book_title stringlengths 1 96 | author stringlengths 3 58 | genres listlengths 0 8 | tags listlengths 0 12 | chapter_title stringlengths 1 990 | text stringlengths 0 2.62M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 12 | Dumpsters make great hiding places for three reasons. One, they're usually readily available. Two, they're almost always tucked to the side somewhere, hidden from view. And three, most importantly, they smell, which keeps whoever you're hiding from at a safe distance. So if you do it right, you don't even have to get i... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 13 | Chrysler's 1987 Dodge Grand Caravan was one fine piece of engineering. It was like the Trapper Keeper of cars. There were enough storage compartments and gadgets in that minivan to make any kid want to buy American for the rest of his life. The night my dad brought it home from the dealer's, I cried when my parents wou... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 14 | In size and scope, Water Tower Place wasn't much different from any other Midwest shopping mall. It was the atmosphere that set it apart from the rest. Situated as the focal point of the Magnificent Mile a few blocks west of Lake Michigan, Water Tower Place symbolized all that was still classy about Chicago. Escalators... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 15 | The "Water Tower Fiasco," as it came to be known, blew over relatively easily. My father was dead tired from shopping and from our standoff. My mother was happy with her on-sale purchases, and Lizzy was content with the knowledge that Cabbage Patch Kids were still readily available at the North Pole. So much so that sh... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 16 | The rows and rows of metal folding chairs squeaked uncomfortably beneath us. The cafeteria was pitch black, the only light coming from the waxy candles we held in our hands. Forty-five Cub Scouts sat patiently in the dark, fitted in our dress blues and golden handkerchiefs, each one of us thoroughly convinced that by t... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 17 | The rest of the Cub Scout meeting was a blur. I couldn't tell you a thing that happened. I don't think anybody could. Eventually Halberg realized we were a broken bunch and let us leave early. We filed out of the school and into the night, numb to the world, each of us finding his own small section of the sidewalk to w... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 18 | Timmy Kleen may have been a spaz and an asshole, but he was no dummy. He was the only Cub Scout in the cafeteria who smiled when Halberg pulled the sheet back on those encyclopedias. Because that meant his Nintendo had become twice as valuable. This deep into December, there was no way any of us could get our own Ninte... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 19 | It took almost six hours for Timmy's parents to learn of their crushed family dog and destroyed television set. There was a rumor that Timmy had unsuccessfully tried to board a bus to Detroit for a clean getaway, but was apprehended by his sister when he asked her how long it would take him to ride his bike to the bus ... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 20 | For the first time in my life I woke up depressed on a Saturday morning. Four days had passed since the infamous PTA witch-hunt, and things had gotten significantly worse. The front page of the Batavia Republican on Thursday ran the headline "NINTENDO NO!" with an accompanying story explaining how all local shops and b... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 21 | Birthdays were a tricky thing. Timing was everything. If you didn't time it right, you could end up sharing the limelight. And there was nothing worse than playing second fiddle on your own birthday. Take summer birthdays, for instance. That meant you didn't get to bring treats to school on your real birthday. Instead,... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 22 | When things got hairy in third grade, there was only one place to regroup and reorganize. That was Mueller Crest Park, specifically the woods behind the jungle gym. "Woods" was a loose term. It was more a cluster of trees, probably only a few acres, but it was secluded and mysterious and all ours. This was where we'd p... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 23 | There's something magical about getting into mischief. It's a very distinct feeling. Part fear, part excitement, in many ways it's the essence of being a kid. I could barely sleep the night before the field trip. I lay there in the dark shuffling through the cash from the great baseball card sellout. Two hundred and si... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 24 | I'd always been fascinated with pirate movies as a kid. Particularly those that involved walking the plank. It was the ritual of it all. There was no need to go such lengths to kill someone unless you were kind of excited about it. I mean, why not just throw the guy overboard? Why blindfold him? Why make him walk so sl... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 25 | Christmas Eve had finally come. I sat on the couch facing our giant, branch-impaired tree, dressed in my Sunday best, listening to the sounds of my father cursing up a storm as he rewired the upstairs bathroom. A few days before the Christmas extended-family invasion, John Doyle went through a brief but alarming period... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 26 | The house was alive with activity. Cousins ran up and down the stairs. The California Raisins' Claymation Christmas flickered away on the TV. My mom and my aunts bustled around the kitchen while Elwood and my grandpa sat by the window calmly solving the world's problems over a glass of scotch. It was Christmas Eve on W... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 27 | There are few tasks more difficult in the life of a kid than trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve. You could rank it right up there with attempting to fly or meeting Michael Jordan at Jewel-Osco. I'd never been a big fan of sleeping in general, so on Christmas Eve you could forget about it. I was wide awake.
