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

• Hollywood Put a Wig on the Lie June 23, 2026
  There’s a new little trick in prestige television, and by “new” I mean recycled with the confidence of a toddler wearing lipstick on its forehead. It’s called “reimagining history,” which is Hollywood-speak for “we know what happened, we know what people looked like, we know the public can Google portraits in fourteen seconds, and we’re […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• Teaching the Nervous System the Fight Is Over June 23, 2026
  In 2020, while serving as an assistant team leader on a DEA Special Response Team operation in Boston, I found myself standing behind a rifle-rated ballistic shield weighing roughly 50 pounds. Intelligence indicated the suspect was armed and dangerous. As our team made entry and began clearing the structure, the suspect suddenly reached toward a […]
  Sergeant Ayman Kafel, MSC
• The Last Class Before Everything Changed June 23, 2026
  It’s graduation season. I’ve been seeing many people share photos of their loved ones walking across high school and college stages to receive diplomas. This week, I got to see my oldest niece receive her high school diploma. I even gifted her with a toad I caught on the football field, where we took photos […]
  Stan Lake
• “Live Not By Lies”—What It Means Today June 22, 2026
  We have internalized well the lessons drummed into us by the state; we are forever content and comfortable with its premise: we cannot escape the environment, the social conditions; they shape us, “being determines consciousness.” What have we to do with this? We can do nothing. But we can do—everything!—even if we comfort and lie […]
  Charles Faint
• I Wrote a Novel to Keep Myself Alive June 22, 2026
  By Reid Cross Years of service. Real missions, real stakes, real brotherhood. Then you wake up one morning and the mission is gone. I entered the Army with one goal: to be a good enough leader to command a Special Forces detachment. It was my guiding light for the entirety of my time as an […]
  Special Guest