Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Serve.
The Man Who Saved the World
запуск! запуск! The year was 1983, and it was early in the morning in a bunker near Moscow when the sirens went off. The word запуск was displayed in bold red letters. A man stood up and stared at the screen. Perspiration began to gather around his temples.
By Dan Brioli5 years ago in Serve
A Soldier's Soft Spot
“Wake up! Get up! It’s time to put your feet on the ground.” yelled Alana’s father as his heavy feet took turns walking down the hallway. Five am was his regular routine and one he never, would never, deviate from. But in the last room on the right was Alana on the phone with her best friend, totally wanting to deviate from anything her dad tried to make her do.
By Tralandice Hogan5 years ago in Serve
Sale Price
On this side of the ledger, one is subject to run across those instances wherein drastic times will call for drastic measures. At the going rate these days, that's par for the course. But lack of discernment can take one just a little too far over the edge—to the point of no return in fact. In the following story, Charles Androne's cohort Interlichia held that truth to be self-evident.
By Lee Faison5 years ago in Serve
Random tidbits from my stint as an...
1MAR2021; 1920, MON It's been a New York minute since my last post in the designated military community of this site, and like the living legend NaS (sic) said on "N.Y. State of Mind", off of his debut album from '94, "It's time...I don't know how to start this s**t" tho." I was the designated radio guy for my platoon for a hot minute and I suppose that that's as decent as any intro to a fairly random piece.
By Nefarious Darrius5 years ago in Serve
A room on the Moika
The room was filled with the sweet smell of candle smoke. Despite the tall, broken windows offering grandiose views of decorated façades across the Moika’s frozen waters, the high-ceilinged room was dark. The sun had set long before dinnertime, and Oleg’s candle was the sole source of light.
By Sébastien Mouret5 years ago in Serve
The Sound of Silence
If you were to ask your mate down the pub when submarines first started going stealthy, and by stealthy I mean the use of acoustic tiles and propulsors, they would point to the Cold War. And in a way they would be right. The Cold War advanced the submarine platform in leaps and bounds.
By Alan Walker5 years ago in Serve
Over the Panj
“What do you know about Matthew McCann, Lieutenant?” Lt. William Fox heard the colonel’s voice over the shouting gale of the wind and the propellers. He held onto the strap above, by now all too used to the heat and the dry air that buffeted into the helicopter.
By Gordon Hawkins5 years ago in Serve
100 Little Black Books
Mrs. Bernice Pink always carried her little back notebook with her wherever she went. Even her husband Chester, known to all as "Chester Pink the Mattress King," couldn't pry that little book out of her thin, pale hands that very special sultry evening in Chicago when he knelt on one knee with a heartfelt proposal at their favorite Italian restaurant.
By Melissa G Wilson5 years ago in Serve
Don't Judge A Book
Don’t Judge A Book The 1960’s were a volatile time in America’s history. Political divide, racial injustice and a musical soundscape that spewed lyrical protest toward the war in Vietnam. Benny hailed from Meridian Mississippi and just after high school his number came up in the draft. The old south had taught Benny, an African American to question and to be leery of the world. His father had been a second-generation sharecropper and barely able to feed his family of eight. Benny was more enlightened than his parents and siblings. He had been given an old tube radio by a man Benny dug a drainage ditch for. In lieu of money, the man paid Benny with the antique radio that still worked quite well. The radio became a companion to Benny and gave him a window to the world far reaching the mid-south. Mystery Theatre and other programs of that era helped Benny use his imagination more vividly than a television which the family never owned.
By Chuck Edwards5 years ago in Serve
Parade Field
I’m standing at parade rest on the 25th Infantry Division parade field. I’m one of about 5,000 participants in the Operation Enduring Freedom-5 Farewell Ceremony. Somewhere out there in that huge, colorful group of civilians is my family, looking for me in the sea of desert camouflage on the field. The brilliant sunlight bathes us in heat and light. I smell freshly mown grass and my own sweat. Wispy clouds brush the tops of coconut palms as they pass overhead in their own good time. My toes are numb. The Division Commander, Major General Olson, speaks at a wooden podium adorned with the green tarot leaf and lightning bolt—aka the “electric chili pepper”—that represents the “Tropic Lightning” Division. He’s mercifully brief.
By Steven Thomas Howell5 years ago in Serve
