Civic Essays
What We Owe the Next Generation
There is a kind of conversation that has gone out of fashion in this country, and we are paying for its absence. It is the conversation older people used to [...]
The Havok Journal | Military & Veteran News, Commentary, Culture
- The Death of Expertise, and Why No One Trusts “The Experts” Anymore October 19, 2026Tom Nichols wrote The Death of Expertise in 2017 to warn Americans about a growing cultural problem: we were becoming increasingly unwilling to accept that some people actually know more about certain subjects than other people. The Internet gave everyone access to an almost unlimited amount of information, higher education produced increasingly confident graduates, cable […]Charles Faint
- The Decision Isn’t the Problem October 19, 2026By Christopher M. Phillips, Ph.D. Editor’s note: The cases described in this article are composites, with identifying details changed. I sat across from a man a few months after his retirement ceremony. Twenty-two years of service with multiple deployments. A career worth respecting. He said the ceremony had gone well, and the speeches were affirming. […]Special Guest
- What Soldiers Know About Love October 19, 2026I haven’t read the Bible in a while—unless you count the few times a week that I read the daily scripture sent to my phone from the Bible app. Usually, I don’t think much about them. I read them in passing, say “hmm,” and go about my day unaffected. I’m a horrible Christian, I suppose. […]Stan Lake
- When the Uniform Becomes a Shadow October 18, 2026I recently read Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. One passage about the “Shadow Career” struck me:“Sometimes, when we’re terrified of embracing our true calling, we’ll pursue a shadow calling instead. The shadow career is a metaphor for our real career. Its shape is similar, its contours feel tantalizingly the same. But a shadow career entails […]Sergeant Ayman Kafel, MSC
- Where the Uniform Ends I Begin October 18, 2026The uncertainty leaves me perplexed. The world passes me by as I wonder if these are my last moments. Is today the last day I don this uniform? Are these my final moments among my partners—my friends? The uncertainty has left me almost silent. I anxiously await the final notice. I’ve been torn between silence […]Jake Smith
