🇺🇸 NEW EPISODE — THE ARROGANT INDEPENDENT
Defending Liberty: Why Confronting Drug Cartels Is NOT a War Crime
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America is losing tens of thousands of lives every year to fentanyl and cartel-driven drug trafficking.
Stopping that isn’t cruelty.
It isn’t extremism.
And it isn’t a war crime.
In this episode, I explain why confronting drug cartels is a legitimate act of national defense, not an act of aggression — and why protecting American lives is one of the most basic expressions of liberty and love of country.
I also want to be very clear:
The Arrogant Independent is not loyal to any party, politician, or personality.
Truth comes first — even when it’s uncomfortable for everyone involved.
This episode defends the principle that a nation has both the right and the duty to protect its people from mass harm — regardless of who happens to be in office.
If you care about facts over tribes…
If you believe loving your fellow countrymen means protecting them…
This episode is for you.
🎧 Listen here:
———————
Truth over tribe.
Country over chaos.
🇺🇸
Mission Ready — New Training Module Release
“Understanding Tariffs, the Effective Tariff Rate, and How Policy Shapes the Economic Battlefield”
Today I’m releasing a new Mission Ready slideshow that breaks down one of the most misunderstood areas of economic policy: tariffs and their real-world impact on American workers, families, businesses, and retirees.
This presentation covers:
🔹 Why trade policy is a leadership issue
🔹 What tariffs actually do inside the economy
🔹 A 125-year historical timeline of U.S. tariff shifts
🔹 The 30-year decline of the Effective Tariff Rate (ETR)
🔹 How the 2018–2019 tariffs reversed that long trend
🔹 How rising trade costs impact wages, prices, and purchasing power
🔹 Why retirees and fixed-income households feel the greatest pressure
🔹 How businesses adapt when supply chains become more expensive
🔹 The leader’s takeaway: Economic readiness is mission readiness
If you’d like to dive deeper, the full discussion is available on the Mission Ready podcast:
🎧 Listen on Spotify:
Stay mission ready.
— Shawn Havens
🇺🇸 NEW EPISODE: The Afghan Evacuation — Responsibility, Refugee Integrity, and the Truth About Numbers
The Arrogant Independent Podcast – Hosted by Shawn Havens
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Most people don’t know this — but the U.S. evacuated over 90,000 Afghans after the fall of Kabul.
And if you look at the chart I included with this episode, you’ll see something shocking:
We took in almost the exact same number of evacuees as the size of the entire U.S. military force deployed at the height of the war in 2010.
100,000 troops at the peak.
90,000+ Afghan evacuees after the collapse.
That comparison matters.
Not because Afghans are bad people.
Not because immigrants are a threat.
But because this tells the truth about responsibility, refugee integrity, and what it means to defend your own country.
———————————————
What this episode covers:
• The collapse that should not have happened
Afghanistan didn’t fall because the Taliban were stronger — it fell because its own leadership surrendered.
• True refugees vs. those who abandoned responsibility
America must protect interpreters, women, minorities, and dissidents — not people who refused to defend their own country.
• How 90,000 evacuees overwhelmed our refugee system
Vetting that normally takes months was reduced to minutes on the airport tarmac.
• Why America needs a responsible-sponsor model
Every future refugee should have a vetted American sponsor who verifies identity, danger, and moral character.
• The moral truth
If America can fight for someone’s freedom, they must be willing to fight for it too.
———————————————
🎧 Listen to the full episode:
Full Written Report (Policy Essay)
Podcast Episode (Main Show Link)
[Add your podcast link here]
———————————————
Final message:
America should always protect true allies and endangered people.
But humanitarian compassion must be rooted in truth, responsibility, and character — not chaos and collapsed vetting.
A sponsor for every refugee.
Accountability for every admission.
Integrity for the entire system
NEW EPISODE — The Arrogant Independent
“How Rhetoric Turned Into Retaliation: A Bipartisan Examination of Delegitimization, Targeting, and the Human Cost of False Labeling”
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Over the past decade, America has crossed a dangerous line.
A line between disagreement and destruction.
Between criticism and condemnation.