At this... |
8-bit Christmas | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"historical fiction",
"slice of life"
] | [
"video games",
"Christmas",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | Chapter 28 | I spent the rest of Christmas morning curled up under the TV watching Anne of Green Gables on VHS with my sister. That's how depressed I was. Anne of Green Gables was the story of a young orphaned girl who, despite her "humble beginnings," charms everyone in town with her "fiery spirit" and lives "happily ever after." ... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 1 | 'For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind.' —Loring A. Schuler
'I feel like eating after I win. Let's go to lunch. Ha, ha, ha!' —King Hippo |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Boxer, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! | Timmy Kleen was not a nice kid. Maybe he grew up to be a nice adult as he got older. Maybe he runs a soup kitchen in Harlem now. I kind of doubt it, though. If I had to guess, I'd say he probably graduated from Harvard, became an investment banker and single-handedly bankrupted half the country. Of course, I don't know... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 3 | Batavia, Illinois, is a small, some might say forgettable, suburb about an hour west of Chicago. Not too rich, not too poor. Its claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of Ken Anderson, the losing quarterback of the 1980 Super Bowl. Ever heard of him? Didn't think so. It's also home to the world's second largest atom... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 4 | Elwood was eleven years old—seventy-seven in dog years—and in that time I was convinced he had pooped more times than any other dog in the history of the world. His best work dotted our snowy backyard like chocolate sprinkles on a vanilla cupcake. They were everywhere. And I had to pick up every single one of them. I s... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 5 | It was a well-known fact at HC Wilson Elementary that the true start of the Christmas season rested on the pretty little shoulders of our art teacher, Miss Ciarocci. Once the Thanksgiving decorations had come down and the recess temperatures dropped to proper loogie-hawking levels outside, we all knew we were closing i... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 6 | It had snowed overnight, the first big storm of the season. Flakes started coming down right around bedtime and hadn't stopped since. Waking up to snow was like waking up to a new lease on life. Like a little present just waiting for you outside your bedroom window; tons and tons of the stuff, as far as the eye could s... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 7 | The humidifier in the corner bubbled and hissed as Mrs. Hugo paced around the classroom, occasionally pulling used Kleenex from her sleeves to blow her nose.
We were all spread out on the hard orange carpet, partaking in another one of her "educational exercises" designed to get us to shut the hell up. We were a terri... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 8 | In 1983, Boy George released a song called "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" A catchy little cross-dressing reggae tune, it has since become the soundtrack to my girls' boots nightmare. Whenever it comes on the radio or VH1 plays the video on some celebrities-turned-junkies countdown, I find myself weeping softly. Some ... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 9 | The problem with having only one Nintendo prize in an already hostile one-Nintendo town is that it makes enemies out of everybody. There was no more "us versus Kleen" mentality. It was now every man for himself. Big or small, smart or dumb, first grade or fourth, it didn't matter anymore. You sold the most wreaths, you... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 10 | When you really break it down, the entire focus of kid life centers on one specific goal: having fun. All drive and brainpower is dedicated toward the purpose of playing. It's a relentless battle waged against grownups of all shapes and sizes, one that consistently begs the question: How can I, the kid, maximize my abi... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 11 | Two raisin eyes stared up at me. They were oozing with Elmer's and loosely attached to a mismanaged tapestry of pipe cleaners. This was my donkey, the shining centerpiece of my art-class manger-scene ornament. The fact that the donkey was three times the size of the manger itself didn't concern me. Nor was I concerned ... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 12 | Dumpsters make great hiding places for three reasons. One, they're usually readily available. Two, they're almost always tucked to the side somewhere, hidden from view. And three, most importantly, they smell, which keeps whoever you're hiding from at a safe distance. So if you do it right, you don't even have to get i... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 13 | Chrysler's 1987 Dodge Grand Caravan was one fine piece of engineering. It was like the Trapper Keeper of cars. There were enough storage compartments and gadgets in that minivan to make any kid want to buy American for the rest of his life. The night my dad brought it home from the dealer's, I cried when my parents wou... