Pack Test

The federal agencies (Forest Service, Parks Service, BLM, etc.) require wildland firefighters to pass the "work capacity test" in order to serve "arduous level" duty on wildland fires all around the country (typically out west though). The arduous level pack test requires you to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes while carrying a 45 lb. pack, which I performed with ease, finishing at 40:50. Since I'm not presently hired as a federal employee, the test doesn't actually count, but by the end of the semester I'll still have all the certificates and training required for basic wildland firefighting, as well as the knowledge that I am quite capable of passing the pack test if need be. So, I could conceivably drop everything this summer and run off to Colorado to fight wildfires, in full neglect of my pregnant wife. Or, I could work in the Montague Plains doing prescribed burns (lighting fires, not fighting fires) and other wildlife habitat management activities in the peculiar pitch pine & scrub oak barrens just north of my house. Hmmm, which one will it be?