1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" 2 xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" 3 xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" 4 xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" 5 xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" 6 xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" 7 xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" 8 > 9 10<channel> 11 <title>The Havok Journal | Military & Veteran News, Commentary, Culture</title> 12 <atom:link href="https://havokjournal.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> 13 <link>https://havokjournal.com/</link> 14 <description>The Voice of the Veteran Community</description> 15 <lastBuildDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:39:53 +0000</lastBuildDate> 16 <language>en-US</language> 17 <sy:updatePeriod> 18 hourly </sy:updatePeriod> 19 <sy:updateFrequency> 20 1 </sy:updateFrequency> 21 22<site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80540749</site> <item> 23 <title>The Business of Breaking Us</title> 24 <link>https://havokjournal.com/satire-humor/the-business-of-breaking-us/</link> 25 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/satire-humor/the-business-of-breaking-us/#respond</comments> 26 27 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Pondsmith]]></dc:creator> 28 <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:30:00 +0000</pubDate> 29 <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category> 30 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health & Wellness]]></category> 31 <category><![CDATA[satire/humor]]></category> 32 <category><![CDATA[fear driven headlines]]></category> 33 <category><![CDATA[fear porn]]></category> 34 <category><![CDATA[havok journal]]></category> 35 <category><![CDATA[Havok Media]]></category> 36 <category><![CDATA[journalism critique]]></category> 37 <category><![CDATA[media fear tactics]]></category> 38 <category><![CDATA[media manipulation]]></category> 39 <category><![CDATA[media profits from division]]></category> 40 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health and Wellness]]></category> 41 <category><![CDATA[news satire]]></category> 42 <category><![CDATA[outrage economy]]></category> 43 <category><![CDATA[panic culture]]></category> 44 <category><![CDATA[satire on media]]></category> 45 <category><![CDATA[Second Mission Foundation]]></category> 46 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 47 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=131532</guid> 48 49 <description><![CDATA[Remember when the news was about facts? Quaint little artifactsâdates, places, quotesâstacked together like sober index cards. Now, the media has evolved into something far more sophisticated: a full-service panic delivery system. âTonight at eleven: reasons to hate your neighbor, fear the weather, and question your sanity. Spoiler alert: all of the above.â They call […]]]></description> 50 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 51<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Remember when the news was about facts? Quaint little artifactsâdates, places, quotesâstacked together like sober index cards. Now, the media has evolved into something far more sophisticated: a full-service panic delivery system. âTonight at eleven: reasons to hate your neighbor, fear the weather, and question your sanity. Spoiler alert: all of the above.â</p> 52 53 54 55<p class="wp-block-paragraph">They call it <em>fear porn,</em> but donât be fooled. This isnât some shady VHS in the backroom of a video store. Itâs mainstream, prime-time, and piped into your living room in high definition. The true pornography isnât sexâitâs the intimate, gratuitous exploitation of division. Nothing titillates a news producer more than stripping human calm down to a quivering mess of tribal paranoia.</p> 56 57 58 59<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The business model used to be ad revenue. Now itâs adrenaline revenue. Why sell soap when you can sell suspicion? Fear is a perfect commodityâit circumvents logic, seduces the amygdala, and keeps you refreshing your feed like a lab rat pressing a dopamine lever. Every headline is a slot machine pull, rigged so the reels always land on pandemic, riots, or civilizational collapse. Jackpot: another cortisol rush.</p> 60 61 62 63<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Of course, defenders insist the media is simply âinformingâ us. Thatâs like calling a loan shark a generous banker. When a chyron screams <em>âDEATH TOLL CLIMBINGâ</em> (as if death were an influencer announcing a new merch drop), the goal isnât civic dutyâitâs keeping you transfixed long enough to watch the truck commercial. If truth really sold, headlines would read: <em>âMillions Went About Their Day Without IncidentâFilm at Eleven.â</em></p> 64 65 66<div class="wp-block-image"> 67<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-26-2025-12_17_05-PM-1-1024x683.png" alt="" class="wp-image-131535" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-26-2025-12_17_05-PM-1-1024x683.png 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-26-2025-12_17_05-PM-1-300x200.png 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-26-2025-12_17_05-PM-1-768x512.png 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-26-2025-12_17_05-PM-1.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 68</div> 69 70 71<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But unity? Thatâs a financial disaster. A cooperative public would mean no clicks, no conflict, no need for talking heads to foam on cue. Division is the product, outrage the packaging. Youâre not supposed to see your fellow citizens as flawed-but-human neighbors; youâre supposed to see them as existential threats. Protestors become âterrorists.â Parents become âradicals.â Entire groups are condensed to hashtags of menace. Itâs not journalismâitâs tribal cosplay with a teleprompter.</p> 72 73 74 75<p class="wp-block-paragraph">
75And the fear-industrial complex never retires. The virus recedes? Cue the climate apocalypse. The climate stabilizes? Cue âdomestic extremists.â If those dry up, donât worryâyour smart fridge will surely plot your demise by next sweeps week. Fear is infinitely renewable, and the media milks it with the zeal of a farmer at sunrise.</p> 76 77 78 79<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hereâs the punchline: the flames they fan donât just light up ratings; they scorch the foundations of civil society. Friends fracture, families splinter, communities eye each other with suspicion. Meanwhile, the anchors sit grinning, congratulating themselves on âholding power accountable,â while their real legacy is holding unity hostage.</p> 80 81 82 83<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So maybe the sanest move isnât vigilance, but abstinenceânot from life, but from the endless vaudeville of catastrophe. Imagine a nation clicking off the news, all at once. <em>âBreaking: Viewers Reject Manufactured Panic, Anchors Forced into Honest Work.â</em> Now thatâs the first headline in decades worth cheering.</p> 84 85 86<div class="wp-block-image"> 87<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ChatGPT-Image-Sep-26-2025-12_17_05-PM-1024x683.png" alt="" class="wp-image-131533"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">When truth wonât trend, panic always will.</figcaption></figure> 88</div> 89 90 91<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>_____________________________</em></p> 92 93 94 95<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on September 30, 2025.</em></p> 96 97 98 99<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong>Tammy Pondsmith</strong> reports tirelessly from the front lines of manufactured hysteria, where she translates media panic into punchlines sharper than the anchorsâ suits.</em></p> 100 101 102 103<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 104]]></content:encoded> 105 106 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/satire-humor/the-business-of-breaking-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 107 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 108 109 110 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">131532</post-id> </item> 111 <item> 112 <title>The lessons I learned in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery</title> 113 <link>https://havokjournal.com/veterans-3/the-lessons-i-learned-in-section-60-of-arlington-national-cemetery/</link> 114 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/veterans-3/the-lessons-i-learned-in-section-60-of-arlington-national-cemetery/#respond</comments> 115 116 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Alice Atalanta]]></dc:creator> 117 <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:15:00 +0000</pubDate> 118 <category><![CDATA[death]]></category> 119 <category><![CDATA[Family]]></category> 120 <category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category> 121 <category><![CDATA[havok journal]]></category> 122 <category><![CDATA[Havok Media]]></category> 123 <category><![CDATA[Second Mission Foundation]]></category> 124 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 125 <category><![CDATA[veterans]]></category> 126 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=86518</guid> 127 128 <description><![CDATA[(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 […]]]></description> 129 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 130<p class="wp-block-paragraph">(Where I met the ghosts of the living, but not of the dead)</p> 131 132 133 134<p class="wp-block-paragraph">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 was there was before the war. Before all of <em>this</em> came to be.</p> 135 136 137 138<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Itâs been a lifetime since then.</p> 139 140 141 142<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Iâve seen the pictures. Iâve seen the families. Iâve seen the somber, solemn, courageous spouses held up by some invisible superhuman force as they receive the folded flag from the white-gloved hands while they undoubtedly feel like crumbling to the ground.</p> 143 144 145 146<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But for me, this visit was a long time coming. In what has now grown to a near decade of civilian service to the military and Special Operations communitiesâas writer, editor, scholar, and strategic communications professionalâmy winding path finally led me back to Arlington, where the ultimate chapter of so many servicemembersâ stories is written.</p> 147 148 149 150<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But in my case, I went to see my friends. And the strange thing about it is, I had never met a one of the men I am about to mention in person. The reason I know them and know their stories is because of the ones they left behindâthe keepers of their flames. The ones who still speak their names, share their stories, fuel their legacies, and fight to ensure that their sacrifices are known in a context that imbues them with meaning. These are not poor souls who died in vain, which I know from the living loved one
150s who have been left to carry on in their absence. I <em>do</em> know the living. And those <em>are </em>my friends. It all feels like a coming-full-circle, and stands as a testament to the truth that one torch-bearing human canâwhen fueled by tenacious loveârob death of some of its finality.</p> 151 152 153 154<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When I walked through this field of sleeping warriors, under the cool but pristine September sun, the grass plush under my bare feet, I feltâfor themâan all-encompassing sense of peace. They were at rest with one another, heroes among heroes, having died warriorâs deaths and laying among their brothers and sisters.</p> 155 156 157 158<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Still, in the air I felt something else: the energy disrupted by restless ghosts. Or perhaps not ghosts at all, but rather the memories held by the space itself of the still-living whose boundless grief was manifested there. The ones whose tears had fallen down to water that very grass, helping it mask the dead gravesites with its vibrance.</p> 159 160 161 162<p class="wp-block-paragraph">SEALs Nate Hardy and Mike Koch were the first I had to find. I couldnât help but think, as I sought out their final resting places: for every grave, there was a family. Mother, father, spouse, children. There were sometimes even the broken bodies of the warriors who had borne their teammates home, as well. One is my dear friend who, on his 29<sup>th</sup> birthday, sat in a wheelchair under a grey February sky as Nate and Mike were interred. </p> 163 164 165<div class="wp-block-image"> 166<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="640" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Banner-PIC-1024x640.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86523" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Banner-PIC-1024x640.jpg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Banner-PIC-300x187.jpg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Banner-PIC-768x480.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Banner-PIC-1536x960.jpg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Banner-PIC-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 167</div> 168 169 170<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He had barely survived the firefight after Nate and Mike were hit when he, third in the stack behind them, took shots to his lower leg that tore through his body but left his soul intact. In that wheelchair in Arlington, that day in 2008, he made the critical and life-changing decision to return to the fight in what would go on to become a 22-year career in the SEAL Teams. How many lives, missions, and outcomes were altered by the decision he made that day? I, for one, would not be writing this essay right now.</p> 171 172 173 174<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I felt connected to Nate and Mike through stories that had been shared with me during a time in my life when I was lost and searching for answers. Their courage, actions, and sacrifice made me feel brave and purposeful. When I fought my last brutal boxing fight on February 8âthe same date carved on their Arlington headstonesâI did so with Nate and Mikeâs names written in Sharpie on the hand wraps beneath my gloves. </p> 175 176 177 178<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We can fight valiantly, and that fight still counts for its valor, no matter the twists and turns it may take; that fight didnât go my way on the scorecardsâbut those bloody wraps are still hanging in a frame on the wall of my house to this day, Nate and Mikeâs names still displayed. Alone with them both for a moment, I thanked them for their sacrifice and for the gifts theyâve given me, even if indirect. We never knew each other in life, but in death, we have become closely acquainted. I owe them more than I could say.</p> 179 180 181<div class="wp-block-image"> 182<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="735" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nic-1024x735.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86529" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nic-1024x735.jpg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nic-300x215.jpg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nic-768x551.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nic-1536x1103.jpg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Nic-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 183</div> 184 185 186<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I then went to see Nic Checque, whose name is uttered and face is shown on screen every time I speak to police officers about the intangible elements of the no-fail mission. We watch a U.S. Navy video of Medal of Honor recipient Ed Byers sharing the harrowing story of the night Nic was killedâwhich Ed never discusses without honoring Nicâs name. Even in death, Nic continues to serve selflessly through his story and legacy, which strengthen those who serve and protect our communities here at home. I needed Nic to know this, so I found him and told him.</p> 187 188 189 190<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And right beside Nic were the men of Extortion 17, whose death marks the most significant historical event that most Americans have never heard of. I had touched on this matter previously when I wrote for <em>The Havok Journal</em> about Americaâs failure to appropriately honor our fallen warriors, but my past cries for their recognition were countered by the humility of the 31 heroesâ final resting place. âThe deed is all, and not the glory,â remember? And there they all were, their shared final resting place beneath one single, humble headstone, the same size as that which any other individual team guy would receiveâwhich Iâm certain was no mistake or oversight. Brothers as one until the very end, and beyond.</p> 191 192 193<div class="wp-block-image"> 194<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="801" height="1024" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/extortion-17-801x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86530" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/extortion-17-801x1024.jpg 801w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/extortion-17-235x300.jpg 235w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/extortion-17-768x981.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/extortion-17-1202x1536.jpg 1202w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/extortion-17-scaled.jpg 1603w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 801px) 100v