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 14 | In size and scope, Water Tower Place wasn't much different from any other Midwest shopping mall. It was the atmosphere that set it apart from the rest. Situated as the focal point of the Magnificent Mile a few blocks west of Lake Michigan, Water Tower Place symbolized all that was still classy about Chicago. Escalators... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 15 | The "Water Tower Fiasco," as it came to be known, blew over relatively easily. My father was dead tired from shopping and from our standoff. My mother was happy with her on-sale purchases, and Lizzy was content with the knowledge that Cabbage Patch Kids were still readily available at the North Pole. So much so that sh... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 16 | The rows and rows of metal folding chairs squeaked uncomfortably beneath us. The cafeteria was pitch black, the only light coming from the waxy candles we held in our hands. Forty-five Cub Scouts sat patiently in the dark, fitted in our dress blues and golden handkerchiefs, each one of us thoroughly convinced that by t... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 17 | The rest of the Cub Scout meeting was a blur. I couldn't tell you a thing that happened. I don't think anybody could. Eventually Halberg realized we were a broken bunch and let us leave early. We filed out of the school and into the night, numb to the world, each of us finding his own small section of the sidewalk to w... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 18 | Timmy Kleen may have been a spaz and an asshole, but he was no dummy. He was the only Cub Scout in the cafeteria who smiled when Halberg pulled the sheet back on those encyclopedias. Because that meant his Nintendo had become twice as valuable. This deep into December, there was no way any of us could get our own Ninte... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 19 | It took almost six hours for Timmy's parents to learn of their crushed family dog and destroyed television set. There was a rumor that Timmy had unsuccessfully tried to board a bus to Detroit for a clean getaway, but was apprehended by his sister when he asked her how long it would take him to ride his bike to the bus ... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 20 | For the first time in my life I woke up depressed on a Saturday morning. Four days had passed since the infamous PTA witch-hunt, and things had gotten significantly worse. The front page of the Batavia Republican on Thursday ran the headline "NINTENDO NO!" with an accompanying story explaining how all local shops and b... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 21 | Birthdays were a tricky thing. Timing was everything. If you didn't time it right, you could end up sharing the limelight. And there was nothing worse than playing second fiddle on your own birthday. Take summer birthdays, for instance. That meant you didn't get to bring treats to school on your real birthday. Instead,... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 22 | When things got hairy in third grade, there was only one place to regroup and reorganize. That was Mueller Crest Park, specifically the woods behind the jungle gym. "Woods" was a loose term. It was more a cluster of trees, probably only a few acres, but it was secluded and mysterious and all ours. This was where we'd p... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 23 | There's something magical about getting into mischief. It's a very distinct feeling. Part fear, part excitement, in many ways it's the essence of being a kid. I could barely sleep the night before the field trip. I lay there in the dark shuffling through the cash from the great baseball card sellout. Two hundred and si... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 24 | I'd always been fascinated with pirate movies as a kid. Particularly those that involved walking the plank. It was the ritual of it all. There was no need to go such lengths to kill someone unless you were kind of excited about it. I mean, why not just throw the guy overboard? Why blindfold him? Why make him walk so sl... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 25 | Christmas Eve had finally come. I sat on the couch facing our giant, branch-impaired tree, dressed in my Sunday best, listening to the sounds of my father cursing up a storm as he rewired the upstairs bathroom. A few days before the Christmas extended-family invasion, John Doyle went through a brief but alarming period... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 26 | The house was alive with activity. Cousins ran up and down the stairs. The California Raisins' Claymation Christmas flickered away on the TV. My mom and my aunts bustled around the kitchen while Elwood and my grandpa sat by the window calmly solving the world's problems over a glass of scotch. It was Christmas Eve on W... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 27 | There are few tasks more difficult in the life of a kid than trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve. You could rank it right up there with attempting to fly or meeting Michael Jordan at Jewel-Osco. I'd never been a big fan of sleeping in general, so on Christmas Eve you could forget about it. I was wide awake.
