To the commenters telling Tom not to do it: If he leaves, someone else can do FRU. It's not like he's the only one who is qualified to do the job. If Tom steps down, someone else can take his place in FRU, and Tom can work a job that takes a lower personal toll. Frankly, you are telling Tom to keep doing a job that someone else could relieve him from, where (if the funding continues on its current track) he could have several people dying on him every shift because he has run out of options with the equipment he is given. I personally can't believe the audacity of people who tell Tom he should continue working one of the highest stress jobs his department has, assigned to work without a coworker to talk to (people often forget how important this is to your mental health), where he may have one of the highest liability levels that there is. If someone dies, Tom's only consolation will be that he "did the best he could", while other people didn't give him the tools he needed. While some deaths are unavoidable, knowing that he could have saved someone's life if the higher-ups would staff his department properly is going to be little consolation. Those are the calls that tear at your soul for years afterward, and I don't wish those calls on anyone else. This is something that certain people excel at, but for limited amounts of time. Under current conditions, I don't feel that anyone should work for more than a 6 month rotation. (with frequent checkups from counselors) To Tom: This is YOUR choice, and not anyone else's. You are the only one who can decide whether you can stand your day if these response times continue to get worse (and, admittedly, if you will miss the extra adrenaline rush of working on the FRU). This is your life. Remember that you are not the entire future of the FRU, and another para can take your place while you rest. You may be able to ask your supervisor if you will be able to go back to FRU after a "break" on the normal crew. If I had designed the FRU program, I think I would definitely have put a time limit of 6 months to a year maximum, then at least that much time out. A similar program is done with a lot of intense drug investigation, hostage negotiation and the like to make sure that the people get more grounded, and still have their core support system in place. While this can lead to slightly higher training costs (more personnel=more classes), it saves us money in the long run, as people don't quit or retire as soon (not to mention it keeps the depression and suicide rate for crew down). Before this program was implemented, we got very few return applicants. Since the implementation, however, people are happily reapplying as soon as their "out time" (as in 6 months in, 8 months out) comes to a close, and we are never short of people waiting for their turn. If going back to FRU is an option, I would suggest that you take a break where you can see the differences between the work and see if you're ready to go back to FRU, and if you want to go back, by all means do, but make sure you have the option to transfer back to normal crew if you need to. It sounds like you are in danger of burning out, but that you have caught it early enough that you have a chance of continuing with some help. I wish you the strength to make the decision that is right for you. And, by all means, make yourself available to those who are applying for FRU and give them honest answers, and what to expect. Best of luck to you!