194w, 801px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 195</div> 196 197 198<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I went to see Andy Marckesano, and my friend Bethâa Gold Star Spouse whose Green Beret husband Trent was buried a few rows backâpoured out a 40 of Fosterâs and dropped a Camel by Andyâs grave. Along with Frances (close friend of Green Beret Jeremie Border), Krista Simpson Anderson (Gold Star Spouse Green Beret Michael Simpson), and Paula (whose husband, Billy, served honorably as SGM with 7<sup>th</sup> Special Forces Group (A) until retirement), we recorded a video for Andyâs mom in slow-mo, Bethâs dress blowing wildly in the wind, while I half-joked to the other black-clad women in our small partyâwhose husbands and friends all lie in that hallowed groundâthat I wondered if we were enough to form a coven, and also wondering if there was some mystical energy we sisters could summon to bring healing, bring someone back, or fix somethingâanythingâthat was broken in this unfathomable scene of heartbreak and carrying-on.</p> 199 200 201 202<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Taking a long camera zoom angle out into the sky (over me and the girls who had come to celebrate friends and husbands Andy, Trent, Jeremie, and Michael) out to a drone-like view of the 400,000+ headstones, it comes into focus that the stories at Arlington are as countless as the graves. Each one no less special, no less poignant and meaningful than the other. Each familyâs hurt no less deep than anotherâs. The weight of this realization becomes almost impossible to bear.</p> 203 204 205 206<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Especially in Section 60, where so many of those killed in the Global War on Terror lay. Too young, with birthdays on gravestones younger than my younger brother, younger than I, frozen in time at 28, 29, 30 years old, forever young. Their youth makes me wonder about the grief that canât find any answers, like the one operator who had told me of standing in Section 60 and mourning deaths that were combat-related but yet felt senseless. Deaths that might have perhaps even been prevented by one small domino in the annals of time falling this way instead of that. Fates sealed by one butterfly-effect ripple in the space-time continuum (âIf only he had just worn his chest plates that dayâ), now marked by plainly-worded headstones.</p> 207 208 209<div class="wp-block-image"> 210<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="751" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Side-shot-of-cemetery-1024x751.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86528" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Side-shot-of-cemetery-1024x751.jpg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Side-shot-of-cemetery-300x220.jpg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Side-shot-of-cemetery-768x564.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Side-shot-of-cemetery-1536x1127.jpg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Side-shot-of-cemetery-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 211</div> 212 213 214<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And how do we take that home? How do we make sense of that kind of senselessness? How do we face the sickening feeling that I didnât expect to feel walking into that sacred ground, because of how that war ended? Because of how our nationâs leadership forced us to turn our backs and abandon it?</p> 215 216 217 218<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Because of the way we left, which abruptly changed the meaningful and heroic ending that each of these stories, which started on 9/11/01, was <em>supposed</em> to have had?</p> 219 220 221 222<p class="wp-block-paragraph">These men and women gave their lives for that heroic ending; thatâs what they believed they were doing when they went to war. They gave their lives to win. They gave their lives to save peopleâgood people, innocent peopleâfrom forces of evil that the brothers they left behind will tell you is real, and that theyâve seen face to face. Evil that only knows and responds to violence. Evil so atrocious that it exceeds the western imaginationâs moral capacity to conceptualize.</p> 223 224 225 226<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It feels like facing a vast and mute emptiness, to consider the government entities and bureaucracy that sent these young people to war but never deigned to knowâreally <em>knowâ</em>these individual stories. That may give a contrived but reverent nod because itâs the right thing to do and part of their professional responsibilities, or because in <em>theory</em> they care and they honor the sacrifice. But in reality, they donât lead like people who have made the deep dive into really thinking about the fact that under this ground are boxes, and in these boxes are people in dress uniforms representing the roles that they played to serve our country for purposes they thought they believed in. Individuals with infinite potential; high achieves, who chose this path instead of something more lucrative, self-serving, and secure that would have given them more personal glory.</p> 227 228 229 230<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>The deed is all, and not the glory.</em></p> 231 232 233 234<p class="wp-block-paragraph">They chose this path, and here they lie. Meanwhile, I walk among their earthly remains and feel the bitter reality that one day these stories (which I canât imagine anyone ever forgetting) will be washed over by time just like a wave on a beach washes away writing in the sand. That, just as I see the neat and tidy rows of graves from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam lining the hills of Arlington, those names and faces are only near to me in theory. But the ones that are near to me in lifeâour lives are now all intricately intertwined as ones who have loved and lost in this warâone day, their stories will wash away, too.</p> 235 236 237<div class="wp-block-image"> 238<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="872" height="1024" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tapper-872x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86531" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tapper-872x1024.jpg 872w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tapper-255x300.jpg 255w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tapper-768x902.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tapper-1308x1536.jpg 1308w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Tapper-scaled.jpg 1744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 872px) 100vw, 872px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 239</div> 240 241 242<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It is as another SEAL, recalling the day they lay Dave Tapper to rest, reminded me: the dead are at peace, and although we hurt for them while feeling their absence, we will take the acuteness of that pain with us when we go. If thatâs really true, then we are the sand on the beach bearing their names, and one day, when everyone who lived through this war and its aftermath is gone, the pain will be washed away, too. And just maybe then, the ghosts in the air that I feel in Arlingtonâof the brokenhearted wives, devastated mothers, courageous but blindsided childrenâmaybe in the fullness of time those ghosts will find peace, as well.</p> 243 244 245 246<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I had come back to Arlington on this journey to witness another story come full circle as I watched my friend Bianca lay to rest her husband Darren, a Green Beret, after a lengthy and hard-fought battle with medical issues stemming from injuries sustained in Iraq years ago. Poised, dignified, iconic, loyal, and faithful, Bianca was the picture of strength and courage as she brought her husband to his final resting place in line with his wishes. </p> 247 248 249<div class="wp-block-image"> 250<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="826" height="1024" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1st-pic-826x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86527" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1st-pic-826x1024.jpg 826w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1st-pic-242x300.jpg 242w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1st-pic-768x952.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1st-pic-1239x1536.jpg 1239w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1st-pic-scaled.jpg 1652w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 826px) 100v
250w, 826px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mrs. Bianca Baldwin at the interment of her husband, Major Darren R. Baldwin (Green Beret). Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 251</div> 252 253 254<p class="wp-block-paragraph">During his service, I saw his motherâs hand reach over for a moment to find his Biancaâs hands, folded in her lap, her pearl bracelet glinting in the sun as her mother-in-lawâs hand for a moment wrapped itself around hers in a squeeze of solidarity. I stared at the hands of the two women who had borne that man through this life: from his infancy, youth, and young adulthood, his mother; and through his adulthood, period of service, and illness, his wife. And in that moment, I became fixated on those hands. The hands that had touched him. The only hands that remembered what he felt like under their touch. The hands, in that way, reflecting the cruelty of his absence. The hands that could best-ever approximate his form again through a cool, still urn or gravestone.</p> 255 256 257<div class="wp-block-image"> 258<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="758" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hand-hold-1024x758.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86535" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hand-hold-1024x758.jpg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hand-hold-300x222.jpg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hand-hold-768x568.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hand-hold-1536x1136.jpg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hand-hold-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 259</div> 260 261 262<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Those who are left behind by the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines taken from us too soonâtheir hands, hearts, minds, and bodies mold around the loved oneâs absence. Everything about them holds the shape of the departed as if they were still here. But it stays empty.</p> 263 264 265 266<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I want to say, âIf just more people cared.â But what does that mean? âIf just more people cared, as <em>I </em>do?â Thatâs not it, at all. I am not the point of this story; just a conduit. If more people like meâmore civilians, more government officials, more of everyone who has never rucked, run, or worn the boots⦠if more people would visit Section 60 and feel the onslaught of reverence brought about by the momentous and undeniable sacrifice represented there by heroes, idols, and icons, perhaps there would be a stronger demand, taste, or desire for meaningful conversations about our nationâs involvement in international affairs and foreign conflicts.</p> 267 268 269 270<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Because no warrior who has buried a loved one in the ground at Arlington will say that the sacrifice wasnât worth it. But the rest of us owe the conundrum at least this much: that we make certain we face the fact that evil isnât someone elseâs problemâthe âsomeone elseâ being the servicemembers here who chose to take on this fightâit is <em>all </em>of our problem. And, as Americans, the respect and reverence we hold for our nationâs departed, as well as the appetite for historical understanding, needs to remain high so that we can move forward with maturity into a future where assets such as these young men and women are not expended recklessly.</p> 271 272 273 274<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Still, perspective is to each of us our own. As much as I am invested, I am still an outsider. There are things I still donât understand, as Iâm attempting to grasp whatever I can, and make sense of it all. Later, I show this essay to Beth, who is an accomplished writer, to get her thoughts. âI feel like there is something to add⦠we were just there for a while visiting with everyone we love and care about. That love doesnât die. They sign up for this, and so did we. I just told someone today, I would never take the honor out of Trentâs death by saying I didnât stand proud still.â</p> 275 276 277 278<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Beth shares that the first widow from D Battalion, before Trentâs death, was 19 and spoke only Spanish, but practiced the sentence âI am a proud Army wifeâ over and over in English. âShe has been a model for me for two decades of war,â Beth tells me.</p> 279 280 281 282<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It is not unlike our dear friend Bianca, born in Germany, whose husband Darren we had gathered at Arlington that day to inter. A proud Army wife.</p> 283 284 285 286<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Beth and Bianca teach me. Have pride. And honor their sacrifices with that pride.</p> 287 288 289<div class="wp-block-image"> 290<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="796" height="1024" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pride-796x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-86532" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pride-796x1024.jpg 796w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pride-233x300.jpg 233w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pride-768x988.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pride-1193x1536.jpg 1193w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pride-scaled.jpg 1591w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 796px) 100v
