How do you get your first book published? Sometimes its’s like losing your virginity. For some men losing it becomes an obsession but for others losing their virginity just happens, unplanned and lovely. That’s the way my first book, “Surprised at Being Alive”, was published, unplanned and lovely. Of course, there’s also a bit of TAMO (Then a miracle occurs) involved.

To begin with, I am one of those old former military guys who never got around to telling my son about what I was doing all those years I was away from home so, when I had some free time, I started writing down some flying stories about my years in the Army, National Guard, Marine Corps, and the British Royal Navy. I thought he might like to read them someday, or perhaps his kids might develop some interest in when they are older. My wife Mariellen read some of the stories, liked them, and said that I should make them into a complete book. That’s how things got started. You never have to tell an old pilot that he should start telling flying stories twice.

Now when you are writing flying stories you don’t just write about any old flight because you don’t remember just any old flight. I think of the ones that I don’t remember as “perfect flights”. Perfect flights are ones where everything goes according to plan. You take off on time, fly to your destination as planned, and land without incident. By the time you are walking away from your aircraft you are already forgetting it. Perfect flights happen because pilots, at least the ones who have been at it for many years, are the most predictable of people. To stay alive, they must always accurately predict the future. There are so many questions that must be answered to make their predictions come true.

The questions start with you. Are you ready to fly? Did you sleep well last night? Are you well enough to fly? Did you take any medication that might affect your judgement? Did you drink any alcoholic beverages within the last eight hours? Are you current in your aircraft in that you have completed the required number of landings within the proper time frame? Is your biannual flight review current? Is your medical certificate current? Do you have your airman’s certificate and medical certificate in your possession? If the answers to all those questions are positive you must then consider your aircraft.

Has your aircraft had its annual inspection? Are all airworthiness inspections up to date? Are the tires inflated to the proper PSI? Are there any problems with the aircraft’s systems, like radios or altimeter or airspeed indicator? Do you have enough fuel to fly to your destination with the required reserve? Are the windows clean enough to let you see out properly? How’s the engine oil level? If the answer to all these questions is positive it’s time to consider your flight.

The next thing to check is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM). You check them by calling the FAA Flight Service Station (FSS). NOTAMs will tell you if there are any airport closures that effect your flight route. NOTAMS will tell you that some airspace is closed to general aviation because the President’s aircraft is in that area or the airspace is closed because of a special event, like a football game. The FSS can also tell you if the military is using some airspace for training, events that can be highly dangerous to both you and them. Having done all that it’s time to consider the weather. The FSS can give you a full weather briefing on your entire route, including your destination airport and any alternate airports you might require.

The questions continue even when you are in the air. What are you going to do if ice builds up in the carburetor and the engine starts to sputter? What are you going to do if you develop a fuel leak? What are you going to do it the FSS weather prediction turns out to be wrong? What if, what if, what if….

You must answer all these questions and do all these things and so many others that I have not mentioned before you can “slip the surly bonds of Earth and dance the skies on laughter silvered wings” as John Gillespie Magee wrote in his poem “High Flight”. If you do not, your next flight may well be your last.

But I digress. We’re here to talk about losing your writing virginity, not flying. But then, it’s really the same thing because factors of luck and superstition come into play in both.

Where did luck and superstition come in? Long ago I was a young pilot in the Vietnam War. I hitched a ride with an Air America (the CIA’s airline) pilot in a small twin engine airplane from Phu Bai to Danang, a distance of only 60 miles or so. I was in awe of the pilot because he was so very old. All my pilot friends were in their early 20s and even the gray beards were no older than 40 and yet here was this CIA pilot who must have been 70. As we flew the 45 minutes it took to get to Danang he told a constant stream of flying stories about old airplanes and now forgotten airfields and bad weather and engine failures and cheap copilots who wouldn’t buy you a drink. When he dropped me off in Danang the last thing he said to me, “Well, we cheated death again. Luck and superstition, that’s all it is.”

And even if you have done all the things necessary for a successful flight that I mentioned earlier, he’s correct, luck and superstition are required to get you through your flights because even though you’ve done everything right, aircraft sometimes just come apart and crash as happened to two friends of mine. For me the superstition part comes when I pet the aircraft as I board and mentally tell it that I will take care of it and it must take care of me. That superstition is why I always give the aircraft a pat and repeat the CIA pilot’s saying after I’m safe on the ground following every flight. Cheated death again, Luck and superstition, that’s all it is. It’s worked so far.

This is where luck and superstition and a bit of TAMO come into play for me on getting my first book published. But now I must digress yet again.

