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

• The Business of Breaking Us October 1, 2026
  Remember when the news was about facts? Quaint little artifacts—dates, places, quotes—stacked together like sober index cards. Now, the media has evolved into something far more sophisticated: a full-service panic delivery system. “Tonight at eleven: reasons to hate your neighbor, fear the weather, and question your sanity. Spoiler alert: all of the above.” They call […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• The lessons I learned in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery October 1, 2026
  (Where I met the ghosts of the living, but not of the dead) Arlington National Cemetery is a place that exists only in the imagination or deep memory of most civilians; at best, we maybe once visited on a school trip as a child, or perhaps long ago with our parents. The last time I […]
  Alice Atalanta
• Police Training: Everyone Has a Plan ‘Til They Get Punched in the Face October 1, 2026
  Editor’s Note: This article is also discussed in Ayman’s Podcast: Project Sapient–check it out here. I was born in Monrovia, Liberia in the early ’80s. I remember so much about it. The beaches, the muddy roads, the wildlife in the jungles, my father’s job, where we lived, and I remember when Charles Taylor took over […]
  Sergeant Ayman Kafel, MSC
• You Think You Want a Non-Interventionist U.S., Until You Get a Non-Interventionist U.S. September 30, 2026
  For most of my adult life, the United States has been at war somewhere. I spent a good portion of my own military career in those wars, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I understand better than most why Americans have grown tired of intervention. We have seen ambitious objectives become open-ended commitments, tactical victories […]
  Charles Faint
• The Conflict at Home September 30, 2026
  I partially credit Martin Luther King Jr. with saving my husband’s life. Sitting in his running Subaru in our garage, loaded gun in hand, Mark remembered our daughter upstairs in her bedroom. It was the Friday before MLK Day weekend. She had come home from college for the long weekend. He understood she would have […]
  Wendy Arena