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Violating a Direct Order

 Question:  I had an oral a few weeks ago in which I was thrown for a loop.  I was asked

Your a rookie FF and your captain tells you to perform a task that you know directly violates the departments policies and procedures, what do you do?

I said...I would advise the Captain that his order violates SOP and see if we can mitigate the situation in a way that is not against SOP. I said...It is my job as a rookie to be familiar with the departments SOP's, perhaps my captain was just testing me to see what I would do.  

and they said, (OF COURSE) no it's not a test; he wants the task carried out.

So I told the board....SOP's are in place for a reason and they need to be strictly adhered to for safety and also for legal purposes.  BUT, as a FF, I am directly under the supervision of a Company officer, and if a captain feels it is pertinent to break SOP to perform an operation, then when I am given an order by my captain, it is my duty to carry out that task, so I would carry out that order.

1 board member shook his head and said good, the other two looked at each other with big eyes and said nothing. It was un-nerving.

Reply: This is a dilemma.  Some departments want you to blindly follow orders, yes even to the point of jumping off a cliff, and others want you to draw the line at some point where you would remain an asset instead of a liability that would place others in danger that would have to come in after you.

In many situations the panel members aren’t from the department you’re testing for.  So, they might not know the department SOP’s.  In this scenario type question one panel member is usually asking you this question. If you can create banter back and forth with this panel member, as if they were the Captain who is giving you the order, you can start building up valuable points.

You can start out by repeating the order to make sure you understood it.  The Captain will confirm that’s the order.  Than you can banter back and forth as you did above outlining your concern.  Once you get to point where he said, (OF COURSE) no it's not a test; he wants the task carried out.  Look directly at the panel member and ask, “As my captain are you asking me to violate department policy?”  If the answer comes back yes, that’s what you will do.

Hey, in real live you might do something else.  But the oral board is fantasyland in many ways.  Just go through the drill.  You could add that you don’t know what the Captains plan is or what additional resources they have coming that could be in place before you advance a line, perform a rescue or any other emergency situation.

A recent candidate got to the point where you were and he refused to follow the order.  Later in the interview a panel member gave him the opportunity to revisit his decision.  That should have been a clue they wanted him to follow the order.

1 board member shook his head and said good, the other two looked at each other with big eyes and said nothing. It was un-nerving.

You could be psyching yourself out when this happens. You can’t know what the panel is thinking. Once you start trying, you will tank your oral board score. Just give your best performance no matter what you think the oral board is doing. Trying to interpret the expressions, attitudes of the panel, what they are writing, etc., is a mental game. I had several candidates contact me after their orals where I was on their panel. They would tell me what they thought I was thinking or doing. They were never right.

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