The mentorship story EMS never had.
A story told through the voice of a battalion chief who spent a career watching good people walk away. It helps us ask the right questions about the things that make people leave, and identifies a new way to think about how they stay.
We talk a lot about retention in EMS. We blame pay, schedules, burnout. And those things are real. But most people don't leave because of a bad call. They leave because of what happens after. When no one checks in. When no one teaches. When the culture quietly tells someone they're on their own.
Every crew, every station, every organization has a social architecture. Unspoken rules about who gets included, who gets taught, who gets invested in, and who gets left to figure it out alone. Most of it is invisible to the people who built it. Almost none of it is intentional. But new providers feel it immediately. They know within weeks whether they belong or whether they're just filling a seat.
The Ordinary Hours follows a battalion chief who spent a career watching that pattern repeat, and asking what could have been done differently in the quiet hours between calls. It explores how mentorship, culture, and the social dynamics inside our organizations can either build belonging or destroy it. Often in moments no one thinks to notice.
That's where it lives. Not in the classroom. Not in the checkoffs. In the ordinary hours when no one's formally teaching anything. That's when people decide whether they belong.
Ray, from The Ordinary Hours
Chapter 1 — The Whiteboard at Three in the Morning
Thirteen chapters across six parts. A narrative from a battalion chief who thought he had a hiring problem — and the mentor who taught him what he actually had.
The book follows a small cast built on years of watching — composites of the crews, mentors, and new hires who taught the argument. The names are invented. The dynamics are not.
A battalion chief responsible for four stations and eighty-some employees. Standing in a cold apparatus bay at three in the morning, moving magnets around a whiteboard, he realizes the number he never tracked is the one that actually mattered. The book is his journey from thinking he had a hiring problem to seeing what he actually had.
Retired County EMS director. Twenty-five years in. Now sits at the counter at Martindale's diner three blocks from Station 4. Draws the connection map on a napkin. Everything this book teaches began at that counter — and every chapter returns to it.
New EMT. Three weeks in. Hovering near the supply closet, not sure where to stand. Not excluded. Not included. His story becomes the book's argument in miniature — and the reason the whole series exists.
Hired the same week as Sam. Rotated through partners. Never quite connected. The one who didn't stay. The face the narrator can't stop seeing when the number "twelve gone" appears on his spreadsheet.
Fire officers, captains, and battalion chiefs who supervise EMS crews and want practical tools they can use on their next shift. Field Training Officers and preceptors looking for a framework beyond sink or swim. EMS educators and program directors seeking a mentorship text that bridges classroom and field. Agency leaders focused on retention and culture.
And new providers who want to understand what good leadership looks like, so they can demand better.
James Weber's book sat me back down at that kitchen table in the local EMS station. James, thank you for doing that.
Donnie Woodyard Jr., MAML, NRP, WP-C
Executive Director, United States EMS Compact
Author, The Dark Ages of Emergency Medical Services
Crucial reading for EMS leadership and for bettering the field tomorrow, today. Very accessible and engaging.
Leslie
Verified Amazon reader · ★★★★★
An excellent and thoughtful read. As a supervisor facing staffing issues in my own emergency service facility, the perspective given by this book will be a definite benefit moving forward. Already, I am restarting the book to take notes to present an in-house training for the supervisory staff.
James W.
Verified Amazon reader · ★★★★★
From start to finish, this book details the nitty gritty of not just recruitment in EMS, but the retention. It's the culture that "newbies" encounter that does it in. This book really makes you think about the decision to stay or go. Great read for supervisors or those who want to move up in the ranks.
Susieinpa and Family
Verified Amazon reader · ★★★★★
Well written from real life experiences. James is an extraordinary teacher face-to-face and it follows through to his writing. I am excited to see what the next books bring.
BenjaminsEO
Verified Amazon reader · ★★★★
Extremely well written book by a person that has lived the prehospital working life.
Brian Geiger
Verified Amazon reader · ★★★★★
Paperback and Kindle editions available on Amazon. Also available through bookstores and libraries via IngramSpark.
See what the book is about before you buy. The complete first chapter — free, no signup required.
Twenty questions. Ten interventions. One connection map. A printable PDF for the leader who is done blaming the hiring pipeline for a retention problem.
The Ordinary Hours is the leader's story. The Other Seat is the mentor's. Same profession. Same crew. A completely different view.
About The Other Seat