LOS ANGELES, Calif.––Jim Jeffery, a Scout leader and former fire chief, has agreed to serve as a member of the Nashville-based organization promoting Strength for Service books.

“I read the devotions from Strength for Service to God and Country prior to the release of the Strength for Service to God and Community,” said Jeffery who served 22 years as a captain with the Los Angeles Fire Department and 10 years as an assistant chief for the state of California.

Noting that he had been shot at on six occasions, Jeffery said the books helped me cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“I was shot at while in an ambulance more than once and once shots were fired at our station,” said Jeffery. “We have no weapons with which to defend ourselves. Our only recourse is to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

Retired from the fire department in 1997, Jeffery says he is still haunted by former experiences.

“I remember a Christmas Eve when we were called to a home when a 4-year old girl died. As I was later sitting alone at the station, one of the men asked me, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I had to pronounce a 4-year-old child,’ I responded.

‘Oh,’ said my colleague, ‘that explains what’s wrong with Frank.’ who was my partner on the call.”

Jeffery says he is pleased to become part of the Strength for Service team. “I believe spiritual support is a great help in dealing with the things police officers and firefighters see and experience and with the resulting post-traumatic stress.

“I would love to see this book in the hands of every firefighter and police officer in America.”

Jeffery, a longtime Scout leader and Scout Council past president, will be attending a Nashville meeting of Boy Scouts in May, and he has made a major contribution to providing Strength for Service to God and Community books to Scout leaders attending that national meeting.

“Linking Scouts to the effort to provide spiritual comfort to fire fighters and police officers is a perfect combination,” said Jeffery.