H Hour Minus Now

By Shannon Hogan

The nation has rapidly declined due to the rise in all of the basic resources, including record gas prices, food and for housing. Greedy corporations push the citizens to their limits and Congress has remained divided among parties, watching from the sidelines. The United States of America is disintegrating into regional factions and the central government's authority is in jeopardy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shannon Hogan
• Release date: Jun 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301217229

Shannon Hogan

I am a newbie writer, though I have been writing unpublished works for many years. I am not a blogger, and I may or may not create my own website for myself, that depends on if I develop a following from my readers. Until then, I am resigned to being in a place among myself, where I find comfort. I am a proud father, husband, son, nephew, cousin and United Sates Army Veteran. Like many before me, my service to this nation bears its marks on me, physically and mentally. It is the reason why I began writing. It allows me to put myself out there and allows my neurons a chance to be heard. It is therapeutic as well as scary as hell, but I have never backed away from those things. My books are meant to allow you a chance to paint the pictures in your own mind, using my words as guidance. Together, we will move the brush against the canvas of the story and hopefully have some fun doing so. With that, I'd like to offer you a chance to enjoy the world of reading on the new tools that technology had made for us. I will continue to write them, if you will continue to read them and I will always try to have you in mind, sitting there eager to swipe your finger across the screen to see the next page. One day, I may add the books to print, but until I see the need, the eBook seems like a great way to enjoy the hours of escape we all desperately need in this furious paced world we live in. Thanks for stopping by to see who I am, and for reading my works. You are appreciated here!

Book preview

H Hour Minus Now

Volume 1

Called to duty

Title: H Hour Minus Now

Author: Shannon R. Hogan

Copyright 2013, Shannon R. Hogan

All Rights Reserved

Cover Photo by Amazon

Cover Design by Amazon

Smashwords Edition June 2013

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, trademarked products, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Preface

There is somewhat of an expectation of a peaceful life when one leaves the Armed Forces. Our fighting is done and we are relinquished and resigned from the life of a soldier. Our memories are filled with people and places we have been, things we have done and what we have seen. Just as the generations before us who have seen the horrors of war, we too must learn to cope with its effects long after our rifles have fallen silent. For me, it is a therapeutic way to tell a tale in my own way for those who may or may not have ever seen the world through the eyes of a soldier.

I am a United States Army veteran, a father, a husband among other things. My experiences have allowed me to write a story that seldom see from the point of view of those of us who have been to places where others would not go. I wrote this book with the reader in mind. I wanted to portray a story in a way that would capture the imagination and make you feel as if you are there in those moments and I hope you feel like you are.

It was important to me to tell the story of those who have fallen in order to keep our nation free and to tell the story of those who sacrificed so much of themselves and their lives for us. They are my brothers and sisters, though I may never meet them, or know their names. We are bound together, forever, with those who came before us, those with whom we served, and those who will come after us. I ask that you keep them in your mind as your read this story and any others written by any of my comrades.

It is a selfless service that is required by those who are willing to answer the silent call. It is a duty far greater than the individuals that we as we enter the life of a military service member. Honor their memories and their sacrifices each and every day, even for but a few moments. If it were not for the brave young men and women of the United States Armed Forces, our nation may cease to exist.

I would also like to thank my beautiful wife and my children for putting up with me as I spent hours in front of this computer, writing, editing, reading and rewriting word, after word, sentence after sentence that molded into paragraphs that evolved into chapters. Without their love and constant motivations, this book may never have been written. It is a culmination of stories of my fellow veterans and their experiences, as well as my own. It is a fictional story, but could have easily paralleled real past events, were it not for the selfless sacrifices of brave men and women, who refused to accept tyranny and oppression over freedom and liberty.

Thank you to my twin brother, Sean and my father, Daniel and my Great Uncle Herb for their service. I only hope this book pays tribute to their service and sacrifices as well as our brother and sisters who have paid the ultimate price for our freedoms.

Dedication

For those with whom I served, for those who came before me and for those who shall come after.

I am dedicating this to book to you, the reader and for all of the members of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. We owe our very existence to the men and women who have answered the silent call to service and are failing to provide the utmost respect, and gratitude for what they have done to preserve our way of life and our freedoms. I urge you to get involved in your communities and elected officials to bring about the necessary changes that will end ignorance and dismissals to our sacrifices. Whether you support the wars, which we have fought or are ardently against them, remember you have the right to do so, only because we have ensured these freedoms have been preserved.

Remember them, each day, and always be thankful to those who have gone to places you may or may not have gone to yourself. Honor our fallen with nothing short of your most reverent respects and defend the honor of their memories from those who choose to willfully tarnish their lost lives. It is for you that we carried the burden of this nation on our backs and went where we were told to go. It is for you that we have etched our footprints in the annals of history and it is you that we will defend to the last. Remember them as you read these words and thank you for purchasing this book.

Part One

If you only knew

I looked up slightly as my thumb forced the flint on my lighter to create the spark, which lit my cigarette. With the filter between my lips, I took my first draw and felt the smoke filling my lungs. The orange glow of the fire from the lighter and reddish color of the burning cigarette caused my eyes to squint from the brightness. They were not yet used to the darkness of the night that I had walked into. As I exhaled, I looked up towards the veil of night draped over my unfamiliar corner of the world. The mountains in the far distance filled the horizon line enough that I had to notice them. They just stood there, like a child who refused to move, until you gave into their demands, despite several attempts of refusing.

This night was hardly different than so many other nights that I had experienced before, but felt, oddly familiar. It seemed like some place I had been before, but it looked like other places I had never been at the same time. I could hear the others awaking and their rejections to having to get out of the cot. I smiled as the air was beginning to cool just a few hours after the sun had relinquished its firm grasp on the daylight. We were all awake now, and their straggling moods, overall, had begun to dramatically improve. We had shed our resentfulness and had made our way to the table and chairs that we set up. As we sat around comfortably in the late September night air, we quickly came to life. Conversations sparked up over one another, until the group’s focus in was in sync. We talked about our lives after the service a great deal, one after the other, among other things. The who and what we had left behind was always number one on the list.

Rarely did we speak about what sacrifices that we may be asked to make, although we all knew they were a real possibility. Instead, our minds drifted off to thoughts about our families back home, girlfriends or wives, the kids who waited for us to come home, or the kids we hoped we would one day have. We would laugh boisterously, almost defying the overwhelming sense of death sharing our cramped spaces. It was a presence felt by all, silent but present. We all knew it was there, like the 800 pound Gorilla that no one acknowledged. We didn’t have to, there was no mistaking it. We simply chose to ignore its presence and take our