Profiles in Havok

We don’t want to bang the drum about Afghanistan to the point it is just white noise. And we have a lot of great guests and a lot of great subjects booked for the Weekly Havok. But events in Afghanistan are unfolding rapidly and with great significance for our national security, the future of the country and the future of terrorism. It’s important to note what’s happening along the way. And if we can do that without detracting from our regularly scheduled programming, all the better. So here’s an extra episode, catching you up to everything Afghanistan-related as of late 07 September 2021.

Show Alibis

Not much to say here. Still tired, mostly due to keeping up with the roll-out of the new Afghanistan. Hopefully it doesn’t show up too much in the episode. I really tried to keep this episode short and sweet, but it ended up being 71 minutes or so. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men…

Show Notes

Operation Recovery

Save Our Allies

No One Left Behind

Pars Equality Center

There is no way to do justice to a subject like courage in the space of an hour. But there is a way to hit some major wavetops, and that’s what we did this week. Combat vets Dave Hartmann and Douglas Dodge joined the show for a discussion about courage that ranged from the philosophical to the personal. And then Doug talked about Medal of Honor recipient SFC Al Cashe. If you don’t know about Al Cashe, you should. And if you haven’t heard Doug talk about Al Cashe, then you need to. Military guys do a lot of hard, traumatic things. But what Doug and Al Cashe went through is on another level. It may not tell you everything you need to know about courage, but it tells you more than you probably knew.

Show Alibis

When I’m tired, I don’t get inarticulate, I get overly articulate and end up using polysyllabic words that don’t mean what I mean them to mean. And going into this show, I was tired. Not so tired that it detracted from Doug or Dave or the subject matter, but enough that I noticed it and felt bad enough to own up to it now. So, if you need to, grab a bunch of shots and make a drinking game out of my malaprops, brain farts and general over-articulateness.

I don’t want to be too maudlin about this, but Doug Dodge really fucked Dave and me up. It was the closest I’ve come to tearing up on the show ever – which didn’t help me become more articulate and less fatigued. Regardless, it’s a great compliment to Doug to pull that on Dave and me his first time out. And it’s a great compliment to him and Al Cashe – most of us will never know if we could have acted as bravely and most of us will never have to find out, but they set examples that day. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was that time I watched my wife save a rooster from our Chihuahua, but you really don’t get examples like that too often (sorry, felt a desperate need to lighten things up).

Show Notes

Medal of Honor recipient SFC Al Cashe

Headstrong Project

The Havok Journal

Brittany Medrano needs a kidney and is O-Negative. If you can help please reach out through: https://ca.gofundme.com/f/support-brittany-through-her-medical-endeavors

Yes, the show is the WEEKLY Havok, but the nature of this week in Afghanistan made this the first Bi-Weekly Havok episode. I went solo only because I wanted to present some Cliff Notes on Afghan history as well as take a swing at some low-hanging fruit on the social media BS tree and none of our guests needed to be around for that. Fair warning – at the rate events are unspooling at HKIA, this may turn out to be the Tri-Weekly Havok.

Show Notes

Afghanistan by Thomas Barfield

Ghost Wars by Steve Coll

Directorate S by Steve Coll

Of course we were going to talk about Afghanistan. On the best of weeks, it doesn’t take a lot for me to talk about Afghanistan. Even moreso now. Just for added variety and perspective, we imported two non-Havok Journal folks to talk about it – Dr. Paul D. Miller and “G” an active-duty NSW operator 20 years and 12 deployments into his career. HJ was well-represented with one of our most articulate civilian writers – Dr. Alice Atalanta – who – spoiler alert – bridged the civ-mil divide in an unsparing critique of civilian inattention to Afghanistan. Whether you’re still fuzzy on why Afghanistan matters or if you simply need some catharsis, this episode is going to have something for you.