From 2004 through 2008 I worked for in the Pentagon for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the U.S. government organization rebuilding Iraq after the Second Gulf War. I Was Stateside logistics deputy for re-equipping the Iraqi ministries and military with everything short of major weapons systems, such as tanks and airplanes. We supplied them with over 50,000 pickup trucks, 500,000 small arms, 500 million rounds of ammunition, five miles of hospital beds, computers, uniforms, etc., etc. To handle the amount of material coming in we opened three logistics bases: one at the port of Basra, the second at Baghdad International Airport, and the third at Abu Gerev. To move the items between their arrival points and the logistics bases and then onto their final destination required heavy security least they be diverted in route. The problem was that the number of American soldiers allowed in Iraq was limited, meaning that we would have to provide our own security. The only way to do that was to let contracts to private security companies, of which there were suddenly dozens. My boss, Colonel Jack Holly, USMC (Retired) being a logistics expert from way back, applied TAMO and started the process rolling.

Numerous contracts were let to these private security companies to provide escort to our convoys and to guard our logistics facilities. It was quite the wild west in that at one point 25% of our convoys were being attacked every day. The convoys leaving our logistic bases were right out of a “Mad Max” movie. Armed cover was provided by up-armored Ford F-350 pickup trucks with a Russian light machine gun mounted in the back, an American version of the “Technicals” used by insurgents throughout the world. Each truck held four men: a driver and a shooter in the cab and a machine gunner and his assistant in the bed. The cab of the truck was protected by factory armor that would stop a bullet from a rifle but homemade, commonly called “Hillbilly”, armor was all that protected the machine gunner and his assistant. The trucks hauling the material were standard commercial tractor trailers with no additional armor, making things very dicey for the drivers when the shooting started.

When it was time for a convoy to move an old sedan with two scruffy men, both Iraqi employees of the security company, inside would drive down the proposed route. They were the scouts looking for obvious ambush sites. They would report back to the convoy leader by cell phone. When the convoy itself came out of our facility two of the gun trucks would block the four-lane highway in both directions. Then, two more gun trucks would come out. They would lead the convoy. Next would come five semis followed by a single gun truck to provide cover for the center of the convoy. Behind that gun truck came another five semis. When all ten semis were on the road the two gun trucks blocking the four lane would fall in at the end of the convoy to provide rear protection. The convoys didn’t stop until they reached their destination. If attacked, they would blow through the ambush and keep going. To stop was to die because a stationary target was an easy target for criminals as well as insurgents.

Now, digression over, it’s back to how to get your first book published.

To better represent their interests as a group the private security contractors formed a trade organization, with representatives in the U.S. and in Iraq. Part of my duties required me to interface with them regularly to address common problems. In conversation with Doug Brooks, the head of the security contractors trade group, I mentioned that I was writing down some of my completely true (mostly) flying stories as part of a draft book. Doug asked if he could see what I had written so far. I agreed and emailed him a copy.

Soon after I received a phone call from Doug. “Wow! Loved your book! Would you mind if I send it to a mercenary helicopter pilot friend of mine?”

Doug wasn’t kidding about his friend being a mercenary helicopter pilot. Neall Ellis is a former South African military pilot whose exploits in nearly every war in Africa are detailed in the book, “Gunship Ace”. After one such event The Economist magazine attributed Neall with single handedly preventing the capitol of Siera Leon from falling to a rebel group when he defended it with an old Russian helicopter gunship. Doug emailed the draft to Neall in South Africa and a week later I received an email from Neall. “Your book made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! Great stuff! Do you mind if I send it off to Al Venter in London, the man who wrote my biography?”

No, I didn’t mind at all. Two weeks later I had an email from Al. “Good book! Would you mind if I send it to my publisher?” No, I would not.

An aside on Al. While he is a writer, he himself is worth a story or two, perhaps a short film. As an example, a year after all this occurred, I received a phone call from Al.

“Robert”, he said, “I’ve got a great deal lined up on a magnificent estate. It’s ocean front, around 15,000 feet of living space, a pool, nine bedrooms, everything! The price is so low because it needs some work, but it won’t take much to make it into a proper palace. Would you like to go in with me as a partner?”

Al lives outside of London, England, and given the property prices in the UK, I knew it couldn’t be there, so I asked, “Al, where is this palace?”

“Mogadishu”, Al replied.

I declined his kind offer.

TAMO. Two weeks after the email from Al I received a phone call from Casemate Publishers of London and New York. I was informed that they would be publishing my book and that my advance against royalties check would be on the way shortly. In the space of six weeks the draft of my book had gone from Washington, DC, to Cape Town to London and finally to New York where Casemate picked it up. And that’s how your first book gets published.

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