This first appeared in The Havok Journal on November 4, 2020. I was born in 1981 in a conflict zone in Monrovia, Liberia. My parents fled with my Continue Reading
Middle East
The Unsung: Military Medical Personnel
by Denise Flores [Editor's Note: Denise wrote the following in 2007 at age 14 based on conversations she had with her mother, a U.S. Army surgical Continue Reading
LTC Scheller, the Afghanistan Exit, and Equality in Accountability
by Bobby Ganton This first appeared in The Havok Journal on October 2, 2021. My four short years in the Army were full of life lessons that have Continue Reading
Afghanistan: The Soundtrack to a War I Lost
I served in Afghanistan four times between 2005 and 2010 while assigned to various U.S. Special Operations units. During the time I spent there, and Continue Reading
Playing Hopscotch in a Minefield Along the Iran-Iraq Border
by Justin “Jud” Haywood This originally appeared in vocal media as "Mines Abound" and is republished here with the author's permission. Justin Continue Reading
Afghanistan Memories: I’m a Warrior Through and Through
Heart turned hard, emotionally scarred. I tried to get past this but it’s so fucking hard.My pain is evident yet so blissfully hidden. From events Continue Reading
A UK Soldier Goes to War
by Justin “Jud” Haywood This originally appeared in Vocal.Media as "Desert Meanderings" in May 2021. It is republished here with the author's Continue Reading
A UK Soldier Welcomes You to Tank Park, Iraq
by Justin “Jud” Haywood This originally appeared in Vocal.Media as "Tank Park" in June 2021. It is republished here with the author's permission. Continue Reading
Peace Enforcement is Not the Same as Peacekeeping
by an anonymous former Special Forces officer Peace enforcement is a much more difficult kind of operation than peacekeeping.-Harri Continue Reading
My First Engagement with the Enemy
I don't always know what will trigger a flashback of my deployment to Afghanistan, but today, it happened to be the song at the end of the 2020 Mulan Continue Reading
A Girl Named Jasmine, the Afghan Face of Sharia Law
I’d heard a lot about stoning prior to going into the fray. I thought this would be like any other day. We sat and watched, watched and sat over the Continue Reading
Coming Home from Afghanistan
by Chris Fitzmaurice The following is part of a collection of short stories titled Insha’Allah: Short Stories of the Long War in Afghanistan." Continue Reading
