By the mid-1980s, the house of cards began to fall. Albert Stubblebine was forced into early retirement after he was passed over for promotion. The Pentagon brass, having recovered from its brief New Age fever, decided that meditating generals were not a good look.
The First Earth Battalion was officially disbanded. The goat lab was shuttered. The soldiers went back to reading maps and shooting rifles.
But the men didn't disappear. They drifted into the private sector, becoming motivational speakers, energy healers, and self-help gurus. They took their military bearing and their psychic confidence and sold it to corporations.
The story begins in 1979, at the height of the Cold War. The U.S. Army was demoralized after Vietnam. Recruits were undisciplined, and morale was subterranean. Enter Lieutenant Colonel James "Jim" Channon, a highly decorated Vietnam vet.
Channon traveled to 150 "human potential" centers across America—Esalen, est, Werner Erhard, the Whole Earth Catalog crowd. He returned with a 130-page report titled The First Earth Battalion Operational Manual. It was part Sun Tzu, part Star Trek, and part Mother Earth News.
Channon’s vision was not about guns and bombs. It was about the "Warrior Monk." He proposed soldiers who could:
The manual was filled with whimsical drawings: soldiers wearing rainbow sashes, meditating over enemy bunkers, and a photo of a goat with the caption: "The goal is to kill the goat by stopping its heart."
This wasn't a sci-fi novel. It was a formal military briefing.
The modern myth of the "Goat Lab" began in earnest in the early 2000s, when British journalist Jon Ronson met a man named Guy Savelli. Savelli was a former Special Forces instructor with a handshake that could crush bricks and a mind that believed it could stop a heartbeat. Over coffee in a London hotel, Savelli told Ronson a story that was too absurd to be made up.
He claimed that in the early 1980s, he was recruited into a secret unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The unit’s mission was to explore "paranormal warfare." Soldiers were taught techniques of meditation, lucid dreaming, and "remote viewing" (psychically spying on distant locations). But the final exam? The piece de resistance?
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.
Savelli claimed it worked. He claimed he killed the goat.
Whether that specific event is fact or folklore is irrelevant. The unit—and the culture that allowed such an experiment to exist—was very, very real. Its official name was The First Earth Battalion.
The Men Who Stare at Goats : When Military Might Met New Age Magic
You’ve probably seen the movie—George Clooney with a mustache, looking intensely at a bewildered animal—but the "true" story behind The Men Who Stare at Goats is actually stranger than the fiction. Whether you’re diving into Jon Ronson’s original investigative book or the star-studded satirical film, you’re looking at one of the weirdest chapters in American military history. The Core Concept: Psychic Super-Soldiers
The story follows the U.S. military’s real-life flirtation with the paranormal during the late 1970s and 1980s. Fueled by Cold War fears that the Soviets were developing "psychic weapons," the Army established secret units to explore "Warrior Monk" capabilities. The Men Who Stare At Goats
The Goal: To create soldiers who could walk through walls, become invisible, and—most famously—kill living creatures just by staring at them.
The "Goat Lab": At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, researchers actually set up a facility where soldiers attempted to stop the hearts of goats through focused mental energy.
Remote Viewing: Programs like the Stargate Project at Fort Meade used "psychics" to try and sense events or locations from thousands of miles away. Real Inspiration Behind the Characters
While the movie uses fictional names, the primary figures are based on real individuals: Bill Django
(Jeff Bridges): Based on Lt. Col. Jim Channon, who authored the 125-page First Earth Battalion manual. He envisioned an army of "guerrilla gurus" who would carry ginseng and loudspeakers playing "indigenous music and words of peace" into battle. Lyn Cassady (George Clooney): Inspired by actual "psychic spies" like Guy Savelli and Glenn Wheaton
, who claimed they could kill animals or disrupt electronics with their minds. Book vs. Movie: Which One Should You Explore? The Men Who Stare At Goats (2004): John Ronson
Whether you recognize the name from the 2004 non-fiction bestseller or the 2009 star-studded satirical film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" remains one of the most bizarre and intriguing chapters in modern military history. What starts as a seemingly absurd joke—soldiers attempting to kill animals using only their minds—unravels into a true story involving secret government programs, "Jedi" warriors, and the surreal intersection of New Age philosophy and Cold War espionage. The True Story: The First Earth Battalion
The heart of the narrative lies in the real-life First Earth Battalion, a unit conceived in 1979 by Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon. Following the trauma of the Vietnam War, Channon envisioned a new kind of "warrior monk" who would use peace, love, and psychic abilities to win conflicts without firing a shot.
The Manual: Channon authored a 125-page field manual that included ideas like carrying lambs into battle to disarm the enemy, practicing "warrior hugs," and using portable speakers to play "indigenous music and words of peace".
