HOW DOES THE MOVIE “THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS” RELATE TO THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION?
The movie evolved from a book of the same title written by British journalist and political satirist Jon Ronson. The title of the book and film is based on an experimental lab that once existed at Fort Bragg, NC where the military reportedly attempted to disorient goats simply by staring at them.
There are no corresponding approaches in Jim Channon’s Evolutionary Tactics field manual. The goat material originated elsewhere through an individual named Guy Savelli. The movie is a dark comedy, much of which is inspired by Jim Channon’s First Earth Battalion because it kick-started a very creative surge in the Army. The movie synthesizes an amalgam of ideas, all presented under the banner of the New Earth Army, however, Channon was not involved in all of these areas of research.
Lieutenant Colonel Channon is portrayed in the film by actor Jeff Bridge’s in his role as character Bill Django. The First Earth Battalion is known in the film as “The New Earth Army” a name Jim offered the producers who wanted the liberty of making this film without any direct association with the actual Battalion scenarios.
The movie is complex in that it attempts to do several things: 1) Look at the creativity employed by the military and make fun of it. 2) Show the “shadow side” of how things can go wrong with the inappropriate application of military research. 3) Ask the viewer to think about our involvement in Iraq and how that might have been different had our leaders been more conscious.
The DVD has a very interesting 12 minute featurette: "Goats Declassified: The Real Men of the First Earth Battalion" which testifies to the film's factual basis. Interviews include Jim Channon, Jon Ronson, John Alexander, Guy Savelli and other members of the First Earth Battalion who share their experiences as psychic spies.
HOW ACCURATELY DO THE BOOK AND THE MOVIE PORTRAY THE REAL STORY OF THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION?
Though they both claim to be based on a true story, author Jon Ronson and screenwriter Peter Straughan took wide, and we mean W-I-D-E, artistic license blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Here are some important facts:
-
•Jim Channon was never discharged from the U.S. Army. He served in the U. S. Army as an infantry officer and creative spark-plug from 1962 to 1982 and was in Vietnam twice during 65-66 and 70-71. During his career, he was awarded many medals. In Vietnam, he lost just one infantry soldier, never killed an innocent civilian and never took a bullet. He was known for his ability to imagine and illustrate the future battlefield and its advanced applications. Though retired, he continues to work with the U.S. Military.
-
•Returning home from Vietnam, his goal was to find non-lethal and peaceful solutions to potentially change the shape of war as we know it and save lives in the process. His work in the military was and is still highly respected in the military today. He was asked to present to large high ranking conferences and he launched a simulation and games program that is now funded at 50 million dollars a year.
-
•Channon retired from the military in 1982 and did not serve in Iraq. (Ronson speculates in his book that sound healing therapies detailed in Evolutionary Tactics evolved into torture techniques in Abu Graib or Guantanamo, however, this is inaccurate.)
-
•The movie suggests character Bill Django, as portrayed by actor Jeff Bridges, used black operations money to secure drugs for experimentation. Jim Channon never participated in any such activity and drugs were not a part of the First Earth Battalion ideals.
WAS THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION A SECRET PARANORMAL FORCE IN THE US MILITARY?
No. The Earth Battalion has acted like a think-tank collecting and reviewing advanced human performance skills from all disciplines and it still does. It was never secret although some of the spin-off ideas may have became secret once tested (such as remote viewing.) The think-tank is still active and provides advanced human performance solutions for soldiers planet-wide. It is supported by Jim’s retirement pay and has dozens of other volunteer military thinkers as part of the brain trust.
Paranormal sensibilities possessed by soldiers can increase survival rates on the modern and very complex battlefield. The goal is to create combatants with a more advanced understanding of threats, allow for peaceful incursions into dangerous areas, and to spare the lives of soldiers and civilians.
Wired Magazine contains a good article which summarizes the factual paranormal experiments conducted by the military.
WHERE ARE MEMBERS OF THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING TODAY?
Not surprisingly, many original members remain actively involved in planetary affairs. Jim Channon lives in Hawaii on an eco-homestead and has pioneered a wide range of evolutionary ideas for living. Jim is still actively engaged in envisioning the global militaries of the world coming together as a New Earth Army to deal with environmental and social problems of the future. He calls this endeavor Operation Noble Steward and has written about on his website and discussed it in his many You Tube videos.
John Alexander, the father of non-lethal weapons has just completed a major analysis of Africa and has written two books on the future of warfare. John’s book, The Warrior's Edge, provided an accurate description of many of his projects that explored phenomenology. Still exploring, he currently serves as a council member of the Society for Scientific Exploration (www.scientificexploration.org/) and the board of directors of the International Remote Viewers's Association (www-irva.org)
Major General Bert Stubblebine is developing a sustainable community in Panama and raising global awareness about questionable medical practices created by large pharmaceutical companies involved in Codex and vaccines. See www.naturalsolutionsfoundation.org
Most of the 130 some odd members of the Army’s original think-tank called Task Force Delta (where these ideas were spawned) have gone on to positions of meaningful social responsibility and other future-based technologies.
WHAT IS THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION AND HOW DID IT ORIGINATE?
Post Vietnam was a time when military morale and enrollment were at an all time low. During this period the U.S. Army needed to drastically shift approaches and prepare to defeat a vastly larger Soviet force in Europe. Army leaders called upon officers to develop needed creative approaches to dealing with this challenge. They were encouraged to fully explore the Army’s “Be All That You Can Be” philosophy.
In response, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon created the First Earth Battalion; it collected new technologies to support a conceptual prototype of the soldier of the future. Channon was inspired by the human potential and advanced human performance movements and drew many of his ideas from these fields and from the time he spent at Esalen Institute.
Many senior generals in the Army backed Channon because he was a bold example of what a young officer could do creatively. The word spread and other elements within the Army became more boldly involved in testing ideas that were on the edge. They came to call him the “lightening rod.”
Like any endeavor that involves studying new ideas, some of the ideas panned out and others did not. The larger story is that the U.S. Army is one of the most creative organizations in the world and that it must continue to be so in order to deal with the radically different missions it must prepare for. Few people understand that reality because of the rigid prototype the media has created around military culture.
WHAT IS EVOLUTIONARY TACTICS?
Jim Channon delivered his ideas about the First Earth Battalion through his illustrated field manual, Evolutionary Tactics which offered a 21st Century vision of the soldier of the future. It was published by the Army in 1978. The manual was modeled after the popular Whole Earth Catalog with illustrations of advanced human performance skills. It is credited with kick-starting a very creative surge of activity in the U.S. Army. Army commanders adopted the elements that served them.
Original copies have become something of collector’s item. Since that time, tens of thousands of copies have been downloaded from the Internet by fans across the globe. The archetype used in the manual is the warrior monk: invincible in war but very persuasive in peace.
For more information: