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

• When You Don’t Believe Forgiveness Applies to You November 8, 2026
  By Joe DeCree This first appeared in Britta Reque-Dragicevic‘s blog, “Life After War” and is republished with permission. I just spoke to a friend, another veteran, and my heart bleeds for the guy. He is a Vietnam era vet. He put almost 30 years in the Marine corps starting in 1966. He went on to […]
  Special Guest
• The Bridge November 8, 2026
  I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. The man on the bridge. That cursed bridge. I’d put him out of my mind for years. Lately, I’ve been seeing his face again when I try to get to sleep. The image haunted my dreams for years. Now, he’s just a face I see sometimes when I close my eyes.  He wasn’t […]
  Stan Lake
• The Night I Chose to Live November 7, 2026
  Surrender is not a Ranger word, but Survivor is… By Bradley Dean Schamel, Retired Special Forces Officer Author’s Note: A special shout-out to my close friend and Ranger buddy, Peyton Knipple, for pushing me to put this on paper. In the early morning hours of a cold, wet January day in 2024, I came perilously […]
  Special Guest
• Storytelling Isn’t Just for Children November 7, 2026
  Early in my career, I was placed in charge of the “Man and Woman of the Year” honors at our local Chamber of Commerce. Part of my responsibilities included interviewing and producing a short video of each winner to be shown at the awards luncheon. (Yes kids, once upon a time we actually used film.) In […]
  Ben Buehler-Garcia
• I’m Glad I Did It. I’m Glad I’m Not Doing It Anymore November 6, 2026
  There are things in life that you can be profoundly grateful for without wanting to experience them again. Military service is like that for me. I spent 27 years in the Army. During that time, I served in conventional units and in three different special operations organizations. I deployed seven times to Iraq and Afghanistan. […]
  Charles Faint