The Life of Doug
Chapter 1
Welcome to the World of Douglas
Douglas Michael O’Leary was born in the Bayview neighborhood of Milwaukee. That's me, "Doug".
I was Born to John “Jack” and Gretchen O’Leary. My Dad was a Milwaukee Firefighter. My Mom worked for AC Delco with the Apollo project. I guess I had an average childhood. No special talents and no big troubles. Vacations were to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where my Mother was born and my Grandmother lived. We had a rustic two room cabin with no water. I truly learned to explore nature and play in the woods during my time up there.
Chapter 2
Leaving the Civilian Life Behind
I was a State Champion track runner but just an average B student. So at the age of 18 my father gave me a choice of getting a job and moving out after graduation or joining the military. I decided to enlist in the US Air Force and become an Avionics Specialist. It was a great experience for me and I learned a lot about life.
I completed my enlistment and returned to Milwaukee, my home town. I continued my military career serving with the Wisconsin Air National Guard. The Air National Guard was a family of dedicated and honorable men and women. They helped me adjust to civillian life before I found my true calling.
I dutifully gave them 22+ years of honorable service with nine overseas deployments. My final years were hard because I was taking a steroid to control my asthma so I could keep working my civillian job and the Guard found out. It was a banned substance in the Military so I couldn't get promoted or deployed so I felt unproductive. They finally gave me a choice of a medical discharge or request a regular retirement. I chose the latter. My career was officially over with the military.
Chapter 3
The Firefighting Days and Nights
Civilian life was much different than military life. I worked a nine-to-five job fixing computers for a government contractor. I hated it. It was a slow death for an adrenaline junkie like me.
After a couple of years of hell, my father told me the fire department was going to have a hiring test. He said I should take it. It got me thinking seriously about a change. My grandfather was a firefighter, and my father was a hell of a fireman. Later in my career I heard stories about "Leather Lungs O'Leary."
I took the test in 1987. There were 5000+ applicants. I was a bit intimidated, but I took that number 2 pencil and started filling in circles. I passed with a 72.5%. I have no idea how many people passed or failed. The physical was tough but I passed that too. For the oral interview, my mom bought me a new suit. My dad gave me some tips on how to answer different types of questions and told me to relax and use the Irish charm I had. I scored a 98.7% and placed number 33 on the two-year hiring list. I was in.
My first assignment was Engine 30. Stabbings, shootings, accidents, and every medical emergency you could think of. Electrical trouble, water leaks, alarm soundings, and of course, fires. Garbage carts, cars, garages, and houses. Vacant and occupied.
Standing up in an open cab Mack fire engine with our driver screaming past traffic was truly an adrenaline rush. When the lieutenant would bang on the sliding window hard, we knew we had a working fire. If you have never been first in on a working fire with people trapped, you could never possibly understand the teamwork involved with what we did. Every company had different tasks, and every company's crew had different tasks. It was controlled chaos.
Things changed a lot over my career (good and bad), but the people I learned from in the ’80s and ’90s were tough and rough around the edges. That is what I became.
Chapter 4
Life on Wildflower Lane
With 30 years credited service on the the Milwaukee Fire Department, I retired.
My career came with many injuries. I had three broken legs with two requiring surgery. A broken shoulder requiring surgery. A minor heart surgery closing a tear, even developing asthma. I got hurt quite a bit. That being said the absolute worst thing for me was the sleepless nights. Those alarms just never stopped and everyone of them was a jolt to your heart. Getting alarms during the night is just not healthy as you get older. No sleep makes you miserable. It was hard not only on me but on my family as well. Nine years retired I still struggle with sleep.
So I walked away and never looked back.
Bonnie and I bought a property in Sister Bay, WI and began a new journey. On the rolling 3.5 acres of an old apple orchard surrounded by towering maples and oaks, I transitioned from my role as a Heavy Equipment Operator of a ladder truck in the City of Milwaukee to the Heavy Equipment Operator of a John Deere Tractor on a micro farm. If you’re lucky, you might find me moving my compost piles around, hauling a load of mulch, or driving from one end of the property to the other on a planting project with a very entertaining flock of chickens chasing along.