Within The Trenches

Ahoy hoy! I’m back with episode 83 of Within the Trenches. This episode is part of a series of episodes I recorded at the 2015 Indiana NENA/APCO conference and expo. I had an excellent time there and this episode added to the fun. In this episode I finally and I mean finally got the chance to sit down with Ty Wooten, NENA Education Director who I have been trying to get on the show for almost a year now. We have been talking about it and talking about it but our schedules never matched up. Ty is joined by show regular Rob McMullen, NENA North Central Region Director and Director of Vigo county 911. This is an episode you do not want to miss. We had so much fun doing our mic check that I added it in the beginning. This episode is not only educational but it’s 18 different kinds of funny. I hope you enjoy it and please share it with everyone you know. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com for questions, comments or if you want to be on the show. Make sure to check out the links below for what

Good afternoon and welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. Episode 82 is part of a series of episodes that were recorded last week during the 2015 NENA/APCO conference & expo. In this episode I got to speak with Amanda and Yvonne, dispatchers with Lafayette PD and part of this years Teamwork Award recipients. Both dispatchers shared their 911 story as well as their reaction to the call that went national when a male called 911 in Indiana for his fiancé that he was speaking to over Skype in New York and she passed out. Thanks to the excellent work of Amanda, Yvonne and their partner Mark they were able to get help to the caller’s fiancé in New York. Great job and you deserve this award. Thank you for all you do! This is a must listen so check it out and share! As always if you have any questions or you would like to be a guest on the show please email us at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Teamwork Award news story courtesy of WISH-TV   Episode topics – How each dispatcher started in 911 Best and wo

Good afternoon and welcome back! I have been M.I.A. and I apologize for that. Life and work takes over at times and I have to step back from the podcast but I’m here and I have brand new episodes coming your way. Last week I was at the Indiana NENA / APCO Conference & Expo. I was there for the show and I had the chance to speak on stage and tell my 911 story. It was an excellent time! I got to spend time with old friends, made new friends and the show was a hit. The best part of last week was that the conference fell on National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. It’s the week that we honor 911 dispatchers for the awesome work they do every day. The week was great and truth be told, I did not want it to end. Thank you for everything you do in dispatch. Although you may not hear it enough, you deserve all the kudos for being great! In this episode I got to speak with Nirvana, a dispatcher with Lafayette PD, as well as Kelli and Victoria, dispatchers with Vigo County 911. This is a must listen to check i

On February 16, 1968, the first 9-1-1 call was made. This is a very important date so today I present to you episode 80 of the podcast. I'm posting it ahead of episode 79 because I can't wait to share this story with all of you. Every event comes with stories and today’s date marks an event that started a lifetime of stories from those behind the mic. I have to say that it's crazy to think that this podcast has 80 episodes under its belt. I started this adventure telling my stories through a written segment on my blog, the Jabber Log and it eventually evolved into a podcast. What I wanted to do from the beginning was tell the stories of the unsung heroes of 911 and here I am. I love doing this and the stories are all amazing. I just want to thank the listeners for the support throughout this journey and this episode is going to be excellent. My guest today has been in public safety for some time now and his story is one that I have wanted to cover since I heard about it from my friend Tom with the Cool Kids o

Good morning and welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. This is going to be episode 79 and I’m going a little out of order but after recording episode 80, a milestone for the show, I had to post it up right away. Steve of Fairfax County 911 out of Virginia had an excellent story and if you haven’t listened to it yet, you need to. Today’s episode was going to be with Misti, a dispatcher and admin for "911 Dispatchers - Did I Really Say That?" but we had to reschedule so she will be on for a future episode and I look forward to that. My guest today is a good friend of mine and has been on the show before. He is the North Central Regional Director for National NENA and the Director of Vigo county out of Indiana.  In this episode we covered several silly and or ridiculous calls and shared some stories of our own. Below you will find the link to all the calls we referenced from the news affiliates. As always, if you have any questions or would like to be a guest on the show you can send an emai

Good morning and welcome to episode 78 of Within the Trenches. It has been a while since episode 77 but I am back with a long list of guests. In my last episode I revisited some of my personal dispatch stories. If you haven't listened to it you need to check it out. I will be recording more of my personal stories soon. I also mentioned that the new Indiana NENA website was up and registration is open for the 2015 conference so make sure to sign up. The website address is innena.org. Check them out, register and look for the show on their site. All the episodes recorded from last year’s conference are located there. With that said today's episode is going to be a good one. My guest today is Joanne, a dispatcher with the New Hampshire State Police and one of the admins for 911 Operator's Peer Support Page on Facebook. As always, if you would like to be a guest on the show or if you have any questions, email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com 911 Operator's Peer Support Page – Facebook Indiana Chapter of NENA – We

