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

• The Hidden Scars May 31, 2026
  We are the tales of A. A. Milne’s “Hundred Acre Woods.” We are forever seeking to explain the bipolar results of war. How can we so rapidly shift from Tigger to Eeyore? From manic to depressive? How can we sway from Piglet to Rabbit? From childish innocence to obsessive logic, in a single breath.  Only a fictional world could seek […]
  Jake Smith
• How This U.S. Army Awards Clerk Received A Bronze Star May 31, 2026
  By C. B. Yarling After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 1968 with a B.A. in Math. I joined the Army because I was certain I would be drafted after graduating. So I visited a recruiter in San Antonio and told him that I wanted to be an intelligence officer, which included […]
  Special Guest
• The Useless Keep Getting Promoted May 30, 2026
  Author’s Note: This piece is the private-sector sequel to “The Battlefield Is Not a Diversity Workshop,” because apparently the Pentagon didn’t corner the market on confusing virtue confetti with actual competence. Corporate America has been running the same tired magic trick, swapping standards for slogans, leadership for laminated values posters, and achievement for the careful […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• Firefighters Deal with More Than Just Flames May 30, 2026
  By a Volunteer Firefighter I had been a volunteer firefighter for a few months. I was 16 years old at the time. My father dropped me off at the fire department and I made my way through the door when the alarm went off. It was a medical call, an accidental shooting. It was the […]
  Special Guest
• How Medical Malpractice Attorneys Establish Negligence in Court May 29, 2026
  Photo by Online Marketing on Unsplash Medical malpractice cases depend on proof that can withstand clinical and legal scrutiny. An unfortunate result, even after grave injury, does not by itself establish fault. Courts usually look for four linked elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages, each supported by records and testimony. Attorneys assemble that proof through […]
  Avery Devereaux