Randy Cribbs - Forged Under Fire Counseling & Consulting

---

Randall (Randy) W. Cribbs is a retired US Army EOD Company First Sergeant that served on active duty from Nov 1983 through 31 Oct 2004, entering the Army as an Private (E-1) and promoted up through the ranks to First Sergeant (E-8). Having served during this timeframe he was on multiple deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq prior to retiring. During these deployments the missions were fast paced with situations where his moral ethical judgement was challenged, these were very stressful and impactful times. While serving on his last tour in Iraq Sep 2003 – Apr 2004, he was hit with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Dec 2003. This resulted in a moderate Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). In 2003 a TBI was still a new phenomenon, even though this was common in the civilian population and had been for years. The confusion brought on by the TBI and working through this led him into counseling. What he experienced and the lack of guidance and knowledge that came with this was not acceptable. So, his journey began to help others better understand and work through the many issues that we encounter daily.

 “Forged Under Fire”

  The name “Forged Under Fire” comes from the combination of how military and first responders may look at their work/careers, and at what point they feel they are seasoned or have earned the title. For example, many military personnel tend to not consider themselves a veteran, or the same as others that deployed because they did not, this is not true. When a military member deploys and experience what comes with this, this is their fire. Then after returning home and after the deployment they feel they have earned this right under the fire created by deployment. With firefighters, they go to the academy, they train and learn the necessary skills of firefighting and then to a fire station. It is not until the individual fights their first fire and earns their shield that they now embrace that they are a firefighter. For Law Enforcement it is similar but until the first arrest, involvement in a very tense situation, such as a stand-off or an individual that is trying to commit suicide using the “Death by Cop” scenario. Officers go through this or some other scenario that is not the typical daily event, that they have had their fire. With EMS, they spend countless hours responding to calls, some are critical, others not as bad, some scenes involve family members and a very confusing situation. When an EMS provider has the one call that really challenges them, and are not sure how it will end, this is their fire. After this the self-worth and the belief that they can do this job, that they want to do this job is more impactfully real.