Profiles in Havok

This week I talk with Havok Journal owner (and current Army Intelligence Officer) Charlie Faint about all things Military Intelligence. It is an episode born of necessity – we had cancellations and technical issues which meant we had to find something Charlie and I could talk about relatively easily and with little preparation. I think it worked. I know I had a two-track conversation going on – one with Charlie and one with myself to vet my comments before opening my mouth – and I think Charlie probably had one as well. But we stay within the tearlines and hopefully manage to give you all a little insight into the MI world.

Show Alibis

In the episode, we don’t do justice to all facets of military intelligence. The signals intelligence and analysis aspects get very short shrift. One is difficult to talk about in an unclassified environment and the other is as boring to discuss as it is important to have. I look forward to your hate mail.

This episode continues a stretch of mid-summer cancellations and technical issues. It seems that each episode affected tends to work out better than we had planned, so I’m mildly optimistic that this one will turn out all right. But next week’s show looks great on paper. I won’t dime them out by naming the guests now, since it’s 50-50 that we’ll have that same lineup by showtime. But suffice to say that if we run into issues with our guests, we’re going to have to really up our game to make up for them. 

Did I state that there are only 17 intelligence agencies in the US instead of the real number (18) because I misspoke? Or because I forgot? Or because I was fooling the Chinese into believing we have 5.5% less capabilities than we have? I know which answer I’m sticking to.

Show Notes

S2

The World’s Most Dangerous Place by James Ferguson

ODA

HUMINT

Green Platoon

ASOTs

LNO

Poly

Spooky Sex: Inside the Randy Culture of the CIA by Reuel Marc Gerecht

Black Rifle Coffee Company

Second Mission Foundation

Veterans Repertory Theater

VetRep Theater - Facebook

This week I talk with Havok Journal’s editor, the elusive Mike Warnock, Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint, and Havok Journal writer Jeff Marshburn who came to us live from the front seat of a patrol car. Just in time for July 4th, we discuss how much it matters to have a combat patch, or a CIB, or be a SEAL/SF-type dude. How much should those kind of credentials matter to another vet? What about to a civilian? Are some veterans better than others?

Show Alibis

During the show, I tried to tell a story I hadn’t thought about in 20+ years and it showed. I couldn’t remember if it was Damon Wayans or D.L. Hughley that got onstage and lost the room. I remember more now. It was in about 2000, at the Comic Strip on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It was Damon Wayans who showed up unexpectedly at the club. He came onstage and the crowd went nuts…for about five minutes. Then they saw what all of us comics saw – he hadn’t prepared any material and was just rambling – mostly about D.L. Hughley. I guess there was some beef between them, I didn’t know what it was and neither did anyone else in the room. But Damon Wayans just stalked the stage calling D.L. Hughley names and talking smack about him. On air, I said this went on for about 45 minutes, but, thinking about it now, it was actually about 90 minutes. It was long. Especially when each act was generally supposed to do a tight 15 minutes. Damon Wayans didn’t just lose the room (many people started to walk out) he killed the night – the room closed after his act because he had gone so long, so those of us waiting to go on were bumped. All in all, it wasn’t a good look for Damon Wayans. But it just goes to show that anyone will give you five minutes based on your fame (or tab). After that, it’s on you to live up to their expectations.

Please do not let Mike Warnock’s mid-show correction stop you from hitting us up to inform us that there are 600 (not 300) OR room doctors in the AMEDD. Or, better yet, hit Mike up.

Show Notes

AMEDD

Second Mission Foundation

Veterans Repertory Theater

Coyote & Crow

Lucy Shelby

Bindlestiff Family Cirkus

This week I talked with a scintillating, fascinating, and stunningly good-looking guest – myself. I guess that between scheduling mix-ups, sketchy technical issues and general, well, havoc(k), it was bound to happen at some point. So there you go. I make the best of it, subjecting myself to a pointed interrogation about my positions regarding Azerbaijan-based pipelines and a lively debate about macroeconomics and Keynesianism in greater Oceania. That, of course, is a joke – there is no debate about macroeconomics and Keynesianism in greater Oceania. In reality, I use General Milley’s comments about critical race theory as a launching point to talk about tolerance and its underappreciated benefit to pluralism and discourse. And then I spend half the episode on a shameless plug. You’ve been warned.

