Awesome! A memoir of a black man in a cultural journey from childhood to a successful career in the fire service. This “journey” is a powerful story of guts peppered with a dose of determination and is anything but an ordinary. Although wrought with both self-inflicted and societally applied barriers his career spanned 30 years. Thus he became the one of only three District chiefs (in the department’s 100+ year history.) He became the first black Chief of Rescue. He became the first black commander of the Hazardous Materials Team. the first black Assistant Fire Chief of ERD (this division was responsible for all firefighting, rescue, dive, and hazardous materials emergencies and constitutes the bulk of personnel employed by the fire department (approximately ¾ of the firefighters and paramedics employed). And all of this on a predominately white fire department. He held the position of Assistant Fire Chief until he retired.