Show Notes

Just War and Ordered Liberty by Dr. Paul D. Miller

American Power and Liberal Order by Dr. Paul D. Miller

Armed State Building by Dr. Paul D. Miller

Afghanistan Didn’t Have to End This Way by Dr. Paul D. Miller

How to reach Dr. Alice Atalanta

How else to reach Dr. Alice Atalanta

The Loss of Life in War is Not a Sunken Cost by Dr. Alice Atalanta

Meditations of an Army Ranger by LTC JC Glick and Dr. Alice Atalanta

Navigating Chaos by Jeff Boss and Dr. Alice Atalanta

Story of Extortion 17

Do vets matter to the media and does the media matter to vets? The answer is of course, yes. But in what ways do vets matter to the media? As props? As confirmation of prior biases? And how do vets engage with the media? Does it give a voice to the voiceless? Does the media generate more heat than light in the veteran community? I discuss all this and more with American Warrior Radio’s Ben Beuhler-Garcia, author, columnist, music video director and Warfighter Rights leader Boone Cutler, and Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint.

Show Alibis

I think it’s safe to say, this was the first episode I didn’t feel needed. Ben is a very experienced host and Boone is a prolific talker. It’s a good thing too. Charlie and I had just recorded the pilot episode of the Savage Wonder podcast (links coming soon!) and my synapses were, frankly, a little fried by the time I hit record on this one. But with pros like Ben and Boone on, it was easy to find grist for the mill and put together a decent episode.

Yeah, this episode was about the media. But it’s funny – and I blame the news coming out of Afghanistan for this – we ended up veering into veteran health and wellbeing for a second week in a row. It’s more of a natural transition than you think – if the media can cause a lot of heartburn and imbalance, it’s good for vets to have a way to detox. If you don’t know about Boone’s Spartan Pledge initiative – check it out in the Show Notes below. Very timely, especially as many of us digest the latest from Afghanistan.

Show Notes

Americanwarriorradio.com

9/11 Tower Challenge Foundation

The Spartan Pledge

Functional Personal Lifestyle by Boone Cutler and Geoff Dardia

Voodoo In Sadr City by Boone Cutler

Second Mission Foundation

Violence of Action by Marty Skovlund Jr., Leo Jenkins, and Charlie Faint

Veterans Repertory Theater

This week, I discussed how vets should maintain their mind, body, and spirit with MSG Geoff Dardia and Meg Kelvington. In my experience, not many of my peers wanted to have conversations focused on the mind, the body, or the spirit. I mean we weren’t in church – or in yoga class. But when you boil down a lot of our conversations, they actually were about mind/body/spirit issues – from dealing with inter-personal issues to fitness regimens to coping with work/life demands. There’s something about the label “veterans’ health” that seems too vague to successfully capture its importance and relevance to current or former servicemembers. I’ll also say that Geoff and Meg have each taken remarkable yet unpredictable paths to wellness. This might be the first episode that actually helped me, albeit unintentionally. There’s no way to do justice to a subject as complex and broad as veterans’ health in one hour. But you might find enough in it to help you too – even if you didn’t know it.

Show Alibis

I usually let Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint do most of the pre-show socializing; for one thing, he knows the guests better than I do beforehand, and for another, I want to save any interesting conversation that may occur for the recording. But after his solo hosting last week, Charlie had a nervous breakdown and checked himself into the Betty Ford clinic, so he wasn’t available for the show this week. I’m kidding, of course. Does the Betty Ford clinic even exist anymore? Would this joke have worked better in 1982? Doesn’t every joke? Anyway, Charlie wasn’t there this week and as a result, I got into too fascinating a conversation with Geoff Dardia before the show started and then had to try to recreate it during the recording. I think we mostly succeeded, but I’m still holding it against Charlie.

Meg Kelvington must have felt bad enough that I’m the only one who does alibis each week.  She emailed me after the show to say she felt terrible for not remembering to thank Charlie’s Second Mission Foundation during the episode since the foundation paid for her to start Riveting Mission LLC. I’m glad she forgot to say anything during the episode because it’s about time I gave Second Mission some plugs in writing. From Aaron Kirk’s book to Meg’s business to, well, this podcast, Charlie has really helped a lot of veterans launch their “second mission.” We all owe him a lot of thanks.