Show Alibis

I don’t spend much of the episode dwelling on Milley’s comments because it is simply a launching off point. But I missed a chance to tie his comments into this week’s subject, so I’ll take that chance now. I’m going to give Milley the benefit of the doubt  and assume that he is preoccupied with bigger issues (that are actually related to his mission) and can be forgiven for falling into a trap that ensnares many people who don’t think deeply or at length about cultural issues. Milley is right that there is no reason not to know other points of view. But he misses the point that the military establishment seems determined to offer de facto endorsements of CRT (or “social justice” or whatever nomenclature we’re using this week). In that, Milley confuses both tolerance with endorsement as well as knowledge with tolerance. This underscores a deeper issue about the military’s lack of understanding about civilian life and cultural issues. The military, is, at the end of the day, about saluting the flag and following orders, not about questioning the cultural trends and nuances of civilian leadership. This is admirable, but also leaves the military establishment intellectually unprepared for these sort of self-hating rituals. Those of us who grew up in big cities where racial hucksterism was all the rage (especially in the early ‘90s) see all of this as rebranded Sharptonism and remain unimpressed. Rural folk who make up the backbone of the military may be unfamiliar and therefore not fully appreciate that history. So perhaps this is a glimpse into a rural/urban divide in the military. Which is actually a much larger topic…more on that down the road.

I moved my recording location which explains the increased background noise. Sorry to everyone who is bothered by it. I’ll move somewhere quieter next time. Like a train station.

Show Notes

Milley’s comments on CRT

Veterans Repertory Theater

This week, I talk with the witty and erudite Kevin Wilson and Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint about the importance of pop culture to the military. We talk deployment shows, movies and TV that influenced us to join, why The Hurt Locker is so disappointing to Charlie and Kevin. This was a fun one. If you don’t understand pop culture’s role in the military, you don’t understand the military.

Have a listen here.

Show Alibis

A little explainer on this week’s Easter egg. I thought HJ writer Kerry Patton was going to join us. After ten minutes of small talk, Charlie mentioned that Kerry wasn’t going to be there and I realized that Charlie and Kevin had really just been humoring me, waiting for me to start recording. So you missed all the hilarious and insightful comments that usually would make an Easter egg, but that’s why.

Show Notes

Right to Bear

The Hill by Aaron Kirk

Second Mission Foundation

For several weeks, Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint and I had discussed doing an episode all about China – its geopolitical rise, its potential threats and, of course the fallout from COVID-19. Then Havok Journal writers Matt Trevathan and Christopher Otero got into a collegial back and forth on the private Havok Journal writers’ forum about some COVID-19 theories. After hyperventilating that they were wasting a perfectly good opportunity to monetize an argument, I decided this was the week to do the China episode and have them on to discuss all things China. Unfortunately, Charlie couldn’t make it, but even so it was a great show that captures the spirit of collegial debate and discussion that prompted me to start the Weekly Havok. One editorial note - Chris Otero makes many cogent, articulate arguments. Most of them I disagree with, some of them I agree with, and some I just didn’t have time to rebut. Since I already dedicated an entire episode to the various theories, I didn’t want to bore you all by rehashing my arguments simply to counter him. Take a listen to what he says and then you can check below for a link that explains my position. It was a pleasure having Matt and Chris on. I was on an intellectual buzz for hours after. Hopefully you will be too.

Have a listen here.

