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by WILLIAM MURPHY
More than 100 city firefighters have been activated for military duty since Sept. 11, 2001, and 30 of them are still away from their families and day jobs.
They are part of a larger contingent of city workers who are members of the reserves or National Guard. More than 2,400 were in such reserves as of March, when the city last analyzed the data, according to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. More than 1,100, including firefighters, have been called to active duty since Sept. 11, a spokeswoman said.
On Monday, Firefighter Christian Engeldrum became the first city employee to die in action in Iraq. Fellow Firefighter Daniel Swift was injured, and Wilfredo Urbina, a volunteer firefighter on Long Island, also was killed in the attack.
Experts say it's not a coincidence that historically there has been a significant overlap between police and firefighters and soldiers.
"There are certain traits that a firefighter needs to possess to be good at his job, and they're the same characteristics that are also required in the military," said Robert Scott, fire psychologist for the Los Angeles City Fire Department, who oversaw a study on the psychology of firefighters. Scott said up to 70 percent of the firefighters in his department have some military background.
Scott said that when people are discharged from military service, they often turn to the police and fire departments for the structure and brotherhood to which they grew accustomed.
City Firefighter Mike Merced, 35, of Patchogue, Long Island, said the thing that drew him to both professions was the brotherhood.
"You work together, you live together and you risk your lives together, said Merced, who served in Iraq this spring with the Air National Guard. "You don't find that anyplace else except in the fire department or the military."
Scott said for firefighters and soldiers, having a spouse who understands their inbred nature as rescuers is essential.
Fire Lt. Joseph Duggan of Breezy Point has a lot of experience meshing his personal and professional lives. After getting married in July 2002, Duggan was pressed into duty early the next year.
"I was called up in January of '03, just after I got made lieutenant," he said. "After 9/11 we all knew what was going to be going down.
"I came home on leave in August [2003] for the birth of our first child, Reilly," said Duggan, a 13-year Fire Department veteran. "My second daughter, Caileigh, was born a week ago."
Duggan served with the Army's 411th Civil Affairs Battalion in Baghdad and several small cities in Iraq, helping to hire translators and working with local fire officials to restore their services.
He returned from Iraq in October 2003 and has started to get his nonmilitary life back to normal.
Now a captain in the Reserve, Duggan, 37, has put in his retirement papers and started studying for the next fire captain's test.
The Iraq tour was well worth it, and if not for his family, he would do it all over again, he said. "If I was a younger guy, it would be a different story," Duggan said.
Staff writer Ann Givens contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc
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