290w, 796px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mrs. Fran Wesseling, mother of Major Darren R. Baldwin. Credit: Author</figcaption></figure> 291</div> 292 293 294<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">______________________________</p> 295 296 297 298<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on September 26, 2023.</em></p> 299 300 301 302<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong>Dr. Atalanta</strong> is a leading scholar, trusted collaborator, and strategic communicator in the Special Operations field, working behind the scenes on countless projects with high profile individuals from the SEAL, Special Forces (Green Beret), Ranger, and intelligence communities in both the public and nonprofit space. Her work has appeared in multiple publications, and has previously earned the distinction of <a href="https://havokjournal.com/world/we-are-the-useful-idiots-how-our-nation-divided-is-playing-straight-into-the-hands-of-our-greatest-enemies/"><em>“Article of the Year” </em></a>at The Havok Journal. </em></p> 303 304 305 306<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Dr. Atalanta is CEO of SOFXLE, a training consultancy providing the Law Enforcement community with support from the Special Operations world (<a href="http://www.SOFxLE.com">www.SOFxLE.com</a>). The SOFxLE program was born of another Havok Journal essay, <a href="https://havokjournal.com/nation/ltc-dave-grossman-on-building-cops-who-cannot-fail-us/"><em>“LTC Dave Grossman on Building Cops Who Cannot Fail Us: How SEAL Team 6, Professional MMA Fighters, a Clinical Psychiatrist, and the Best-Known Law Enforcement Trainer on the Planet Hold the Key to Solving Our Police Problem for Good,”</em></a> published in the wake of the George Floyd controversy. </em></p> 307 308 309 310<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>Dr. Atalanta’s open, frank, and engaging teaching has received accolades at multiple institutions including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the University of Virginia, and the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate and was ranked by students in the top 1% of educators across the university. Her most recent book is <a href="https://hatterasnav.us/prodromosbooks/"><em>“Meditations of an Army Ranger: A Warrior Philosophy for Everyone,”</em></a> co-authored with LTC JC Glick. </em></p> 311 312 313 314<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>To learn more about Dr. Atalanta’s work with the Special Operations community, please visit <a href="http://www.aliceatalanta.com/"><em>www.aliceatalanta.com</em></a>. For a sampling of Dr. Atalanta’s writings and media appearances, please click <a href="https://linktr.ee/aliceatalantaphd"><em>here</em></a>.â</em></p> 315 316 317 318<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 319]]></content:encoded> 320 321 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/veterans-3/the-lessons-i-learned-in-section-60-of-arlington-national-cemetery/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 322 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 323 324 325 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">86518</post-id> </item> 326 <item> 327 <title>Police Training: Everyone Has a Plan ‘Til They Get Punched in the Face</title> 328 <link>https://havokjournal.com/law-enforcement/police-training-must-include-stress-inoculation-everyone-has-a-plan-til-they-get-punched-in-the-face/</link> 329 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/law-enforcement/police-training-must-include-stress-inoculation-everyone-has-a-plan-til-they-get-punched-in-the-face/#respond</comments> 330 331 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Sergeant Ayman Kafel, MSC]]></dc:creator> 332 <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 333 <category><![CDATA[Contemporary Affairs]]></category> 334 <category><![CDATA[Law Enforcement]]></category> 335 <category><![CDATA[Ayman Kafel]]></category> 336 <category><![CDATA[Knowing how to get punched in the face]]></category> 337 <category><![CDATA[law enforcement]]></category> 338 <category>
338<![CDATA[Law Enforcement Officer]]></category> 339 <category><![CDATA[Law Enforcement Training]]></category> 340 <category><![CDATA[Mike Tyson]]></category> 341 <category><![CDATA[Police Academy]]></category> 342 <category><![CDATA[police recruits]]></category> 343 <category><![CDATA[Police Training]]></category> 344 <category><![CDATA[Police Training Must Include Stress Inoculation]]></category> 345 <category><![CDATA[Police Training: Everyone Has a Plan 'Til They Get Punched in the Face]]></category> 346 <category><![CDATA[Project Sapient]]></category> 347 <category><![CDATA[stress]]></category> 348 <category><![CDATA[stress innoculation]]></category> 349 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 350 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=23269</guid> 351 352 <description><![CDATA[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 […]]]></description> 353 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 354<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong>Editor’s Note</strong>: This article is also discussed in Ayman’s Podcast: Project Sapient–<a href="https://projectsapient.podbean.com/?fbclid=IwAR2jpMWFdjid1uo1JcapP_W5p5DamJvejD8K2wn_UKYwK0_kJSRb2Ake6-M">check it out here</a>.</em></p> 355 356 357 358<p class="wp-block-paragraph">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 and war broke out. I saw a soldier jump out of a military truck and get blown up by a grenade. We left Liberia as a result and flew to Lebanon, where my parents are from. It was in the late ’80s when we landed in Lebanon.</p> 359 360 361 362<p class="wp-block-paragraph">My only childhood memory of Lebanon was of Artillery hitting the side of a cliff near my family’s village. I also remember soldiers/militants driving through my family’s village. I would run home crying at the sight of that. We moved to the United States. I went to schools here. I dealt with schoolyard bullies. I wasn’t timid about fighting back. Why is that? Did my past experience have something to do with it?</p> 363 364 365 366<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I have friends, brothers-in-arms, who grew up around violence. I have fellow veterans who grew up in tough urban environments and had early childhood trauma as a result. Did their individual experiences help them gravitate towards a profession like policing or combat arms in the military? Think of people in your life, or even yourself, if you are a veteran or first responder, what made you be
366come one.</p> 367 368 369 370<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I believe there are 3 kinds of people that join the military or become first responders. The first kind, it’s a family “business”. They do it cause their parents and great-grandparents did it and it’s in their blood. The second kind, just needed a job, to pay bills, work overtime (first responders), get health insurance for the family, etc. The third kind are the predators, not the bad ones, like sex-predators, I’m talking those who have their instincts honed due to their past experiences. They accessed their primal instincts to do the job. They grew up around trauma, like war, tough urban environments, and were able to survive it. They understand what it means to be “punched in the face.” They come from a long line of warriors in their former lives.</p> 371 372 373 374<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As I stated before, my family is from Lebanon. Ancient times, it was Phoenicia and has been at war for thousands of years. In the village of Qana or Canaan, is where Jesus turned water to wine. That is just minutes away from my family’s village.</p> 375 376 377 378<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Within the fabric of the DNA of certain people is the attraction to violence, combat, fighting whatever you want to call it. It is so far deep in our DNA that with the creation of technology it got turned off. 1st responders and service members, who were exposed to fighting, boxing, wrestling, martial arts, etc. at an early age are wired differently. Those primal senses got turned on and they never turn off.</p> 379 380 381 382<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mike Tyson once said: “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the face.” I love that quote because it is so true. When police academy instructors tell me that they have to teach recruits how to make a fist, that is an issue. That tells me when these recruits graduate the academy, without ever experiencing an actual fight, whether winning or losing, those recruits are going to cave in when under stress. Those who have fought, whether combat, in the ring, in the schoolyard, are not afraid of getting punched in the face. They have felt it before and can deal with it.</p> 383 384 385 386<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Why am I talking about getting punched in the face? What does that have to do with this topic? It is EVERYTHING. I’ll give you a quick example, a few years ago I investigated a credit card theft. The defendant, “Mr. Big,” worked as a mechanic for a family-owned car dealership. The victim, “Mr. Cars,” reported that he thought it was his mechanic, Mr. Big, that stole his credit card. Mr. Cars provided me a credit card statement of the fraudulent charges.</p> 387 388 389 390<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So fast forward a couple of weeks, I already interviewed Mr. Big, I obtained video evidence of Mr. Big using Mr. Cars credit card in various stores, and was granted a warrant for Mr. Big’s arrest by the courts. I coordinated with Mr. Cars and went to the dealership. I went into Mr. Cars’ office and Mr. Big walked in. There was a reason I called him Mr. Big. He is 6’3 and a solid 230lbs. He was built like a tank and I could tell he could handle himself.</p> 391 392 393 394<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, in a tactical sense, I did not like Mr. Car’s office. There was only one way in and one way out. My back was against a wall and Mr. Car’s desk was in front of me. Mr. Big walked in with clenched fists. I begin a verbal dance with him, as I talked to him, we circled each other around Mr. Car’s desk. My back up was minutes away. I stopped walking with my back to the door and with Mr. Big’s back to the wall. He immediately recognized that he was at a disadvantage. He paced back and forth trying to figure out what to do next. In the end, he went into my handcuffs peacefully and no use of force necessary.</p> 395 396 397 398<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I was talking to a friend of mine, who’s retired Special Forces, about this scenario. He described it as two apex predators circling each other and my posture was stronger than Mr. Big’s. That’s what made me win. My friend, who also grew up in tough urban neighborhoods, knew exactly what I was doing as I described the incident. I did not stress out, my emotions were calm, and my demeanor was intense. I’d say 99% of my arrests go that way.</p> 399 400 401 402<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Back to Mike Tyson’s quote. What does that have to do with anything? It is about performing under stress. The military has that down to a science. That’s what boot camp, Ranger School, Special Forces selection is all about. Testing individuals in times of stress and getting them to think under pressure. With academies becoming softer due to political correctness, we are creating cops who do not know how to respond under stress. The academy is six months long, in some areas, and then the newly minted officers are out on the streets. To enforce laws, to serve and to, God forbid, use their weapons. It is an incredible burden to place onto someone who has not been given adequate training.</p> 403 404 405 406<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I’ve shared a little about my past and how it shaped who I am today. Modern society, these days, look down upon a “tough” cop or even an “alpha” type personality. Modern technology did away with those primal instincts that we have wired
406in us all. Those who have been “punched in the face” know what it’s like and are ready and willing to act and think under pressure. During MMA fights, wrestling bouts, or boxing fights, the fighters are trying to outwit each other. What looks like chaos by many, to the fighters, it’s home. They impose their will on the situation and refuse to let the other fighter dictate the outcome. It is the same with policing. What may look like a chaotic scene, to cops, a car chase, SWAT mission, foot chase, is actually a coordinated effort to bring the chaos to an end by imposing their will onto the situation.</p> 407 408 409 410<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There needs to be stress inoculation in these academies for administrators to find out who has deficiencies and who is strong. Training under stress is good. It is eye-opening for the recruits. It tells them what they are truly made of and will weed out those who do not need to be there. The biggest hurdle for this type of training is funding. There must be proper funding to train police officers to handle stressful situations.</p> 411 412 413 414<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Training must reflect the fact that policing is more than a job, it is a way of life.</p> 415 416 417 418<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">_______________</p> 419 420 421 422<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on July 2, 2020.</em></p> 423 424 425 426<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong>Ayman</strong> <strong>Kafel </strong>is a patrol sergeant, combat veteran, and founder of Project Sapient, with more than 20 years of operational experience. He served in Iraq as a U.S. Army soldier and translator and has worked in law enforcement roles including SWAT, DEA task force work, and plainclothes interdiction; he also holds a masterâs degree in counterterrorism. For The Havok Journal, he writes from that background on law enforcement, service, training, stress, resilience, and national security, often focusing on the physical and psychological demands of high-stress work. Follow Project Sapient on Instagram, YouTube, and all podcast platforms for engaging content. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="noopener">[email protected]</a>.</em></p> 427 428 429 430<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 431]]></content:encoded> 432 433 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/law-enforcement/police-training-must-include-stress-inoculation-everyone-has-a-plan-til-they-get-punched-in-the-face/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 434 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 435 436 437 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">23269</post-id> </item> 438 <item> 439 <title>You Think You Want a Non-Interventionist U.S., Until You Get a Non-Interventionist U.S.</title> 440 <link>https://havokjournal.com/national-security/you-think-you-want-a-non-interventionist-u-s-until-you-get-a-non-interventionist-u-s/</link> 441 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/national-security/you-think-you-want-a-non-interventionist-u-s-until-you-get-a-non-interventionist-u-s/#respond</comments> 442 443 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Faint]]></dc:creator> 444 <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:30:00 +0000</pubDate> 445 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category> 446 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category> 447 <category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category> 448 <category><![CDATA[American foreign policy]]></category> 449 <category><![CDATA[American leadership]]></category> 450 <category><![CDATA[American military power]]></category> 451 <category><![CDATA[Charles Faint]]></category> 452 <category><![CDATA[deterrence]]></category> 453 <category><![CDATA[Global War on Terror]]></category> 454 <category><![CDATA[isolationism]]></category> 455 <category><![CDATA[military intervention]]></category> 456 <category><![CDATA[military strategy]]></category> 457 <category><![CDATA[NATO]]></category> 458 <category><![CDATA[restraint]]></category> 459 <category><![CDATA[U.S. Foreign Policy]]></category> 460 <category><![CDATA[U.S. non-interventionism]]></category> 461 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=158671</guid> 462 463 <description><![CDATA[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 […]]]></description> 464 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 465<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For most of my adult life, the United States has been at war somewhere. I spent a good portion of <a href="https://havokjournal.com/internet-technology/what-chatgpt-told-me-about-my-combat-experience/">my own military career</a> in those wars, particularly <a href="https://havokjournal.com/nation/a-deck-of-many-things-reflections-on-colin-powell-and-iraq-20-years-later/" data-type="link" data-id="https://havokjournal.com/nation/a-deck-of-many-things-reflections-on-colin-powell-and-iraq-20-years-later/">in Iraq </a>and <a href="https://havokjournal.com/culture/military/afghanistan-the-soundtrack-to-a-war-i-lost/">Afghanistan</a>, and I understand better than most why Americans have grown tired of intervention. We have seen ambitious objectives become open-ended commitments, tactical victories fail to produce strategic success, and enormous investments of blood and treasure yield outcomes that were disappointing, temporary, or both. After the debacles of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and two decades of <a href="https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/topic-guides/global-war-terror">the Global War on Terror</a>, skepticism about American military intervention is not merely understandable. <a href="https://www.georgewbushlibrary.gov/research/topic-guides/global-war-terror">It is healthy</a>. A republic should be reluctant to send its sons and daughters to fight overseas, and the burden of proof should always rest with those advocating the use of force.</p> 466 467 468 469<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But there is a contradiction embedded in much of the current conversation about American foreign policy. We increasingly demand that the United States stop policing the world, stop interfer
