in the Air Force, but I had grown up with asthma, and since my last asthma attack was at 14, it was after my 13th birthday, so I was rated 4f and could not serve in the military. Yes, it was very interesting, because I could not serve in the military, but I could serve in the fire service.

Dave Washington 3:51
Wow. So when did you join the fire service, and how long did you spend there?

Al Nero 3:55
I started in the Oakland Fire Department as a hoseman. That was the rank in those days in 1971 August 2, 1971 and I served 43 years total. Wow. How

Dave Washington 4:10
many did you do? John? I

John Ryan 4:12
did the 34 years total. Okay, all right,

Dave Washington 4:15
so John, give us a little bit about your experience in serving in the position of fire chief.

John Ryan 4:22
Well, I guess I started out just wanting a job because I knew I was going to get out of the Air Force.

Dave Washington 4:30
Sound like a good reason to me.

John Ryan 4:35
I saw police and fire were both hiring, and they were paying a lot more than the Air Force was so I signed up for both, and fire department called me first, and when I went in for my interview, the fire chief said, I see you have a message here that you also signed up for police. What do you want to be? And I said, Well, I thought I'll, I'd try both. I'll. Him and then see how I do best. And he said, this isn't a lottery. You either want to work for the fire department or you don't. I said, I really want to work for the fire department. So he said, so I can tear up this, this police application. And I said, Yes, not knowing I had a job even yet he's going to tear up my application.

Dave Washington 5:20
That is interesting. That is very, very interesting. So, Al, how did you come about entering the service? Yeah, it

Al Nero 5:26
was, it was pretty interesting. I had done a variety of I had worked at a variety of jobs. I was bouncing around quite a bit. And there was a guy in my neighborhood, Fred Perkins, and his brother and I had come up through school together, and he came and asked me when he took the entrance exam. He asked me, what I was I interested? And I said, Oh, no. Why would anybody want to be a firefighter? I didn't know anything about the service, and in the neighborhood I grew up in, we didn't go to the fire station except to get driver's light, I mean, our bicycle licenses. And they would, we'd ring the doorbell, they take the bike in, take our $2 and then we waited out on the sidewalk, and then the bike came out. So I had no idea of what it was about, so I didn't take it that time, he came back two years later, and he bet me 50 bucks I couldn't pass the test, and that's why I took the entrance exam. And even when the process was over and I got on the list, now it had a pretty good place on the list, I was only interested in the 50 Bucha, 50 bucks, and went in the winning the bet, and until he brought me an announcement. And he said, This is what? Because I hadn't seen an announcement. I didn't know what the pay was or the benefits or anything. And then I said, Why didn't you tell me this? And he said, Well, I wanted to see you pass the test.

Dave Washington 7:01
Interesting. Well, let me say this about both of you guys, and I start with you, John. John probably don't remember, but he was union president back in the day, and I was the president of the Black firefighters of Las Vegas fire. And he met with us, and he said, Look, because we're talking about filing a complaint, an EEOC complaint. He said, You guys better go ahead on and file that complaint, because we got some people that just they're so backwards thinking, the only way you're going to get something done in terms of upper mobility is you're going to have to go ahead and file your complaint. And that was that's an honesty that came from JR that I really appreciate to this day. And I want to say to the listening audience, you never know who's going to help you throughout your life. Both of these gentlemen. Now, John is Caucasian, Al is black. I don't know if they met along the line, because fire chiefs go to various conventions, but these two gentlemen, without even meeting each other, both of them told me they didn't go off on them, but they were very cool. Why don't you apply to become a fire chief? I think I was battalion chief over training, John, if I recall, they say, and both of them, again, not even knowing each other, you got a resume. I knew I didn't handle dog on resume. I didn't have no resume. And they said, Man, you need to do a resume. What's wrong? I put together my resume. And again, both of these guys, they put a light, they lit a fire under my butt. And as a consequence, I tried for Reno Fire Department. I fired tried for a small fire department up in Northern California. And you know, when you start going through these processes, you get to see what your strengths and weaknesses are. So again, I don't know if I ever thank you guys, but I'm thanking you publicly on this radio Veterans Affairs, plus on 9145 jazz and more. Again, I have my colleagues, former Fire Chief John Ryan and former fire chief al Nero. Gentlemen talk to me or talk to our listening audience.