At this... |
8 | Kevin Jakubowski | [
"video games",
"historical fiction",
"Christmas",
"slice of life",
"pop culture",
"child protagonist"
] | [] | Chapter 28 | I spent the rest of Christmas morning curled up under the TV watching Anne of Green Gables on VHS with my sister. That's how depressed I was. Anne of Green Gables was the story of a young orphaned girl who, despite her "humble beginnings," charms everyone in town with her "fiery spirit" and lives "happily ever after." ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | TOY SOLDIERS | I had never thought about quitting anything until the United States Army Ranger School's "Mountain Phase" in the rugged hills of Dahlonega, Georgia. By the fortieth day of Ranger School in October 2009, my lifelong dislike of hiking had turned into pure hatred.
I had to get through only twenty-one more days to earn th... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 2 | "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months," I said in French. "The eyes of the world are upon you.
"Your task will not be an easy one," I continued. "Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely."
Seconds later, I moved an ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 3 | Staring through the darkness up at Staff Sergeant Gallardo, I knew it was time to decide whether I should quit Ranger School and head back to my regular Army unit, or keep moving forward. Mountain Phase had absolutely kicked my ass, but if I decided to leave, this friend and Afghanistan war veteran was leaving North Ge... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 4 | I was a freshman at the University of North Carolina–Wilmington on September 11, 2001. Like anyone old enough to remember, I was rocked by the first images of the World Trade Center's burning North Tower, which I saw on my dorm's shared television. As black smoke billowed up into the skies above lower Manhattan and the... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 5 | After finishing Mountain Phase and then successfully navigating the swamps of Florida, which marked Ranger School's final challenge, I embraced my mom and dad after the US Army Ranger tab was pinned on my shoulder during a ceremony at Fort Benning. I also finally got to sit down and eat! I had never been that hungry in... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | SHUT UP AND LISTEN | Even through the war-torn night sky, I could tell that eastern Afghanistan's jagged, soaring cliffs would be a lot tougher than the mountains of North Georgia.
I had already been in Afghanistan for three days after stops in Germany, Romania, and Kyrgyzstan, but it wasn't until our helicopter landed at Forward Operatin... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 7 | "O Romeo, Romeo!" the prettiest girl at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland, said while looking squarely into my young, very wide eyes. "Wherefore art thou Romeo?"
After my very lovely counterpart effortlessly finished her lines during a dress rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet, it was my turn.
"Shall I... he... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 8 | On December 21, 2009, I arrived at COP Honaker-Miracle, where both American and Afghan soldiers were stationed. The makeshift mountain base was named after two fallen US Army heroes: Specialist Christopher Honaker and Private First Class Joseph Miracle, who were among thirty-nine soldiers killed during the 173rd Brigad... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | PISS AND SHIT | Some of eastern Afghanistan's landscape is the most beautiful in the world. Picture clear blue reservoirs like Thailand, mountain peaks like Sweden, pastures like Ireland, and endless fields of flowers like the Netherlands. With the pervasive threat of death surrounding you, it's often hard to see that beauty, especial... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 10 | While laughing about the story at breakfast later that morning, my college friend Saul shared a rumor about the sniper being a militant from Chechnya. That was the first time I heard that the dark caves above the Pech River Valley weren't just filled with Taliban insurgents. There were plenty of al Qaeda terrorists and... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | THE WILD WEST | My Dagger Company predecessor, Captain Antonio Salinas, described the enormous challenge of leading an infantry platoon through the Pech River Valley in his 2012 book, Siren's Song.
We wear and move in heavy armor. Our weapons and munitions cost thousands of dollars. We can see in the dark, seeing humans in the form o... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 12 | At our nightly post-mission briefing, Saul, who had thankfully made it back to base safely, was drumming through his accounts of the day when he mentioned one in particular.