The Psychic Spies: High-ranking officials, including Major General Albert Stubblebine III (then-head of Army Intelligence), became obsessed with the potential of the human mind. This led to experiments in:
Remote Viewing: Attempting to "see" distant locations through psychic projection.
Phasing: The belief that a soldier could rearrange their atoms to walk through solid walls.
The "Goat Lab": At Fort Bragg, soldiers allegedly attempted to stop the hearts of de-bleated goats simply by staring at them. Jon Ronson’s Investigative Journey
Journalist Jon Ronson brought these stories to the mainstream in his book, The Men Who Stare at Goats. Ronson’s investigation connects these "peaceful" New Age origins to the much darker tactics used in modern warfare, such as the use of repetitive music (like the Barney the Dinosaur theme) as a form of psychological torture in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
His work highlights how the same "creative" military thinking that sought to create psychic super-soldiers eventually evolved into the controversial "PsyOps" (Psychological Operations) of the 21st century. The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) - Plot - IMDb By the mid-1980s, the house of cards began to fall
The 2004 book by Jon Ronson and the subsequent 2009 film are rooted in the real-world history of the U.S. military's experiments with paranormal phenomena
. For a deep dive into the actual events and the psychological research that inspired the story, here are some of the most interesting primary and secondary sources: The First Earth Battalion (The Original Manual)
The entire concept of the "Warrior Monk" and the "New Earth Army" originated from a 125-page report The First Earth Battalion written in 1979 by Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon. Time Magazine What's in it: Channon proposed that soldiers should use , leave their bodies at will, and even levitate. The "Goat" connection:
Channon’s manual advocated for non-violent warfare, using "disarming hugs" and "symbols of peace," which Ronson later juxtaposed against the darker "Goat Lab" experiments where soldiers tried to stop animal hearts with their minds. Time Magazine Project Stargate (The Official Records) While the film is a satire, it is heavily based on the Stargate Project , a secret unit established at Fort Meade in 1978. The Reality:
The project investigated "remote viewing" (the ability to "see" distant locations psychically) for over 20 years. The Findings:
The CIA officially terminated the program in 1995, concluding that while some lab results were "statistically significant," they were too vague to be useful for actual intelligence operations. 3. Academic & Critical Perspectives
For a more analytical take, these perspectives explore the intersection of military strategy and "New Age" pseudoscience: A Philosopher Stares at "Stares at Goats": An article from Science Magazine
discusses the transition of these concepts from 1960s counterculture into military intelligence. Psychological Warfare Origins:
Scholars often link these bizarre 1970s experiments to the development of modern "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Critics argue that the humorous portrayal of "staring at goats" can sometimes mask the more disturbing history of and psychological torture programs. World Socialist Web Site declassified CIA documents from Project Stargate, or are you more interested in the biography of Jim Channon , the real-life "Bill Django"? Men Who Stare at Goats Author Jon Ronson - Time Magazine
The Men Who Stare at Goats is both a 2004 non-fiction investigative book by journalist Jon Ronson
and a 2009 satirical film starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. Both explore the bizarre true story of the U.S. Army's attempts to harness New Age and paranormal powers for military use. The Real-Life "New Earth Army" The story is centered on a classified program known as the First Earth Battalion , founded in the late 1970s by Lt. Col. Jim Channon. The Men Who Stare at Goats - PopMatters
The Men Who Stare at Goats " refers to both a 2004 non-fiction book by Jon Ronson [16, 18] and a 2009 satirical film starring George Clooney [2]. Both explore the bizarre, true-life attempts by the U.S. military to use psychic powers and New Age concepts in combat [2, 16]. 🎬 Movie Details (2009)
The Story: A struggling journalist, Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who claims to be a "psychic spy" for the U.S. Army's New Earth Army [10, 15]. They embark on a wild mission across Iraq to find the program's founder, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) [10, 13].
The "Powers": The unit's training supposedly included becoming invisible, walking through walls, and—most famously—killing a goat simply by staring at it [10, 19].
The Reality: While a comedy, the film includes a disclaimer: "More of this is true than you would believe" [3, 10]. Many characters are based on real figures, such as Bill Django, who was inspired by Army Lt. Col. James Channon [20, 21]. Parental Guide (Rated R): Language: Frequent use of profanity [4, 5]. The manual was filled with whimsical drawings: soldiers
Drugs: Characters are shown using LSD in a military context [5, 8].
Nudity/Sex: Includes brief partial nudity (e.g., topless women in hot tubs and men's buttocks) [5, 6]. 📖 The Book (2004)
Author Jon Ronson investigated the real-life First Earth Battalion, a unit created in the late 1970s that encouraged soldiers to embrace "Jedi" tactics like telepathy and extreme empathy to avoid conflict [16, 23]. You can find more about the author's work on his official website. 📺 Where to Watch
The film is available on various platforms like Apple TV and Amazon.
