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

• The VA’s Secret Staffing Plan Is Your Family August 4, 2026
  America has 14.3 million military and veteran caregivers. RAND estimates that their largely uncompensated labor produces between $119 billion and $485 billion in value every year. That’s quite a range. Somewhere between “major domestic industry” and “apparently the republic is being held together by relatives who haven’t finished a cup of coffee while it was […]
  Tammy Pondsmith
• The Politicization of Law Enforcement and the Cost to Society August 4, 2026
  By now, much of the nation has heard of Corey Ruiz and the shooting that took place in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 22. This has raised questions about the type of training police officers receive, police budgets and the overall police presence the public wants in Madison right now. It has caused debates among friends, […]
  Nader Gamez
• The Helmsman Was on Acid August 4, 2026
  By Scott Staron Nighttime at sea. The ship’s bridge is dark, with red light coming from a few isolated pieces of equipment, but my eyes are accustomed to the black of night. As a brand-new conning officer of a U.S. Navy warship in 1987, I give the orders that will send the ship in the […]
  Special Guest
• Aristotle’s Warning About a Life Spent Working: What It Means for Veterans August 3, 2026
  Work, and a Life Diminished There is a quiet but persistent assumption embedded in modern American life: that work is not only necessary, but also inherently virtuous in excess. The more one labors, the more one sacrifices leisure, the more one subordinates personal development to professional output, the more admirable one becomes. This assumption is […]
  Charles Faint
• Extortion 17 and the Truth August 3, 2026
  The untainted truth about what happened to Extortion 17.
  Marty Skovlund, Jr.