Al Nero 8:55
Well, I can say that we met at a regional conference of the black International Association of Black professional firefighters. That's where I met David, and we just kind of hit it off. We both were kind of on the same plane. He was Captain at that time. I was a lieutenant with Oakland at that time, and but what I saw as I saw leader, that's what I saw, and that's what why later on in our careers, I was fire chief at that time in the city of Brea, I believe, in Southern California and but I saw leadership written all over You, and that's why I encouraged you and to apply and to compete for fire chiefs positions, and

Dave Washington 9:47
to this day is greatly appreciated, because, again, without you guys, I don't know if I had the motivation to be honest to make that move. John,

John Ryan 9:57
well, you when I first met you. Were in rookie school, and I was a training officer,

Dave Washington 10:04
you dogged us out. Well, y'all did. Y'all cheated rookie so poorly. Go ahead, John, I'm sorry,

John Ryan 10:11
but you know, like everybody else, you had no firefighting experience, but you became one of the team, and we didn't have many African Americans in the class, because the department didn't really seek out. They didn't turn anybody away that I know of, but they didn't seek people, right? And you know that's that's not a good deal, you, I know now you need to go out in your community and see what you've got That's right, and you distance yourself from all the other cadets with your very outspoken You didn't give me opinions I didn't want but if I asked you, you gave me what you said, and I appreciated that about you and your person. And it had to be your own upbringing, in your family, that you were always honest with me, whether I wanted to hear it or not, whether it was because I was a training officer or ended up being a Union officer. I could always count on you to look me in the eye and say how you felt, and I appreciated that. Thank

Dave Washington 11:13
you, and I appreciate you as well. In fact, I won't call any names, but we were in a disciplinary hearing, and I was about to go off Al and my respect for John. He said, That's enough. I shut it down because I was getting ready to get to cussing and acting probably jump up on the table. But the respect I had for John, I just shut it down, man, because I knew he was right, and he could see it in my eyes. You know how your eyes start bucking. He said, David is getting ready to go off up in here. No, I'm not not having that in my meeting. I'm running this meeting. He said, David, that's enough. And I again, out of respect, when you, when you when you give respect and you're respected, you know what to do. It was no need for me, because I knew he was going to handle that meeting properly, and he did, but he told me, shut it down in his own way. And I really, to this day, appreciate that so so very much.

Al Nero 12:06
And the other thing, one of the other things that I noticed about you, Dave, is the people. You didn't just rise by yourself. You brought people along with you. And that is something that is that I really, I was really impressed by a lot of times there are people that seek high positions, but they don't bring anybody with them and with you. It seemed like you were reluctantly. You were the reluctant warrior. Yeah, I'm gonna do this. I'm kind of good where I'm at. But, and you know, as you know, just about every time we talked during that period, I was saying, Hey, did you apply for this? Right? You're looking for somebody over there. And and you let me know that you when you got to the point where you really were seeking the position that you wanted to be the fire chief in the town you grew up in, right there in Las Vegas. Yep,

Dave Washington 13:16
tried twice and got knocked out the box. In fact, again, with you guys kind of giving me that nudge, it really helped me. And you speak about, in fact, I was at a what we call a men's only luncheon, where we get a bunch of men together and we talk about what we did last year and what we plan to do in the upcoming year. And one young guy, he was a city attorney, Brian Scott, and he said, You know, I was the first black city attorney, blah, blah, blah. But I ate he was on the show a couple weeks ago, and I asked him, and I mentioned it, well, he also mentioned that he brought more women on because they had no women within certain departments, within the criminal side of the of the city attorney's office. And to that point, and I hear what you're saying, I'll tell you off of my staff, two whites became fire chief, Greg gammon, Mike Myers, Gene Campbell, Burt, Washington. Off of their staffs came other fire chiefs. So and John. I know you can attest to this, and I don't recall. Al, if you were a training officer, but I can tell you this, I could see who the leaders were in the academy. There was a couple white guys that I wanted on my staff. When I became the fire chief, they told me, Chief, we love you, man, but I'm a field guy. I won't be a battalion chief till I leave here. I don't I don't want to go any higher. I'm a field operator. That's where I love my work there. But these guys were so sharp, I knew that they would be great on my staff, but both of them actually retired as battalion chiefs. I won't call their names, but they were just you can you can pick it up from people in rookie school. When at Academy, you can see who the people who are really shining and what, more than likely, they're going to become in our fire. Service professional feel for sure. Thoughts, well,

John Ryan 15:04
yeah, I agree with everything you've said that it's some people need a little kick in the pants to go ahead and reach higher, right? You know, because we all sometimes can get complacent and just say this is as far as I want to go. And then you see people moving up and opportunities. And for the three of us right now, talking, we all made that leap, none of us were forced into going up any higher. That's

Dave Washington 15:32
true, very true.

Al Nero 15:35
And a lot of times what happens when I'll speak personally for me was that as I got in the fire service, I just fell in, I fell in love with the profession. Just I was all in, completely in, and I felt that in during the time I started back in the early 70s, if you didn't have rank, you didn't have a lot of influence. You had some, but not as much as in and you have ideas. And the thing that prompted me to promote was that, well, if I make company officer, I'll have my own room. I don't have to listen to the snoring, and I can have a lot of impact on that part of the city, right? And then they got there and said, Oh, well, Captain, you have a little more. Battalion Chief, there's a little more. And then you you jet. I just started moving from there. And it was about trying to leave the department better than it was when I got there. And we had a good department to begin with, but you always want to have some influence, influence either people or what was going on during the time that you're there.