"One of the Taliban teams—I think it was some idiot low-level fighter—completely exposed his position to us and started shooting RPGs that hit th... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 13 | Through trial and error (after error), I somehow managed to develop a decent daily routine. After waking up at around 0600, I would visit the TOC to get an updated enemy situation and weather report, adjust the day's patrol, and alert platoons stationed on other FOBs and COPs if we planned to cross into any of the zone... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 14 | Because of the sniper's death and continually plummeting temperatures, things got relatively quiet from late December until the end of February. I use the word "relatively" because we still went outside the wire every day for Shuras (meetings held in accordance with the ancient Pashtunwali code) with village elders. We... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 15 | For all the bullshit we had to deal with in Afghanistan, some days made everything worth it. After being awoken by the Muslim prayer call that resonated through the gradually warming valley every morning (and five times a day), my platoon journeyed along the Pech River to a place called Andersille. That particular vill... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 16 | A few days after the school visit, I took my platoon out to visit a different school in Shege, where I had fallen into the river of shit earlier in the deployment. We went back because I was determined to visit the village elder—the one I had previously berated—to make amends.
For three hours, we handed out candy and ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | HONAKER-MIRACLE | I should have died several times in Afghanistan, but one day in 2010 in particular stands out.
It was springtime and the Taliban "A team," led by Dairon, was back. Instead of enjoying the gradually warming temperatures, the soldiers at COP Honaker-Miracle were rewarded by daily increases in rocket-propelled grenade at... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 18 | A miracle occurred that day on the banks of the Pech River when the Taliban fighter's RPG faltered.
Instead of crashing through our vehicle and blowing up four American soldiers, the RPG instead hit the top of the frame of the very window I was looking out of. It then bounced straight up in the air, detonating above u... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 19 | By the first night of April, my vivid nightmares about the dead Afghan girls were getting worse. In one particular dream, I was kneeling over one of the girls' bodies when she woke up, grabbed my body armor, and asked why I didn't keep my promise to help the innocent children of Afghanistan.
Just as I was about to tel... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 20 | Six days later, as Afghanistan's notorious summer fighting season approached, Saul was back on top of the very mountain where he had nearly been killed. This time, the enemy was determined to finish the job.
The Taliban had surrounded his platoon with multiple fighters and was raining hell down on Saul and his soldier... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 21 | By May, I think that most of the village elders began to genuinely respect my platoon, even when we refused to hire more contractors for construction projects or to risk our lives to protect a clip of fuel funded by American taxpayers. If there was one takeaway for the local leaders during my deployment, it was that Af... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 22 | If you looked down on the Pech River Valley during almost any day of that deployment, you would have seen a crescendo of explosions resembling the opening sequence of Apocalypse Now. Indeed, the US Army expended more ordnance in our area of operations in 2009 and 2010 than all other bases in Afghanistan combined.
From... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | FINISH STRONG | When I landed at Bagram Airfield in February 2012, the US military's image had reached a low point in Afghanistan. That month, NATO International Security Assistance Force troops stationed at Bagram had inadvertently burned forty-eight copies of the Quran that had been removed from a prisoner holding facility.
"I assu... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 24 | Command Sergeant Major Kevin Griffin, who had so aptly pinpointed my eagerness to fight during the Finley-Shields attack, quickly became a trusted mentor during my second deployment to Afghanistan. A former college wrestler from Wyoming, Griffin wasn't actually that big a guy, but he had a huge presence that everyone a... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 25 | During the first six months of leading the security detail, we were shot at a few times while landing our helicopters or patrolling to and from the meetings, but never at any point did I feel that my life—or more important, the life of my boss or the other VIPs and soldiers—was in danger.
While Dairon might have been ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 26 | It was hard to believe that the summer was almost over when I got an email from the Army's Human Resources Command on the evening of August 7, 2012. To my complete surprise, I was scheduled to be promoted to the rank of captain following the next day's mission.
"Congratulations, Flo," CSM Griffin said when I walked in... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 27 | "Finish strong" was David Gray's motto. Whenever things got dicey in Afghanistan, he would repeat those words.
David had first said "Finish strong" to his wife, Heather, during a 5K race they were running together, but in subsequent years, the words also motivated and inspired the soldiers he served alongside.
