KEEP SILENT SERVICE: all book proceeds benefit the Colby Haithcock Memorial Scholarship
I put off actually finishing this book for way too long. There were doubts after receiving so many rejection letters from traditional agents and publishing mechanisms. Close to 100 agents from every agency (seems that way anyhow) sent those hated "thank you for your request but NO!" letters.
After Colby died, life definitely turned for the worse and even more time passed since I finished that book now over a year and a half ago. We have striven to create a lasting mechanism to honor his life and have created the COLBY HAITHCOCK MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP to do just that.
I know you've already heard about it. I hope you will be a part of it. many help us each and every time we set up to sell hot-dogs etc to raise money for this. I can't thank them enough for their never ending help. They know who they are and I appreciate every moment they contribute to helping us fund another scholarship or buy another classroom supply.
So, last week I decided to check out how simple or hard it would be to publish my book onto Amazon's Kindle platform. Well, an hour later, the book was published. It truly was easy and I kick myself for not having done this earlier.
If you take the time to write something like this, you dream of being a best seller. I won't lie, I have that dream too.. But my dream has a different focus. I decided to donate every penny from Royalties to the Colby scholarship. It takes a single snowflake to start a snowball that becomes a runaway snow boulder like in the cartoons. The few sales I have so far have created $62 dollars in royalties. Can it become $620? $6200? Even more?
You see, it takes you guys actually going to the Amazon website and clicking "BUY." The e-reader price is $2.99 that generates $2.04 in royalties. So simple, so cheap if you shop Amazon. Speaking of, have you joined Smile.amazon.com?
You can donate twice with one purchase. Instead of logging into Amazon.com, log into smile.amazon.com and choose BIG DAWGZ RIDING CLUB as the public charity. Amazon donates pennies on the dollar to the charity which is in the process of a name change to the COLBY HAITHCOCK MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP. We are a public non-profit eligible for tax deduction for your donations.
So, go onto smile.amazon.com and join, then choose BDRC as your donation platform. Then, go to the following link and buy the book. I even put the hyperlink in for you. LOL
I'd love to hear your comments about the book. I am inserting a brief sample of the book:
Patrol Area ALPHA XRAY Control Room 1720Z11SEP16
“Sonar, Conn. Ship is steady on course 150, report all contacts.”
“Report all contacts Conn Sonar Aye.” The Sonar Sup evaluates his green screens and watches the traces of S-17 and S-19 track across the screen indicating the boat is driving away from them.
“Conn, Sonar. Still hold both contacts S-17 and S-19, both on the edge of our baffles but still held on the towed array. Both contacts are CZ contacts and are of no concern. Course 150 is a good course to proceed to periscope depth.”
CZ refers to Convergence Zone contacts. Sound waves reflect off the ocean bottom and along the surface chop. When conditions are favorable, contacts can be heard thousands of miles away as the boat’s arrays pick up a bounced sound wave.
“Sonar Conn Aye.” The OOD grabs his phone and buzzes the CO stateroom just as the door to control swings open.
The CO strides in with a smile on his face, knowing he always shows up at the right time.
“Captain in Control” echoes through the control room just a hair late for the DOOW’s preference so he cuffs the helmsman on the shoulder.
“Captain, the ship is steady on course 150. Sonar holds 2 contacts, S-17 bearing 315 on course 270 speed 10 knots. S-17 is a CZ contact and of no concern. We hold S-19 bearing 000 on course 287 speed 10 knots and also a CZ contact. Sir, I intend to proceed to periscope depth.”
“Very well Officer of the Deck.”
“Sonar, Conn. Proceeding to periscope depth.”
The ship jumps into Superman mode. Every sensor is calibrated to hear noises above the hull. Sonar operators reset displays to maximize attention on the headings in front of the ship. Any abnormal noise they hear will trigger an emergency call from Sonar to abort the ascent.
No one speaks unless it’s an emergency. Other operators in control watch sonar screen repeaters in control to assist in detecting a surface ship above the hull of the submarine. The loss of 9 Japanese students on the Ehime Maru on Feb 9, 2001 in Hawaiian waters when USS GREENEVILLE surfaced under it was tragic and affected the submarine fleet greatly.
