American First Responder Joint Service Order

Is this a “thing”?

I think so. My reasoning for the research and writing this article is to provide information that may be necessary for certain situations for American First Responders.

For the US military, we have our joint service order or military order of precedence:  Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The order is based on the creation of the service and, in the case of the Navy, whether that service was continuously in service from that date.

For first responders (law enforcement, fire and EMS), there is a similar creation date here in the USA. In my research (wikipedia, unfotunately), I found the following information. Now, I understand that different agencies began in different areas at different times, my focus was on the first instance, the first paid positions in the US for that entity. If you have additional information, please let me know, I welcome it.

For joint service work, the order, in general, is: Law Enforcement, Fire, and EMS. This means that a color guard would look like this:

In the image above, you can see:

• Right/Lead Rifle Guard- Law Enforcement Officer
• US Flag Bearer- Law Enforcement Officer
• State Flag Bearer- Law Enforcement Officer or Firefighter
  • In the military joint service color guard, pictured below, the Army has the honor of right rifle guard, carrying the American flag and then the Army flag and then each service flag after that. A state or other flag is never carried. So, my suggestion is to share the wealth, so to speak, for this position.
• Law Enforcement Flag Bearer- Law Enforcement Officer
• Firefighter Flag Bearer-  Firefighter
• EMS Flag Bearer- EMS
• Left/Trail Axe Guard- Firefighter

Service Creation Dates

Law Enforcement

• The first Sheriff, 1626 in NY.
• The first Police 1751 in various cities.
• Marshal 1789 establishment of other federal police (Parks, Mint, etc.) followed.
• Border Patrol, 1924.

Firefighting

• While people have been fighting fires on their own or with neighbors since there has been things to protect, I found that the first paid firefighters came into existence in 1678. Having said that, I do not want this to be contentious as far as volunteers and paid firefighters.

Emergency Medical Service

• The first EMS service came into existence in 1865.

A Good Question

Do you handle the lineup by grouping law enforcement together and always first and then firefighters followed by EMS? That would be the easiest, but not as accurate. A more accurate lineup would be to separate Sheriff, Police, etc. and have positions based on individual service beginning dates. The choice is yours.