A Clobberin’ in Dobbins: How a career-long rivalry led to success for two firefighters

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andrew Park
  • 94th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, GA. --  Rocky Balboa versus Apollo Creed. Maverick versus Iceman. Ricky Bobby versus Jean Girard. Some of the greatest rivalries of our time have culminated in success through struggle. The story is no different for two fire chiefs here.

I first came to hear their story after covering a firefighting training exercise at Dobbins. My point of contact was Chief Dwight Moses, assistant chief of health and safety at Dobbins Fire and Emergency Services, who helped get me set up at the scene of the simulator, advising me on the training process as well as safe places to stand while taking pictures. After the exercise finished, I was escorted by another Dobbins Fire Department member, Chief Kevin Moore, assistant chief of training at Dobbins Fire and Emergency Services.

Moore escorted me to the top floor of the structure-fire simulator so that I could get a high-angle shot of the firefighters below breaking down the equipment at the completion of the exercise. We made small talk as we headed up what seemed like more stories than feasible from the look of the building on the outside. I had mentioned that Moses had been my escort at the start of the exercise when Moore told me that they had worked together on and off since technical school.

I slowly lowered my camera as the photography side of my brain turned off, giving way to my journalism side.

“Would you two mind if I interviewed you for a story?” I asked.

The next day, I met the chiefs in their office, which is attached to the fire station on the flight line at Dobbins.

I put my recorder on the table next to my pen and pad, and asked the first question: where had they first worked together?

“Well, me and Dwight…” Moore began before pausing to add, “I’m going to refer to him as Dwight now, but he is Chief Moses.”

“Thank you, Kevin. I mean Chief Moore,” replied Moses, sarcastically.

“Me and Dwight first met when we went to the Department of Defense fire academy together,” recalled Moore. “I guess we were in basic training at the same time together, but we didn’t know it. Then we went to the…”

“Louis F. Garland Fire Academy,” interjected Moses, finishing Moore’s sentence, adding to an atmosphere more common to that of siblings who spend too much time together rather than two coworkers.

“Louis F. Garland Fire Academy,” Moore continued, somewhat nostalgically. “And I came to find out he had a few problems with me at the fire academy.”

“Look in the mirror and you probably wouldn’t have liked yourself either,” Moses explained to Moore.

“You see how big his head is, right?” Moses continued, smiling. “At the fire academy, he thought he was the man. I just didn’t think he was the man.”

After bumping heads throughout their time together at the fire academy, it appeared that there was an end to the struggle in sight once graduation came around.

Moore graduated two weeks before Moses, and received his first assignment to Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

Little did they know that this brief moment of serenity would come to a crashing halt later that year, when Moore found out he was getting a new roommate.

“When I got to Moody, they said, ‘hey, here’s your room and your roommate is already in there,’” recalled Moses. “Then I opened the door and said, ‘Not this fool!’”

When asked if they were still bumping heads as roommates, Moore let out a resounding “No, no, no!” and Moses provided an explanation.

“Let me tell you about this guy,” explained Moses. “When I first got to his room - my room I should say - he was in there. He said, ‘I got one rule: I have to watch my turkey hunting in the morning.’”

Moses laughed as he remembered thinking unbelievably, “That’s your one rule?”

And so the two firefighters shared a room (and several mornings of turkey hunting shows) during their four years at Moody.

“He was into hunting and sports and I was into sports and weightlifting, so we actually started working out together,” Moses says. “We were weightlifting partners.”

The two quickly built a name for themselves around Moody. The 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron would call the Fire Department to ensure Moses and Moore would be representing CE at any squadron competitions around base, said Moses.

“We won all the time,” Moses said. “Tug of War contests.”

“Bench press contests,” added Moore.

“We played on the football team together,” said Moses. “We did everything.”

“We ended up being really close friends at Moody,” recalled Moore.

“It got to the point where if I was at work and I was going to be on the truck, I was hoping he was going to be there with me,” explained Moses. “I knew how he worked. He was that ‘go-to’ man. He knew his job. He was my right-hand man.”

Although the two quickly became friends from this point, their sense of competition was still alive and well.

Rank is a big deal around fire stations, Moore explained.

“If there was Airman of the Quarter, it was Kevin against me,” said Moses. “If it was Airman of the Year, it was him against me. Always.”

They both decided to get out of the Air Force after their chief at the time offered them civilian positions at Moody.

“We both got hired on as civilian firefighters at Moody,” said Moore. “We just changed uniforms and came in the next day.”

Moore spent four to five years as a civilian firefighter at Moody, while Moses spent about three years, until a reduction in force came out.

Moses found a new job at Dobbins, where he and his family moved to avoid being laid off from Moody as a result of the RIF. Since Moore was single at the time, he stuck it out at Moody.

They stayed in touch, possibly to keep tabs on each other’s performance as civilians. The competition picked back up once again as both went tit-for-tat being awarded Civilian of the Quarter at their respective bases, said Moses.

“There was always fighting back and forth for awards,” said Moore. “I usually won most of the awards, but he won the biggest award.”

Moses was promoted to captain while at Dobbins.

In between winning awards, the two firefighters would sometimes go on road trips to visit one another. One of these visits for Moses included attending Moore’s wedding. Unbeknownst to Moore at the time, this wedding would change the course of his and Moses’ friendship once more.

“In 2011, my wife and I found out we were having twin girls,” recounted Moore. “And all of her family is from Marietta, so she wanted to be close to her family.”

Moore was once again in the job market, and he knew just the person to call to find out if there were any job openings at Dobbins.

“I don’t know if it was Moses or my awesome resume and personality,” said Moore, jokingly. “But, I ended up getting a job up here at Dobbins.”

It was surprising that Moore got the job, since there were typically thousands of applicants for these open positions, said Moses.

“I thought it was really cool, and it put a sense of settlement in me,” said Moore. “When you move somewhere new, you don’t know anybody. I knew absolutely nobody, but I knew Moses, so I knew it was all going to be good because I knew he’d lead me in the right way. He wouldn’t let me screw up too bad.”

Leading Moore in the right direction became both the figurative and literal job of Moses, as Moses now outranked Moore. Since Moses had been promoted to captain before Moore, Moore now had to work under Moses.

“That was a great day in Dobbins’ history,” exclaimed Moses.

Four to five months later, Moore was promoted to captain, and the two firefighters were once again neck and neck.

This equilibrium lasted but a moment, however, as Moses again came out the victor, making the rank of chief in March, while Moore became a chief in April.

“And now we work hand in hand…” Moore started, before they both finished in unison, “every day.”

“We’re in our mid-thirties, and we made chief,” said Moore, proudly. “That doesn’t usually happen.”

Moore attributes this success to their competitive nature that began on the first day they met one another.

“We just kind of pushed each other, and it made both of us shine,” said Moore. “What started out as a friendly quarrel turned into competition and then finally to us working together.”

“We both have that drive to be successful,” added Moses. “To do what we’re supposed to do and to do it the right way. I guess we feed off each other. Even now, we’re both chiefs working in this office. Some of his job entails parts of my job, and parts of my job entail parts of his job.”

“We haul it back and forth, all day long,” added Moore.

“I tell you what though,” said Moses. “The next promotion around here is not for two positions, only one.”