I'm now spending my second straight weekend in an EMT recertification class at the Pre-Service Training Academy in Rockville. All day, all weekend, in uniform. This is nearly the final step in the process of obtaining Maryland reciprocity for my DC Emergency Medical Technician certification. Reciprocity, of course, implies that the two certifications are nearly equivalent. However, Maryland generally treats DC EMTs as if they were raised by wolves and trained by CHUD. We're obliged to take another 100-question exam in addition to the complete (and justified) review of Maryland protocols. At least I won't have to do another complete round of practicals, administering CPR to a rubbery dummy for the umpteenth time, strapping a sullen "victim" into the torturous, corsetesque Kendrick Extrication Device.

I will be so happy to be a fully accredited Maryland EMT. The benefits to my placement and prestige on the rescue squad will be almost instantaneous: I can finally start preparing for my aidman test. Aidperson status is the squad's internal mechanism for certifying that a member can be the medical head of an ambulance. It's also the last requirement that must be fulfilled for me to become a full member. After a year, I will finally graduate from useless and proletarian "Acting Active" status to become... I hardly dare think of it: a Private.

But before then, I have to Pre-aid, running calls with an evaluator, doing loads of drills, and studying for the test, which includes a written exam, an oral exam, practical rescue simulations, and a review of your provisional call reports. It's grueling. It takes over your life for weeks. You can't do it without a lot of help from other members. And so it fulfills its function, which is not only to prepare us to take over the incredible responsibility for patient care, but also to bring new members into the fold, requiring that we prove ourselves and showing us that the group will not let us down.

If you happen to live in the response area of my rescue squad, you should know that you are in the hands of perhaps the most maniacally trained and prepared volunteer force you could possibly want. Despite everything the aidman process demands, I'm anticipating it with an eagerness that borders on the feverish. I'm ready. No, I'm ready to start, and to allow the kiln to fire me into whatever form it will.