469ing in other countries’ affairs, stop paying for other nations’ security, stop trying to impose our values abroad, and stop involving ourselves in conflicts that do not directly threaten the American homeland. Fair enough. But when America actually steps back, we are frequently outraged by what happens next.</p> 470 471 472 473<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It seems that these days everybody wants a non-interventionist United States… until they get the results of a non-interventionist United States.</p> 474 475 476 477<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The uncomfortable truth is that American power has never merely caused things to happen. It has also prevented things from happening. Those prevented events are much harder to see. There are no photographs of the wars that did not begin, no memorials to the people who were not killed, and no dramatic headlines announcing that an adversary decided not to invade because the cost was too high. Deterrence is inherently difficult to appreciate because when it works, the most visible evidence of its success is that nothing happened.</p> 478 479 480 481<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For decades, American military, diplomatic, and economic power helped create an international environment in which certain behaviors carried predictable costs. That system was never perfect, nor was it universally benevolent. The United States has made serious strategic mistakes, sometimes with catastrophic consequences. American power did not eliminate war, genocide, terrorism, authoritarianism, territorial conquest, or human suffering. But it frequently constrained them. Carrier strike groups, overseas bases, security guarantees, intelligence partnerships, sanctions, diplomatic pressure, arms transfers, and sometimes the credible threat of American military force shaped the calculations of governments and armed groups around the world.</p> 482 483 484 485<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That influence came with costs, and Americans increasingly question whether those costs are worth paying. That is a legitimate debate. What is not legitimate is pretending that the costs disappear simply because we choose not to pay them.</p> 486 487 488 489<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Power vacuums do not remain vacant. When the United States decides that a region, conflict, or alliance is no longer sufficiently important to justify American involvement, other actors do not necessarily respond by embracing peace, democracy, and international law. They pursue their own interests. Sometimes those interests align with ours. Sometimes they emphatically do not. Regional powers become more aggressive. Smaller states hedge their bets. Allies seek alternative arrangements. Adversaries test boundaries. Terrorist organizations exploit ungoverned spaces. Authoritarian governments discover opportunities that previously looked too expensive. None of this automatically means the United States should intervene. </p> 490 491 492 493<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That distinction matters. Recognizing the consequences of restraint is not the same thing as advocating perpetual war. There is a vast spectrum between invading a country and ignoring it. Diplomacy is intervention. Economic pressure is intervention. Intelligence cooperation is intervention. Security assistance is intervention. Forward military presence is intervention. Arms sales are intervention. Training foreign militaries is intervention. Naval patrols are intervention. Even publicly drawing a diplomatic red line is a form of intervention because it attempts to alter another actor’s calculations.</p> 494 495 496 497<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The meaningful foreign-policy question, therefore, is rarely “intervention or non-intervention.” It is what kind of intervention, at what cost, for what objective, for how long, and backed by what willingness to escalate if the initial measure fails.</p> 498 499 500 501<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Afghanistan offers perhaps the most painful recent example. By 2021, there were compelling arguments for ending America’s involvement. The war had lasted twenty years. Americans were exhausted by it. The Afghan government remained deeply depen
501dent on foreign assistance, and the Taliban remained resilient despite two decades of American and coalition operations. There was no guarantee that another year, five years, or twenty years would produce a fundamentally different political outcome.</p> 502 503 504 505<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So America left. It what was arguably the worst possible way we could. And then America, and the world, received the consequences of leaving. The Afghan government collapsed with astonishing speed. The Taliban returned to Kabul. Afghans who had worked alongside Americans desperately sought evacuation. Images of people clinging to departing aircraft became symbols of the withdrawal. Women and girls who had grown up under a radically different social order suddenly faced a restored Taliban regime. None of that proves that remaining indefinitely was the correct policy. It does demonstrate something more fundamental: ending an intervention does not freeze the situation at the moment we depart. It relinquishes some of our ability to influence what happens afterward.</p> 506 507 508 509<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That principle applies far beyond Afghanistan. Americans understandably ask why Europeans cannot assume more responsibility for European security. It is a fair question, and European NATO members should carry a greater share of the burden. But if the United States significantly reduces its role in European security, we should expect European states to make decisions based on a world in which American guarantees are less certain. Some may dramatically increase defense spending. Others may accommodate stronger neighbors. Still others may pursue independent strategic capabilities that Washington has spent decades discouraging. A less American-dominated European security system will not necessarily be a more peaceful one. It will simply be less American-dominated.</p> 510 511 512 513<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The same logic applies in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. If America reduces its presence, regional actors gain greater freedom of action. That may sometimes be desirable. It may force allies to become more self-reliant. It may reduce American exposure to conflicts of marginal importance. It may prevent us from becoming trapped in another expensive and strategically incoherent war. But it can also mean accepting outcomes we dislike precisely because preventing those outcomes was one of the things American involvement previously accomplished.</p> 514 515 516 517<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is where the political conversation often becomes dishonest. We want Europe to defend itself, but we don’t want European security arrangements that conflict with American interests. We want Middle Eastern countries to solve their own problems, but we are appalled when their solutions violate our values. We want allies to stop depending on American military protection, but we become uncomfortable when they begin considering the weapons, alliances, and accommodations that genuine strategic independence might require. We want adversaries to fear consequences, while simultaneously insisting that America should never become involved in their conflicts. We want to spend less on maintaining the international order while continuing to enjoy the economic and strategic advantages that order has provided.</p> 518 519 520 521<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In short, we want influence without involvement. But that is not generally how power works.</p> 522 523 524 525<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There is another uncomfortable point that veterans of the post-9/11 wars should understand particularly well: intervention has consequences, but so does inaction. Iraq taught Americans to be skeptical of intelligence, ambitious war aims, regime change, and confident predictions about what comes after military victory. Afghanistan taught us about the limitations of nation-building and security-force assistance. Those are important lessons purchased at extraordinary cost. But “never intervene” is not a sophisticated lesson extracted from those wars any more than “always intervene” was a sophisticated lesson extracted from America’s victories in World War II.</p> 526 527 528 529<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One way of <a href="https://havokjournal.com/national-security/diplomacy/midlife-crisis-theres-more-to-national-power-than-mil/">thinking about Grand Strategy</a> is that it’s the business of choosing among imperfect options. Sometimes military intervention will make things worse. Sometimes refusing to intervene will make things worse. Sometimes there will be no good option at all, only different varieties of bad ones. The responsibility of policymakers is not to discover a risk-free choice, because such a choice usually does not exist. Their responsibility is to determine which risks matter most to American interests and which costs the country is actually willing to bear.</p> 530 531 532 533<p class="wp-block-paragraph">
533A genuinely non-interventionist America is possible. We can reduce overseas commitments. We can close bases. We can narrow alliance obligations. We can stop involving ourselves in distant civil wars. We can tell partners that their security is primarily their responsibility. We can reserve American military force almost exclusively for direct threats to the United States. There is a coherent argument for doing all of those things.</p> 534 535 536 537<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But such a policy comes with a price. The price is not simply that bad things will happen somewhere in the world. Bad things happen even when America is deeply involved. The price is that events will increasingly unfold without regard for American preferences. Other countries will set the rules. Other powers will establish spheres of influence. Allies will make accommodations we dislike. Adversaries will occasionally take risks they would not have taken under the shadow of American power. Humanitarian catastrophes may occur that America possesses the capability to mitigate but chooses not to. And sometimes we will watch outcomes develop that we could perhaps have prevented and have to remind ourselves that preventing them would have required exactly the kind of involvement we decided we no longer wanted.</p> 538 539 540 541<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Maybe that tradeoff is worth it. There are serious arguments that it is. After decades of war, Americans have every right to demand greater restraint, clearer objectives, more equitable burden-sharing, and a much higher threshold for the use of military force. Indeed, those demands may produce a wiser foreign policy.</p> 542 543 544 545<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But restraint has to mean accepting the consequences of restraint. We cannot simultaneously demand that America stop acting like the world’s policeman and then complain every time a crime occurs on a beat we decided to stop patrolling. We cannot insist that other countries determine their own futures and then expect those futures always to conform to our preferences. And we cannot relinquish responsibility while somehow retaining control. We definitely can’t do it when so much of America is divorced from war’s consequences and therefore don’t care how long a war goes on, or who dies in it, <a href="https://havokjournal.com/national-security/back-basics-2-returning-poor-game-modern-us-warfare/">because it doesn’t affect them.</a></p> 546 547 548 549<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The United States should intervene less often, more carefully, and with far greater clarity about what it is trying to accomplish. Twenty years of war should have taught us that much. But those same twenty years should also have taught us something else: there is no option called “do nothing” that carries no consequences.</p> 550 551 552 553<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sometimes intervention creates the problem.</p> 554 555 556 557<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Sometimes intervention prevents the problem.</p> 558 559 560 561<p class="wp-block-paragraph">And sometimes we only discover which one it was after we stop.<br><br>That’s why national interests, and the decisions to protect and project them through war, are so hard.</p> 562 563 564 565<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>_____________________________</em></p> 566 567 568 569<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><a href="https://havokjournal.com/politics/international/venezuela-proves-you-can-vote-into-socialism-but-not-vote-your-way-out/"><strong>Charles</strong></a> served over 27 years in the US Army, which included seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with various Special Operations Forces units and two stints as an instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also completed operational tours in Egypt, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea and earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Temple University as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University. He is the owner of The Havok Journal, and the views expressed herein are his own and do not reflect those of the US Government or any other person or entity.</em></p> 570 571 572 573<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 574]]></content:encoded> 575 576 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/national-security/you-think-you-want-a-non-interventionist-u-s-until-you-get-a-non-interventionist-u-s/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 577 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 578 579 580 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">158671</post-id> </item> 581 <item> 582 <title>The Conflict at Home</title> 583 <link>https://havokjournal.com/culture/family/the-conflict-at-home/</link> 584 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/culture/family/the-conflict-at-home/#respond</comments> 585 586 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Wendy Arena]]></dc:creator> 587 <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:15:00 +0000</pubDate> 588 <category><![CDATA[Family]]></category> 589 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health & Wellness]]></category> 590 <category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category> 591 <category><![CDATA[havok journal]]></category> 592 <category><![CDATA[Havok Media]]></category> 593 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health and Wellness]]></category> 594 <category><![CDATA[Second Mission Foundation]]></category> 595 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 596 <category><![CDATA[veterans]]></category> 597 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=125044</guid> 598 599 <description><![CDATA[I partially credit Martin Luther King Jr. with saving my husbandâs 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 [̷