Show Alibis

This week I talk with Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint and Andrew, a 18-year old firefighter on the East Coast. I know what you’re thinking – how much wisdom, insight and life experience are you really going to get from an 18-year old? I agree – but Andrew is not your typical 18-year old. The story he wrote for Havok Journal was jarring enough that I made the editorial decision to focus on it instead of any topical stuff this week. Your next question is probably about Andrew’s anonymity – how many firefighters hold top secret clearances and need to protect their identities? True, but not many of us have been raised in the age of social media where opening your mouth to discuss anything important – or unimportant – is essentially handing ammunition to the trolls in your life. That said, Andrew doesn’t say anything particularly controversial, but he is very comfortable discussing the nuances of life and death issues. Which reminds me – consider this your trigger warning. The story Andrew leads off with is a tough one. It gets more philosophical from there. We get into some late-night, dorm-room-style, lava-lamp-in-the-background-type ruminations. We talk about death, insecurity, and maybe why more 16 year-olds should become volunteer firefighters.

Show Alibis

In the episode, Andrew and I discuss our shared firefighting experience and I talk about the firefighter/cop rivalry – cops are “pigs,” everyone loves a firefighter because they save people, everyone hates the police because they have to enforce the law, blah blah blah. That kind of stuff seemed a lot funnier before the whole “defund the police” movement took off. Not a lot else to say, I just feel a little weird that I brought it up.  

14 episodes in and Charlie finally had a brain fart. Unlike me or Alyssa Sudermann when we’ve gone off the rails, Charlie tapped out and requested an edit. I’ve grown so much as a person that I was willing to do edit it out, but I haven’t grown enough to not mention it gleefully to you all.

Andrew consistently acquits himself well throughout the episode. But any immaturity he still has seems to have been channeled into his driving. It was the end of the episode so I didn’t have time to make a big thing about it, but how many accidents did he mention that he’s been in? Next time he comes on the show, I’m going to see if he’s willing to move to the city and start taking the subway.

Show Notes

Firefighters Deal with More Than Just Flames by Andrew

Having PTSD means you’re normal

LTC Dave Grossman

Meekness in the beatitudes “Strength Under Control”

The Hill by Aaron Kirk

How Much Should We Blame China for COVID-19? This week, I talk with Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint and his father, retired Colonel Don Faint about the origins of COVID-19 and how much responsibility China should have for the outbreak and the spread of it. Spoiler alert: a lot. So this was one of those weeks where the subject fell into our lap because this is the week the lab leak theory gained a lot of mainstream attention, and then the guest fell into our lap because Charlie’s dad was in town. It was a pleasure to have Don on, especially because his long and fascinating Army career had absolutely nothing to do with China and he willing tackled the subject with humility and insight anyway. Honestly, I feel that he says more simply and in a few words than I do pontificating and caveating and sidebarring for five minutes. The end result is an episode that goes beyond the mask debate, the school closures, the state guidelines, and focuses on the real villain - the CCP.

Show Alibis

My big alibi this week is we managed to record a show during Memorial Day weekend and didn’t say a word about Memorial Day. Totally my fault. But it is funny. Memorial Day never meant that much to me when I was in the military for the simple reason that every day was Memorial Day – I never stopped thinking about my fellow soldiers, the missions, and the losses in both my life and others. This was my first Memorial Day as a civilian in 14 years and it means a lot more to me now. Free and clear of military obligations, I can sort of exhale and examine things with perspective now, so I find myself a lot more emotional, wistful, and awed by others’ service. Of course that newfound impact occurred on Monday – Memorial Day – and not on Saturday when we recorded. Next year’s show will probably be very different.

Errors were remarkably few and far between during this episode. Charlie says that “you can never have enough Chris” which really should have warranted a “phrasing” from me, and I mention the “temperature” we live in these days, which was a not-totally-successful attempt at repurposing a word for purely literary reasons. But other than that…

This weekend A Quiet Place II premiered. That is not why we included mysterious and suspicious shuffling noises throughout the episode. Charlie’s dogs were on the loose early in the episode. In case discussing China’s role in the outbreak isn’t suspenseful enough, hopefully you’re on the edge of your seat listening to the sounds of impending slobber about to engulf Don.

Hey – The Hill by Aaron Kirk is out for pre-order!!!

Show Notes

Who Are the Uighers?

