Profiles in Havok

Show Notes

Project Sapient

Havok Journal

Veterans Repertory Theater

Savage Wonder

This week got a little taboo. There's been a lot of stuff in the media lately about porn - including the resuscitation of the feminist/evangelical alliance against porn - so it made me think about porn in the military. I bounced the idea off of Charlie and Ben Varlese and Chris Otero came on the show to discuss porn in the military. The pros, the cons, the unintended consequences and the way porn intersects with wartime service. Before you ask, yes, we really wanted to have at least one female from the Havok family come on the show, because we felt like it would be a valuable perspective, but we couldn't pull it off in time. But it was a good roundtable nonetheless. And I'm sure we'll revisit a lot of issues raised in the months to come, so plenty of opportunities to get more perspectives. 

Have a listen here.

Show Alibis

So what's with joshing Ben about his cyber certificate from Colorado State? The last time he was on, he had everything go wrong with his connection that could happen - from not being able to get on to interference to jets flying overhead. When a graduate certificate in cyber is on your resume, you know you're going to take a few rounds if you're the one struggling to connect to a podcast. So that's what that's about.

There were also a host of issues that Chris and Ben wanted to talk about. They made the tactical mistake of throwing them into the podcast chat assuming I would see them. Since I'm the one that drew their attention to the chat, that was a reasonable assumption. But then I didn't check it until the show was over and I saw all their hand raising and footnotes and suggestions. I can't cover all that ground in these alibis, so I'll highlight just one. Chris had a good point about erotica in Islamic culture - certainly there is no lack of representation in many classical Islamic texts. It is the relatively recent Salafist fundamentalism that has mandated a more repressed sexuality in Islamic countries (which, hypocritically, is frequently - though privately - ignored by its adherents). This deserves its own discussion.

Ben wanted to clarify his comments regarding revenge porn. “I am on the fence with the criminality aspect of revenge porn; however, I support civil actions in the matter. The reason is the legal precedents are still tumultuous and divided on the issue. Several cases are being overturned on appeal over expectation of privacy of shared images and over 1st Amendment rights to share content freely given.”

Show Notes

I Love My Rifle More Than You by Kayla Williams

Learn more about Operation Underground Railroad

Havok Journal

Savage Wonder

Veterans Repertory Theater

A few weeks ago, during our crossover episode with Project Sapient, I got to talking with 22 Mohawks founder Dave Campisano about masculinity and what it means, especially to veterans. I told him we needed to do a show on just that topic, so this was the week. We brought on former Marine and current poet Mason Rodrigue as well as Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint to talk about it. And Dave attempted to be the first guest to do the show from a moving vehicle (no spoilers, but it didn't really work out). But it was a good slightly-more-than-wavetops dive into the subject. There will be more to follow...

Show Alibis

If you're wondering if we suddenly decided to start publishing these episodes on Thursdays, no we didn't. I'm going to blame task saturation and what turned out to be a false clear memory of publishing it a few days ago. #Facepalm. 

I really like Mason. (I really like Dave too, but only when he's not driving and I'm not calling him Nate). Would have loved to NCO that dude. After two podcasts almost back-to-back with him, he is that extrovert talker that keeps your morale up and the conversation going in the field. Every time I had to cut him off to go to another person, I saw his head drop and felt like he was pawing the ground until he could get back in the flow. Remote podcasting does a real disservice to him, because I'd love to have a back-and-forth in person when interjecting comments wouldn't derail a conversation and set the conversation back. Maybe next time we team up with Project Sapient in Boston...?

Can't wait to get a full episode with Dave Campisano back on the show. Just a great dude doing some really noble work right now at 22 Mohawks. He'll be back on in the dangerously near future, we've already worked it out...

Show Notes

Mason Rodrigue

Patrol Base Abbate

22 Mohawks

Second Mission Foundation

Savage Wonder 

Veterans Repertory Theater

Our first ever Spotlight episode shines a light on Havok Journal writer Greg Drobny. Greg is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and Code Platoon’s Student Outreach Coordinator. He holds a BA and MA in history, as well as a Masters of Science in organizational psychology.

Show Notes

Code Platoon

Havok Journal

Veterans Repertory Theater

Savage Wonder

This week, I sat down with Liz DeGraeve, Elana Duffy and Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint to talk about purpose. Liz has shifted from a colorful and accomplished 23-year career in Army intelligence into being a 6th grade teacher. Elana held an Ivy League master's degree before becoming an accomplished combat veteran who earned the Purple Heart and a medical discharge and has leveraged it all to become a successful entrepreneur. And of course, Charlie combines military service, entrepreneurship and scholastic accomplishment. It was a group that seems to have no lack of motivation and purpose - so it was insightful to talk about their missteps, their doubts, and where they draw strength. 

Show Notes

Pathfinder LLC

Women in Combat

Second Mission Foundation

Savage Wonder podcast

Veterans Repertory Theater

On Monday, September 27 at Clerys in downtown Boston...the Weekly Havok and Project Sapient pulled off a massive 2.5 hour crossover podcast for Project Sapient's Vet2Vet event. Worlds collided. DC and Marvel together. Batman killed Thanos. Epic. There may have been alcohol involved.

