WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SEA ORG?

Chapter Two

Note: The former SO member in this interview will be referred to as Nomad – for simplicity.

Interviewer: Sir, if I may at this point, I have a question?

Nomad: Yes.

Interviewer: Obviously, the picture you painted in our earlier chapter, fits, more or less, the idea of a cult-like religion. Forced enclosure, physical abuse and detainment, disengagement with the rest of the world – creating an environment where, lacking a better term, its people can be brainwashed into believing anything because they don’t really know the truth of what is going on.

Nomad: That’s correct.

Interviewer: You touched on the fact that the organization wasn’t always like that and I think it could be useful to those who read this book, before you get further into the brutal details of what changed, to give them an idea of what life in the Sea Organization – working for Scientology full time – was like before it became categorically a cult.

Nomad: When I joined the Sea Org, it was in the mid 70s. The organization had only been formed in 1967, so it was young, vibrant and had a wonderful pioneering attitude about it. It was a feeling that you had just joined up with something very dynamic, very progressive and that was going to change the world. You have to realize that in those days, the late 60s through to the mid to late 70s, we grew up with a mindset that the “establishment” needed to be fixed.
The whole movement that you see back in those days, the rock bands, the sub-culture –it was all a statement that we didn’t want to be like the stupid jerks that put us into the Vietnam War, or Cambodia, the Nixon/Watergate mentality, the shootings and killings at universities, etc. We were the new generation. The Sea Org and Scientology fit our mindset at that time. It was a time for change, it was a time for fundamentally addressing the matrix of our culture and imbuing it with new values – and Scientology had answers then, and still very much so today. The Sea Org was the strongest ambassador of that message. When I joined, I was allured by its mystique, the fact that it seemed to be everywhere and its purpose to put ethics in on this planet.

Interviewer: What does that mean exactly, to put ethics in on the planet? It sounds odd to me.

Nomad: (chuckles)… No doubt it would. Let’s just put it this way. Ethics is right thinking, it’s doing things so that the results are more positive, more constructive than they are destructive.

Interviewer: You mean the concept of the greater good.

Nomad: Exactly. I’m sure it’s no different today for young people growing up and seeing things going on that make no sense to them. Senseless wars, stupid governments and Presidents that destroy countries – I’ll refrain from naming the one I am speaking about… (he smiles).

Interviewer: I’m sure we know the one you speak of.

Nomad: Anyhow, you see stuff like this and you want to do something about it, but what does our society offer us. The only curriculum out there is to either get educated, get a job and plug into the system, or possibly join the military and go kill bad guys that aren’t really THE bad guys, or become a missionary and help the natives of some remote African nation and show them how to grow crops. Think about it – none of those options give you any real chance to CHANGE our society. Of course, you could become a politician, but the problem there is that pretty much since Lincoln was assassinated, there haven’t been too many politicians that fundamentally changed the country – the system is too rigged now. So for the average bloke like myself, the Sea Org was a chance to do something big.

Interviewer: Tell us about the early days in the SO.

Nomad: Fun, adventurous, animated, crazy, outrageous. Those are a few modifiers I would use, but beyond that, the Sea Org was anything but perfect in the day. It was still getting its feet on the ground while trying to be a very pervasive influence across the globe. When I came in, I went straight into its management ranks at the headquarters in Clearwater Florida, called Flag. Flag means the lead ship in a flotilla. Mr. Hubbard was actively on the heart throb of Scientology in those days. I wasn’t on my new job more than a week when a Messenger arrived and had questions from Mr. Hubbard for me personally. Messengers in those days were just that – they delivered memos and orders from Hubbard to organizational staff, got responses and compliances and fed them back to him. We never saw him as he was at a remote location in California somewhere, but we certainly heard from him all the time.
Hubbard was doing new research on auditing and the training of auditors in those days. I was one of his test cases in fact for a new auditing procedure called the Humungous Rundown, which later became Super Power. It was great fun, and I experienced some very interesting abilities from that process.