Between rhetoric—and retaliation.
This episode breaks down how it happened, why it happened, and what it cost real people—including me.
Using bipartisan evidence, psychological research, and documented case studies from the National Guard, ICE, and my own lived experience, this episode exposes the mechanism behind modern delegitimization and targeted harassment.
This is not a partisan argument.
It’s a warning.
And a call for national maturity.
———————
🎧 Listen to the Podcast Episode
👉 Insert Podcast Link Here
🔊 Listen to the Full Audio Version of the Paper
👉https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qdMOM5yMkAHPz4wNG1NvB0oKJBSUAF1o/view?usp=sharing
📄 Read the Full Written Report
(Cited from: “HOW RHETORIC TURNED INTO RETALIATION” )
———————
What This Episode Covers
• The National Guard in Washington, D.C., and how irrelevant rhetoric led to real-world danger.
• The surge in hostility toward ICE & CBP (2017–2020) and the psychology that fueled it.
• My personal story—how a false narrative turned into years of targeted harassment, stalking, and danger.
• The predictable psychological mechanism that turns words into attacks.
• The societal cost when rhetoric replaces truth.
All explained clearly. All supported by evidence.
All delivered with honesty and without partisanship.
———————
Read-Along Script
This episode is directly based on the full written report as well as the narrative script for the show
(“The Arrogant Independent — Podcast Episode Script” ).
———————
Why This Matters
If we want a country where:
• truth matters,
• due process matters,
• public servants and private citizens are safe…
…then we must recognize when rhetoric becomes a weapon.
This episode lays out the blueprint—not to silence debate, but to protect people from being destroyed by false narratives.
———————
Join the Conversation
If this episode speaks to you, share it.
Not for politics—for people.
For fairness. For truth. For your fellow Americans.
#TheArrogantIndependent
#Podcast #PublicSafety #Nonpartisan
#Delegitimization #Rhetoric #TruthMatters
NEW EPISODE — The Arrogant Independent
“Leveraging Low Oil Prices to Squeeze Russia”
Special Investigation Series on War and Money – Part 2 of 2
In Part 1, we exposed the truth behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
A collapsing petrostate used war-driven oil spikes as a financial bailout — trading the lives of its own soldiers for a temporary surge in state revenue.
Today, in Part 2, we break down how the United States and its allies can flip that incentive upside down — and make global instability unprofitable for the Kremlin.
This episode is based on the full written report:
“Leveraging Low Oil Prices to Squeeze Russia: A Strategic Blueprint for Undermining Russia’s War Economy.”
📄 Full Paper:
🎙️ Podcast Episode:
What We Cover in This Episode:
Why This Matters
When war is profitable, war continues.
When war becomes financially impossible, regimes are forced to rethink their choices.
This is the most direct, cost-effective, and non-military strategy available to weaken Russia’s capacity for aggression — and reshape global security.
Listen. Read. Share.
The truth deserves daylight.
#TheArrogantIndependent #WarAndMoney #Russia #Ukraine #OilPolitics #Geopolitics #Podcast #ForeignPolicy
NEW EPISODE ALERT — The Arrogant Independent
Russia’s War for Revenue” — Part 1 of a Two-Part Investigation
War is never just about borders.
It’s never just about history or principle.
Sometimes, it’s about money — and the people in power who are willing to sacrifice thousands of lives to keep their revenue flowing.
In this week’s episode, we break down the economic truth behind Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Using IMF, World Bank, IEA, and Rosstat data, we expose how a declining petrostate leveraged instability to drive up oil prices and temporarily save its collapsing economy.
This is Episode 1 of our two-part series on War & Money.
📘 Full Report:
“Russia’s Financial Decline, Oil Dependence, and the War for Revenue”
🎙️ Full Podcast Episode:
“Russia’s War for Revenue” — The Arrogant Independent
What we uncover in this episode:
— Why Russia entered the war from a position of economic weakness
— How oil price spikes created a short-term financial windfall for the Kremlin
— Why Russian soldiers became the currency that paid for elite survival
— How instability itself became Russia’s most valuable export
This is the most important investigation we’ve done this year — and it sets the stage for Part 2, where we outline how the U.S. and allied nations can dismantle Russia’s “instability profit model” without firing a shot.
