There are days when being a pilot is simply the greatest job in the world. For Russ Bergeman, one of them was flying a Marine Corps helicopter past the Pyramids of Giza — and weeks later, flying that same aircraft into Baghdad.

Somewhere between those two flights — wonder and responsibility — he found what he calls the vertical life: the belief that gaining a little altitude, literal or otherwise, changes how you see, and how you face, everything below it.

KICK THE TIRES, LIGHT THE FIRES is what happens when a twenty-four-year Marine Corps career — two combat tours, thousands of flight hours, a cockpit full of hard-earned lessons — gets turned into a working manual for the rest of your life.

Before a pilot ever takes off, there's a walk-around: kick the tires, check the fluids, know the aircraft before you trust it with your life. Bergeman argues we skip that step constantly — launching into careers, relationships, and decisions without ever doing the preflight check on ourselves. This book puts it back in front of you, chapter by chapter, using the actual mechanics of flight as the framework:

Before You Fly — knowing who you are before you decide where you're going.

Know Where You're Going — building a mission, a plan, and the fuel reserves (literal and otherwise) to see it through.

Light the Fires — the difference between being ready and actually committing to the takeoff roll.

Fly the Mission — staying in command of the aircraft when conditions change, because they will.

Finish the Mission — landing well, and knowing a landing is not the same thing as stopping.

Learn, Grow, Fly Again — the debrief: what the flight was for, and who was in it with you.

This isn't a collection of inspirational quotes with a flight suit on. It's a former Marine helicopter pilot's honest accounting of fear, failure, command, and course correction, translated into a framework any reader can use — whether you're leading a team, rebuilding after a hard landing of your own, or just trying to figure out what to do with the fuel you have left.

Kick the tires. Light the fires. It's time to start living a vertical life.