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Within the Trenches podcast. It has been about a month since the last episode and to keep it short, I have been all kinds of busy. Most of my time has been spent on work projects but I have also done a few side projects including logo design and web design. It has been fun because I love what I do but now that the main holidays are over I can get back to the show. With that said I have been looking back at some of my earlier blog posts and I realized that many of you are probably unaware of these posts because they are buried within my blog. The posts contain many calls I’ve taken and I have decided to turn them into episodes. Now you won’t have to search for them and read them, you can simply listen to me read over the entries and fill you in on what I was thinking at the time. I hope you enjoy this episode and as always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Episode topics – An update of what I have been up to Poo Guy story Ride alongs Robotic Domes

Welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. It has been a busy month! Since the last episode I have been training dispatchers on text FOR 911 platform textty. It has been a lot of fun though and I love what I do. On top of that I can officially say that the 911 Wellness Foundation and Within the Trenches are now strategic partners. What that means is that we are working together to reach a greater audience by utilizing each other’s outlets. I have also been talking with my co-host Whitney and we are going to plan on recording more episodes together via Skype. It has been a bit hard to do episodes together since I moved to Indiana but we are getting things planned out and I am very excited. On today’s episode I had the chance to speak with Melinda and Patti of the 9-1-1 National Public Educator Forum (NPEF). This was a great episode to record and we had a lot to talk about. The topics ranged from how NPEF started, a PSA that was recorded at their most recent conference and a GoFundMe project involv

Good morning and welcome to another episode of Within the Trenches. Today's episode is a must listen. In this episode we answer the question, "Who does 9-1-1 call when they need help?" To answer that question I spoke with Sherry, 9-1-1 Operations Supervisor, with the North Central Texas Council of Governments and Chairman with the National Joint TERT Initiative for NENA along with Jeremy, a supervisor with the Emergency Communications Department of Monroe County out of Rochester NY and Chairman with the National Joint TERT Initiative for APCO. This episode is packed with information on TERT, the Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce. Below you will find links on where to find them and how you can get involved. Make sure to listen and share this episode with everyone you know.  As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Episode topics - Intro to Sherry Intro to Jeremy TERT stories/dispatcher comradre  Spread the word on TERT

Good afternoon and welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. This is going to be the second and final episode recorded during the 9114911 conference held at the Naperville, Illinois Marriott. In this episode I got the chance to speak to Kelly, CEO of Success Communications Inc. She shared her vision of this one of a kind motivational conference geared towards the most important part of the 9-1-1 world, the true first first responders, the dispatchers. It was an excellent time and the first conference where I truly felt inspired to do more in the 9-1-1 community.  This episode is a must listen so check it out and share it. As always if you have any questions or would like to be on the show you can send an email to wttpodcast@gmail.com. Success Communications Inc. - Web | Facebook | Twitter 9114911 Conference - Web Episode topics - Kelly's vision Speakers Preparation for next year

Good morning and welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. It has been a couple of weeks since the last episode but I'm back so get ready! In this episode I sat down with Samantha, a dispatch supervisor with Fenton PD out of Michigan. The episode was recorded live from the 9114911 conference hosted by Success Communications Inc. Samantha was not only an attendee but she was also a speaker at the conference. Her presentation dealt with dispatcher wellness and specifically sitting at your console. The information she shared was excellent and informative. There will be another post coming up from Samantha herself where she will go more indepth with her presentation and her experience at the conference so stay tuned for that. You don't want to miss it.  As always you can email the show with any questions or if you want to be a guest at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Episode topics - Samantha's start in dispatch Memorable calls Wellness presentation

Hello everyone and welcome back to another awesome episode of Within the Trenches. I know it has been a while but I have had a lot going on. The past month or so I have been traveling non-stop for work and I recently moved to Fort Wayne Indiana. My schedule has been slammed but I have a lot coming up for the show. New episodes, announcements and fan page fun so get ready! This episode was recorded about 3 weeks ago and is a mash up of the AudioVillains Podcast and Within the Trenches. The AudioVillains podcast is a show I do with my good friends Adam and Ed and it is all kinds of funny. But I have to warn you; we use adult language and humor so if you are not down with that then maybe you should skip this episode. If you are all about it then stay tuned for awesomeness. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Episode topics – Ed and Adam bios from AudioVillains  911 tape reactions And more hijinks 

Welcome back to a brand new episode of Within the Trenches! It has been about a month since episode 70. I have been busy like you wouldn't believe but in no way am I letting this show go. I'm working harder than ever to bring you awesome content including more dispatch stories/highlights and continuing education. I could say everything here but it is all explained in this new episode so check it out and share and comment! As always you can email the show with questions and if you want to be a guest at wttpodcast@gmail.com.

