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The Men Who Stare At Goats: Inside the Military’s Search for Psychic Warriors

Channon’s official field manual for the First Earth Battalion suggested that soldiers would: Carry lambs into hostile territory to symbolize peace.

This bizarre, true-ish saga was famously documented by British journalist Jon Ronson in his 2004 book, The Men Who Stare At Goats , and later adapted into a 2009 satirical film starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Ewan McGregor. But where does the truth end and the fiction begin?

The modern Department of Defense now funds research into "anomalous cognition" and "transcendent mental states." The names have changed, and the goats are probably safe, but the desire remains: the desire to win a war without firing a shot.

In 1979, he authored the —a document that reads less like a military field guide and more like a New Age manifesto. Channon’s vision was of “Warrior Monks”: soldiers who would carry symbolic animals like baby lambs into hostile territory, greet their enemies with “sparkly eyes” and “an automatic hug,” and whose only weapons would be “discordant sounds” and “psycho-electric guns” that channeled positive energy into crowds. The Men Who Stare At Goats

They were brought into a room with a goat. The soldier had to sit, focus his "chi," stare into the goat’s eyes, and stop its heart using only the power of his intention.

The Men Who Stare at Goats: From Psychic Spies to Hollywood Satire

: The film begins with the disclaimer, "More of this is true than you would believe". It is based on documented military projects like the Stargate Project remote viewing Key Characters Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) : A composite of real-life "psychic spies". Bill Django (Jeff Bridges)

Troops would wear "sparkly eyes" to project peace. The Men Who Stare At Goats: Inside the

He meticulously traces the pipeline from Jim Channon's utopian "Warrior Monks" (meant to heal and disarm) to the abusive interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in the Iraq War. Ronson chillingly documents how practices designed for peace were perverted into weapons of psychological torture, raising uncomfortable questions about the "fog of war" and how good intentions can curdle into something monstrous.

Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Ronson's work, however, is the tonal shift that occurs in the book’s latter half. After the humor of goat-staring and New Age soldiering fades, Ronson connects these spiritual ideas directly to the brutality of the War on Terror.

Investigative journalist Jon Ronson’s book, , details his journey through the strange subculture of military intelligence. Ronson tracked down figures like General Albert Stubblebine III, who famously believed he could walk through walls, and investigated how these "First Earth Battalion" ideas eventually influenced darker military practices, including the use of psychological "PsyOps".

The premise was simple yet incredibly bizarre: . The modern Department of Defense now funds research

The film focuses on the absurdity of the psychic spy, creating a fictionalized journey to uncover the missing founder of the unit.

As commanding general of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), he was the highest-ranking proponent of these ideas. He reportedly spent his time researching how to walk through walls, believing it was a matter of manipulating molecular structures.

And the truly terrifying part? They still aren't sure that you can't.