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Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers: Firefighting and EMS from Some of the Toughest Streets in America
Author Gary Ludwig was an innocent eighteen-year-old kid when he began his first job with the City of St. Louis in 1977. With his newbie status, he was assigned to work on an ambulance on the city's north side. Ludwig's first call involved a woman in labor. He didn't have medical training or an EMT license and certainly no experience delivering babies. That first call started an incredible journey where Ludwig witnessed things he'll never forget and saw others he wishes he hadn't.
In Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers, he tells of working thirty-four years of his thirty-seven-year-career in two of the toughest cities in the United States-St. Louis and Memphis. He crossed paths with presidents, a pope, people who became his friends, and many he'd met at the worst time of their life. Ludwig tells the heart-wrenching stories of dealing with death and tragedy but also the celebration of a life saved. He shares the emotions, the laughs, and the tears that come with being a firefighter and a paramedic.
In Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers, he tells of working thirty-four years of his thirty-seven-year-career in two of the toughest cities in the United States-St. Louis and Memphis. He crossed paths with presidents, a pope, people who became his friends, and many he'd met at the worst time of their life. Ludwig tells the heart-wrenching stories of dealing with death and tragedy but also the celebration of a life saved. He shares the emotions, the laughs, and the tears that come with being a firefighter and a paramedic.
- GenresMedical
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2015
14 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Gary Ludwig
2 books8 followersGary Ludwig currently serves as the Fire Chief of the Champaign (Illinois) Fire Department. He is a well-known author and lecturer who has served in the St. Louis and Memphis fire departments for a total of 35 years. Gary has a total of 39 years of fire, rescue, and EMS experience and has been a paramedic for over 37 years.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 15, 2017
In the realm of America’s first responder arena, there are sights, sounds, split-second decisions and harrowing experiences that only a special few can know. Rarely do any active-duty police officers or firefighters take the time to share their gripping accounts in a job where one sees the best and the worst of society. In his engaging memoir, “Blood, Sweat, Tears and Prayers,” veteran firefighter/paramedic Chief Gary Ludwig peals back the mystique of working as a knight in shining armor during someone’s worst day. Recounting his thirty-seven years serving in two of America’s toughest and most violent cities, St. Louis and Memphis, Chief Ludwig paints a visceral and eloquently human portrait of life on the frontline as a firefighter/paramedic. Responding to a myriad of graphic, tragic, humorous and exhilarating emergency calls from shootings, domestic violence, the aftermath of grisly murders, warehouse fires and even working as a safety officer for several Presidential Details.
I was lucky to find this book on Audible and after listening to it, I have to say that Chief Ludwig does a great job chronicling the life, trials and tribulations of the firefighter/paramedic. “Blood, Sweat, Tears and Prayers” is a great edition to any first responder’s bookshelf. If you’re a fan of the NBC drama “Chicago Fire” or the classic first responder procedural “Third Watch,” then this book is for you!
I was lucky to find this book on Audible and after listening to it, I have to say that Chief Ludwig does a great job chronicling the life, trials and tribulations of the firefighter/paramedic. “Blood, Sweat, Tears and Prayers” is a great edition to any first responder’s bookshelf. If you’re a fan of the NBC drama “Chicago Fire” or the classic first responder procedural “Third Watch,” then this book is for you!
June 17, 2015
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This is a must read for anyone who is thinking about going into the service of an EMT/Paramedic or firefighter. As I read this book I was reminded of one of my best friends and former co-workers at school. Before becoming a tech person in our school district, he had retired from the Chicago Fire Department. My husband had been a firefighter way before we married. When these two would get together they would start talking about "the good old days of fire fighting". I noticed a major difference in their stories. When it was just me with them I got a watered down version of the incident. When the two of them got together and I sat and listened they talked about things like waiting for the police to show up before they were allowed in because the site had to be secured. They would talk in gruesome detail about the things they had seen and the smelled. These were things they could never forget that changed them in some way. If you talk to most fire fighters you get the basic details from them and nothing more.
Reading this book was like sitting down with my husband and Ron. Chief Ludwig laid everything out bare. You heard the good, the bad, and the ugly. You heard of the triumphs and the rewards of a profession that most people didn't think about until after 9/11. I have never ever wanted to be a fire fighter. I have a terrible fear of fire that goes back to several incidents on our farm. One was growing up and trying to put out a grass fire that occurred when wind blew trash out and caught a field on fire. I remember using wet gunny sacks to beat back the flames until the fire department finally got out to our farm. I remember the pain of trying to peel off nylon socks that had gotten so hot they had started to melt to my legs. The second incident occurred while we were at church. My uncle actually interrupted the Wednesday service to tell us our farm was on fire. An arsonist had set the barn on fire that caught several other buildings on fire. I remember sitting on the roof of the house all night watching, afraid the fire would spread. I remember the kind words of the firemen telling us it would be okay and that they would come back the next day to check for hotspots.