The ma... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 28 | As we reached the midway point of our deployment, the leadership, humility, and humor displayed by warriors like Major David Gray, Command Sergeant Major Kevin Griffin, and Colonel James Mingus motivated everyone around them—including me—to keep working hard. With a big mission the next day and our deployment entering ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | THE LAST SPRINT | I woke up at 0600 on August 8, 2012, feeling as good as any soldier deployed to Afghanistan could feel after just finding out that he was being promoted to captain. Six months into my second combat tour, it was humbling to know that my Army bosses, whom I looked up to and respected, believed that I was worthy of a high... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 30 | As I did before every helicopter mission, I waited for Colonel Mingus and walked behind him toward the second of our two choppers. I would ride with the boss, while Command Sergeant Major Griffin would be joined on the first bird by several of my men, including Sergeant Andrew Mahoney, Sergeant First Class Brian Brink,... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | FREAK ON A LEASH | I woke up two days later in a daze that's difficult to describe.
At first, I thought I was still on the battlefield because of all the harrowing sights and sounds still swirling through my head. In one moment, I would hear Brink and Ochart talking on the radio about the white Toyota Corolla lurking behind us in Asadab... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 32 | Never in my life had I felt so much pain as I unleashed a blood-curdling scream in the back of an Army M-ATV in Asadabad, Afghanistan. There were two separate backseats in the truck, which was not designed for evacuating casualties. My head was on the passenger's side while my legs—one of which appeared to have a giant... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 33 | When I woke up a few hours later, the situation was worse than a nightmare. I was aboard a helicopter headed back to Jalalabad, with the covered body of a fallen American soldier right next me. I quickly realized that it was Command Sergeant Major Kevin Griffin.
I was too drugged up and confused to cry, but neverthele... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 34 | When I woke up, every soldier from the patrol who could walk and was not in surgery was in our room to see how Mahoney and I were doing. They were joined by many other friends I had made while stationed at FOB Fenty for the past six months. While grateful to see so many friendly faces, there was someone that I wanted t... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 35 | My blackouts continued, and the next time I woke up, I was in a room with about twenty wounded service members. In addition to Purple Hearts, each of us had been given iPads connected to Wi-Fi, which allowed us to access email and Facebook.
In a somewhat comical scene, twenty guys under the influence of heavy painkill... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 36 | The day after my unlikely encounter with Jonathan Davis of Korn, now the third day since the explosion, I woke up to a wonderful surprise. My cousins, Anthony, Thomas, and Alexandra Stein, had made the long drive to Germany from France to see me. Even while I was hopped up on medication, their five-hour visit meant the... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 37 | Surprisingly, my leg was still attached when I awoke on day four. While doctors would continue trying to save it when I got back to the United States, the likelihood of losing my leg or foot due to infection would remain high.
My next journey was to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where you will often see Air Forc... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 38 | I was formally admitted to Walter Reed's inpatient unit for wounded service members on August 13, 2012: five days after the suicide bombing. Over the next seventeen weeks, I would have twenty-seven surgeries on my left leg. Virtually every time I went under the knife, I was not sure whether my leg would still be attach... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 39 | Despite the best efforts of Walter Reed's magnificent doctors, along with Haley and two more friendly nurses named Ellen and Diamond, my leg was not healing properly. Skin graft procedures failed on two occasions, and the infections always seemed to return. No one had said it to me yet, but I started sensing that the d... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 40 | Feeling miserable from another surgery and lack of sleep, I heard a voice outside the door to my room during one November afternoon at Walter Reed.
"Hey, Captain Groberg?" the voice said. "Can I come in?"
"Whatever," I said, probably sounding like a jerk. "Yeah."
I perked up as soon as I saw the tall stranger walk i... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 41 | September 11, 2012, was another significant day during my time at Walter Reed. In addition to being the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it was the day that four American heroes—Ambassador Chris Stevens, FSO Sean Smith, and two CIA contractors, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty—were murdered in Benghazi, Libya. Th... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 42 | After six overseas operations and many more surgeries and nightmares after coming home, I finally checked out of the hospital's inpatient unit on December 18. Getting through the most challenging seventeen weeks of my life was the first semi-decent feeling I had experienced in a while, but at the same time I knew that ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | A LEG UP | Being inside a Fort Carson gym in December to welcome home my unit from Afghanistan was one of my life's most consequential moments.