Lab leaks do happen

Jameson Fouss letter to Washington about WIV

2012 outbreak in Yunnan Province

Jim Geraghty’s Pulitzer-worthy reporting on COVID-19

Matthew Pottinger on Face the Nation

ODNI warning about China’s collection of global bio-data

China welding Wuhan citizens into buildings to cover-up COVID-19

China arrested 8 for “spreading hoaxes” about COVID-19. What happened to them?

Claims about China bioweapons program from former head of the Soviet bioweapons program

John Cena apologizes to China

Special Forces: The “Unconventional Way” in the Early Days by Col. (ret.) Don Faint

Hot Shots hospital scene

The Hill by Aaron Kirk

Havok Journal

Second Mission

124 retired flag officers sign an open letter bemoaning the state of the US and its radical turn towards socialism and Marxism. Space Force Commander Matthew Lohmeier is removed from his post for self-publishing a book about Marxism in the military. It’s 2021 - should the US military be afraid of Karl Marx? I talk with retired Army officer and Havok Journal writer Christopher Otero about the threat – or lack thereof – that Marx plays in today’s military.

We talked about Critical Race Theory and it’s Marxist origins, we talk about the Constitution, the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, we talk about America. I asked Charlie for a guest I could play tennis with, and Chris was that guest. It was a pleasure and I think you’re going to hear just about the best arguments that can be made from both the right and the left.

I had never met Chris before, but I had read a lot of his writing. He’s unknowingly been my touchstone at Havok Journal for many the arguments I don’t agree with. So I looked forward to this a lot and he was a complete gentleman. We found things to agree on, we found things to disagree on and we reminded ourselves that you can talk about delicate political issues honestly and with conviction when you’re aware that we are all more than our politics and that our discussion isn’t more important than our common civic bond.

Have a listen here.

Show Alibis

I sometimes take it for granted that everyone listening knows who I’m talking about when I refer to “Charlie.” Previous listeners should know by now that I’m talking about Charlie Faint, the owner of Havok Journal.

So why didn’t Charlie ride shotgun with me this week? There are times when the subject matter cuts a little too close to the bone for an active duty officer at West Point and this was one of those times. It’s always nice to have Charlie on, but with him absent, I had the opportunity to poke fun at his calculated, political stance of radical neutrality. Just wait until he’s retired and he can let the expletives fly (or not, as the case may be).

Chris professionally steered us back on topic at the end of the episode and I’m glad at least one of us was fulfilling the obligation to our listeners to actually talk about our subject. So I can’t blame him for not also helping us dive further into the open letter from the 124 flag officers. I don’t know when I’ll have the chance to rant about it again, so let me make one point about one of the complaints #milTwitter had regarding the letter. #milTwitter incessantly ridiculed the hypocrisy of flag officers who made their living in a “socialist utopia” only to bash it after they retired – a bit of pro-socialist smart-assery that doesn’t exactly refute the signatories’ concern about socialism’s growing influence in the ranks. This reheated troll of an argument – it got really popular with a certain type of wavetops-level intellectual circa 2014 when Jacob Siegal wrote a piece for The Daily Beast called “Troops of the Uniform Unite! The Military Is a Socialist Paradise!” – seems to have been repeated enough to be taken seriously, so it is worth taking a moment to let the air out of its tires.

It does not make one a hypocrite to condemn socialism while serving (or having served) in the military any more than it makes one a hypocrite to condemn communism after being raised in, you know, a family, since all families are essentially communist in practice (that whole, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” thing. Or did your parents make you pay for everything you ate as a baby?)