Listen, read, share.
The truth needs light.
#TheArrogantIndependent #WarAndMoney #Ukraine #Russia #OilPolitics #Geopolitics #Podcast
THE ARROGANT INDEPENDENT — FACEBOOK POST
For Your New Podcast Episode
TITLE: NEW EPISODE: “Power, Targeting, and Accountability — What the Law Really Says”
Tonight’s episode of The Arrogant Independent breaks down something most Americans rarely think about:
Where does the government’s authority end, and where do a citizen’s rights begin?
As a retired enlisted veteran, I’ve spent years documenting a pattern of interference and targeting that crossed state lines, jobs, and environments. Not speculation—documentation. And in this country, documentation matters.
This episode explains:
🔵 → Why retired enlisted veterans cannot be silenced, punished, or blackmailed
🔵 → Why retired officers can be recalled and prosecuted under the UCMJ
🔵 → Why federal civil-rights law applies to anyone — military or civilian — who misuses influence or access
🔵 → Why patterns of harassment and targeting have legal consequences
🔵 → How journal documentation becomes evidence under federal law
🔵 → Why accountability doesn’t disappear just because someone takes off a uniform or changes careers
This podcast isn’t about revenge or politics.
It’s about the rule of law, constitutional boundaries, and the reality that no one — regardless of rank, status, or platform — is above the law.
🎧 Listen now:
Stay Independent.
Stay Informed.
Stay Unafraid.
— Shawn Havens
The Arrogant Independent
THE ARROGANT INDEPENDENT – NEW EPISODE RELEASED TODAY
“Coercion, Wiretaps, and the Dubai Myth — Why Vigilante Justice Has No Place in America”
WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODEKEY MESSAGE OF THE EPISODE
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE:
————————————————————————
Sometimes the most dangerous threat to personal freedom isn’t terrorism, crime, or even foreign enemies.
Sometimes it’s what happens when a group of people decide you are a target — and they take justice into their own hands without evidence, oversight, or due process.
This episode exposes exactly that.
————————————————————————
In 2015, during a period of extreme harassment, digital intrusion, and psychological pressure, I was coerced into a statement that was not true, not voluntary, and not legally obtained.
That statement resurfaced this week — referenced publicly on national television.
So this episode has one purpose:
to tell the truth, in my own voice, without fear, and without letting anyone else twist the narrative.
————————————————————————
• How the coerced statement was taken during a period of illegal surveillance and intimidation
• Why it had no legal value then — and has no legal value now
• How vigilante justice violates federal law, Georgia law, and the Constitution itself
• The truth about Dubai’s prostitution laws and why false assumptions become tools of humiliation
• What 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights) actually means in real life
• Why due process is the foundation of a free country — even when people don’t like you
• And how targeted harassment nearly ended my life, and why I’m speaking out now
This isn’t about politics, partisanship, or scoring points.
This is about rights, truth, and the American promise that nobody is punished without evidence and due process.
————————————————————————
A coerced statement is not evidence.
Illegal surveillance is not investigation.
And vigilante justice is not justice at all.
————————————————————————
If you believe in fairness, truth, and the right of every American to defend themselves against false narratives, this is an episode worth hearing.
Thank you for supporting The Arrogant Independent.
NEW EPISODE ALERT — The Arrogant Independent Podcast
“Rumor, Regulation, and Revenge: When False Narratives Target Veterans”
Today’s episode tackles something most Americans never hear about — how misunderstandings of military law, old UCMJ myths, and personal vendettas can turn into real harm against veterans who did nothing illegal.
This episode breaks down:
🇺🇸 What the UCMJ actually said before and after 2011
🇺🇸 Why veterans and retirees are not governed by those rules unless activated
🇺🇸 How false narratives were weaponized against me
🇺🇸 Why these kinds of actions are dangerous, unlawful, and often ignored
This one is personal — and it’s important.
👉 Listen here on Spotify:
If this episode resonates with you, especially if you’re a veteran or someone who loves one, feel free to share it.