5990;]]]></description> 600 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 601<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I partially credit Martin Luther King Jr. with saving my husbandâs 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 been the one to find him. That realization stopped him from ending his life that day.</p> 602 603 604 605<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When my husband came home from Afghanistan in 2011, we met at the airport in Boston for a homecoming filled with fanfare and photo ops. A reporter approached us for an interview. A brief clip of us made the news. The smiling reporter asked how I managed to take care of a family while my husband was away at war. I said I just tried not to think about it, that we did our best to stick with our routines and get through each day. Back then, I prided myself on not needing help from anyone.</p> 606 607 608 609<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The ironic thing about the scene above is that Markâs unit didnât actually fly into the airport. They traveled by bus from Fort Dix in New Jersey. He had already been back in the country for about a month for outprocessing. The airport scene was fabricated for publicity. A prominent politician was there to welcome the troops home and give a speech. The homecoming scene provided the perfect backdrop. Portrayals of families being reunited make for good publicity. Who doesnât love a fairy tale ending?</p> 610 611 612 613<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rarely is the public privy to the chapter after the reunited couple rides off into the sunset. The part where orderly military life collides with the disarray of the civilian world. When the welcome home party ends and families are left to figure out how to live and function together after being separated. This is when conflicts arise between partners. In our case, he was used to giving orders and being obeyed by everyone below him in the chain of command. In the military and first responder culture, questioning a superior is a sign of disrespect. Meanwhile, I had been singlehandedly managing the house, caring for our daughters, and working while he was deployed. I resented him returning and ordering everyone around like we were subordinates.</p> 614 615 616<div class="wp-block-image"> 617<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1024x574.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-125046" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1024x574.jpeg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-300x168.jpeg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-768x430.jpeg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1536x861.jpeg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-480x270.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 618</div> 619 620 621<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When Mark came back after a year at war, he left part of himself behind. It was like a light had gone out. He was physically here, but not emotionally. He wandered around the house saying, âThis doesn’t feel like my home.â He had always been hypervigilantâeasily startled, a light sleeper, and quick-tempered. After deployment, it all intensified. He patrolled the house at night: checking on the kids, inspecting doors and windows. I slept through his nightly rounds, but he told me about them. If I did wake up, he was always already awake. No matter how quiet I tried to be, he jolted up. He complained about my snoring, twitching, even the sound of my breathing. I felt guilty. I believed I was the problem. That if I just tried harder, he could sleep and relax. That line of thinking had as much to do with my own unresolved
621issues as with his. We all lived on high alert.</p> 622 623 624 625<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We didnât engage in open conflict. We had each closed off part of ourselves. I had traumas Iâd buried deep. He was completely emotionally shut down. We were going through the motions of life, not living it. I was passive-aggressiveâI can admit that now. I was furious with him for being so closed off but afraid to express my anger. He felt dead inside, which he only told me recently. An emotional chasm had grown between us. And yet, we kept going: raising our daughters, maintaining the house, and working as nurses. He continued working in the prison, which did nothing for his mental health but provided for the family.</p> 626 627 628 629<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Eventually, I told him how I really felt. It was January 2020. I told him I couldnât go on living that way. It felt like a minefield. I tiptoed around, afraid to set him off. I told him I wanted to separate. I needed to be my own personâfree from the dark cloud that had hovered over us for years. I needed time and space to sort out my own darkness from his. Iâd been accommodating everyoneâs needs while neglecting my own. I didnât know how to ask for help. I had reached my breaking point.</p> 630 631 632<div class="wp-block-image"> 633<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="427" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1-1024x427.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-125047" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1-1024x427.jpeg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1-300x125.jpeg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1-768x320.jpeg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1-1536x640.jpeg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-1-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 634</div> 635 636 637<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I was blindsided by what happened next.</p> 638 639 640 641<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When I told Mark I wanted to separate, he fell apart. His mind broke. He dissociatedâan extreme response to trauma where the mind goes somewhere else. Itâs a hallmark of PTSD and can be triggered by stress or sensory stimuli. At the time, I didnât understand what was happening. I mistook his sobbing and repetition for simple sadness. I had steeled myself for this conversation. I couldnât get pulled into his emotionsâI had to protect my own.</p> 642 643 644 645<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Our daughter was understandably confused when he knocked on her door in the middle of the night, distraught, and asked to be driven to the local VA clinic. There, he had another dissociative episode. He was on the verge of violence. Police talked him into an ambulance. He spent the long weekend in the ER before being transferred to the VA hospital in western Massachusetts. Now the tables were turned. Mark was the patient. No longer the caregiver with the answers, the control, or the keys to the unitâhe was the one taking orders.</p> 646 647 648 649<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As hard as it was, this was a blessing. Mark later told me the suicidal thoughts had been there long before I brought up separation. Heâd been walkingâand drivingâaround with a loaded gun under his seat. I had no idea. I only felt the cloud, the constant tension. After his hospitalization, he began regular therapy and started medication. As a mental health nurse himself, he was a very challenging patient. But he committed to doing the work.</p> 650 651 652 653<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Marriage is hard. At least, thatâs been my experience. I always heard older couples say marriage takes work. I didnât understand what kind of work they meant until nearly 25 years in. Itâs not physical or even just mental work. Thatâs easy. I can grind in the gym or garden, write for hours. The work Iâm talking about is emotional. The kind that leaves you exposed, raw, and vulnerable. It doesnât earn you money, degrees, or six-pack absâbut it takes everything out of you.</p> 654 655 656 657<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We didnât separate. I believe in second chances. I saw how hard he was working to change. After years as a nurse, I know most people wonât do that. Itâs too hard. They lose steam. They donât see a reason to keep going. Watching someone genuinely fight to heal is inspiring. And I know Mark didnât just do it for himself. He did it for me. And for our daughters.</p> 658 659 660<div class="wp-block-image"> 661<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-1024x574.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-125048" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-1024x574.jpeg 1024
661w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-300x168.jpeg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-768x430.jpeg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-1536x861.jpeg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/AdobeStock_1159543060-2-480x270.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 662</div> 663 664 665<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This story isnât about meâbut Iâd be lying if I said I didnât feel responsible for Markâs near suicide. Iâd be lying if I said I wasnât angry or resentful. My father died by suicide when I was a child. I found his body but didnât tell anyone for years. I was afraid. I didnât want to get in trouble. And there were other things I needed to deal with. I didnât start therapy until our younger daughter left for college. It took over a year before I could even connect emotions to events. I had developed dissociation too. I had learned to shut off emotions that were too scary to feel. I stuffed anger down until I exploded. Mark wasnât the only one people had to tiptoe around.</p> 666 667 668 669<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Itâs taken years, hospitalizations, therapy, couplesâ retreats, and many tearsâboth his and mineâto reach a place where we can speak openly without lashing out or shutting down. We donât always get it right. Having space now that our kids are grown helps. Letting them go was another thing we brought to therapy. The work is messy, ongoing, and far from the stuff of feel-good news clips.</p> 670 671 672 673<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Iâve learned that conflict isnât the enemy. Avoiding conflict is. Being afraid to speak up. Being ashamed to ask for help. Thatâs what creates emotional distance and leads to bigger problems. Heâs learning to share, even hard things. Iâm learning to speak up. We try not to take each otherâs moods personally. Weâre still working on asking for helpâbut weâre working. Our house feels like home again. We both sleep at night. We even have matching CPAP machines. Apparently, I also needed help with sleep. Our story isnât a fairy tale. But we managed to avoid a tragic ending.</p> 674 675 676 677<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">___________________________</p> 678 679 680 681<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on June 27, 2025.</em></p> 682 683 684 685<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong><em>Wendy Arena</em></strong><em> is a writer and registered nurse whose work is shaped by more than two decades in health care and life in a military family. She has worked in mental health nursing, including on an inpatient psychiatric unit, and is married to an Army veteran. Wendy has two grown daughters, one of whom serves in the Army. For T<em>he Havok Journal,</em> Wendy writes about military family life, caregiving, mental health, and the pressure that service-related trauma can place on relationships at home.</em></em></p> 686 687 688 689<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 690]]></content:encoded> 691 692 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/culture/family/the-conflict-at-home/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 693 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 694 695 696 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">125044</post-id> </item> 697 <item> 698 <title>Childhood Lessons Only a Military Brat Learns</title> 699 <link>https://havokjournal.com/culture/military/childhood-lessons-only-a-military-brat-learns/</link> 700 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/culture/military/childhood-lessons-only-a-military-brat-learns/#respond</comments> 701 702 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Special Guest]]></dc:creator> 703 <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 704 <category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category> 705 <category><![CDATA[Life]]></category> 706 <category><![CDATA[Military]]></category> 707 <category><![CDATA[A USAF brat who traveled hither]]></category> 708 <category><![CDATA[an anonymous USAF brat]]></category> 709 <category><![CDATA[Childhood Lessons Only a Military Brat Learns]]></category> 710 <category><![CDATA[civilian counterparts]]></category> 711 <category><![CDATA[Clark AFB]]></category> 712 <category><![CDATA[growing up in the military]]></category> 713 <category><![CDATA[life lessons]]></category> 714 <category><![CDATA[living overseas]]></category> 715 <category><![CDATA[Military Brat]]></category> 716 <category><![CDATA[military families]]></category> 717 <category><![CDATA[Military Family]]></category> 718 <category><![CDATA[military family culture]]></category> 719 <category><![CDATA[Philippines]]></category> 720 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 721 <category><![CDATA[U.S. Air Force]]></category> 722 <category><![CDATA[U.S. Air Force Brat]]></category> 723 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=26543</guid> 724 725 <description><![CDATA[By an anonymous USAF brat As I sat there on the couch shoving another backup mag wrapped in TactiGami⢠into my go bag, I zipped it closed and function checked the main pocket for the rest of my go bag loadout. All the usual stuff guys carry every day along with things I’ve learned to […]]]></description> 726 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 727<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>By an anonymous USAF brat</em></p> 728 729 730 731<p class="wp-block-paragraph">As I sat there on the couch shoving another backup mag wrapped in TactiGami<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2122.png" alt="â¢" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> into my go bag, I zipped it closed and function checked the main pocket for the rest of my go bag loadout. All the usual stuff guys carry every day along with things I’ve learned to have available as you never need them until you really need them. I looked up at my wife as she watched with a slightly bemused look on her face. I could see the question behind her eyes, “What the heck happened to you that makes you think you need all that?”</p> 732 733 734 735<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Military brats generally are as diverse as the nation their parents represent â white, black, brown, yellow, male, female, fat, skinny, athletic, geeks, bookworms â you name it, it’s represented in one form or another. We were all kids going through our youth and adolescence with much the same stresses/experiences as our civilian counterparts.</p> 736 737 738 739<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Depending on where your sponsor was stationed, your experience varied, sometimes vastly, from station to station. Some of us had our eyes opened rather abruptly and had an indelible imprint on our psyche that would color everything we did from that time forward.