The interesting thing is, today, I have a spell checker. And, should I fowl on a grammar, Microsoft Word will alert me to my non-compliance.
Furthermore, today, with so much of my work depending on writing and with close to 5000 bylines, I think I've learned how to write.
That wasn't the case back in 1977. I needed help understanding prose and I needed to assure this effort would not go wasted on one hit wonders. I needed a solid template that would work for almost every article I would create.
So, I called up John Michael Coleman who was the editor for -- at the time -- Army In Europe Magazine and asked him if there would be any possibility that I could spend a week with him so I could better understand what I needed to do to get published in his publication.
Army in Europe Magazine was renamed to EurArmy Magazine a few months later.
To my surprise, John Michael Coleman welcomed the idea.
So now, I have to convince LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe that a week on orders to be temporarily located down in Heidelberg and working with John Michael Coleman was going to be a positive thing.
Well, up until Wednesday of that week, I watched John Michael Coleman shake his head left to right meaning I wasn't harmonizing with what he wanted. This was bad.
Then he pulled out a copy of an older publication and said, "Here's the format. You tell them what you are going to say, you say it and then tell them that you said it.
"Read this article and imagine how what you want to say would follow that format."
The story was 1500 words, it had a hook for an introduction, narrated through why what was said was important, then worked through some important facts and from there to the end of the piece, it was a story line walk through of narration, quotes and action that ended the article on a positive note.
I read the article in disbelief. In front of me was the template I was looking for. Staring at me with those black and white beady eyes.
You don't tell: "Today, despite bad weather, we were able to fire our TOW Missiles."
You share the same with emotions:
Here's what didn't work:
"Early morning saw a sole figure standing in front of mobile operations center. Generators screaming confusion, snow falling softly on and around him.
As the door opened, a transparent second of heat, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee mixed with pipe tobacco was felt by the guard as the officer handed him a cup of instant salvation.
"We're going to go hot today, sir. I can feel it in my bones."
"I certainly hope so. we've been here for almost a week without a break in the weather."
For the men and women of the 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion (Provisional), weather at Wildflicken in the dead of winter with three days of snow paints a mission impossible picture.
They were out to fire the Tube Launched, Optically tracked and Wire Guided (TOW) Missiles down range using the AH-1Q Cobra as their firing platform.
What they were experiencing so far was a fog so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Want to guess what did?
The fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Mixing some of the stuff above so that:
"We're going to go hot today, sir. I can feel it in my bones."
"I certainly hope so. we've been here for almost a week without a break in the weather."
Doesn't sound like cardboard cutouts you threw into the mix to make the drama about as drinkable as that cup of coffee.
Also, I'm doing a lot of paraphrasing as the first article accepted by John Michael Coleman was 40 years ago.
So, what is this template called? Faction. That's right, add fiction to facts and you get faction.
It isn't that your telling the truth, you are. It is just embellished with drama to get the reader involved and keep him reading to the end.
I produced 6 more within a month.and submitted them to him. John Michael Coleman called me and asked if I could come down to Heidelberg for a day next week. I told LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe this and he approved the one day travel. One of our own OH-58 helicopters flew me there and back.
"I'm not going to be here next month, so if you send me any more of these articles, don't expect me to answer."
"Okay."
"I want to take your Cobra Crew Chief article with me and submit it to Soldiers Magazine, if that's okay with you."
At this point, I was in a state of shock. SOLDIERS MAGAZINE!!!???
As far back as I can remember, the only people who got published in Soldiers Magazine was the best of the best.
"Are you sure it is something that they're going to be interested in?"
There was a smirk on his face like he and Soldiers Magazine were the best of buddies.
"Its good enough."
So, I wrote 6 more articles and submitted them to John Michael Coleman and waited.
On April 1st, I go a call from some Sergeant down at USAREUR and 7th Army congratulating me on getting my work accepted by Soldiers Magazine.
I figured it was a joke as he called me on April Fools Day.
Turned out, it wasn't and was one of 5 that would get published from 1977 to 1979.
The second one accepted was called "Cotton Candy Carnival" and was a photo-feature and was also done while stationed in Germany and with LTC Gerald E. Lethcoe as my boss.
Another 6 more articles were sent to John Michael Coleman.
This went on from February 1977 to June 1977. Buy that time, John Michael Coleman had accepted 27 articles. And the 3rd Combat Aviation Battalion was seeing its over the top share of publicity.
Well, all things must pass and John Michael Coleman informed me that he would no longer be the editor for EurArmy Magazine and that a Caption Lynn Havavk would be taking over his position.
I was told that all the stories he accepted would be used. They were. Lynn Havavk called me and told me he was planning on using my articles but not two at a time anymore. So, I was reading my articles while I was back in the states in 1978.
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