As Chief Ludwig demonstrated in his book, firefighting goes way beyond putting out a fire or rescuing someone. It takes your complete mind, body and soul and leaves its on scars and imprints upon it. If can be a very heart wrenching job and at the same time a very fulfilling job. Read this book so that you can have a greater appreciation for those men and women who put their lives on the line daily. I definitely recommend this book.
This is a must read for anyone who is thinking about going into the service of an EMT/Paramedic or firefighter. As I read this book I was reminded of one of my best friends and former co-workers at school. Before becoming a tech person in our school district, he had retired from the Chicago Fire Department. My husband had been a firefighter way before we married. When these two would get together they would start talking about "the good old days of fire fighting". I noticed a major difference in their stories. When it was just me with them I got a watered down version of the incident. When the two of them got together and I sat and listened they talked about things like waiting for the police to show up before they were allowed in because the site had to be secured. They would talk in gruesome detail about the things they had seen and the smelled. These were things they could never forget that changed them in some way. If you talk to most fire fighters you get the basic details from them and nothing more.
Reading this book was like sitting down with my husband and Ron. Chief Ludwig laid everything out bare. You heard the good, the bad, and the ugly. You heard of the triumphs and the rewards of a profession that most people didn't think about until after 9/11. I have never ever wanted to be a fire fighter. I have a terrible fear of fire that goes back to several incidents on our farm. One was growing up and trying to put out a grass fire that occurred when wind blew trash out and caught a field on fire. I remember using wet gunny sacks to beat back the flames until the fire department finally got out to our farm. I remember the pain of trying to peel off nylon socks that had gotten so hot they had started to melt to my legs. The second incident occurred while we were at church. My uncle actually interrupted the Wednesday service to tell us our farm was on fire. An arsonist had set the barn on fire that caught several other buildings on fire. I remember sitting on the roof of the house all night watching, afraid the fire would spread. I remember the kind words of the firemen telling us it would be okay and that they would come back the next day to check for hotspots.
As Chief Ludwig demonstrated in his book, firefighting goes way beyond putting out a fire or rescuing someone. It takes your complete mind, body and soul and leaves its on scars and imprints upon it. If can be a very heart wrenching job and at the same time a very fulfilling job. Read this book so that you can have a greater appreciation for those men and women who put their lives on the line daily. I definitely recommend this book.
November 17, 2023
With my father being a volunteer firefighter for over thirty years and my mom being a volunteer EMT for around five years, I can resonate with a lot of the things said in this book. Many people, including myself, underestimate the sacrifice first responders put into keeping the community safe. I have many memories of having just sat down to eat dinner with my family when the tones drop and my father has to rush off to a call that may take an hour or five hours. I have also learned to stop talking as soon as the pagers go off so everyone can hear what is going on. Failing to do so may have resulted in my decapitation. Okay, not really, but it is a serious offence. ;) I can also attest to first responders having the ability to calmly talk over their bowl of spaghetti about the call they ran earlier that day involving someone's hand being crushed to dangling strings of bone and muscle tissue. Yup! You either get used to it or you never eat in the company of first responders again. :)
All that being said, this book has been a good reminder to pray for the safety of first responders.
There is a bit of "bleep" language, but other than that, a fine book that gives a good taste of what first responders face on the job.
All that being said, this book has been a good reminder to pray for the safety of first responders.
There is a bit of "bleep" language, but other than that, a fine book that gives a good taste of what first responders face on the job.
December 31, 2018
top of the notch book about a firefighter. He doesn't like if you call him an ambulance driver.
Read
October 1, 2023Place holder for his other book that is not on here.
April 16, 2015
Bookworm Speaks!
Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers
Firefighting and EMS from Some of the Toughest Streets in America
By Gary Ludwig
****
The Story: Author Gary Ludwig was an innocent eighteen-year-old kid when he began his first job with the City of St. Louis in 1977. With his newbie status, he was assigned to work on an ambulance on the city's north side. Ludwig's first call involved a woman in labor. He didn't have medical training or an EMT license and certainly no experience delivering babies. That first call started an incredible journey where Ludwig witnessed things he'll never forget and saw others he wishes he hadn't. In Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers, he tells of working thirty-four years of his thirty-seven-year-career in two of the toughest cities in the United States-St. Louis and Memphis. He crossed paths with presidents, a pope, people who became his friends, and many he'd met at the worst time of their life. Ludwig tells the heart-wrenching stories of dealing with death and tragedy but also the celebration of a life saved. He shares the emotions, the laughs, and the tears that come with being a firefighter and a paramedic.
