The Havok Journal | Military & Veteran News, Commentary, Culture

• “Case Study” Ramadi: A “Rip-It Ranger” Looks Back July 5, 2026
  Editor’s Note: Sadly, no one had the foresight in 2006 to assign a combat photographer to capture a Rip-It-fueled gastrointestinal war crime inside an armored vehicle. The AI-generated images are meant to match the spirit of the story. If the patches, camo, gear, or facial expressions offend your inner sergeant major, please direct all complaints […]
  Shane Snell
• Memorial Plaque: I Wanted Them to Remember and to Be Grateful July 5, 2026
  When it happened, I cannot recall. It just seemed to happen. I could not take it anymore, and I wanted the world to know. I wanted those passing by to be reminded. I could not take one more expression of gratitude for a day that was not mine to receive. I have long struggled to […]
  Jake Smith
• America Has Enough Fireworks and Not Enough Grown-Ups July 4, 2026
  Every July 4th, America does what America does best: puts on sunglasses, lights explosives purchased from a tent next to a gas station, eats meat shaped like plumbing insulation, and announces, with the emotional range of a bald eagle on a truck decal, that freedom is awesome. And it is. Freedom is spectacular. Freedom is […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• America at 250: Stewards, Not Owners, of Freedom July 4, 2026
  By Mike Sarraille and Kirk Offel America at 250 is more than a birthday. It is a ledger: a chain of blood, sweat, faith, courage, and generations of Americans choosing the harder right over the easier wrong. Most experiments in self-government fail. They collapse under the weight of corruption, division, debt, invasion, or the rot […]
  Special Guest
• The Army Hasn’t Carried Out a Death Row Execution Since 1961. Maybe It Should. July 3, 2026
  The U.S. Army has quietly done something that most Americans probably didn’t realize was necessary: it has updated its plans for carrying out military executions. According to recent reporting, the service has developed a detailed framework—dubbed “Operation Resolute Justice“—to execute the four inmates currently sitting on military death row if the President authorizes their death […]
  Charles Faint