Truth matters.
Narratives matter.
And protecting veterans matters.
— Shawn Havens
The Arrogant Independent
“Turning the World Upside Down — What Paul and Silas Would Challenge in America Today”
Welcome to The Arrogant Independent, where we confront the truth without fear, without tribalism, and without bowing to any earthly empire — political, religious, or cultural.
Today’s episode is one of the most important I’ve ever recorded.
We’re looking at a moment in Scripture where two ordinary men — Paul and Silas — were accused of something extraordinary.
In Acts 17:6, the angry crowd shouted:
“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”
That accusation wasn’t rhetoric.
It was the truth.
They were turning the world upside down — not with violence, not with political revolution, but with a message that challenged the foundations of the Roman Empire.
And if Paul and Silas walked into America today?
They would challenge our systems just as fiercely as they challenged Rome.
This episode is about what that confrontation would look like — with Scripture, history, and hard truth to guide us.
Let’s get into it.
NEW PODCAST EPISODE — The Arrogant Independent
“Immigration Enforcement: What the Headlines Won’t Tell You”
For years, Americans have been told that the United States is uniquely harsh on immigration enforcement — especially during the Trump era.
But the facts tell a completely different story.
In this new episode, I break down what the media rarely explains:
🔹 The U.S. has one of the most due-process-protected immigration systems in the world
🔹 Mexico’s enforcement is far faster, more punitive, and less transparent
🔹 Why ICE and Trump became symbols in a culture war that ignores global reality
🔹 How emotion-driven media framing distorts our understanding of global enforcement norms
This episode is based on my full research paper, which you can read here:
📄 Full Report: Immigration Enforcement, Media Narratives, and International Norms
Listen to the full podcast episode here:
🎙️ Podcast Episode — “Immigration Enforcement: What the Headlines Won’t Tell You”
➡️ [Insert your podcast audio link here]
And great news —
📱 The Arrogant Independent is now available on Apple Podcasts.
Just search “The Arrogant Independent – Shawn Havens.”
If you care about truth, clarity, and perspective in an age of political noise, you don’t want to miss this one.
———————
Hashtags
#TheArrogantIndependent #ImmigrationFacts #ImmigrationPolicy #BorderSecurity #MediaNarratives #TruthOverSpin #PolicyAnalysis #USPolitics #Nonpartisan #IndependentMedia #GlobalPerspective #MexicoPolicy #ImmigrationEnforcement #Sovereignty #DueProcessMatters #ApplePodcasts #ShawnHavens #NewEpisode #PoliticalPodcast #FactBasedDiscussion #PublicPolicy #CivicLiteracy #AmericanPolitics #PodcastLife #StayInformed
NEW REPORT & PODCAST RELEASE – THE ARROGANT INDEPENDENT
“Justified Interdiction: Why Destroying Cartel Drug Vessels Is a Moral Imperative”
———————————————
Today, we’re releasing one of the most important investigations we’ve ever produced for The Arrogant Independent.
This is not politics.
This is national survival.
Cartel-controlled maritime vessels are no longer “smuggling boats.”
They are delivery systems for mass-casualty chemical agents, carrying enough fentanyl to kill entire cities. When these vessels refuse to stop, attack U.S. crews, or attempt to dump lethal chemical cargo, decisive interdiction — including destruction — becomes not only legal, but morally required.
Our new report exposes:
✔️ Why cartel fentanyl shipments function like slow-moving chemical attacks
✔️ How cartel boats operate as paramilitary platforms, not civilian vessels
✔️ The ethical and legal justification for neutralizing hostile narco-ships
✔️ A direct comparison between fentanyl shipments and WMD threats
✔️ Why inaction would lead to predictable, preventable mass death
✔️ What national security, maritime law, and morality demand
This is the truth Americans need to hear — without spin, without fear, and without partisan distortion.
———————————————
🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE
👉 Insert your podcast link here
(Full episode link will appear in comments or podcast notes.)
