The track of time comes hurtling up out of the past, from somewhere billions of years ago back in history. It flicks by us as we stand here now in the present and then thrusts on for billions of years out ahead of us, out into the future, bound for some place called infinity.
Two things we know about time:
its march is inexorable, inevitable, and pervasive
it always gives rise to change.
Change, then, is like time, inexorable, inevitable and pervasive -- and so powerful and complex a thing that in just five billion years, change has produced, from inorganic matter and countless millions of experiments, complex living things such as social insects and mankind.
Any concept of change is a concept of time. Thus any concept of change must involve past, present, and future. Task Force Delta's effort, as a concept of change, needs the track of time… the lessons of history, the realities of the present, and the dreams and visions of the future.
Our "First Earth Battalion" is a place to dream. A place to think the unthinkable. It's the prime place to put our thoughts of the future just as we must maintain our perspective of the past and contact with the complexities of the present. It's an "Earth" battalion because of what we know about a shrinking world, and about interdependencies among people, and nations, and natural resources… interdependencies which everyday are becoming more evident to us all. It's a battalion because our study effort is directed to our Army, and the battalion is an entity which all of us soldiers from top to bottom, can comprehend.
Signed: D.M. Malone, COL, US Army
[AUTHOR'S] FOREWORD
Making this planet whole… requires the ethical use of force. But even subcultures of force must evolve into a master culture. The Army is no exception.
Soldiers can be the principal moral ethical basis on which things political can harmonize in the name of the Earth.
[Editor's note: The following are the headings and textual portions of illustrated briefing slides compiled into a booklet and self-published as "The First Earth Battalion" by Channon in 1979. Spelling errors have been corrected, but all ellipses (…) were the author's rather than the editor's.]
CIVILIZATION
Earthkind has grown from pack to village… and then from village to tribe, then from tribe to territory… and from territory to nation.
It is time to go from nation to planet.
The First Earth Battalion hereby declares its primary allegiance to the planet.
THE WARRIOR MONK
Chinese monks were often attacked by robbers. They developed a new fighting system based on using the force of the attacker against him. Likewise the soldiers of the First Earth will learn martial arts with the same ethical basis. No Earth soldier shall be denied the kingdom of heaven because he or she is used as an instrument of indiscriminate war. The conscience will be developed together with the ability to neutralize the opponent. THE EARTH BATTALION IS AND IS BECOMING
The Earth Battalion is potential oriented, not mission oriented, so any definition of what it is or does tends to limit what it can become… At the moment it is a spirit among other things.
By 1990 it may be a pilot community of warrior-monks who completely recycle all resources, live amidst new nuclear reactors and waiting deployment to tension spots.
A think tank methodology for the U.S. Army -- a banner for the closet greathearts wherever they are -- a bonding agent for the idealist activists in the service and out -- a home for the ethical evolution of force -- an alternate form of service to the planet.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
My timecube says this isn't a good idea.
Posted by Johnny Lee Wombat (Member # 7021) on :
Just in case it isn't clear, the FEB is an actual, historical(?) fact.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
quote: I tracked down a former Special Forces psychic spy to Hawaii. Glenn Wheaton, retired sergeant first class, was a big man with a tight crop of red hair and a Vietnam-vet-style handlebar moustache. He told me how in the mid-1980s Special Forces undertook a secret initiative, codenamed Project Jedi, to create super soldiers - soldiers with super powers. One such power was the ability to walk into a room and instantly be aware of every detail; that was level one.
Level two, he said, was intuition - making correct decisions. "Somebody runs up to you and says, 'There's a fork in the road. Do we turn left or do we turn right?' And you go" - Glenn snapped his fingers - "We go right!"
"What was the level above that?" I asked.
"Invisibility," said Glenn. "After a while we adapted it to just finding a way of not being seen."
"What was the level above invisibility?" I asked.
"Uh," said Glenn. He paused for a moment. "We had a master sergeant who could stop the heart of a goat ... just by wanting the goat's heart to stop. He did it at least once."
"Where did this happen?" I asked.
"Down in Fort Bragg," he said, "at a place called Goat Lab."
Posted by J T Stryker (Member # 6300) on :
I just got done reading all of the second article Saxon, and i have to say, either this guy is really good at producing bogus material... or I'm starting to believe in conspiracy theories, which is entirely possible.
Posted by ssywak (Member # 807) on :
Do you has what it takes to join the HomeStarmy? Will you bring a sack lunch and some orange slices for me and serve your country? Will you, stupid??
Do you has what it takes to join the homestarmy? The guts? The determination? The five bucks? Join today!
Sorry, but it needed to be said. You may continue.
By the way, there is no "Goat Lab" at Fort Bragg. Please repeat that: There is no "Goat Lab" at Fort Bragg. When you awake, you will require some cheese and a butane lighter.
[ November 22, 2004, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: ssywak ]
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Stormy, that is the weirdest story I have read in years--great links.
Ssywak--obviously you ar not in the loop, or you're part of the cover-up and disinfo campaign.
quote: Those not in the loop, said Glenn, assume that the rickety clapboard hospital buildings dating from the second world war, are derelict. In fact, they are filled with one hundred de-bleated goats
Debleated Goats? Wha'?
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
quote: "We had a master sergeant who could stop the heart of a goat ... just by wanting the goat's heart to stop.
Now that's something to be able to put on your resume!
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Haha!
Or you could do the jedi mind trick "You don't need to check my references... the starting salary is insulting..."
Dazed hirer:"Yes...no need to check references...of course, this starting salary is insulting, we'll double that..."
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
I do that every week with my supervisor. "You find this graph very interesting. I have done good work. You will continue to fund me." It's worked so far.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Heh, familiar with PhD comics, KoM? It has a scene not unlike that at one point.
There is no, nor was there ever an "Earth Battalion"
There is no Jim Channon...
There is no Goat Lab....
Thank you
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
Familiar, to the point that I quote it, and take credit for being original . That particular comic summed up my weekly meetings with my supervisor perfectly. Bang on the nail, dead to rights, holed at the waterline.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I am suprised no one mentioned the second page of the second link. It's the first time I've ever seen the interviews directly and, I have to admit, they sound authentic. I do believe England and the other guy. Very sad stuff.
There is an aspect of the first article that I find very interesting.
quote: Soldiers can be the principal moral ethical basis on which things political can harmonize in the name of the Earth.
What would the military be like if the role of 'chaplain' was elevated to something along the lines of commisar? An agent of the military whose sole purpose was to make sure the soldiers were filled with spiritual zeal in performing their duties.
I think it's very likely to happen, actually. The military has fewer protections on it than public schools do and all the same rationale can be used to bring 'religion' into the military: it's good for you; people who are religious are 50% less likely to be unhappy and commit suicide or go insane or be gay or commit a crime or _________.
You wouldn't even need to be so crude as to have something like a commisar, actually. You could just use the same methods that are being floated now: post various religous commandments around the barracks; make the usual religious restrictions of no smoking/drinking, be married and faithful to your wife part of the life of a soldier; put people who are spiritually devout in positions of power; have prayer at the beginning of morning formation and before every meal and the last thing during evening formation.
Oh. Somebody is bringing up establishment. Hmmm. I bet there's a constitutional amendment we could pass so that all those poor, oppressed religious people who are prevented from practicing their religion while they are on duty are now able to practice their religion.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
Here''s a link to Lt Col. Jim Channon's (ret.) websites, assuming it's the same guy quoted in the Stormy's links: http://jimchannon.com/indexFlash.html
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
. That particular comic summed up my weekly meetings with my supervisor perfectly. Bang on the nail, dead to rights, holed at the waterline.