Veterans find their niche with Lynn Fire Department

LYNN – While some veterans have struggled with rocky transitions returning home, one career path allows military-minded men and women to find their niche.Even as a seasoned Army veteran with 19 years of duty and deployments in Kosovo and Iraq under his belt, Sgt. First Class Chris Fountain admits after his first day as a Lynn firefighter, he wanted to quit.Fountain, 37, said he even went as far to call his colonel to get his job back. “As soon as I came back, I missed my unit and my guys,” said Fountain, adding that after years of training soldiers, he admittedly “didn?t want to be the rookie.”Fountain?s colonel said could get him back on active duty within 24 hours, but told him to sleep on it. And Fountain is glad he did. “I decided to stick it out, and I fell in love with my job and the people I work with,” he said.Fountain said what attracted him to the Army – the structure, the physical challenge, its core of values, and, of course, the aspect of weapons, trucks and being “gung-ho” – are all present in the career of a firefighter. He compared it to being deployed and assigned to missions because, as he said, “The day could change at the drop of a hat. It?s zero to 60 in seconds, and that?s why I love the job.”Fountain isn?t the only veteran who found comfort back home in the unpredictable and dangerous job as a firefighter. A former recruiter, Fountain said he now works at the firehouse on Broadway with several young men that he had once recruited for the Army.One of them is 24-year-old Specialist Daniel Acosta of the Army National Guard.Acosta joined the military for similar reasons as Fountain ?he was looking for a way to better himself, he said. During downtime while deployed in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012, Acosta said he often thought of what his next move would be, and the memory of living in New York City during the attacks on 9/11 is what drew him to becoming a firefighter.?Seeing the picture of the firefighters raising the flag was very influential to me,” said Acosta.When he returned home to Lynn, Acosta began the process of becoming a firefighter, and joined the Lynn department this past July.?Now I?m finally in a job that compares to the military with its sense of camaraderie and the rank structure,” said Acosta. “Being on the fire department in the city that I have lived in for 13 years now gives me a huge sense of pride, and nothing is better than that.”