One of my best friends is a firefighter, about 30 years old, but started a few years ago in his mid-20s. During his training, the captain would take him out on

One of my best friends is a firefighter, about 30 years old, but started a few years ago in his mid-20s. During his training, the captain would take him out on training rides and absolutely berate his lack of knowledge of local streets of both the city in which they worked and in the other local cities that they were most commonly called to. This went on for months at a time until he could recite entire city maps nearly by heart. He complained a lot at first about why they didn't predominantly use GPS, thinking "get with the times, folks" but in his blossoming career, he says it's pretty nice taking the rig out and just, with second nature, knowing where to go. This also comforts me as a citizen of the city, knowing they don't rely on a technology that could fail in critical moments to get to where they need to serve.