Fire Service Training Honored with Meaningful Flag

Thursday, November 1, 2012

 

(STILLWATER, Okla., November 1, 2012) -- Marc Kutz, Major and Engineer Officer with the Oklahoma Army National Guard, presented an American Flag of significant meaning to the Fire Service Training group at Oklahoma State University. Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States, this flag flew over an Afghan Army combat base on Sept 11, 2011. It will now be displayed in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at OSU.

Kutz said he felt honored to be able to bring this flag back to Oklahoma, and as a proud firefighter, he will always remember the importance of what it represents.

“There is special meaning behind this flag to me and other American firefighters because of the significance of this anniversary and where the flag was flown,” said Kutz. “This serves now as a symbol to honor the sacrifices of the 343 fire fighters who lost their lives during the attacks of 9/11.”

Kutz, an Okmulgee Firefighter and OSU Fire Service Training instructor, was deployed to Afghanistan for 10 months, where we worked with Afghan Generals as a combat advisor for the Afghan Army. Through the relationships he built with top Afghan leaders, he was able to secure this flag as special memorabilia.

While in Afghanistan, this OSU graduate worked as mentor and advisor to the Afghan Army, and assisted in the construction of Afghan military bases, firefighting and overall life improvement for 10,000+ Afghan soldiers.

“I worked on basic fundamentals for firefighting, but the majority of my time was spent with engineering and construction of kitchens and Afghan Army bases,” said Kutz. “These soldiers had no real concept of how to deal with fire. Fire knowledge that seems routine to firefighters in the U.S. had to be taught from a basic level.”

Because of Kutz’s strong ties to OSU, and the history FST has with national fire service training, the flag will be displayed on the OSU Campus, with a special certificate for OSU FST remembering lives lost 10 years ago.

“We are proud of Marc and his service both abroad and as a firefighter here in Oklahoma,” said Ed Kirtley, director of FST at OSU. “We feel privileged to receive this flag and will display it with great pride.”

CONTACT: Wravenna Bloomberg | CEAT Marketing | 405-744-3734 | wravenna.bloomberg@okstate.edu

CEAT FIRE SERVICE TRAINING:
OSU Fire Service Training is housed in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, and is dedicated to the original land-grant vision of research, instruction and outreach. Its mission states “As an Outreach of OSU, Fire Service Training develops and provides training, education and professional certifications to Oklahoma’s emergency responders so they may safely and successfully perform their duties.” FST serves over 30,000 emergency responders in Oklahoma annually through trainings and certifications. For more information, call 405-744-5727 or visit www.osufst.org.