Not satisfied? Want to dive deeper? It’s not that the US military is socialist (Siegal really means “collectivist,” but whatever) – it’s that all militaries are collectivist in varying degrees because all militaries exist for the one general purpose of national defense. It’s worth noting that those socialist/collectivist traits – low pay, inefficient procurement process, zero-sum opportunities, living at the mercy of a large, impersonal, incompetent bureaucracy – are actually the worst things about the military. Far from showing the universal applicability of collectivism, military examples show that one cannot replicate military-style collectivism for a civilian population because civilians are not unified in purpose the way a military is. Another problem, as Siegal himself noted, is that the US military is voluntary, which is a big speed bump in the way of his conclusion. And then there’s also the issue that, to the extent that the military has an economy, it only functions (in the US) because it is subsidized by capitalism. The US military is also (and hopefully will remain) rooted in the concept of meritocracy, which every socialist on Twitter is quick to pair with capitalism (and white supremacy, of course), since it runs counter to the old chestnut “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” again. I’ll leave it there before this alibi section becomes a novella (“too late” – Charlie), but you get the idea.

Show notes

Open letter by 124 retired flag officers

Today’s Internet Star: Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier by Christopher Otero

The Frankfurt School of Marxism and Critical Theory

A Welcome Backlash Against Critical Race Theory

Biden Administration Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Black Hebrew Israelites: What We Know About the Fringe Group

Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story

“We’re here to preserve democracy, not practice it.”

Army AAR

Why Blacks Don’t Need Leaders

Al Sharpton’s Lost Opportunity

Memoirs of U.S. Grant

DarkSide hacks Colonial Pipeline and extorts 5 million dollars, thereby holding large parts of the East Coast gas supply hostage. Hamas rains rockets down on Israel for no good reason. How much is Russia involved? How about Turkey or Iran? Are these standalone stories or are they part of a geopolitical great game? What do pipelines and rockets tell us about our enemies? I discuss all this and more with Havok Journal writer and former Special Forces and DIA officer Richard Liebl and Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint. This episode covers everything from Special Forces humanitarian missions to the two-state solution.

Show Alibis

I usually record at the office, but my wife was out and I was on childcare duty at home for this one. So, I set the kid up with food and movies and one stipulation – that he not bother me for an hour. And then he almost derailed the episode in the first five minutes by repeatedly barging in on me to fix one issue after another so he could watch Austin Powers on my phone. I wouldn’t have minded so much, but he came in right as I was fumbling through cyber-speak which is not my first language by a long shot. I think you should only hear him come in the third and final time, so it shouldn’t detract too much from the episode, but it does explain why I’m hemming and hawing my way through the explanation of the DarkSide attack.

Yes, we do have a rule that no smart Marines are allowed on the podcast. Unless they are a drooling vegetable. But I think that’s only common sense.

During the episode, I mention an Eli Lake article in the NY Times about Israel taking over the West Bank and Gaza, which I immediately started caveating because I don’t ever remember reading anything by Eli Lake in the Times. Sure enough, I misremembered – it was a Bret Stephens piece and it specifically talked about eliminating Hamas. Batting 1000% as always. Go me.

I mention that anti-Semitism has been the predominant cause of hate crimes in the US since the FBI started tracking hate crimes in 1995. I should have clarified – anti-Semitism has been the predominant cause of religious hate crimes in the US. Anti-black hate crimes and, more recently, anti-homosexual (not anti-lesbian, fwiw), hate crimes have been more common overall.

Show Notes

The DarkSide hack of Colonial Pipeline

The retaliation against DarkSide

US Gas Shortage Eases, but Pumps Dry in Some Areas

US Constitution Reference to “Letters of Marque and Reprisal”

The Truth about the Sheikh Jarrah Eviction

Hamas Tries to Seize the Day

Palestinian elections postponed by Fatah

How Israel’s Iron Dome works

How Israel Used a Tweet to Lure Militants to Their Doom in Terror Tunnel

Misinformation about Hamas initiating rocket attacks against Israel

Iran Backing Hamas

Israel, Hamas, Iran, and Biden

Five Times Israel Supported a Two-State Solution

Hamas Charter

The Abraham Accords

Soviet Russia, Creator of the PLO and Inventor of the Palestinian People

Yasser Arafat: Connections to the KGB

The KGB’s Middle East Files: Palestinians in the Service of Mother Russia

Syria is now firing missiles into Israel

For the sake of peace, Israel must rout Hamas

Why Isn’t There a Palestinian State?