Welcome back to another excellent episode of Within the Trenches. The show has reached episode 70 and I have to admit that when I first created this show I didn’t think I would reach a number this high. I have enjoyed every moment of this and I will continue to do the show until the 9-1-1 stories run out. This is also going to be the last episode in the 2014 National NENA Conference series. In this episode I spoke with Stacy, a dispatcher with SERESA, a central dispatch for three cities within Macomb County in Michigan and a Friends of 911 Scholarship winner. The episode could not have gone any better and it was awesome speaking with Stacy. This is a must listen so make sure to check it out and share! As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Episode topics – Stacy’s dispatch story Taking non-emergency calls on emergency lines Friends of 9-1-1 Scholarship process Side projects for continuing education Stacy’s outlook on her future in the 9-1-1 community 

Good afternoon and welcome to episode 69 of Within the Trenches. In this episode I had the pleasure of meeting with Richard, a telecommunicator with Mt. Juliet Police and Fire out of Tennessee and one of two nationally selected telecommunicators to receive the 9-1-1 Hero Award through PSTC/911 Cares. This was an excellent episode to record and we even hit an interesting moment around 27 minutes 16 seconds in where maintenance in the Music City Center were packing up displays and you can hear them as they walked past us. I had planned on taking it out but the noise wasn’t too bad. Our reactions to what was going on is funny as it is so I had to keep it in. This is a must listen so make sure to check it out and share! As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com.   Episode topics – Richard’s dispatch story Tunnel vision after a long shift in dispatch Citizens academy and questions from the public Back story and reaction on receiving the 9-1-1 Hero Award

Good morning and welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. In this episode my special guest host and wife Rebecca joined me, along with Rob, Director of Vigo County 911 in Indiana and National NENA North Central Region Director. This episode covers attendee feedback of the conference, text to 911 and three very funny 911 tapes. We even pay a second visit to Rob’s wrestling persona. This is a must listen to make sure to check it out and share. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com.       Episode topics – Rob’s wrestling persona part 2 Attendee feedback Text to 911 3 911 tapes

Health in the dispatch center is a huge issue. Along with the massive amount of stress that the job offers there are also bad eating habits and minimal exercise opportunities while working. But what if there was something you could do about the exercise aspect of it? What if you had a treadmill or exercise bike attached to your console? Xybix, a dispatch furniture company has taken on the task of assisting in dispatchers’ health with the attachment of a treadmill or bike. This past week I had the chance to meet with Kathleen, Director of Marketing with Xybix to talk about their product as well as try it out for myself on the showroom floor during the 2014 NENA National conference. In this episode we learn about the company as well as some facts and frequently asked questions about the treadmill and bike. The company also publishes blogs with health topics and techniques for the dispatch center. This is a must listen and share! For more information on Xybix please follow the links below and as always, if you h

This is episode 66 of Within the Trenches and this is a special episode. Since the beginning of my show I have had people helping me out and giving me advice. One of those people is Mark Fletcher with Avaya. I’ve been on his podcast a few times and this time it was my turn to have him as a guest. Mark is the Chief Architect for Worldwide Public Safety Solutions at Avaya as well as the program director of the longest running Public Safety podcast on the Avaya Podcast Network. We sat down and talked all things 9-1-1 including NENA, ENP certification, Kari’s Law and more. This is a must listen so check it out and share. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com and if you would like to learn more about Mark and Kari’s Law follow the links below. Kari’s Law – Web (sign the petition at Change.org) | Facebook Mark Fletcher/APN – Web | APN -E911 Podcast | Facebook | Twitter Episode topics -     Mark's start in the 9-1-1 community Mark's motivation to work hard to improve 9-1-1 Kari's Law ENP certific

Welcome back to another episode of Within the Trenches. This is episode 65 and I have to say right off the bat that there was an issue with this one. As you heard in episode 64 we had to redo the entire thing due to a subject who showed up and was drowning out the microphones. Some knobs were turned down and one of them was never turned back up so some audio is missing. I do apologize but it’s still an awesome one so check it out and share. In this episode I spoke with Rob, Director of Vigo County 911 in Indiana and National NENA North Central Region Director and Lori, Training Coordinator with INdigital telecom. I have been trying to get Lori on an episode for a long time now and it killed me that her audio is missing but only until 11 or so minutes in. After that you can hear her and the stories are good. As always you can email the show at wttpodcast@gmail.com. Episode topics – Rob’s wrestling  persona Lori’s dispatch story (audio low) Pregnancy calls Text to 9-1-1

Good afternoon! This episode is sponsored by NENA and INdigital. I am currently in Nashville, TN for the 2014 National NENA Conference and this is just one of a series of episodes I’m recording here. In this episode I spoke with Dana, a dispatcher with Sumpter County Sheriff’s Office out of Florida and a Friends of 911 Scholarship winner. This is a must listen for anyone looking for information on not only the conference but how to apply for next years Friends of 9-1-1 scholarship. We also spoke briefly on the Mini-C that Dana attended back in April and the hard work that Tom of the Cool Kids of 9-1-1 puts into the conference. As always, if you have any questions or would like to be a guest on the show, send an email to wttpodcast@gmail.com. The Cool Kids of 9-1-1 - Web | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Dana (Dispatch Dana) - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram   Episode topics - Dana recap of the Mini-C Friends of 9-1-1 Scholarship Process CMCP certification Where Dana sees herself in 9-1-1 Drunk dial 9-1-1 tape (