by David Hollar, Vietnam War Veteran _____________________ Troops in Vietnam got around by foot, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and Continue Reading
Military
Lifting of the Veil: Existential Struggles of Combat Veterans
By Chris Frueh, PhD “Trying to fit all warriors into the typical DSM PTSD paradigm or blaming violence is totally out of touch with who we are. The Continue Reading
Unexpected Lessons in a Combat Zone
Editor's note: Photo information at end of the article. Don't worry. You'll be safe. Women don't go into combat." My husband assured me as I lay Continue Reading
What’s It Like to Take Human Life?
Words like these often flow from a place without fore- or afterthought. They exist only at the moment they flow from my brain to my fingers or Continue Reading
What Today’s Leaders can Take from Aristotle’s Cardinal Virtues
Modern military leadership is saturated with buzzwords. We talk about agility, innovation, resilience, and adaptability—often in PowerPoint decks Continue Reading
Verdun and the Price of Endurance
Editor’s note: In-text citations have been removed to align with The Havok Journal’s formatting. Full references remain listed at the end. The Continue Reading
A Ranger in Vietnam Remembers
Some of the Team Leaders were more "aggressive" than others. For some reason, Team 4 always had a Team Leader the "aggressive" ones called NUTS. Of Continue Reading
A Day in the Life of a Coast Guardsman
2014 09 12 Friday The event started late in the afternoon. We received a rather vague notification that a vessel of interest (VOI) may be heading Continue Reading
VUCA and the Modern Battlefield: Leading When Certainty Is Gone
The modern battlefield is no longer defined by clear front lines, predictable enemies, or linear cause-and-effect. It is fluid, contested, and Continue Reading
Words Mean Things – Setting the Conditions Before and After Service
The military is very good at setting conditions. We set conditions for success before a mission ever begins, through planning, language, Continue Reading
Maslow Was Right and the Military Still Builds Men
When Abraham Maslow published his theory of human motivation in 1943, he argued that human beings move through a progression of needs: physiological, Continue Reading
Combat Stress Reaction Treatment and Why It Works
When we first came home from Iraq, we landed in New Jersey. We remained on base for a couple of weeks to get "acclimated back to the civilian world." Continue Reading