As soon as the returning troops were reunited with their ecstatic families, I got out of my wheelchair to applaud. One by one, the soldiers who had been at my side during that horrible d... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 44 | Upon returning to Maryland just before Christmas, I became an outpatient at Walter Reed. Around-the-clock care had certainly helped the healing process, but my leg was still in rough shape and at constant risk of infection.
During my first few weeks as an outpatient, getting out of my new apartment in Bethesda and dri... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 45 | Over the next few months, I knew that I had to come up with a plan. I understood that the severity of my injuries and the decision to choose limb salvage over amputation meant that I could probably never serve as an infantryman again. That meant transitioning my military mind-set into that of a civilian, and there I wa... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 46 | After three months working with Jared and his team, I finally felt ready to lead in the civilian world. That was until I woke up one morning with a burning sensation in my left leg.
Damn it.
I had experienced that feeling before, and knew it wasn't good. Immediately, I went to see Kara, who helped me with wound care ... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 47 | A chance encounter in the fall of 2014 was the moment when I started permanently putting my life back together.
October 3, 2014, was an exciting day in Bethesda, Maryland. Both of the Beltway region's hometown baseball teams, the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles, had home playoff games on that Friday afterno... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 48 | "Hello?" I said, answering a cell phone call from an unknown number.
On a hot, miserable day in September 2015, almost a year after I had met Carsen, I was on a training exercise for the Department of Defense in Nevada, when I received the call.
"Is this Captain Florent Groberg?" a male voice said.
"Yes, sir," I sai... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 49 | When September 21 arrived, Carsen sat on the couch and watched The Ellen DeGeneres Show to pass the time while I stayed in the kitchen to think and work on a graduate school paper.
Then, at 1420 (2:20 p.m.), my cell phone finally rang. Like the previous call from the colonel, the screen said Unknown.
"Hello?" I said.... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | A GREATER HONOR | On November 12, 2015, I walked into the East Room of the White House shoulder to shoulder with the President of the United States. "Hail to the Chief" boomed and echoed through the hallowed hall while dozens of cameras clicked. The room was hot, bright, and packed with people, which made me immediately uncomfortable.
... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 51 | "You talked to the President of the United States on the phone?" my mom exclaimed after I called my parents to tell them that I would soon receive the Medal of Honor.
"Yes, Mom, and he actually mentioned you during the call," I said. "He said that he was looking forward to seeing you again, and that he trusted that yo... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | Chapter 52 | As I looked below the bright lights and into the audience, I saw Brink, Mahoney, Secor, Ochart, and Balderrama. I also appreciated that Jensen and McCain, the two soldiers who drove me from the blast site to the field hospital, were there. They were seated near General Mingus and his wife, along with my boss's brother,... |
8 Seconds of Courage, A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor | Flo Groberg | [
"nonfiction",
"memoir",
"war",
"Afghanistan"
] | [] | EPILOGUE - THE NEXT MISSION | After the Medal of Honor ceremony, I followed President Obama back into the green room, where the president, the Gold Star families, and I took dozens of pictures together.
One moment I will always treasure from that day was watching the president play Rock, Paper, Scissors with David and Heather Gray's kids. The smil... |
A Battle Won | Sean Thomas Russell | [
"adventure",
"historical fiction"
] | [
"naval",
"Adventures of Charles Hayden"
] | Chapter 1 | It was a desperate progress. In the stern-sheets of a cutter, among his honour guard of marines, squatted a doughy paymaster, an ironbound box cradled in his ample lap. Trailing in his wake, a fleet of tawdry bum-boats, the hungry faces of the merchants eyeing the paymaster as though he were a scrap of food. And astern... |
A Battle Won | Sean Thomas Russell | [
"adventure",
"historical fiction"
] | [
"naval",
"Adventures of Charles Hayden"
] | Chapter 2 | 'Has your ship come in, Captain?' Henrietta asked as she entered the room. She smiled and flushed with pleasure, then even more so realizing how transparent this must be.
'In a manner of speaking.' Hayden felt a deep sense of embarrassment, almost humiliation, over what the Port Admiral had done to him that morning.
... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.