At first glance, the title The Men Who Stare at Goats evokes absurdist comedy—a surreal image of uniformed soldiers attempting to topple livestock with nothing but a furrowed brow. Released as a book by journalist Jon Ronson in 2004 and adapted into a feature film starring George Clooney in 2009, the story occupies a unique cultural space. It is simultaneously a hilarious satire of military machismo and a deeply unsettling work of investigative journalism. Beneath its whimsical surface, The Men Who Stare at Goats is an informative exposé of the U.S. military’s decades-long, multi-million-dollar foray into the paranormal: a world of psychic spies, “Jedi warriors,” and the fine line between innovative psychological warfare and dangerous delusion.
The central premise of the work is rooted in historical fact. Ronson investigates a secret unit within the U.S. Army known as the Stargate Project, which began in 1978. The official goal was to explore “remote viewing”—the alleged ability to perceive distant locations, people, or events using only the power of the mind. The most infamous anecdote, and the one that gives the story its title, involves a retired Lieutenant Colonel named Jim Channon. In the 1970s, disillusioned by the trauma of the Vietnam War, Channon produced a document called the First Earth Battalion Operational Manual. This New Age-infused guide proposed a “soldier-priest” who could defeat enemies not through brute force, but through paranormal means: walking through walls, clouding enemy minds, and, most famously, stopping the heartbeat of a goat simply by staring at it. While Channon claimed the goat never actually died, the metaphor stuck. Ronson’s research confirms that the military did indeed fund training exercises where soldiers attempted to kill goats with their minds, a fact that blurs the line between absurd fiction and bizarre reality.
The essay delves into the key figures who populate this shadowy world. Chief among them is Major General Albert Stubblebine III, a highly decorated intelligence officer who, in the 1980s, publicly declared his belief in remote viewing and attempted to literally project his consciousness into a room in a different building. Another is Guy Savelli, a self-proclaimed psychic who taught soldiers how to create “spy clouds” to hide tanks and how to break bricks with their bare hands. Ronson presents these men not as villains, but as complex characters—visionaries, narcissists, and true believers who were often driven by a genuine desire to find a more enlightened, less violent form of combat. Their tragedy, Ronson suggests, was that the Pentagon, desperate for an edge over the Soviet Union during the Cold War, was willing to entertain their fantasies, only to abandon them when the political winds shifted.
The thematic power of The Men Who Stare at Goats lies in its critique of the military-industrial complex. Ronson argues that the goat-staring program was not an isolated fluke but a natural outgrowth of a system that prioritizes “outside-the-box” thinking while being structurally incapable of separating brilliant innovation from sheer quackery. The essay connects the First Earth Battalion’s ideas to modern “soft kill” technologies—like the use of disco music and Barney the Dinosaur songs to torment prisoners at Guantanamo Bay—suggesting that the same desire for non-lethal, psychological control persists. Furthermore, Ronson draws a chilling line from psychic warfare to the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, implying that once you teach soldiers to believe that the rules of conventional engagement don’t apply to the mind, it becomes a short step to suspending them in the physical world.
In the end, The Men Who Stare at Goats is far more than a comedy. It is a work of gonzo journalism that uses the ridiculous to expose the terrifying. Ronson’s deadpan narration and investigative rigor force the reader to confront an uncomfortable truth: that the people tasked with national security are just as prone to magical thinking, ego, and absurdity as anyone else. The essay concludes that the real lesson is not that soldiers tried to kill goats, but that they did so with taxpayer money, official sanction, and a straight face. By staring into the eyes of a goat, these men were not searching for a new weapon; they were, perhaps unconsciously, staring into the abyss of their own desperate hope that war could be won without leaving a scar. The laughter the story provokes is the sound of that hope—and its spectacular failure.
No figure looms larger over this story than Major General Albert Stubblebine III. In 1981, Stubblebine was a man at the peak of his career. As the commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), he presided over 17,000 soldiers, 16 military bases, and a budget in the hundreds of millions.
But Stubblebine had a problem. He was bored. He felt that conventional intelligence—satellites, informants, wiretaps—was missing the bigger picture. He had become obsessed with the potential of the human mind. He had read extensively about Eastern mysticism, about Taoism, about the martial art of Aikido. He became convinced that the laws of physics were merely suggestions.
Stubblebine famously attempted to use his mind to walk through a wall. Not metaphorically. He took a running start at the partition wall in his Pentagon office, trying to phase his molecules through the drywall. He did this repeatedly, ultimately giving himself a bloody nose and a bruised ego.
But Stubblebine was no fool. He was a decorated combat veteran. He simply believed that the Soviet Union was light years ahead of the US in "psychotronics." Rumors abounded that the KGB had trained thousands of psychic spies. If the Reds were reading the President's mind, Stubblebine reasoned, the US needed its own battalion of super-soldiers.
Thus, he gave his blessing to a lieutenant colonel named Jim Channon.