The Good: The stories, man, the stories. The author grabs us by the throat and hurls us into the mean streets of St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee, with all the heat, violence, and crime that are often found in the jungles of concrete and steel that the bulk of the human species calls home. There is a lot of danger out there and a lot of messed people whom, more often than not, are the cause of a lot of that danger.
The book tells exciting tales among the mean streets but it never gives into the over-the-top drama which seems to dominate popular culture’s interpretation of emergency workers. The stories are told factually from a relatively objective perspective, which we are told is a necessity for this line of work.
We are treated to both front-row seats and behind the scenes tours of the jobs of firefighters, using his uncomplicated language, to create enough drama to compel the reader into turning over every page in order to hear the next thrilling tale.
A lot of stories are about similar things but each one is unique which is greatly to the author as well as the editor’s judgement. The difficulty in memoirs is to make the real world compelling. It is not that the Real World is not compelling, it is simply that it does not move as quickly as it does on a tv or movie screen, and the lines are not nearly as witty.
Being a firefighter himself, the author puts a human face on a profession that at times seems very detached from the mainstream society. While it does not excuse their behavior, this book does make it a little easier to understand why people like police officers and to some extent firefighters can become so bitter towards the public. They are overworked and have to take additional jobs to get by and they have to deal with the absolute worst in humanity: child abusers, arsonists, psychos. Not to mention, lawyers, politicians, and bureaucrats and they have to do it every single day. Its not hard to conclude that it takes a certain, rare, type of person to do that kind of work every day and not develop a low opinion of the human race.
Thankfully, the author did not blink when he stared into the abyss and the book overall takes a positive tone, not shying away from the darkness but also showing us the good in humanity.
To paraphrase Dickens, “There are shadows in this world yes, but it only makes the lights shine brighter.”
The Flaws: If there is a major flaw to be had in this book would probably be the pacing along with the formatting. The author tells all these great stories about his time on the job but at times there is a lot of inconsistency in regards to the context. Sometimes, its not made clear what stage of the author’s career that the event takes place in. When he responds to the fire or other emergency, its up to the reader to figure out where exactly the author is at. Is he a paramedic responding to the fire in this story or is he a firefighter on the job? Is he still a rookie or has he become the Captain or something yet? Are they in St. Louis or Memphis? It is not made clear in several parts and the reader is forced to rely on hints within the narration or dialogue.
A more clear option may have been to tell the stories in chronological order or make divisions in the narration between his time as a paramedic and a firefighter. Overall, the narration is a little hodgepodge but ultimately the compelling nature of the stories is what ties them all together.
Final Verdict: An inspiring, sometimes bittersweet, story about one of the hardest and greatest jobs in the world that pulls no punches, both good and bad.
Four out of Five Stars
thecultureworm.blogspot.com
Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers
Firefighting and EMS from Some of the Toughest Streets in America
By Gary Ludwig
****
The Story: Author Gary Ludwig was an innocent eighteen-year-old kid when he began his first job with the City of St. Louis in 1977. With his newbie status, he was assigned to work on an ambulance on the city's north side. Ludwig's first call involved a woman in labor. He didn't have medical training or an EMT license and certainly no experience delivering babies. That first call started an incredible journey where Ludwig witnessed things he'll never forget and saw others he wishes he hadn't. In Blood, Sweat, Tears, and Prayers, he tells of working thirty-four years of his thirty-seven-year-career in two of the toughest cities in the United States-St. Louis and Memphis. He crossed paths with presidents, a pope, people who became his friends, and many he'd met at the worst time of their life. Ludwig tells the heart-wrenching stories of dealing with death and tragedy but also the celebration of a life saved. He shares the emotions, the laughs, and the tears that come with being a firefighter and a paramedic.
The Good: The stories, man, the stories. The author grabs us by the throat and hurls us into the mean streets of St. Louis, Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee, with all the heat, violence, and crime that are often found in the jungles of concrete and steel that the bulk of the human species calls home. There is a lot of danger out there and a lot of messed people whom, more often than not, are the cause of a lot of that danger.
The book tells exciting tales among the mean streets but it never gives into the over-the-top drama which seems to dominate popular culture’s interpretation of emergency workers. The stories are told factually from a relatively objective perspective, which we are told is a necessity for this line of work.
We are treated to both front-row seats and behind the scenes tours of the jobs of firefighters, using his uncomplicated language, to create enough drama to compel the reader into turning over every page in order to hear the next thrilling tale.