———————————————
🎧 LISTEN TO THE FULL REPORT
“Justified Interdiction: Ethical and Strategic Grounds for the Destruction of Cartel Drug Vessels in U.S. Waters”
📎https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v2J4U_27LnQG0Cvi65L5ShhuRYoH5oYi/view?usp=sharing
📄 READ THE FULL REPORT
“Justified Interdiction: Ethical and Strategic Grounds for the Destruction of Cartel Drug Vessels in U.S. Waters”
———————————————
FINAL WORD
Stopping a narco-vessel isn’t “the drug war.”
It’s not a partisan talking point.
It is the responsibility of a nation protecting its people from a chemical threat capable of mass death.
When a vessel carries millions of lethal doses, and refuses lawful commands — destroying it is not only justified…
It is necessary.
Stay informed.
Stay independent.
Stay grounded in truth.
———————————————
🔖
Hashtags
#TheArrogantIndependent
#NationalSecurity
#BorderSecurity
#FentanylCrisis
#Cartels
#MaritimeSecurity
#ChemicalThreat
#PolicyAnalysis
#IndependentMedia
#ProtectOurPeople
The Arrogant Independent — New Episode & Full Report
“Shots in Arms, Boots on the Ground: Why Military Vaccines Are About Readiness, Not Politics”
———————————————
For the first time, we’re releasing both a full investigative paper and a long-form podcast episode breaking down one of the most misunderstood debates in America today:
Military vaccines and force readiness.
People forget that disease has historically killed more soldiers than enemy fire.
They forget why George Washington mandated smallpox inoculation.
They forget that yellow fever, anthrax, measles, and influenza have wiped out entire military units long before a shot was ever fired.
In this episode, we walk through:
✔️ The ten key vaccines used across the U.S. military
✔️ Which diseases are most lethal and what would happen without immunization
✔️ The legal truth about lawful vs. unlawful orders under the UCMJ
✔️ Historical outbreaks that nearly collapsed American fighting forces
✔️ Why turning vaccination into a political test is a national security threat
✔️ How “vaccine risk” compares to the mass death risk of the diseases they prevent
This is not a political argument.
This is a readiness argument — grounded in history, law, and data.
———————————————
🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE
———————————————
📄 READ THE FULL PAPER
“Shots in Arms, Boots on the Ground: Why Military Vaccines Are About Readiness, Not Politics”
📎 File: Shots in Arms.docx
———————————————
FINAL THOUGHT
Vaccination isn’t about politics.
It’s about protecting the unit, preserving manpower, and preventing the kind of outbreaks that have killed more American warfighters than any enemy in history.
If we let political performance override medical reality, we repeat the mistakes that nearly cost us wars in the past.
Stay informed.
Stay independent.
Stay grounded in facts, not fear.
———————————————
🔖 Hashtags
#TheArrogantIndependent
#MilitaryReadiness
#Veterans
#MilitaryHistory
#ForceProtection
#PublicHealth
#VaccinesSaveLives
#NonPartisan
#FactsMatter
#ReadinessNotPolitics
#MilitaryPodcast
#VeteranVoices
#HealthAndSecurity
#ScienceAndService
#CombatMedicine
#AmericanHistory
🔥 FINAL CHAPTER RELEASED — “The Fire That Failed to Kill Me” 🔥
A True Story of Survival, Faith, and Walking Out of a Private War
For over a decade, I lived inside a reality most people will never understand — a reality of stalking, targeting, gaslighting, false accusations, and psychological warfare. A reality that pushed me to the breaking point more than once. A reality meant to destroy me.
I wasn’t supposed to survive.
I wasn’t supposed to recover.
I wasn’t supposed to speak.
But God had other plans.
This final chapter closes the story they tried to control — and exposes the truth they never expected me to outlive.
This chapter is about the moment everything came full circle:
the fire they meant to kill me with became the fire God used to rebuild me.
I talk about:
· The coordinated harassment that followed me across states
· The moment national broadcast confirmed what I suspected for years
· How extreme trauma broke my body but not my spirit
· How Jesus carried me through every attack
· How the ending they designed collapsed under the ending God delivered
This is the conclusion of my story — but the beginning of my testimony.
