Despite the pervasiveness, and the appeal even, of this imagery, it is not entirely accurate. In fact, if your idea of an emergency manager is a person whose days are action-packed and spent in the EOC making splitsecond, life and death decisions, then you will likely be disappointed by the profession. There will be some of that, to be sure, but most of your time will not be spent in the trenches. You will spend much time working to make the trench time effective, efficient, and smooth (see Box 7.1).