Dave Washington 16:58
Absolutely. And I think that's so, so important. And I had a had a train of thought, Man, I knew I should have stopped you, because I lost it, getting old, gentlemen. But look, it's a absolute pleasure to have both of you guys. One thing I want to say is this, again, our humanity is so important. And I think for us in the fire service, it's even more important today as we look at the wildfires and certainly, prayers go up to those folks over in California who will who've lost everything. And I know that during during my time in the fire service, and I know that it's very important that we take a look not only at our personnel, but also the people who's been affected by a major incident. And we started a program called Las Vegas fire Foundation, where, and John, because I see our guys collect money, they collect money, give it to a mother who didn't have any diapers for that baby. I said, you know, we ought to do an actual formal program. And we did, and we did it in $20 increments, where, when they were out in the field, and we raised money to do this through some jazz concerts, etc. And when we gave the money to these folks, they were like, are you serious? Yeah, we give anywhere from $20 to three, $400 but one thing a couple white guys, Caucasian guys from Oregon, I forget the name of their department. They said, do not give cash, because every crackhead in the city is going to come to every fire station looking for $20 so we so we honed it down, and we started giving out gift cards, and those gift cards really proved to be a great asset to our community. So just those kinds of things that we can do again to maintain our humanity, because everybody is not as well off as firefighters, and we can't not forget that. But again, prayers out to those guys and women over there fighting those fires out there on that front line in Southern Cal Al, I know you're up north, but I trust your heart is with them as well. And you too, John, because once you've been in this business, y'all it don't leave your soul. Not at all.

Al Nero 19:01
Yeah, and it's those types of fires I've been involved. I was involved in the Oakland Hills fire back in 91 which was at that time, it was the largest wildland urban intermix fire that had been up. Up until then we we lost 30, 3500 dwelling units. And wow, five, five people, including one battalion chief and a police officer. And and then when I was in Brea, we had the freeway fire that came through. One thing I'm proud of is that we took the time with a major development that was in our wildland urban intermix, and we upgraded. I was we were very fortunate that we had the support of our city manager and our city council, because we required above and beyond what the state. Fire Marshal required to build. When the fire came through, it burned right around that entire development, 800 unit development, and it went around it and kept on going into the next county, into LA County. And so there are things that they'll be working very hard down there to upgrade their codes and ordinances and all of that so that they could work to lessen the damage when it comes next time, because it is going to come next, right,

Dave Washington 20:33
right? And that's that's sad and unfortunate now. And what was the last week they got a little bit of rain down there. But other thoughts with respect to any youth out there, whether it's the military or the fire service that, and we'll go with you. First, John, that you would like to recommend, suggest

John Ryan 20:53
Say that again. I'm sorry you were breaking up a little bit. I'm

Dave Washington 20:57
sorry, any advice or recommendations suggestions you would give to any young person that may be interested in the military and or the fire service. I

John Ryan 21:05
think, you know, I think both, if you can do it, the four years that I spent in the Air Force, I was 17 when I enlisted, I felt like I only did four years. But after a year in Vietnam, I came home, I felt like I was 35 things to see and do, and they told me I didn't want to go back over there again, right? And I'm really happy the fire department picked me first. I think I'd have probably been terrible in law enforcement. That's another story.

Al Nero 21:39
Al, yeah, I think that I would suggest, and I did it with both my sons, that the military, you can grow. You grow in the military, and it gives you a lot of good life experiences that you can that will assist you as you, as you grow older and move on to other things, and to me, the fire service is the best way to make a living that there is, in my opinion, there is you have opportunities to grow. You can make a difference in the area that you working in. You can make and put a have a real effect on people's lives. You know, some people think that doing a sales job when I say that, but no, I mean that from the bottom of my heart, you come to people to assist them in their worst times, and you can make a difference, as in the fire service, and there's a lot of opportunities for

Dave Washington 22:44
growth. Now. John, I know you got two sons. What are they doing in are both of your sons, or one of your sons, in the fire service?

Al Nero 22:50
Both my sons are in the fire service. They're both lieutenants.

