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

• When Politics Feels Like Betrayal March 16, 2026
  There comes a point for many people when watching politics stops producing disagreement and starts producing something else entirely: disgust. Not frustration with one policy. Not anger toward one politician. Not disagreement with one party. A deeper feeling. The kind that settles in your chest when you watch press conferences, hearings, and debates and realize […]
  Sergeant Ayman Kafel, MSC
• Too Far Gone to be Saved? March 16, 2026
  By Britta Reque-Dragicevic This first appeared in Britta’s blog, “Life After War” and is republished with the author’s permission. It all adds up. Accumulates. Pain, trauma, losses. Anger, resentment, guilt. Buries You underneath. You watch your Self vanish, become unrecognizable. And wonder if you’re too far gone to be saved. Is there such a thing […]
  Special Guest
• The House of Hush Money March 15, 2026
  There is nothing, and I mean nothing, more spiritually moving than watching 357 members of Congress sprint together to bury sexual misconduct transparency like lab rats trying to hide a missing bag of cocaine before the lab tech gets back. That vote was not a procedural maneuver. It was a group project in institutional deodorant. […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• The Wars of Others March 15, 2026
  The wars of others douse gasoline on the fire hardly controllable. The urge to fight shared in the neurotic texts and conversations with the others. We could go. We could pack up today. Leave behind the guilty comforts of home for a life of filth, dirt floors, and destruction–to live life out of the bag […]
  Jake Smith
• Living with Survivor’s Guilt March 14, 2026
  It was a pleasant September day in 2005. The Praetorians were getting ready for their patrol. This time, we had another squad with us. Out of respect for the squad, I will not reveal their unit or other squad members. Instead, I will refer to them as “Spartan QRF.” QRF stands for Quick Reaction Force. […]
  Sergeant Ayman Kafel, MSC