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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

The story reveals a bizarre intersection where evangelical New Age philosophy was adapted into war tactics, blending "indigenous music" and peaceful intent with tactical coercion. The 2009 Film: A Satirical Adaptation

In 2004, the British journalist Jon Ronson began his bestselling book with a startling disclaimer: "This is a true story." Few opening lines in modern nonfiction have carried such a weight of disbelief. The Men Who Stare at Goats takes readers on a journey into the heart of the U.S. military's most secret—and arguably strangest—programs, exploring how some of the nation's top brass spent millions of taxpayer dollars attempting to harness the paranormal. From an elite unit of "psychic spies" who claimed to see Soviet military bases from across the globe, to a lieutenant colonel who wanted to create a battalion of New Age "Warrior Monks" armed with nothing but love and discordant sounds, the story that unfolds is a stunning blend of investigative journalism, dark satire, and disturbing political reality.

And the truly terrifying part? They still aren't sure that you can't. The Men Who Stare At Goats

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?

The Army wasn't alone in this madness. At the same time that Stubblebine was trying to walk through walls, the CIA and DIA were funding a secret program known as .

The objective was straightforward yet terrifying: . For a more analytical take, these perspectives explore

The program aimed to create a kinder, gentler military ("Warrior Monks"), yet often found itself operating in ethical gray zones regarding the use of, and experimentation on, human beings.

What began as an idealistic quest to create non-lethal "Warrior Monks" ultimately contributed to the development of sophisticated, highly controversial psychological torture techniques. The Legacy of the Men Who Stare at Goats

The project investigated "remote viewing" (the ability to "see" distant locations psychically) for over 20 years. The Findings: They still aren't sure that you can't

In 2009, the story finally reached mass culture with the film The Men Who Stare At Goats , directed by Grant Heslov and starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey.

One of the most famous participants was Major Paul H. Smith. A skeptic at heart, Smith was recruited in 1983 by being told he was being asked to "become a psychic spy." He recalled that recruiters looked for officers who were not only strong in analytical left-brain thinking but also highly accomplished in "right-brained" activities like art, music, and languages. Smith would go on to work with the program for seven years. Others, like the flamboyant spoon-bender Uri Geller, claimed to have served as a psychic spy, feeding intelligence from a distance to U.S. agencies.

At the heart of this strange tale is Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon, a Vietnam War veteran who returned from combat determined to transform the American military from within. Having witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, Channon immersed himself in the Californian human potential movement and emerged with a radical proposal.

While Jon Ronson’s book and the subsequent film starring George Clooney treat these events with a heavy dose of dark humor, the legacy of the First Earth Battalion has a much darker side. The transition from using "New Age" concepts for peace to using them for psychological warfare became evident in the post-9/11 war on terror.

As one former interrogator told Ronson: "We stopped trying to kill the goat. We started trying to convince the goat it was already dead."