If you’ve followed the earlier chapters, this is the one you need to see.
If you’ve ever felt broken, isolated, betrayed, or pushed to your limit — this chapter is for you.
Watch CHAPTER FIVE now:
Thank you to everyone who has listened, supported, prayed, or simply followed this journey. I survived so I could tell the truth — not just for myself, but for anyone who’s ever been silenced.
— Shawn Nathan William Havens
⭐ THE ARROGANT INDEPENDENT.
Episode: “When the Harassment Became Hostility”Part 4 of the series: The Unseen War After the War
———————
There are battles that happen overseas… and there are battles waiting for you when you come home.
What I lived through in 2014–2017 is the part nobody trains you for. It’s the part no briefing covers, no commander warns you about, and no counselor knows how to handle when it’s happening in real time.
This episode tells the story of what happens when constant stalking, privacy violations, and community hostility finally turn your own home into a battlefield.
When your phone is monitored.
When your car is wiretapped.
When strangers know your business before you speak it.
When your kids see the change in you long before you admit you’re breaking.
This wasn’t “just PTSD.”
This was targeting. Psychological pressure. Gaslighting. And a campaign that pushed a veteran closer to the edge every day.
I talk openly about the moment everything nearly ended—and how it didn’t.
Not because things got easier… but because something stopped me right in the darkest moment.
This chapter is raw. It’s uncomfortable.
But it’s the truth of what happened.
If this episode helps even one person understand the reality of stalking victims, or encourages one veteran to hang on one more night… then it’s worth telling.
———————
🎧 Full Episode Video (Part 4):
———————
Thank you for everyone who’s been following this journey.
Part 5 is coming soon — “The Investigation That Never Happened.”
Stay tuned.
By Shawn Havens — The Arrogant Independent
After November 11, everything changed.
I returned from Ramadi thinking the battle was over — but the real fight was waiting for me back in Georgia.
I went to the VA for help and walked into bias, gossip, and judgment instead of care. I told the truth, but people twisted it. That disbelief opened the door to something darker.
Then the harassment began.
In Columbus.
In LaGrange.
At work.
At church.
Online.
In person.
It felt organized.
It felt targeted.
It felt like a siege.
There were days I almost became one of the 22 — because the pressure wasn’t just emotional, it was environmental. It followed me everywhere.
Which brings me to this slide.
My home office was torn apart:
Papers scattered.
Baby toy tipped over.
Laptop glowing like someone had just used it.
And a hallway light shining where no one should’ve been.
No people — just the aftermath.
This was the moment I realized:
I wasn’t just fighting stress.
I wasn’t just fighting PTSD.
I was fighting invasion.
A father trying to keep his family together… while someone else tried to break him.
More coming soon.
#TheArrogantIndependent
#VeteransVoices
#ThisIsMyStory
STORYBOARD PART III — “When the War Followed Me Home”“The Father in the Crosshairs of Chaos”
A continuation of my November 11 story
For everyone who read my Veterans Day story — the blast, the mission, and the things we faced in Ramadi — thank you. I never expected the response it received. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, it’s in my deployment file:
But what most people don’t understand is this:
The war didn’t end when I came home.
It just changed uniforms.
After Ramadi, I went through one of the roughest periods of my life — and none of it happened in Iraq. This was the part no one saw. The quiet collapse. The internal bleeding that doesn’t show up on any X-ray.
Within 24 months, my life became a storm:
moved to Germany
deployed into combat
came home broken
got divorced
moved back to the States to pick up my kids
PCS’d to Fort Hood
buried their grandmother
got remarried
PCS’d back to Germany
raised three kids alone
battled PTSD
got hit with financial pressure
and tried to build a home from nothing
It wasn’t a movie.
It wasn’t a “thank you for your service” moment.
It was survival.
While I was trying to hold a new family together, I was losing myself in ways I didn’t recognize. PTSD hit me in waves that felt like drowning. Night after night, the memories hit hard — the losses, the guilt, the things I couldn’t save, the mistakes I couldn’t undo.
There were days I felt worthless.
Days my mind collapsed inward like a tunnel with no light.
