Hey, is that the last game in town ?! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I'm 52 and 20 days .... But I guess I'm not the older one on this forum, nor the wiser...

End of may, I will follow my first outdoors' stage .... never too late to learn something....
(well... I hope so.. ) <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Back to the previous subject :
as a non-english reader, Jim's post did not seem that much "aggressive" (except, maybe, the bit about the noise and the chrome <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> ). I took it as a genuine question about why that type of helmet. In France too, the firemen helmet is different from the one used in the States (they changed to the new style about only 15 - or maybe a bit more - years ago and I guess not all firemen have the same style yet).
And being totally ignorant about the way to fight a fire (knowing the differences between A, B and C classes of fire and which extinguisher to use accordingly, doesn't make me an expert)), Jim's use of expressions like "offensive" or "defensive" methods, were, to me, more like technical terms than a jugement of right or wrong technics.....
And thanks to some answers, I now understand (a little bit..) better the why of various fire fighting technics and various helmet styles.