“Raising #2 Periscope.” The OOD reaches above the CONN and spins the large orange ring above the pit that the #2 scope extends down into its well and rotates it to the raise position. 3000# Hydraulic fluid is ported to the piston in the raise direction and silently the periscope begins its ascent out of the sail and upward. As the controls clear the combing, the OOD begins testing switches and signals to verify all early warning electronics are working properly.
With the periscope raised and tested, he places his eye onto the eyepiece and readies himself for his defensive sweeps.
“Helm, All ahead one-third.” Repeat backs and familiar dings confirm his orders.
“Dive, make your depth 75 Feet.” Again, repeat backs ring out.
MMC Vincent leans over his helm and planesman and begins the sequence of order to coax the boat up to 75 Feet quickly and efficiently. MMC starts calling off depth changes for the OOD to hear in 5-foot intervals passing up through 100 feet then in 2 feet increments up to 80 feet.
The OOD is staring out the periscope, the deep blues of the ocean and any materials in the water zooming past the eyepiece as he looks for any large shadows above him that would indicate danger above. As the boat nears the surface, computer screens linked to the eyepiece show the control room operators what the OOD sees out his scope.
As the scope breaks the surface, the OOD starts 3 rapid 360 degree sweeps of the horizon. He spins, eyes trained to look for anything close aboard that could be a collision risk. After his 3 full sweeps, he suddenly calls out loudly “No close contacts” and the control room collectively breathes a sigh of relief.
The OOD continues a slower sweep around the boat to look for any contacts. Sonar and the Junior OOD place the scope’s view down the bearing of the held sonar contacts to look for visual clues of the surface ships.
“Sonar, Conn, I hold no visual contact of Sierra-17 or Sierra-19. Confirm these contacts to be CZ contacts.
“COW, raise the #2 VHF mast.” Repeat backs are given and the COW stands to turn the switch that electronically controls hydraulic control vales that push the radio mast up towards the surface.
“OOD, #2 VHF mast is fully raised.”
“Very well COW. Radio, CONN. Conduct radio operations. Transmit 8 outgoing messages via SSIXS.”
Any previously written message will be sent off in this unexpected broadcast window. The control room continues its vigilant safety sweep regimen to ensure no surface vessel either spots them of overtakes them and causes a collision.
Soon the message traffic has been sent on its way off the ship to the recipients they are intended for, “Conn, Radio. All messages released are verified in receipt. WYOMING is clear of all required broadcasts. Radio no longer requires periscope depth.”
“Radio, CONN aye.”
“OOD, LTJG Brantley will take the scope for you while we discuss the evolutions we need to conduct.”
“Aye Captain.” The OOD turns over the scope to the waiting LTJG Brantley and steps across the Conn to the corner where the CO is monitoring control activities.
Brantley is sweeping the horizon on the scope, his field of view looking aft when suddenly from somewhere in control comes “EMERGENCY DEEP!” There are few commands that have a higher pucker factor on board ship than that one. Its call has an exact sequence of events that have to be followed.
LTJG Brantley spins the scope to forward and twists the ring to lower it immediately to remove the mast from being hit by a surface contact. The DOOW orders planes to full dive and limits the ships downward angle initially until below 100 feet to keep from sticking the ass end up out of the water, then increases his angle drastically to rapidly drive the boat down to safety. The Helm immediately rings up All Ahead Standard and hits the cavitate bell 3 times.
The cavitate bell tells maneuvering to quickly get to Standard turns without regard for causing cavitation bubble. Cavitation is the formation and subsequent bursting of bubbles formed on the screw due to spinning too quickly in relation to the sea pressure around it. Those bursting bubbles give away a submarine’s location. The ship drives itself to safety and settles out at 150 feet.
Once the ship is safe, the team stabilizes the boat and begins to settle into normal ships conditions for a Trident Submarine. “Poking holes in the ocean” is the norm onboard WYOMING.
“Helm, All Ahead 1/3” The OOD begins reducing ships speed and making preparations to deploy the floating wire for radio communications.
“Good job Brantley” the Captain calls from across the control room. “Excellent actions watch team. Brantley, go grab your qual card and bring it to the Wardroom. We will talk about the evolution and I’ll sign it off for you.”
“Yes sir.”
With that, I'll put this in your hands. Much like I hope the book will become.
