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

• An Army Brat, and the Lasting Effects of an Unkind Word June 26, 2026
  My father was in the Army. When I was very young, the Army sent us to Germany for a couple of years. 2nd though 4th grade, if I remember correctly. To me it seemed like my mother took us EVERYWHERE in Western Europe during that time period. France. Italy. The UK. Ireland. All over Germany. […]
  Charles Faint
• The Afghanistan Withdrawal Is Not Over for Veterans June 26, 2026
  By Dr. Wylie Brace and Samantha D. Glidewell This article is the final installment in a three-part series adapted from qualitative research on veterans’ responses to the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The full manuscript, including methods, references, and broader clinical discussion, is available through a DOI-linked version here. Direct quotes are from anonymous study […]
  Special Guest
• What the Casualties in Iraq Taught Me about War June 26, 2026
  I deployed to Tallil Air Base, Iraq in September 2004 as a U.S. Air Force (USAF) Operating Room (OR) nurse with the 407th Expeditionary Medical Group. At the time, there was still hope that Operation Iraqi Freedom might live up to its namesake. The U.S. was ostensibly still looking for WMD (the U.S. Iraq Survey […]
  Mike Warnock
• The Algorithm Didn’t Break Us Because We Arrived Pre-Cracked June 25, 2026
  America has reached that glamorous stage of empire where half the country thinks every stranger online is a patriot, a prophet, or a constitutional scholar because the profile picture contains sunglasses, an eagle, and a jawline stolen from a protein powder label. We used to fear foreign spies in trench coats slipping microfilm into park […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• The Expectation and the Job June 25, 2026
  “When I enlisted, I tried to sign up for the infantry,” said every POG (person other than a grunt) ever. It’s true, but with little means for college funding and an enlistment bonus dangling over my head, I opted for field artillery. I mean, the recruiter said I’d get to “blow shit up.” Done and […]
  Stan Lake