A Viewer’s Guide to Goats
John
B. Alexander, Ph.D.
U.S.
Army (retired)
The movie, The Men Who Stare at Goats, is based on a book of the same
title. While listed as nonfiction, the facts were extrapolated
almost beyond recognition. The people in
the book were listed by their real names.
I was named many times.
While some Special Forces units
experimented with various techniques, the vast majority of the incidents came
from one of two other sources. Formal psi
research programs were conducted in the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security
Command (INSCOM). There was also a
unique think tank called Task Force Delta at Headquarters Department of the
Army and later at the Army War College. Delta was arguably the most innovative
organization in the world. With support of senior leadership, we were
consciously pushing the envelope. It should be noted that all of the
explorations undertaken were done based on solid rationale.
Facts and Fiction
-
The First Earth Battalion (1EB)
was created by Lt. Col. Jim Channon, a brilliant imaginer and artist. He
literally owns the First Earth Battalion concept.
-
The 1EB was never an authorized
military unit of the U.S. Army
-
The 1EB was a notional concept
that encouraged/allowed people to think innovatively, yet within a military construct
-
The New Earth Battalion is a
movie version of 1EB
-
Most of the movie characters
are based on real people – though some are composites
-
The Kevin Spacey character
seems to be made up for movie purposes
-
Senior officer with ponytail
(Jeff Bridges) NOT REAL
-
Remote Viewing – REAL- and was
a 20 year official program
-
Use of Remote Viewing in Gen
Dozier kidnapping by Red Brigade - REAL
-
Concern about Soviet psychic
research – REAL
-
JEDI projects – REAL – but ad
hoc (I had one of them with multi-agencies)
-
Spoon bending – REAL – was
taught to hundreds
-
Cloud busting –REAL – though
never as fast as done by Clooney
-
Computer crashing – REAL –
incident did happen
-
Fire walking -REAL
-
New Age exploration – REAL
-
Running into walls – NOT REAL
(is the opening scene of the movie)
-
Use of LSD – not only NO, BUT
HELL NO
-
Hamster staring –ATTEMPTED - by Guy Savelli (a civilian martial artist)
-
Goat Lab – REAL – used to train
medics
-
Goats – Hit by martial artists
– It did die hours later
-
Goats – Staring – no credible
evidence to support this allegation
-
Dim mak – PROBABLY REAL –
supported by physical evidence
-
References to a hollow army –REAL – post Vietnam was a
traumatic period
PUSHING
THE ENVELOPE
“If
everything you’re attempting is successful, you are nowhere close to the edge!”
