Marc Headley's new memoir is a MUST READ for all Scientologists. True, thrilling, horrifying all at once, his detailed explanation of situations, circumstances and events is superb. You'll feel what it's like to live at the Int base. I particularly loved the fact that Marc changed no names to protect the guilty. And to those who deserve it most, he lets them have it right between the eyes... like Security Chief, Danny Dunagin (the Percy Wetmore of the Gold Mile) and corrupt pencil pusher, Gerald Duncan. Chapter by chapter I found myself transported to places in that hell-hole I had forgotten, Marc's office in the attic above Research. The Systems department. The claustrophobic yellow rooms of HCO. Most of all Marc does an unforgettable job exposing the malevolent sadism of David Miscavige. In addition to all the above, the book is a beautiful product in itself, layout, paper, printing, cover... one I'm proud to own. -- Thoughtful

Recruiting people for anything can be a tough row to hoe. Military recruiters, for instance, were having particularly difficult times a few years ago and the Army missed its new recruit quotas several years running. Stories of underhanded recruiting tactics, lowered standards and the stress of the job made the news.

Closer to home but less publicized are the stresses facing Sea Org recruiters. Armed with glossy promo pieces, hypey videos and stories about all the advantages of joining the most dedicated group on the planet (there are also ads taking the opposite tack that talk about the rough conditions and long hours in an appeal to our masochistic sides), SO recruiters do their level best to convince the prospect that the SO is the only place to be. Nowhere will you work harder, accomplish more for the greater good and help salvage a sector that long ago went down for the third time. Nowhere will more be demanded of you. Nowhere is there a higher purpose. If you're a regular reader of this site you probably know the song.

Despite their best efforts, getting people to sign on the dotted line has traditionally been a tough sell. Joining the SO is a drastic lifestyle change for most. The discipline IS high. The challenges ARE big. So, people are often reluctant to make such a life-changing commitment. Many who join are the teenaged children of long time Scientologists who grew up in Scientology families. They aren't tied down to families, jobs, debts or other obligations that are just too important or too overwhelming to permit their parents to join. And so, with their parents' blessings and, if under-aged, their parents' signatures, the Sea Org recruiter sends the occasional happy Daily Report to the Mission Ops or HCO Area Sec announcing that they've closed a new recruit for the Sea Org!

But in my opinion, as of now, those reports are going to become fewer and farther in between.

Marc Headley, the notorious "BFG," ex-Int base executive who exposes 15 years behind the iron curtain of the Int base in this raw, gut wrenching memoir.

The notorious BFG, Marc Headley, has just released a memoir detailing his 15 years in the Sea Org entitled, Blown for Good, Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology. Coincidentally released on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, Blown for Good paints a picture of Sea Org life that is guaranteed to make any parent think twice before letting a son or daughter sign up for the next billion years as part of this outfit.

Marc has been a large thorn in the side of DM and the church since he began posting sensational accounts of life at the Int Base a few years ago on the Ex-Scientologist Message Board. Those accounts may be spicy, but this baby is the whole enchilada.

For those who don't know Marc, he could be characterized as as the anti-DM. And truth be told, they share some characteristics. Neither finished high school. Both have preternaturally detailed recall of past events. Both can communicate and spin tales, for hours if need be. Both have commanding voices. Marc's voice was legendary at Gold where he demonstrated a unique ability to cut through the din of 500 people engaging in some all hands action and get their attention instantaneously. I swear his voice could cut through 16 inch armor plate. (Interestingly, Marc has a “DM” tattoo on his shoulder, not out of tribute to Dear Leader but to his passionate devotion to Depeche Mode.)

Both have also seen at least some of the events depicted in the book and know of their veracity. Other former Int Base staff can corroborate many of the others. And every Int Base staff member, DM included, knows for a fact, whether or not they would admit it publicly, that the picture Marc paints of SO life is fully accurate. What's more, every Int Base staff member wishes that what Marc has written was not true, but this is one picture that can't be wished away.

Marc has drawn from his near eidetic recall to provide readers with a raw, rough edged account of his 15 years in the Sea Org. Some scenes are hilarious.

His first day of work in the Sea Org was on kitchen detail where he happened upon another raw recruit washing pots and pans standing in the sink because she was too short to reach them from the floor.

Other stories are bizarre, like his very first day at Golden Era Productions when he was thrown into a frantic production push at week's end with a sleep deprived zombie staff member and a recently removed executive doing penances under the direction of a red faced screaming Commanding Officer.

And some stories make you want to put down the book and cry.

After one of L. Ron Hubbard's Technical Training Films was considered “sabotaged” by the film production crew at Gold and thus unable to be released at an upcoming international event, Marc and his fellow film crew executives were subjected to weeks of shocking and dehumanizing treatment: chased for hours in the dead of night throughout the base property by security guards on motorcycles, forced to sleep outside on the ground only to have sprinklers turned on them in the early morning cold and isolated from all other staff and their spouses.

Marc rips the scabs off these psychic scars and gives us all a look behind the carefully scripted events, the fancy edifices and the stories of “straight up and vertical” expansion. With a Foreword written another noted ex-Int Base staff member, Marty Rathbun, Blown for Good is by turns gut wrenching and absurdly amusing but every page carries a veracity that is going to be hard to dispute. The guy simply has too much detail in this painting, too many brushstrokes and too many colors that all ring true. The emotional response you experience is too real for this to be simply the fantasy of a bitter, disgruntled employee. Tommy Davis may deny all of it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Including the several episodes concerning Uber-Scientologist Tom Cruise.

Those who consider joining the Sea Org or giving their children up for recruitment should keep their own counsel after reading Marc's account. (Especially as leaving the Int base carries with it automatic declare and expulsion from Scientology.) At least now you have all the data to make an informed decision. You can get your copy at www.blownforgood.com or Amazon.com.

Written by Joe Howard