</p> 740 741 742 743<p class="wp-block-paragraph">On 19 September 1972, I was pleasantly slumbering in my bed, dreaming 9-year-old dreams when out of the blue I felt, more than heard, a LOUD, deep explosion, and jolted awake only to feel my bed move away from the wall. Before I could form a thought, my bedroom door opened and Dad stood there in his pickle green fatigue pants, belt, T-Shirt, and boondockers. He was pulling on his fatigue shirt as he issued the order, “Get dressed.”</p> 744 745 746 747<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There was no mistake as to what was required, it was an order and I had never seen his face like that â no expression â flat dark eyes that brooked no BS. I knew what he meant â that simple order required me to dress in sturdy blue jeans (no holes, patches), a shirt (no Tshirts), shoes, and windbreaker, grab the important papers bag (a leftover from my Mom surviving WWII in Germany â she always kept birth certificates, shot records, insurance policies, marriage license together in one leather satchel that was stored in the closet) and rally at the front door.</p> 748 749 750 751<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After pulling my clothes on, I grabbed the important papers bag and opened my bedroom door. I saw Mom and Dad standing with the front door open, looking out onto the base. I watched Mom’s knees buckle briefly and Dad supporting her and knew something bad was going down. I moved to the front door and ducked my head and looked between them as they stood with Dad steadying Mom completely unprepared for what I was about to see.</p> 752 753 754 755<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There, across the street, in the drainage ditch that ran behind the houses, was a 15-foot wall of flame with roiling black smoke. I didn’t know what was going on but I recognized danger when I saw it. As we were overseas at Clark AFB, Philippines, regulations would not allow personal firearms to be kept at home. They all had to be kept in the armory. The regulation said nothing about BB Guns. In my 9-year-old mind, I was fully prepared and able to shoot someone’s eye out and then beat them with vertical or horizontal buttstrokes of my Daisy BB gun that Dad had taught me when I was issued the piece on my 8th birthday.</p> 756 757 758 759<p class="wp-block-paragraph">My confidence came from long hours snapping in at the BB gun range we created from the kitchen to my bedroom using an old archery target holder and a deck of playing cards. I turned and ran back down the hallway, pulled my trusty BB gun from the rack in my bedroom, grabbed my 1,000 each pack of golden BBs, and returned to the rally point at the front door.</p> 760 761 762 763<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We quickly moved from base housing to the 13th Air Force parade grounds as that was the closest place the heavy choppers from Subic Bay Naval Base could land to extract dependents and offload the Marines and heavy weapons for what we were sure was an act of sabotage that was the opening salvo of an all-out war. As we waited there, in the circle formed by the cars of other families and ours, Dad put Mom and me in the middle. By unspoken agreement, all the GIs were outside the circle looking outward for threats.</p> 764 765 766 767<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Later on, the Security Police came by and informed us what had happened. Someone had fallen asleep at the transfer station up in the hills behind the base and allowed 175,000 gallons of JP4 to overflow into the drainage ditch system. An unknowing individual likely flicked a match or a cigarette into the drainage ditch and lit off all that JP4. It had pooled into the newly dug hole that was going to be Pool #4 on the base that was under construction. We all went back to our quarters and life went on as usual.</p> 768 769 770 771<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That day, at the innocent age of 9, I learned that all of the usual things we take for granted can go away in an instant. I learned that you had to be prepared to do whatever it took to drive on and survive. You had to be ready to leave it all and move out to a place of relative safety, sometimes with just the clothes on your back. I’ve never forgotten it.</p> 772 773 774 775<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mom died in December of 2019. I’ve never forgotten what she taught me at a young age. If you’ve got a meal, clothing, and place to sleep out of the elements in relative safety, you’re ahead of the game.</p> 776 777 778 779<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">_______________________________________</p> 780 781 782 783<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on September 29, 2020.</em></p> 784 785 786 787<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 788]]></content:encoded> 789 790 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/culture/military/childhood-lessons-only-a-military-brat-learns/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 791 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 792 793 794 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">26543</post-id> </item> 795 <item> 796 <title>America, Brought to You by Our Sponsors</title> 797 <link>https://havokjournal.com/media/america-brought-to-you-by-our-sponsors/</link> 798 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/media/america-brought-to-you-by-our-sponsors/#respond</comments> 799 800 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tammy Pondsmith]]></dc:creator> 801 <pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:30:00 +0000</pubDate> 802 <category><![CDATA[Media]]></category> 803 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category> 804 <category><![CDATA[satire/humor]]></category> 805 <category><![CDATA[american news media]]></category> 806 <category><![CDATA[cable news criticism]]></category> 807 <category><![CDATA[havok journal]]></category> 808 <category><![CDATA[Havok Media]]></category> 809 <category><![CDATA[media polarization]]></category> 810 <category><![CDATA[media profits from outrage]]></category> 811 <category><![CDATA[news satire]]></category> 812 <category><![CDATA[partisan news outlets]]></category> 813 <category><![CDATA[political division in america]]></category> 814 <category><![CDATA[Second Mission Foundation]]></category> 815 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 816 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=136522</guid> 817 818 <description><![CDATA[Over the last decade, American news outlets have pulled off a miracle of modern engineering: they turned what was supposed to be a public service into a
818nationwide, always-on divorce court where the country is permanently arguing over who gets custody of reality. You donât âwatchâ the news anymore; you enroll in a tribe with […]]]></description> 819 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 820<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Over the last decade, American news outlets have pulled off a miracle of modern engineering: they turned what was supposed to be a public service into a nationwide, always-on divorce court where the country is permanently arguing over who gets custody of reality.</p> 821 822 823 824<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You donât âwatchâ the news anymore; you enroll in a tribe with a theme song. The old modelâhereâs what happened, hereâs the weather, go live your lifeâhas been replaced by âdonât move, donât blink, and for the love of God donât change the channel or the other side wins.â</p> 825 826 827 828<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Networks used to compete to be accurate. That was adorable. Now they compete to be addictive. Accuracy is optional; addiction is nonânegotiable. Programming is tuned like a rage algorithm: sort viewers into ideological terrariums, tap the glass, and cut to commercial.</p> 829 830 831 832<p class="wp-block-paragraph">On Channel Red, the chyron screams the Republic will collapse by Thursday because someone used the wrong pronouns in a zoning meeting. On Channel Blue, democracy died last Tuesday because a city councilman wore the wrong hat at a parade. Different logos, same plot: âYou Are Surrounded by Monsters (Stay Tuned After These Ads For Mattresses and Erectile Dysfunction).â</p> 833 834 835 836<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is not journalism; itâs subscription-based panic.</p> 837 838 839<div class="wp-block-image"> 840<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-1024x574.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-136527" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-1024x574.jpeg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-300x168.jpeg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-768x430.jpeg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-1536x861.jpeg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1-480x270.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 841</div> 842 843 844<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The modern newsroom isnât a public square; itâs a call center for political parties with better lighting. One outlet plays everything as apocalypse, another as clerical error, a third as ânothing to see here,â and a fourth plays the same four clips on loop until your brain files for unemployment. Somewhere under the graphics, polls, and feelâgood story about a dog who allegedly voted, there might be a fact, but youâll need a shovel and three commercial breaks to reach it.</p> 845 846 847 848<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The real masterstroke wasnât just making the news partisan; it was turning politics into the operating system of daily life.</p> 849 850 851 852<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You can no longer simply drink coffee; your mug has a voting record. Your streaming platform is a policy statement. Enjoy sports? Wrongâthose are now threeâhour campaign rallies with helmets. We have politicized weather, school lunches, superhero movies, and whether itâs okay to like a song from 1998.</p> 853 854 855 856<p class="wp-block-paragraph">âHey, thatâs my neighbor Bob, he grills on weekendsâ has been rebranded as âThatâs a potential fascist/Marxist insurgent who liked the wrong post; I must never speak to him again.â The news didnât just cover that shift; it injected it, branded it, and sold it on a tote bag.</p> 857 858 859 860<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Why? Because division scales. âAmericans uniteâ does not move ad inventory” or reward politicians sponsored by special interests. Americans are hopelessly fractured into warring tribes who hate each otherâs lawn
860signsâ can be monetized for decades.</p> 861 862 863 864<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The ad decks write themselves: âOur viewers are deeply engaged.â Translation: theyâre terrified, furious, and refreshing their feeds at 1:37 a.m. like raccoons in a dumpster behind a caffeine factory. That level of panic is pure goldâclicks, shares, subscriptions, exclusive newsletters where the host whispers, âNo really, the other side is worse than I said on TV.â</p> 865 866 867 868<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Social media is the syndication arm. News manufactures the tempest; platforms bottle it and sell it back as âcommunity engagement.â You donât just watch a story; you must choose a side, craft a snarky comment, and annihilate a stranger whose avatar is an eagle wearing sunglasses.</p> 869 870 871 872<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hereâs the uncomfortable part: it keeps working because we keep buying.</p> 873 874 875<div class="wp-block-image"> 876<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-1024x576.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-136526" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-480x270.jpeg 480w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_1790085451-1280x720.jpeg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 877</div> 878 879 880<p class="wp-block-paragraph">We say we want balanced coverage, then change the channel the moment balance feels like homework. We complain that everything is âso divisiveâ while rewarding the outlets that divide us with the loudest graphics and angriest guests.</p> 881 882 883 884<p class="wp-block-paragraph">News organizations discovered the only real bipartisan truth left in America: people love being told theyâre right and someone else is ruining everything. Thatâs the product. “Facts” are just the delivery mechanism.</p> 885 886 887 888<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At Article 107 News, our whole business model is reporting the facts before they happen, and even weâre disturbed watching the rest of the industry do predictive spin: âWe donât know what will occur, but we can already tell you which group you should preemptively hate for it.â Breaking: tomorrowâs outrage, today.</p> 889 890 891 892<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hereâs what no one on the panel show will say: the algorithm is us. If we stopped clicking rage bait, theyâd stop making rage bait. If we turned off the eleven-person shout panel and talked to an actual human being with a pulse and a mortgage, the temperature would drop faster than a politicianâs approval rating after a microphone malfunction.</p> 893 894 895 896<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But redemption is terrible for ratings, so you wonât see that segment.</p> 897 898 899 900<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So yes, the news has been tuned to divide us, enlisted as a part-time propaganda ministry, woven politics into our cereal, and cashed every check the chaos wrote. The real cliffhanger is whether we keep letting them program our emotions like theyâre setting up the fall lineup.</p> 901 902 903 904<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Until then, Iâll be here at Article 107, calmly informing you that next week you will be outraged by a thing you do not yet understand, against people you have never met, for reasons that will be explained between ads for pharmaceuticals you canât pronounce.</p> 905 906 907<div class="wp-block-image"> 908<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="574" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1024x574.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-136525" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1024x574.jpeg 1024
