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If he goes to an actual academy, they will straighten him out.

chase and truckie are both right.  When he goes through his training he will quickly learn who is in charge and where he sits on the totem pole.  It is the job of the instructors to weed out those who are not of the right calliber.  Granted firefighters are almost always type "a" personalities, but you have to humble yourself to the teachings of those over you.  If he's got the right stuff, he will graduate the academy or training program.  But that is when his real training as a "probie" starts.  He has to be able to make friends of his new partners, not enemys.  He will have to do the "grunt" work of the station, cooking, cleaning, and other chores before he will gain thier trust and respect.  He will be the brunt of many jokes and pranks.  He will have to deal with it and take it all in stride.  If he can handle all of that, then yes he will make a good firefighter.

It depends on your department's training.  I hope your department is NOT one of those old school departments that just hands them gear and tells 'em to "go fight fire," he might not learn anything until his first really bad fire.  Let's hope it doesn't get him or someone else hurt or killed.

If your department has a structured training program, they should get it out of him in training, one way or another.  I've had a few trainees drop out and I've told a few of my trainees to leave and not come back.

Yeah, training will help.  But he needs to be responsible enough to take what is given and learn from it.  I am 2 weeks shy of completing my FF I/II firefighter training and let me tell you, they crammed about 2 years of training into an 8 month course.  I have walked away with soo much knowledge, but now I have to take that and use it under real activities.  Good luck to your son and I hope it works out for him.

I agree 100% with Travis that you can be a mentor and a hardass,  that's how I handle some of my young guys, and it works. Instructors and T.O's, for the most part got to that position for being able to read and handle the people that come their way, they've seen him before, and will know exactly what to do with him. Once he starts getting an idea of how much his instructors have to pass on to him, the process will continually improve.

What Sandy said about his boy is true, also, one of my young guys recently found himself in small legal jam, nothing serious, thankfully, but it shook him up. He came to me asking for help, some other C.O.'s and I guided him through, and he came out slightly scarred, but much more mature for the whole ordeal.

On the lighter side.......

Interesting things when you have sons, like...

   1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.

11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15.) DVD Players do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The fire department in Austin , TX has a 5-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

25.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid. (an old arsonsit trick)