The Men Who Stare At Goats

Amazon ^ | Spring, 2005 | Jon Ronson

[theFIRMbss]

"This exploration of the U.S. military's flirtation with the supernatural is at once funny and tragic. It reads like fiction, with plenty of dialogue and descriptive detail, but as Ronson's investigation into the government's peculiar past doings creeps into the present-and into Iraq-it will raise goose bumps. As Ronson reveals, a secret wing of the U.S. military called First Earth Battalion was created in 1979 with the purpose of creating "Warrior Monks," soldiers capable of walking through walls, becoming invisible, reading minds and even killing a goat simply by staring at it. Some of the characters involved seem well-meaning enough, such as the hapless General Stubblebine, who is "confounded by his continual failure to walk through his wall." But Ronson (Them: Adventures with Extremists) soon learns that the Battalion's bizarre ideas inspired some alarming torture techniques being used in the present-day War on Terror. One technique involves subjecting prisoners to 24 hours of Barney the Purple Dinosaur's song, "I Love You," and another makes use of the Predator, a small, toy-like object designed by military martial arts master Pete Brusso that can inflict a large amount of pain in many different ways ("You can take eyeballs right out... with this bit," Brusso tells Ronson). Ronson approaches the material with an open mind and a delightfully dry sense of humor, which makes this an entertaining, if unsettling, read. Indeed, as the events recounted here grow ever more curious-and the individuals Ronson meets more disturbing-it's necessary to remind oneself of Ronson's opening words: "This is a true story."

"Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

[theFIRMbss]

In this book, we meet
a US martial artist
who trained at least one

of the 9/11
hijackers. It's amazing
seeing how bizarre

new age, West Coast crap
exerts an influence on
our military.

And, often, turns up
in the most high profile ways . . .
Some of the darkest

chapters in this book
are about Abu Gharib
and the service men

and the upper brass
that contributed to that.
An amazing book.

[Paloma_55]

Dooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee wwwwooooooooooooo

[CzarNicky]

I thought this was going to be about muslims.

[lastmanstanding]

I'd have put in a DA-4187 to be in the "First Earth Battalion" if I'd known about it back then!

I wonder if they conduct pee-tests! Yeah right.

[Rakkasan1]

pinging Art Bell...

[zeugma]

This guy was on Coast To Coast AM a few weeks ago. His stories about staring at goats were cool/funny.

[impatient]

...a secret wing of the U.S. military called First Earth Battalion was created in 1979 with the purpose of creating "Warrior Monks,"

Taken in the light of such things as the rampant sale and use of illegal drugs within the military during the Carter error... era (my bad), the military can hardly be expected to be much less flaky than the society that comprises it.

[neodad]

One technique involves subjecting prisoners to 24 hours of Barney the Purple Dinosaur's song, "I Love You,"

Arrrrrggggghhhhhhhh! Nooooooooooo! Stop torture now!

[Itzlzha]

The Men Who Stare At Goats

"Now those are some fine looking goats...great 4th wife material, eh Yasser?!"

[BibChr]

Ditto that.

[Ditter]

I have never understood how people are tortured by having a song played over and over. I have the ability to tune things out, like commercials on the radio. I never hear them and when whatever I am listening to comes back on, music, Rush, etc. I tune back in. Maybe it has to do with volume, if it was loud enough it would drive me crazy.

[theFIRMbss]

>I'd have put in a DA-4187 to be in the "First Earth Battalion" if I'd known about it back then!

A number of the
"consultants" who worked "back then"
got back in the loop

after 9/11.
A bizarre thing now is that
the author's been told

instead of being
a "think-tank" kind of thing, now
similar thinkers

are sent in the field,
out on live operations.
Both Afghanistan

and Iraq have guys
trying to put in practice
these bizarre techniques.

[guitfiddlist]

The Men Who Stare At Goats

...and end up picking the ugly one :)

[theFIRMbss]

>I have never understood how people are tortured by having a song played over and over

The folks who believe --
those who use it and those who
are afraid of it --

believe the music
is only a carrier.
The torture/control

is subliminal
carried by modulations
to audible sounds . . .

That is why the techs
at GITMO leave the room when
the music is played.

[impatient]

...I have the ability to tune things out...

Does that mean you're immune to earworms ?

If so, consider yourself lucky.

[Sensei Ern]

It may be just a coincidence, but...
I was training in Jeet Kun Do, the martial started by Bruce Lee, in Arlington, VA. This was until late summer, 2001 when job requirements interfered with the training nights.

The instructor was a retired Secret Service Agent. One of the guys in the class was arab. He seemed to be very interested in many parts of the training that involved subduing an opponent, and focussed on presuure point training, combined with judo.

A couple years ago, I wanted to continue my training. Although the judo school is still there, the JKD school is gone, is not mentioned on the JKD website and I can't find my former instructor anywhere.

[martin_fierro]

Get the t-shirt!

[theFIRMbss]

>I thought this was going to be about muslims

The book does include
a propaganda leaflet
the Iraqis dropped

over US troops.
It warned our soldiers their wives
were "...home having sex

with Bart Simpson and
Burt Reynolds." The Iraqis
have more nuts than us!

[Ditter]

earworms? You mean tintinitus (sp)? I have it constantly, I can tune it out too.

[Ditter]

Ah Ha! I did not know that.