Show Notes

Savage Wonder

Veterans Repertory Theater

Project Sapient

This week I talked with Charlie Faint and Jeff Marshburn about veterans in education – how education can impact veterans and how veterans impact the educational realm, whether as students or teachers. We talk about the tokenization of veterans, the cognitive dissonance felt by veterans immersed in academic culture and the particular culture of West Point. No, it never devolves into a West Point infomercial, but we were going to have to talk about it a little – Charlie still teaches there and Jeff taught there. Plus Charlie was wearing a very loud Army football jersey and we were recording the episode just before Jeff and Charlie went to the Army-Miami (OH) game, so there was no way we were going to avoid talking about it.

Have a listen here.

Show Alibis

I’m suffering from a severe bout of Alibi writer’s block. I’m sure there are plenty of things I should offer up excuses for, but I can’t think of any, so I’ll settle brevity by stopping here.

Show Notes

Second Mission Foundation

Project Sapient

Veterans Repertory Theater

Savage Wonder podcast

Savage Wonder literary blog

Some weeks, the Weekly Havok isn’t just the name of the show, it’s also the way the show comes together. This was one of those weeks. We threw every hiccup and technical glitch we could at Ben Varlese and Dax Mallory and they kept on ticking. Best of all – thanks to our producer Michael Neal – none of the glitches will even make it into the episode. So you will never know the landmines you dodged in your audio experience this week. Probably good to have a week like this every so often – keeps us humble. But if you think Ben and Dax are good guests, just wait until they do a show where everything goes smoothly.

Show Alibis

Did I even mention the subject this week? That was the first audible we called on Dax and Ben – getting them to pick the subject about a minute before we started the show. I gave them three choices and they picked the one I could barely articulate, go figure. So I spent the first five minutes of the show trying to figure out what the hell I had signed us up for.

And then…

As you all probably know, Afghanistan has been weighing heavily on me – to the detriment of the other news stories in the world now. That’s my way of saying that I should have pushed Dax harder on the subject of Haitian immigrants and the southern border. Of course, we try not to do a show that is topical punditry, but this was a missed lay-up.

The cross-pollination of criminal organizations and terror groups is a pet fascination of mine. So when Ben brought it up, I couldn’t wait to get into it. Or, actually, I guess I could wait, because I never got around to talking about it again. Make that two easy lay-ups missed during this episode. Did I mention we had problems this week?

Show Notes

Blackwater Memorial Alumni Association

Havok Journal

Savage Wonder podcast

Veterans Repertory Theater

On 9/11, Ayman Kafel was an American college student of Middle Eastern descent and Marshall McGurk was a second-year cadet at West Point. How they interpreted 9/11 and how they responded to a nation suddenly at war didn’t just take them to the sharp tip of the spear in the War on Terror – it changed their lives irrevocably – but not regrettably. It was a privilege to sit down with these two thoughtful veterans and discuss what 9/11 should really mean for us as we commemorate the original attacks – even after everything that has gone on in the twenty years since.

Show Notes

High Risk Soldier by Terron Wharton

Project Sapient podcast

Operation Recovery

Save Our Allies

No One Left Behind

Pars Equality Center

Havok Journal

Veterans Repertory Theater

Savage Wonder podcast

Consider this the first Tri-Weekly Havok episode. Now, we had a 9/11 episode planned as part of our regularly scheduled programming. But I did this solo recording for two reasons: I really wanted to post something that would go out on 9/11 itself especially on a 9/11 as significant as this one and I didn’t want to detract from our roundtable by diving too deeply into my personal 9/11 experiences. Thanks for indulging me in both the excruciatingly specific details and the vague recollections.

Have a listen here.

Show Alibis

I really dropped the ball on some parts of my 9/11 story, so I’ll try to make amends here. It’s a damn shame since both are positive notes.

First, I mentioned that, on September 10th, I was supposed to work the graveyard shift at a law firm – Brown and Wood – which was located on the upper floors of one of the Towers. I also mentioned that I thought of the folks there as the towers were coming down. What I failed to mention was that, days later, I found out that every single employee of Brown and Wood survived the collapse – except one secretary who ran back up the stairs to retrieve her purse. As I say, I never enjoyed working at Brown and Wood, but I was relieved that they were alive and I was free to remember that I never much cared for the work environment there.

Second, I talked about scooping up cellphones that people dropped in their panic to escape down West Broadway. I should mention that I returned the cellphones to a local store a few days later and they were able to track down the owners – if I remember right, this was something a lot of cellphone stores were doing at the time to help out in the wake of 9/11. The store even called me to report back their gratitude that someone had retrieved their phone.

Which leads me to a last point that I really should have made on the show. In the days and weeks following 9/11, New York City was different than it has ever been before or since. It was like small town America. To ride the subway in the days following, everyone made eye contact, everyone smiled and said hellos and how are you’s to each other. We all had a shared experience and it was a close bond. One that did not hold, obviously. But it was special and we all knew it was special, I think. The moments of Rudy Giuliani touring Ground Zero, President Bush speaking at Ground Zero and throwing out the first pitch of the World Series, those were special moments for New Yorkers. I remember seeing the first NFL game on TV and watching Ricky Watters of the Seattle Seahawks run onto the field waving an American flag with tears running down his face. We have come a long way since then. For better or worse. Maybe more of the latter than the former.

Show Notes

Not mentioned on the show, but crucially important right now:

Operation Recovery

Save Our Allies

No One Left Behind

Pars Equality Center