Israel spying on the US

FBI Hate Crime Statistics

“I’m Just a Cook”

Storm Surge: Special Operations Support to the Hurricane Georges Humanitarian Crisis by Richard Liebl

Dropsonde

Veterans Curation Program – “Heroes Preserving History”

Second Mission Foundation

Havok Journal

Savage Wonder

UFOs. That’s right. This week Havok Journal owner Charlie Faint and his daughter Emily Faint help me dive into the newly released, alarming footage of UFO’s buzzing the USS Russell. That wasn’t the only deeply troubling topic – we also talked about the on-going microwave attacks of US diplomats both globally and, now, in Washington DC. And I also wanted to make sure we covered the leak of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s comments about the killing of Qassim Suleimani and John Kerry’s potential spillage of classified information. With topics like these, it’s hard not to go heavy on the fearmongering. We tried lightening the mood by having Emily on, honoring April’s “Month of the Military Child” two weeks too late. I’m not sure it works - I probably ended up bumming her out about the future of the US, not to mention asking her to pretend she’s an expert on Iranian politics, pulsating sonic attacks, and UFOs (which, to be honest, any 17-year old really should be). This episode has 100% of your FDA recommended daily allowance of mystery, intrigue, and the upside of playing mixed-gender football.

Show Alibis

Due to some family commitments, I had to record this on consecutive days with the Marty Skovlund episode. It was my first time compressing my prep time and, if I’m being honest, it showed. My brain was swimming in so many data points that I was tripping all over myself to get any one of them out. I really crammed because I had a gut feeling that there’s no better way to lose an audience than by doing an hour-long, half-assed take on UFOs. We’ll see if this week’s inarticulateness manages to actually be the better way to lose an audience.

Inarticulateness, you say? Yeah. I start off by saying “gobble up” instead of “garble up.” I think I also say “rich” about fifty times in the first two minutes. I’m sure you’ll find other examples. Maybe make it a drinking game.

I should point out that Charlie and Emily were sitting in the same room during the show. To prevent the significant feedback that caused, they had to keep themselves on mute except when they were talking. I say all this because, at one point, I tell Charlie and Emily that I’m trying hard to say “Month of the Military Child” instead of “Military Child of the Month” and you’ll just have to take my word for it that they were laughing. And that’s not the only time in the episode that I was killing while they were on mute. I’m totally not delusional. I’m not just tossing out dad jokes that land with a thud. I’m seriously funny. Seriously.

The subjects we talk about this week are spooky. But there’s nothing like talking about microwave attacks and then seeing your camera and Emily’s mic go out. I’d hoped the Russians would at least let us get to a few million downloads before we’d be targeted.

I don’t want to ruin our post-show Easter egg, but did want to clarify my memory of the French Commando course in Djibouti. I’m pretty sure it’s just in my imagination that you’re awarded a Kepi Blanc or a tab. And I can’t remember if it was the Commando course I missed or the jump where I could have had French jump wings. Either way, I don’t have any of them, so I’m not sure why I even bother to ombudsman any of this.

Show Notes

Month of the Military Child

Recent UFO reporting

How the Pentagon Started Taking UFOs Seriously

Upcoming Senate UFO report

Microwave Attacks in Cuba

How Many American Spies Have to Die Before We Do Something Here?

Near the White House

Background on the JCPOA

Zarif Leak

John Kerry’s Denial on Leaking to Iran Doesn’t Add Up

Gulf States Drawing Close to Israel

Columbia Defends Inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

US Police Tactics Embrace Microwave Attacks

Russia Is Harassing US Diplomats All Over Europe

Russian FSB Guard Attacks US Diplomat Outside Moscow Embassy

Cyber Attacks Hackers Threaten to Share US Police Informant Data

9 cyberattacks that threatened officer safety and obstructed justice

Ransomware Hackers Blackmail US Police Departments

More on the Norwegian Foot March

Second Mission Foundation

FAIR

Bari Weiss

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Havok Journal

Savage Wonder