908w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-300x168.jpeg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-768x430.jpeg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-1536x861.jpeg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AdobeStock_798046195-480x270.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure> 909</div> 910 911 912<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>_____________________________</em></p> 913 914 915 916<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on December 10, 2025.</em></p> 917 918 919 920<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em><strong>Tammy Pondsmith</strong> is a senior correspondent at Article 107 News who liveâtweets tomorrowâs scandals from a bunker made of expired press passes and burned Nielsen reports.</em></p> 921 922 923 924<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 925]]></content:encoded> 926 927 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/media/america-brought-to-you-by-our-sponsors/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 928 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 929 930 931 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">136522</post-id> </item> 932 <item> 933 <title>Demons of Our Actions</title> 934 <link>https://havokjournal.com/culture/mental-health-wellness/demons-of-our-actions/</link> 935 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/culture/mental-health-wellness/demons-of-our-actions/#respond</comments> 936 937 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Special Guest]]></dc:creator> 938 <pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:15:00 +0000</pubDate> 939 <category><![CDATA[Family]]></category> 940 <category><![CDATA[Law Enforcement]]></category> 941 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health & Wellness]]></category> 942 <category><![CDATA[Military]]></category> 943 <category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category> 944 <category><![CDATA[Afghanistan war]]></category> 945 <category><![CDATA[Demons of Our Actions]]></category> 946 <category><![CDATA[havok journal]]></category> 947 <category><![CDATA[Havok Media]]></category> 948 <category><![CDATA[law enforcement]]></category> 949 <category><![CDATA[Marine]]></category> 950 <category><![CDATA[Marine Corps]]></category> 951 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health and Wellness]]></category> 952 <category><![CDATA[mental health in the military]]></category> 953 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health of Veterans]]></category> 954 <category><![CDATA[post traumatic stress]]></category> 955 <category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category> 956 <category><![CDATA[suicide]]></category> 957 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 958 <category><![CDATA[Trey Tull]]></category> 959 <category><![CDATA[veteran]]></category> 960 <category><![CDATA[veterans]]></category> 961 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=26446</guid> 962 963 <description><![CDATA[By Trey Tull Our lives are composed of the consequences of our actions, the good, the bad, and the neutral. I believe the pattern of life is for us to choose as we have free will, thus contradicting the predestined fate some believe in. Some believe fate will be what it will regardless of their […]]]></description> 964 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 965<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>By Trey Tull</em></p> 966 967 968 969<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Our lives are composed of the consequences of our actions, the good, the bad, and the neutral. I believe the pattern of life is for us to choose as we have free will, thus contradicting the predestined fate some believe in. Some believe fate will be what it will regardless of their actions, in essence, they cannot make choices that will ultimately change their final outcome.</p> 970 971 972 973<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Throughout my life, I’ve made decisions that impacted and molded me into who I am today. When I look back, I can’t always say I’m proud of the decisions I made as I’m not always proud of myself. Recently, I allowed my demons to win and hurt those closest to me. Not only did I allow my demons to win, but I also chose not to fight the battle. I simply walked away from my life, walked away from the things that were causing me stress. To add salt to the wound, I did all this amidst the pandemic.<
973/p> 974 975 976 977<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I walked away from my family, which was the essence of who I was. I believed I was on a path to self-discovery but was really on a path to self-destruction. I was constantly reminded, you’re a Marine, you can handle anything. People like to believe that Marines can handle anything because of the stigma that comes with the title. The problem is we CAN handle anything, anything but ourselves. Deep down I’m scared of myself and I don’t feel as though I’m alone. I believe others share this fear of the self.</p> 978 979 980 981<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I refused to ask for help over the years. I was scared of how people would look at me, what they would say, and I didn’t want to look weak. I was scared of damaging my image, and for that reason, I did the most destruction to it. I destroyed the creed of the Corps, I failed to honor my family, I didn’t have the courage to ask for help. I didn’t keep my commitment to my wife and family. Now, I have those failures to answer for.</p> 982 983 984 985<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now, to being scared of myself. My thoughts scare me for I fear failure and now I have failed. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had major failures in life and I can say this: I’ve handled each poorly. Not only have I handled each poorly, but my family also suffered the consequences of my failure. Rather than see them as supportive I saw them as those I had to answer to for my failures. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I had a support system that I didn’t know about until I walked away from it.</p> 986 987 988 989<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I was recently told that I have a problem when someone sees who I truly am. I like to think I know who I am but I’m not so sure I do. The man I see in the mirror and the man that looks back at me aren’t the same. When I turn from the mirror, he continues to look and stare. The haunting of the man in the mirror is the creation of my actions. I’ve been told more than once: I’m vindictive, spiteful, and violent.</p> 990 991 992 993<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I fail to see the way others see me until I look into the man in the mirror. When I look away, I know he’s still there but because I break the eye contact I know not when he stops looking at me. What I have learned though, is the longer I stare into that mirror the clearer the gaze becomes. Stopping to take it all in gives me the time to become rational before I speak and act.</p> 994 995 996 997<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While I’m late to learn about the man in the mirror and slow to change the wrinkles I see on him, I nonetheless must continue to fight him. I must show him I am a violent man, a man violent in the fight against his own demons, a man who wants vengeance on himself for the ways he has hurt others, and too spiteful to give up and let the man in the mirror have the easy win.</p> 998 999 1000 1001<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I must now ask for help, help in understanding who I am, and how to make reparations. I must ask for understanding, forgiveness, and most of all patience. Who ask of this, not only the hurt but myself. I need to understand what I’ve done to others in order to ask for forgiveness from both them and myself. I cannot move forward until I forgive myself for who I am and what I’ve done. I need the patience to tend to myself and I need others to be patient with me as I change and learn to work with the new me.</p> 1002 1003 1004 1005<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Some would say I’m irrational to seek forgiveness from myself for the things I’ve done as they are what made me who I am. To those I say, return to the beginning when I stated I’m not always proud of who I am. To be proud of oneself means having self-love and that goes beyond being proud of one’s accomplishments. One must love the person they are, the example they are setting, and the legacy they are leaving behind.</p> 1006 1007 1008 1009<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I have a future ahead of me and I know I have potential. But what I also know is that I’m the one that places a limit on those to two things. I can halt my potential and I can choose to end my future. Both of these will be the outcome of my inaction to continue to seek help. Help is not relying on others for being weak but rather having the support to be stronger than you are alone.</p> 1010 1011 1012 1013<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I write this with a drink in hand after an argument that nearly ripped away from me what I desperately wish to try and rebuild. The drink is not to self-medicate but to relax the mind, for self-medicating would be to poison the potential of good decisions post-argument. I’ve been in dark places and I’ve sadly put others there, yet we are all still here. We’ve done what we must to recover, but recover we did.</p> 1014 1015 1016 1017<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Many nights, I’ve been with friends and family and they never knew just how close I was. There have been times I was with them and wondered if it would be the last time I saw them. I would think, what would they do if I was gone, what impact would I actually have on their lives? I plead with you as you read this to reach out to one person, one that you know
1017with those demons, and let them know the impact they have on you. While it may not seem like much, it could be the life-saving measure they need.</p> 1018 1019 1020 1021<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I always find a way to pull myself back from the abyss, yet so many don’t and I must ask, how far into the darkness does it take before you don’t come back?</p> 1022 1023 1024 1025<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This leads to the next question: Can I continue to venture back each time I drift further and further into the abyss? We must remember, we are each our brother’s keeper and just because we don’t see the demons under the surface, doesn’t mean they aren’t about to break free.</p> 1026 1027 1028 1029<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I always saw PTSD as a stigma and therefore refused to accept it. I refused to have a label attached to me. This was a mistake and one I know many veterans make. An acronym does not define you as “crazy” or “broken,” it simply means you’ve experienced trauma that has altered your life in some way or another. If you feel as I did, don’t be scared to talk to someone, don’t be scared to ask for help. Do it before it’s too late. Do it for your family.</p> 1030 1031 1032 1033<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">____________________________________</p> 1034 1035 1036 1037<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in The Havok Journal on September 25, 2020.</em></p> 1038 1039 1040 1041<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong><em>Trey Tull</em></strong><em> is a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. He entered law enforcement after the military and worked in various capacities ending his career as a K9 Handler. Trey was a certified Drug Recognition Expert and held instructor certifications in: Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Close Quarter Combat, Active Shooter, Safari Land Wallbanger, and Less Lethal, Chemical, and Impact Munitions. Trey is currently back in school working towards his Juris Doctorate.</em></p> 1042 1043 1044<div class="wp-block-image"> 1045<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="789" height="530" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-29-173742-12.png" alt="" class="wp-image-71649" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-29-173742-12.png 789w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-29-173742-12-300x202.png 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-29-173742-12-768x516.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 789px) 100vw, 789px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A cloud of smoke and dust envelopes U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Mullahy seconds after he fired an AT-4 rocket launcher at an insurgent position during a firefight in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah neighborhood Saturday which ended with one insurgent dead and three captured. Mullahy is a squad leader with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Pryor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs)</figcaption></figure> 1046</div> 1047 1048 1049<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 1050]]></content:encoded> 1051 1052 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/culture/mental-health-wellness/demons-of-our-actions/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 1053 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 1054 1055 1056 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">26446</post-id> </item> 1057 <item> 1058 <title>Combat PTSD: F***ed Up or Wounded?</title> 1059 <link>https://havokjournal.com/veterans-3/combat-ptsd-fed-up-or-wounded/</link> 1060 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/veterans-3/combat-ptsd-fed-up-or-wounded/#respond</comments> 1061 1062 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Special Guest]]></dc:creator> 1063 <pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 1064 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health & Wellness]]></category> 1065 <category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category> 1066 <category><![CDATA[BRITTA REQUE-DRAGICEVIC]]></category> 1067 <category><![CDATA[havok journal]]></category> 1068 <category><![CDATA[Mental Health and Wellness]]></category> 1069 <category><![CDATA[Second Mission Foundation]]></category> 1070 <category><![CDATA[The Havok Journal]]></category> 1071 <category><![CDATA[veterans]]></category> 1072 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=84691</guid> 1073 1074 <description><![CDATA[By Britta Reque-Dragicevic This first appeared in Britta’s blog, “Life After War” and is republished with the author’s permission. ________________________ Okay, so the words themselves mean the same thing in your mind. Fucked up. Pain. Shit. Issues. Doesnât matter what you call it, right? Who cares? What if how you think of it is keeping you stuck? […]]]></description> 1075 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 1076<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>By Britta Reque-Dragicevic</em></p> 1077 1078 1079 1080<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>This first appeared in Britta’s blog, “<a href="https://lifeafterwar.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Life After War</a>” and is republished with the author’s permission.</em></p> 1081 1082 1083 1084<p class="wp-block-paragraph">________________________</p> 1085 1086 1087 1088<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Okay, so the words themselves mean the same thing in your mind. Fucked up. Pain. Shit. Issues. Doesnât matter what you call it, right? Who cares?</p> 1089 1090 1091 1092<p class="wp-block-paragraph">What if how you think of it is keeping you stuck?</p> 1093 1094 1095 1096<p class="wp-block-paragraph">No, Iâm not being âa writerâ here and picking on words. On the surface, it doesnât matter how you refer to the changes in yourself after combat. What matters are your <em>beliefs</em> about those changes. And your beliefs about those changes often show up in how you refer to yourself.</p> 1097 1098 1099 1100<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, what Iâm really after here is this: do you judge/blame/hate yourself for the changes in you? If so, youâre gonna stay stuck.</p> 1101 1102 1103 1104<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Why? Because as long as you judge yourself and feel like you should have been stronger, that youâre a pussy for letting anger/anxiety/distrust overtake you, that you should somehow have been able to avoid getting hurt, and be strong enough to overcome this alone now â youâre going to hold yourself away from healing.</p> 1105 1106 1107 1108<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>