Days where loneliness became its own battlefield.
That’s the war no one prepares you for.
And while I was fighting that internal war, life was throwing everything at me on the outside — finances, family conflicts, instability, and people who had no business being in my life making things worse. Looking back, it felt like I was being pushed into my own breaking point.
But here’s the part that matters:
This was only the beginning.
The next chapter isn’t about Iraq.
It’s about what happened after — the stalking, the collapse, the fear, the confusion, the isolation, and the fight to keep my family intact while my own foundation was crumbling.
This is Part 2 of my story.
👉 PART 2: THE RETURN FROM RAMADI — A SOLDIER’S UNSEEN WAR
🔥 Episode now posted below
🔥 Part 3 coming soon: THE SHADOWS FOLLOWED ME
🇺🇸 PART 2 RELEASETHE RETURN FROM RAMADI: A SOLDIER’S UNSEEN WAR
The Arrogant Independent
“Leadership That Protects: From Combat to Mental Health”
———————
Some of the strongest leaders I ever served with weren’t defined by rank or bravado — they were defined by presence.
The kind of leaders who could walk into a room, tap a soldier gently on the shoulder, and instantly change the trajectory of their day… or their life.
In the Global War on Terror, that kind of leadership saved lives.
Enemy-caused deaths were high only in a few specific years, and even then, far lower than what the world expected. That wasn’t luck — it was the discipline, care, and human connection built by our NCOs and officers.
Today, we face a different enemy.
Not IEDs or ambushes, but isolation and suicide, especially among our youngest service members.
And here’s the hopeful part — the same leadership that kept Soldiers alive in combat can keep them alive in peace.
This week’s podcast episode dives deep into that truth:
Þ How presence protects
Þ How simple acts of connection save lives
Þ How leadership is still our most powerful weapon against despair
I also share a personal story from a Sergeant Major who once taught me that a soldier’s struggles off duty are still a leader’s responsibility — because leadership doesn’t stop at COB.
If you wear stripes, bars, or chevrons… or if you just care about the people around you… this message is for you.
———————
🎧 Listen to the new podcast episode:
Leadership That Protects: From Combat to Mental Health
📄 Read the full research report:
———————
Let’s keep leading with compassion, presence, and purpose.
The battlefield may have changed — but leadership still saves lives. 🇺🇸
The Arrogant Independent Presents:
The Ballroom Debate – The True Cost of Democracy
Every four years, America spends over $7 billion to decide who leads — but what if we invested that same money in what endures?
In our latest episode, we explore the contrast between political spending and tangible national investment — where a $300 million ballroom may offer more long-term value than billions in campaign ads.
This isn’t about left or right — it’s about ROI for the Republic.
🎧 Listen on Spotify:
👉
📄 Read the full report:
👉 “The Ballroom Debate and the Cost of Re-Run on Stakeholder Money” Paper https://docs.google.com/document/d/10MisM9GkrSA83fl2eBmyMAl9-F8o8h7m/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111018917453627434082&rtpof=true&sd=true
The Arrogant Independent — because freedom isn’t free, and sometimes, it’s not even efficient.
They were the first ones out — and the last to leave the road.
When the world heard “IED,” these were the men already rolling toward it.
The Combat Engineers of Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t wait for safety — they made it.
From Ramadi to Helmand, they cleared the paths others feared to travel.Every day was a test of courage, discipline, and sheer endurance — not just against the enemy, but against fear itself.
They carried the weight of a war measured in detonations, decisions, and the quiet trauma of survival.
Watch the full presentation and tribute video: https://youtu.be/pxvdAJSr_0A?si=oLvLBjQdBvHDslz5
Narrated by Shawn Havens Featuring: Combat Engineers in Iraq and Afghanistan: High-Risk Roles in Modern Asymmetric Warfare Includes real data from the Army War College, VA, and RAND Corporation.
Let this be remembered — not as a story of destruction,but as a testament to the men who built freedom under fire.
#VeteransDay #CombatEngineers #IraqWar #Afghanistan #TheArrogantIndependent #FreedomHasAPrice #USArmy #NeverForget #AnbarAwakening