John Ryan 22:55
John, Oh, wow. My oldest son is he's vice president of engineering firm. He went to West Point and flew attack helicopters in the first Gulf War, and he decided he wasn't going to make a living. He was an officer, but he didn't want to do that the rest. So he got his master's degree, and he's now working for an engineering firm that in Huntsville, Alabama. He's president of an engineering firm that contracts with NASA, my youngest son. He got his college degree in Reno, and he was a police officer in Texas for a while, and decided that he wanted to go federal, so he was an NCIS agent, and he's going to retire next month. He's been with NCIS so long,

Dave Washington 23:47
wow. Now John, that really says, and they all that really says, how old we are, considering the sun his son is, is retiring, John, oh my goodness, that is wow. Let me tell you something about John, Ryan. There's a few of us because, you know, during my my time in Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, the best Division I worked in was training. John was Assistant Chief over training, and went on to become a deputy chief. But I can tell y'all we get together now a couple times a year, just to fellowship, and it's just wonderful for us to get together. And sometimes, yeah, we get to tell in the same old stories, same old lies, but we still laugh because we just enjoy each other's company. And that is important to me as we transition out of whatever occupation we may have been in. You know, it's just something that that's important to us as we continue to live life. And as you guys know, I'm I'm so grateful for my family because, in fact, we have a and I'm not the most religious person I know. I'm more spiritual. But we have prayer on on Monday nights at 8pm and they are praying for me, as you guys know, in fact, we're headed back down to Houston where they can do the scan of my body. And make sure I'm still good as it relates to this whole cancer issue. Man, and I can tell you, this has been one heck of a ride, and I know prayer has really helped me a lot. Man, because they tell me sometimes I get to snap in and act in a food. Man, but when you can't taste your food, you don't have no appetite, and you're losing weight, and you're like, what's going on here? So you and it is, you need to drink more water. They're all over your butt, man, and you're trying to deal with it all. So it's just a challenge of life. But I've never said to God, why me? Because, why not me? Because I got a platform in which we can share information with others, and I can tell you guys this. I had John. I think she may have been, well, I know she was gone. She wasn't there. When you were there, we had Brenda Donoho. She was our incident debriefing person. I had her on the show a couple weeks ago. Her and county, retired county firefighter. He left Las Vegas because he kept passing by a location where some children had expired due to a fire. He said it just kept getting in his head. Man and he said he had to get out of town. I'm like, I had never heard of that. Somebody actually leaving town. I know a lot of times we haven't had, haven't spent that kind of time and caring for our personnel. Because, you know, in fact, when we had a rollover incident, Brenda kept coming to me, are you are you good? Chief? No, we need to talk. I said, No, I'm good, as you guys know, typical firefighter mentality. I got this. I got this. I didn't have nothing. Man, I broke down and cried like a baby. I was debriefed in before a classroom. Gentlemen, I just got from my director and producer Wes. He said we got two minutes. Give me some closing remarks, each of you, please. And know how much I appreciate you both. John, why don't you go first? Since you started?

John Ryan 26:40
Okay, well, number one, I wish I'd have met your colleague, David, and it sounds like we'd have some stories to tell. But the one thing that you know that always occurred to me in the fire service, and I'll make this short, is you don't have to promote. That's right, you if you want to ride that tail board, nobody's going to look down at you. You didn't have to become a chief. You wanted to be. That's right in the military, if you aren't promoting up, they'll promote you right out the door, but firefighters on the tail board and we needed experience. If I have any regret, it's I didn't tell those guys that didn't seek to promote thanks for doing what you do every day.

Dave Washington 27:22
Great point, you know what? And I'll let you go there now. But I gotta say this, you remember COVID, Simmons, COVID, I didn't know COVID. COVID, not only was he a military veteran, he had a bachelor's degree, he chose to stay as a firefighter. And to your point, another colleague who's deceased now, Herschel clay, everybody don't want to be fire chief. He went up to the rank of Assistant Chief, but some people think they can push you and they want, no everybody don't want to be fire chief. So your point's well taken, John, out. We got about probably be 9045, seconds. Okay,

Al Nero 27:54
I would just piggyback on what John said, that that's true, but I think that the fire service, what's beautiful about it is that you can get in where you fit in, and you can make a difference there, wherever you are, whether it's tail board or fire chief. And I know in my sons, I've tried to encourage them, to promote and they both came to me and they said, Dad, I'm happy where I am. And so I got off of that, leave it alone and just be make sure that you provide the service for the people that you respond to. And that's good. And it's like my we I tell my players when I was coaching is that you don't have to be the best person out there. You just have to do the best you can. That's right.

Dave Washington 28:51
That's right. Well, once again, Las Vegas, this is Veterans Affairs, plus on 91.5 jazz and more. I had two colleagues, both former fire chiefs, John, Ryan al Nira, love and appreciate you guys. And again, thank you so much for putting that boot up my butt so I aspire to to become a fire chief as well. Thank you, gentlemen. Once again, I will get this information to you so you can listen to the show. Thanks guys.

John Ryan 29:14
Thank you, David. Thank you, David. Sure you

Music 29:49
Oh, all the smoke in the air till they hate when they stare, all the pain that we bear, all you bear.