1108As long as you think of yourself as fucked up, instead of wounded, youâre not going to give your heart/mind/body/spirit the acceptance and grace and support it needs to transform, heal and release you from the pain.</strong></p> 1109 1110 1111 1112<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It comes down to what you believe. Judging/hating/blaming yourself for being wounded means you donât really believe you should be affected by what youâve been through in combat. You may know logically that war should change a human being, but you hold yourself to a standard that makes you feel weak or like a failure for seeing those changes in yourself. If this is you, you have a hard time not feeling ashamed for the pain and struggles you experience. Thinking about it doesnât just hurt, it makes the cruel voices in your head start calling you names and bashing you for being âfucked upâ. You think of your wounds, and your sense of self-worth plummets. The weight of feeling like a failure hurts more than the war itself. So, you try to avoid this by avoiding anything that reminds you that youâre not okay.</p> 1113 1114 1115 1116<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That keeps you from the liberating self-acceptance you need to heal.</p> 1117 1118 1119<div class="wp-block-image"> 1120<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-84692" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-300x200.jpg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-768x512.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. special operations service members conduct combat operations in support of Operation Resolute Support in Afghanistan, February 2019. RS is a NATO-led mission to train, advise, and assist the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and institutions. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jaerett Engeseth) <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afghanistan_Combat_Operations_2019_Image_3_of_4_6105195_190222-A-LF458-0013.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Source</a>. </figcaption></figure> 1121</div> 1122 1123 1124<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Those of you who grew up with fathers with untreated PTSD, grew up walking on eggshells, yelled at, sometimes beaten, scolded for being soft and not stronger, disallowed to show âweakâ emotions like crying, and promising yourself that you would never be like him. Some of you even joined the military subconsciously wanting to prove to yourself (and him) that you were indeed tough, that you âare a manâ, that you could take it, and that you could be stronger than heâd been. The challenge wasnât just something you craved, your sense of self-approval depended on it.</p> 1125 1126 1127 1128<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, to see the same rage, anger, distrust, anxiety, fear of crowds, avoidance of people, strange sleep patterns, drinking, startle reflex, and insecurity now in yourself is excruciating. And you hate it. And you hate yourself for being this way, for being âweak.â For being changed.</p> 1129 1130 1131 1132<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But you donât know what to do or how to change it. So you do your best to manage, try to not think about it, and withdraw into a world where you cut out anyone or anything that reminds you that youâre âfucked upâ. Yes, you avoid the sense of failure, and you live increasingly alone in a disconnected world. Resigned to spend the rest of your life just putting up with this shit.</p> 1133 1134 1135 1136<p class="wp-block-paragraph">See what I mean by stuck?</p> 1137 1138 1139 1140<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>By contrast, if you see yourself as wounded because you are a human being and war is supposed to hurt, you remove the judgment. When your wounds are not tied to your sense of worth, you
1140do not blame yourself for your condition, and you open yourself up to the forces of healing.</strong></p> 1141 1142 1143 1144<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Every warfighter worth his weight should come home with deep spirit wounds. If you didnât, you havenât truly known combat.</p> 1145 1146 1147 1148<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Being changed by war is a sign of honor. There is no weakness in it. Yes, it fucking hurts your heart. Yes, it changes your sense of self. Yes, it creates problems you never imagined youâd have to endure. Yes, it leaves you different than the civilians you now live among. But shouldnât it?? If you took on the call of a warfighter, and you went through hell, why would you expect anything less than to come home with scars?? Scars whose very existence is because you acted with extreme courage and selflessness. The only way for you to have avoided being wounded by combat is to never have been in it.</p> 1149 1150 1151 1152<p class="wp-block-paragraph">(Our societyâs attitude toward warfighters also fuels a sense that thereâs something wrong with you; we should be embracing warfighters for the beauty of their scars.)</p> 1153 1154 1155 1156<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If you change how you think about your pain, and stop believing that you should have been stronger (what would that have meant anyway?) you create a place within you where you can begin to heal.</p> 1157 1158 1159 1160<p class="wp-block-paragraph">How? By accepting the fact that you are not fucked up, you are wounded. Wounds are not failures. Wounds are not to be ashamed of.</p> 1161 1162 1163<div class="wp-block-image"> 1164<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-84693" srcset="https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://havokjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PIC-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Coalition members search a room during a security operation in search of a Taliban facilitator in Khugyani district, Nangarhar province, Jan. 24, 2013. The Taliban facilitator coordinates improvised explosive (IED) and suicide attacks against Afghan and coalition forces as well as Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officials. During the operation, the security force seized IED components and multiple firearms with associated gear and ammunition. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan DeBooy) <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Searching_for_Taliban_facilitator_130124-A-NH731-060.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Source</a>. </figcaption></figure> 1165</div> 1166 1167 1168<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>You didnât get wounded because you were a coward or weak or failed. Quite the contrary.</strong></p> 1169 1170 1171 1172<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Itâs OKAY to be wounded.<br>Itâs what you should be if youâve been in combat.</p> 1173 1174 1175 1176<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There is nothing weak about you.</p> 1177 1178 1179 1180<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In reality, wounds are opportunities for growth, for transformation, for healing. Will you always be scarred? Yes. But scars are signs of growth, survival and life. Wounds can heal when you stop judging yourself by them.</p> 1181 1182 1183 1184<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You need to see yourself with compassion.</p> 1185 1186 1187 1188<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You wouldnât judge a buddy for being in the pain you are in. You wouldnât shame or blame or call him a pussy because he witnessed and created some of the most intense suffering in humanity and came home angry and grieving and changed. You wouldnât write his nightmares and anxiety off as being âfucked upâ, would you? No. Youâd love him. Youâd be there for him. Youâd remind him that heâs no less the warfighter now than he was then.</p> 1189 1190 1191 1192<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This is just a different battle, guys. And itâs one you can transcend and win, when you choose acceptance and realize that only by understanding and believing that itâs okay to be wounded, can you get unstuck.</p> 1193 1194 1195 1196<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">___________________________</p> 1197 1198 1199 1200<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><em>As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.</em></p> 1201]]></content:encoded> 1202 1203 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/veterans-3/combat-ptsd-fed-up-or-wounded/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 1204 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 1205 1206 1207 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">84691</post-id> </item> 1208 <item> 1209 <title>What to Know Before Buying an Off-Road SUV From a Trusted Dealer</title> 1210 <link>https://havokjournal.com/cars/what-to-know-before-buying-an-off-road-suv-from-a-trusted-dealer/</link> 1211 <comments>https://havokjournal.com/cars/what-to-know-before-buying-an-off-road-suv-from-a-trusted-dealer/#respond</comments> 1212 1213 <dc:creator><![CDATA[Diane Taylor]]></dc:creator> 1214 <pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:15:00 +0000</pubDate> 1215 <category><![CDATA[Cars]]></category> 1216 <category><![CDATA[Jeep Wrangler]]></category> 1217 <category><![CDATA[off-road SUV]]></category> 1218 <category><![CDATA[San Antonio Jeep]]></category> 1219 <guid isPermaLink="false">https://havokjournal.com/?p=160057</guid> 1220 1221 <description><![CDATA[Photo by Quilia on Unsplash Buying an off-road SUV requires more than checking its appearance and monthly payment. The vehicleâs equipment, condition, and history should match the terrain, weather, and daily driving routine it will face. A trusted dealer should explain those details before paperwork begins, while a careful inspection helps prevent costly surprises. The […]]]></description> 1222 <content:encoded><![CDATA[ 1223<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@heyquilia?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Quilia</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/black-jeep-wrangler-yDekvyZ52dU?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></p> 1224 1225 1226 1227<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Buying an off-road SUV requires more than checking its appearance and monthly payment. The vehicleâs equipment, condition, and history should match the terrain, weather, and daily driving routine it will face. A trusted dealer should explain those details before paperwork begins, while a careful inspection helps prevent costly surprises. The process starts with defining the vehicleâs purpose, then reviewing capability, condition, financing, and ownership costs.</p> 1228 1229 1230 1231<p class="wp-block-paragraph">San Antonio drivers should account for heat, sudden rain, highway traffic, and occasional trips beyond paved roads. Anyone researching <a href="https://www.northparkcdjr.com/san-antonio-wrangler/">buying a Jeep Wrangler in San Antonio</a> should compare available configurations, drivetrain equipment, cargo capacity, and daily comfort. A clear purpose prevents buyers from paying for equipment they rarely use or overlooking features that support regular trail driving.</p> 1232 1233 1234 1235<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Define The SUVâs Actual Job</strong></h2> 1236 1237 1238 1239<p class="wp-block-paragraph">An off-road SUV should fit its driverâs routine. A commuting vehicle needs comfortable seats, practical storage, and predictable road manners. Weekend trail use requires different priorities, such as ground clearance, traction control, underbody protection, and durable tires.</p> 1240 1241 1242 1243<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Describe the usual routes before selecting a vehicle. Gravel roads, muddy trails, steep inclines, and shallow water place different demands on the drivetrain. A salesperson should explain how the SUVâs equipment supports those conditions without overstating its limits.</p> 1244 1245 1246 1247<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Check Capability Before Appearance</strong></h2> 1248 1249 1250 1251<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Four-wheel drive does not make every SUV suitable for difficult terrain. Review the drivetrain, low-range gearing, approach angle, departure angle, ground clearance, and towing capacity listed for the exact vehicle.</p> 1252 1253 1254 1255<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Tire condition also deserves close attention. Uneven wear can point to alignment, suspension, or maintenance problems. Inspect the spare tire, wheels, recovery points, and underbody for scrapes, leaks, or bent components.</p> 1256 1257 1258 1259<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Review Condition And Vehicle History</strong></h2> 1260 1261 1262 1263<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A trusted dealer should provide the vehicle history and explain previous ownership, reported damage, service records, and title status. Those records should match the SUVâs mileage, visible condition, and maintenance needs.</p> 1264 1265 1266 1267<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The test drive should include city streets, highway speeds, turns, braking, and rough pavement. Listen for drivetrain noise, steering vibration, suspension knocks, and warning lights. A cold start can reveal problems that disappear after the engine warms.</p> 1268 1269 1270 1271<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Used off-road SUVs require extra attention beneath the vehicle. Mud, rocks, and water can damage suspension parts, exhaust components, wiring, and protective panels. An independent inspection gives the buyer another assessment before the purchase becomes final.</p> 1272 1273 1274 1275<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Compare Daily Comfort And Utility</strong></h2> 1276 1277 1278 1279<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Trail capability matters, but the SUV must also work during ordinary driving. Check seat comfort, visibility, climate control, cargo access, rear-seat space, and storage locations.</p> 1280 1281 1282 1283<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Test the technology rather than assuming every function works. Confirm that the backup camera, touchscreen, power outlets, lights, parking sensors, and driver-assistance systems operate correctly. Replacing damaged electronics can increase ownership costs.</p> 1284 1285 1286 1287<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Cargo planning should reflect actual needs. Measure the space required for coolers, tools, camping equipment, or child seats. A roof rack or trailer hitch also requires proper weight limits and compatible equipment.</p> 1288 1289 1290 1291<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Calculate The Full Purchase Cost</strong></h2> 1292 1293 1294 1295<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The monthly payment does not show the full cost of an off-road SUV. Calculate the sale price, taxes, registration, insurance, fuel, maintenance, tires, and likely repairs before signing.</p> 1296 1297 1298 1299<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://www.investopedia.com/what-is-an-auto-loan-8598793">Financing</a> terms deserve close review. Compare the annual percentage rate, loan length, down payment, total interest, and optional products. A longer loan can reduce the monthly payment while increasing the total amount paid.</p> 1300 1301 1302 1303<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Request a written breakdown of every charge. Confirm that the vehicle price, trade-in value, lender fees, protection products, and registration costs match the agreed figures. Clear paperwork makes the purchase easier to verify.</p> 1304 1305 1306 1307<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Ask Direct Questions Before Signing</strong></h2> 1308 1309 1310 1311<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A dealer should answer practical questions without pressure. Ask which services the vehicle recently received, whether recalls remain open, what warranty coverage applies, and which equipment comes with the SUV.</p> 1312 1313 1314 1315<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Ask about return policies, inspection permissions, delivery timing, and required documents. Written answers carry more weight than casual statements made during a busy sales conversation.</p> 1316 1317 1318 1319<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Compare the vehicle with the original needs list before signing. If the SUV lacks necessary equipment or requires immediate repairs, adjust the price or continue searching.</p> 1320 1321 1322 1323<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Conclusion</strong></h2> 1324 1325 1326 1327<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A sound off-road SUV purchase begins with a clear use case and verified information. Buyers should inspect capability, review service history, test daily functions, calculate the full cost, and request written answers before signing. For a San Antonio shopper, the next step is practical: prepare a short needs list, schedule a focused inspection, and compare the exact vehicle against that list. This approach supports a decision based on evidence, not appearance alone.</p> 1328]]></content:encoded> 1329 1330 <wfw:commentRss>https://havokjournal.com/cars/what-to-know-before-buying-an-off-road-suv-from-a-trusted-dealer/feed/</wfw:commentRss> 1331 <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> 1332 1333 1334 <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">160057</post-id> </item> 1335 </channel> 1336</rss>
Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.