A lot of stories are about similar things but each one is unique which is greatly to the author as well as the editor’s judgement. The difficulty in memoirs is to make the real world compelling. It is not that the Real World is not compelling, it is simply that it does not move as quickly as it does on a tv or movie screen, and the lines are not nearly as witty.
Being a firefighter himself, the author puts a human face on a profession that at times seems very detached from the mainstream society. While it does not excuse their behavior, this book does make it a little easier to understand why people like police officers and to some extent firefighters can become so bitter towards the public. They are overworked and have to take additional jobs to get by and they have to deal with the absolute worst in humanity: child abusers, arsonists, psychos. Not to mention, lawyers, politicians, and bureaucrats and they have to do it every single day. Its not hard to conclude that it takes a certain, rare, type of person to do that kind of work every day and not develop a low opinion of the human race.
Thankfully, the author did not blink when he stared into the abyss and the book overall takes a positive tone, not shying away from the darkness but also showing us the good in humanity.
To paraphrase Dickens, “There are shadows in this world yes, but it only makes the lights shine brighter.”
The Flaws: If there is a major flaw to be had in this book would probably be the pacing along with the formatting. The author tells all these great stories about his time on the job but at times there is a lot of inconsistency in regards to the context. Sometimes, its not made clear what stage of the author’s career that the event takes place in. When he responds to the fire or other emergency, its up to the reader to figure out where exactly the author is at. Is he a paramedic responding to the fire in this story or is he a firefighter on the job? Is he still a rookie or has he become the Captain or something yet? Are they in St. Louis or Memphis? It is not made clear in several parts and the reader is forced to rely on hints within the narration or dialogue.
A more clear option may have been to tell the stories in chronological order or make divisions in the narration between his time as a paramedic and a firefighter. Overall, the narration is a little hodgepodge but ultimately the compelling nature of the stories is what ties them all together.
Final Verdict: An inspiring, sometimes bittersweet, story about one of the hardest and greatest jobs in the world that pulls no punches, both good and bad.
Four out of Five Stars
thecultureworm.blogspot.com
May 17, 2024
I'm currently a career firefighter and I love my job. I love talking about it, hearing about it, learning about it, and reading about it. This book made me want to hear about something else, anything else.
Gary Ludwig has been a Chief officer for the large majority of his career and it shows. The white from his helmet has seeped into his brain and caused irrevocable damage.
This book is an account of basically every emergency call Chief Ludwig has run over the course of his career. The calls are grouped into chapters based on some VERY loosely applied themes (ex. Weather, patients dying in groups of certain numbers, car accidents, etc.)
Chief Ludwig has witnessed several awe-inspiring, heart-warming, and gut-wrenching events, but it appears he's had very little to do with their outcomes. Throughout the book he tends to stand in the middle of things giving orders to firefighters who are already doing what he's telling them to, or he assigns a crew to investigate one obscure thing he thought of that results in nothing.
I read his leadership book "Fully Involved Leadership" and it was okay, nothing I hadn't heard before, so I wasn't expecting to be wowed but this was an even bigger disappointment.
This was a two star read for me but I'm giving it three just because someone with zero exposure to the fire service will benefit from the exhaustive chapter over the training and hiring process to become a firefighter, and possibly have their mind changed about pursuing this career after hearing about some of the things they could possibly encounter.
P.S. I listened to the audiobook version and it's to be avoided at all costs. The narrator is obviously unfamiliar with the Fire/EMS world and sounded like an AI program.
Gary Ludwig has been a Chief officer for the large majority of his career and it shows. The white from his helmet has seeped into his brain and caused irrevocable damage.
This book is an account of basically every emergency call Chief Ludwig has run over the course of his career. The calls are grouped into chapters based on some VERY loosely applied themes (ex. Weather, patients dying in groups of certain numbers, car accidents, etc.)
Chief Ludwig has witnessed several awe-inspiring, heart-warming, and gut-wrenching events, but it appears he's had very little to do with their outcomes. Throughout the book he tends to stand in the middle of things giving orders to firefighters who are already doing what he's telling them to, or he assigns a crew to investigate one obscure thing he thought of that results in nothing.
I read his leadership book "Fully Involved Leadership" and it was okay, nothing I hadn't heard before, so I wasn't expecting to be wowed but this was an even bigger disappointment.
This was a two star read for me but I'm giving it three just because someone with zero exposure to the fire service will benefit from the exhaustive chapter over the training and hiring process to become a firefighter, and possibly have their mind changed about pursuing this career after hearing about some of the things they could possibly encounter.
P.S. I listened to the audiobook version and it's to be avoided at all costs. The narrator is obviously unfamiliar with the Fire/EMS world and sounded like an AI program.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews