The purpose of this article was to explain the constructs of doctrine and doctorate to the fire service. The methodology applied the Carnegie Foundation review of the doctorate as the basics for explaining what stewards of the fire service discipline will do with a doctoral degree. Although the fire service is an interdisciplinary occupation, the conditions under which theories are applied must change because of the special environments the fire service practices in; examples are presented. The article argues that the fire service needs to be accepted by the academic community as a unique discipline based on science and research if it is to become a true profession. At the present time there are no fire service doctoral programs. This negatively impacts the production of research compared to the police service. Why a person in the fire service should go for the gold tassel and get a doctorate is presented. [This article appears in the "Firehouse Focus" section of the "Firehouse Magazine."]