"Soldier home after losing his leg in Afghanistan"

Through the news article by Gale Fiege, a soldier's story motivates other wounded veterans to keep going.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 8 Unit 1's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: A Wrinkle in Time, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, The Odyssey, A Man, Soldier home, Sonnet 116, Where I Find My Heroes, White House Funeral Sermon, O Captain! My Captain!, Frederick Douglass, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, A Definition of a Gentleman
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. province
    the territory in an administrative district of a nation
    It started out as just another day in the Zabul Province of southern Afghanistan.
  2. patrol
    moving around an area to monitor and provide security
    On Sept. 18, 2010, Army Pfc Tristan Eugene Segers, a 2002 graduate of Lake Stevens High School, was driving his armored patrol vehicle when a homemade bomb exploded in the road underneath Segers' floorboard.
  3. vehicle
    a conveyance that transports people or objects
    One of the vehicle's 800-pound tires was found a half-mile away.
  4. shrapnel
    shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight
    He had shrapnel sticking out of his eyeballs, face and arms.
  5. rehabilitation
    use of therapies to restore or improve physical function
    After nearly two years of surgeries and rehabilitation in Texas, Segers, a handsome 28-year-old, moved back to Snohomish County last week in time to celebrate Independence Day with his folks in the home where he grew up.
  6. culinary
    of or relating to or used in cooking
    He plans to return to culinary arts school this fall
  7. Purple Heart
    a United States military decoration awarded to any member of the armed forces who is wounded in action
    Until his official Army retirement date on Aug. 21, he is Cpl Segers, the owner of a Purple Heart.
  8. prosthetic
    of or relating to artificial body parts
    Segers wears shorts in the warm summer weather, not even pretending to hide his prosthetic leg.
  9. handle
    interact in a certain way
    Everybody's injury is different and everybody handles it in their own way.
  10. recession
    a situation in which the state of the economy declines
    Segers was enjoying a promising start to a career as a chef when the economic recession forced him to consider joining the Army.
  11. grueling
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    After grueling training in the hot Georgia sun, he landed a spot in the Army's 101st Airborne Pathfinder Division
  12. stabilize
    keep from fluctuating or put into an equilibrium
    After the explosion, Segers was stabilized and flown to the Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
  13. numerous
    amounting to a large indefinite number
    Tristan Segers can't say enough good things about the surgeons, psychiatrists, physical therapists and other staff at the Army hospital, as well as the numerous charitable organizations such as the Fisher House Foundation that help wounded veterans.
  14. rigorous
    demanding strict attention to rules and procedures
    The rehabilitation was rigorous and I pushed it, building back my muscles and learning to use the prosthetic leg.
  15. complacent
    contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
    But they never told me I was doing a good job for fear that I might get complacent.
Created on Sun Dec 14 18:42:41 EST 2014 (updated Sun Dec 14 22:42:59 EST 2014)

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