Show Notes

Task Force Dagger

Functional Medical Initiative

Team Red, White, and Blue

Wear Blue: Run to Remember

Riveting Mission LLC

Whole Health Initiative

Total Force Fitness

Holistic Health and Fitness

SOF Health Initiative

Boot Campaign

Hunter Seven Foundation

Second Mission Foundation

This week Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint steps in to cover for me while I was traveling and wifi was sketchy at best. His guests were Greg Drobny and Kevin Wilson - who moves into the lead as our most regular guest for those keeping score. The topic this week was all things guns, an episode I was sorry to miss. 

Show Alibis

Charlie really stepped up this week. He found out he was solo hosting about three minutes before going live. So the least I can do is fill in a few details, like who, exactly, our guests were.

Greg Drobny is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and is Code Platoon’s Student Outreach Coordinator. He holds a BA in history, a Masters of Science in organizational psychology, and is currently pursuing an MA in history.

Kevin Wilson is a 13 year veteran of the North Carolina Army National Guard where he spent time in Syria blowing up ISIS, as well as Kuwait and Egypt. He also works with Right to Bear, a group working to bring responsible firearm ownership to communities traditionally neglected by mainstream gun culture.

Since I’m chafing at missing the episode, I’ll make a few points that I would have made if I’d been on. Greg states that violent felons and Lautenberg Amendment violators should be barred from owning weapons. I’d quibble with the adjective “violent” and say that any felon should be barred from owning weapons. Remember, drug dealers, sex traffickers, and Al Capone are not considered “violent” since none are/were busted for violent acts. But no one should have any illusions about whether or not they are/were actually violent or deserving of gun rights.

Show Notes

Natural Rights

Lautenberg Amendment

Common Use Clause

DC v. Heller

Right to Bear

Code Platoon

The civ-mil divide is something we kind of always bring up in one way or another on the show. You might even say it’s a large part of why we even do the show. So it was probably overdue for us to do an actual episode about it. I spoke with retired Air Force/Air Guard Chief Master Sergeant Dave Chamberlin, Uriel Epshtein of the Renew Democracy Initiative, and Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint. We talked about what the military and civilian communities can learn from each other, the role pop culture plays in the perceptions/mis-perceptions about the military, and the difference between discipline and repression – and why that may matter in the civ-mil divide.

Show Notes

McChrystal’s Service Year Alliance

Stan Goff

Code 1 Maintenance

Renew Democracy Initiative

This week I spoke with Aaron Kirk, Dr. Donnelly Wilkes, and Charlie Faint about death – what did they think about it before they joined the military, during their time in service, and afterwards. Sure, it can be a dark subject – it certainly wasn’t hilarious – but it wasn’t as dark and depressing as you might think. It’s a conversation that is serious and positive. I think you’ll come away grateful for everyone’s well-spoken and thoughtful insights. And you will definitely want to buy The Hill and Code Red: Fallujah.

Show Alibis

Charlie told me it wasn’t noticeable, but I really need to cut down on Dunkin Donuts’ cold brews right before a show. For the first fifteen minutes of the episode, I felt like my brain was about three feet in front of my mouth. I’m now 24 hours caffeine sober and I think everyone I’ve met today thinks I’m angry with them. We’ll see if it’s worth it.

Look, veterans are not fabrege eggs. That said, I don’t like being too high on caffeine when talking with combat veterans about their experiences with death. Any discussion of death with a vet is kind of like asking someone about their honeymoon night – it’s a pretty intimate discussion that requires trust, sensitivity, and a bit of forethought.   

I mentioned on the show that Dr. Wilkes gave me permission to call him “Donnelly,” since I thought it would be weird to keep using his title when I was using everyone else’s first names. But then Charlie and Aaron continued to call him “Dr. Wilkes” which made me sound like an inconsiderate asshole who has no respect for others. Or maybe that’s just the caffeine withdrawl talking.

Show Notes

The Hill by Aaron Kirk

Code Red: Fallujah by Dr. Donnelly Wilkes

Second Mission Foundation