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The woman at Human Resources for the town of Stratford, Conn., was as stunned as she should have been on hearing Michael Reilly's starting pay when he left the fire department there for the FDNY. "Twenty-five in New York? Oh, my God!" she said. To be exact, Reilly's starting pay with the FDNY was $25,100. His starting pay in Stratford had been $44,512, which means he took a 43% pay cut to become a New York City firefighter. "I don't know what made him do it," the woman said. She then understood that these numbers constituted mathematical proof of Reilly's spirit and dedication. "He was a true firefighter, I guess," she said. Reilly's salary had risen to $32,700 when he graduated from the FDNY academy a month ago, but he was still earning almost $12,000 less than the starting pay in Stratford. Not that he was complaining. He was a young man living a dream beyond the measure of money when he stepped off a fire rig outside a burning 99-cent store in the Bronx on Sunday. Later, those close to Reilly would say he had been deeply moved by the heroism at the World Trade Center. Reilly had made it known in December of 2001 that he was taking the test to become a New York City firefighter. In the meantime, Reilly joined the Stratford Fire Department. He also joined the Marine Reserves and was called to active duty in 2004. He survived a tour in Iraq and could have just continued along with the Stratford department. Then he was finally called by the FDNY. He did not seem to give the starting pay so much as a thought. He was joining the department whose heroism at the twin towers had so inspired him. Reilly was assigned to Engine Co. 75, which shares quarters with Ladder 33 in the Bronx. A sign had been affixed to the front of the building in tribute to a firefighter from that house named Michael Kentner, who had been called to active duty with the Army. "Engine 75 and Ladder 33 support and honor Michael Kentner ... as he serves our country in Iraq." As Reilly lived his dream, two fellow Marine reservists from New York were killed by a sniper in Fallujah. Capt. John McKenna was from Brooklyn. Lance Cpl. Michael Glover came from Queens and was the nephew of Fire Chief Peter Hayden, who commanded the rescue operation in the north tower on 9/11. Glover was another young man inspired by the bravery of that day. "He said, 'Uncle Pete, I feel I have to do something,'" Hayden recalled at his nephew's wake. Glover signed on with the Marines, and before he shipped out for Iraq, Hayden presented him with a small cross made of steel from the World Trade Center. Glover had a tiny hole drilled in the top and he was wearing it around his neck when he was killed. The funeral was on Saturday, and the FDNY pipes and drums played as they would for one of their own. Reilly was working up at Engine 75 that night. He was on duty the following morning when an alarm came in for a fire at a 99-cent store on Walton Ave. Reilly perished along with Fire Lt. Howard Carpluk. Purple-and-black bunting went up outside the firehouse, above the plaque honoring Firefighter Kentner for his continuing military service overseas. Laurie Kentner e-mailed her husband in Iraq, telling him of the firefighters killed back home. Tomorrow, the FDNY pipes and drums will play at the funeral of Firefighter Michael Reilly, whose spirit and dedication can be proven in the most concrete terms by the simplest math. His FDNY starting pay stands as proof of how little motivated he was by money. But, the same numbers also suggest how little we really value our firefighters as well as our similarly paid cops in between the funerals when the politicians line up to call them heroes.
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