Interviewer: Care to elucidate us on that?

Nomad: Well let’s just say that from that one auditing process, which I believe lasted in total maybe 10 hours, it brought to the surface an ability that I always sensed that I had, but never acknowledged. After doing this process it kind of poked its head through the surface and we sharpened it up and away I went. It wasn’t until later, 1-2 years later, that I began to see that I was able to spot criminal tendencies in people.

Interviewer: Indeed…?

Nomad: Don’t go weird on me. I am not talking about reading signs or palm reading or whatever. It’s a simple process. You look at people, you can see things. It’s one of the great things about Scientology – you start operating at a different playing field – so much more senior to just the material world that we live in. But here’s the catch, I was able to see stuff that spooked me. One of my bosses at that time was a man that could have passed for a Nazi or SS officer by his demeanor and attitude. No one seemed to pay him any mind, but he was up to some seriously bad stuff. I saw right through him. I knew to the core that the man had another agenda and the horrible thing about it is that I didn’t know what to do. How do you tell people that you suspect someone – that you think they will commit murder as an example – but you can’t prove it. Makes you sound like you’re on the edge, and indeed, I had to shut up and I watched him. Sure enough, within two years, he exploded, his crimes came to the surface and he was found out – but only after he had secretly committed some serious destructive acts.

But that is another story altogether, my point, and keeping within the framework of your original question about what it was like in the early days – it was always an adventure. Learning new things, getting new abilities and skills – such as the one I just told you, traveling the world, doing Sea Org missions to organizations in new and far lands – it was exciting.

The aura of the Sea Org and Scientology in those days was all about expanding, getting the word out, putting ethics in the world. I was even involved in missions and activities to release New Era Dianetics for OTs, called NOTS. I was no where near that level of the gradation chart myself, but the excitement around the globe about this new level of OT was phenomenal.

Interviewer: What were the living conditions like?

Nomad: (laughs)… Packed men’s dorms, shared bathrooms for married couples, $22 in pay every week… but you know what … we didn’t care. We didn’t care because we were having too much fun living the adventure.

Interviewer: You mentioned in our last chapter that in the earlier days of the Sea Org its members were respected, whereas later on, respect was commanded, what did you mean by that statement.

Nomad: Well, in those days, we were proud to be Sea Org members because it was a cool purpose, and we were all there on the same terms, fighting the good fight. There was a real sense of comradery about it, a certain spirit. Later, through the early and mid-80’s, as Miscavige starts to morph it into an organization of force, use of threats and fear and starts to inject a military persona into, it becomes something else.

Interviewer: Yes, but the Sea Org always had naval type uniforms so the military aspect was always there – correct?

Nomad: No – not really. The uniforms were an image, they were not the essence. Actually, a little known fact to most people is that Hubbard himself said in 1976 when they sold the Apollo Flag ship and moved ashore at Clearwater, that maybe it was time to survey the matter and determine if the naval image of the Sea Org shouldn’t be dropped. I remember clearly reading his notes on this, as it made sense to me since we were now living in a retirement community in Clearwater Florida and it looked a bit odd to be walking around with epaulettes, military bars, naval hats and all the rest.

However, David Miscavige had his own ideas and since the early 1980s he has turned the Sea Org into a militant activity. It’s quite simple, the military in spite of all its fancy marketing ads actually factually wants only ONE thing from a man or a woman. They train them to kill and to respond to orders without question or challenge. In their view, if they can control the minds and bodies of an army of men and women, then they have accomplished their duty. That is what Miscavige is creating. It’s a dichotomy of actualities, because only one thing can exist, either Scientology or a military persona. He can’t really have a Scientology persona because then people would, by the nature of being a Scientologist and an OT, talk back and challenge him. Something that he could never endure. So, unfortunately he’s using force, fear, threats, and the enclosure of the group, to create a push button army that will do whatever he says and wants – without question. I mean that in the fullest sense of the word. You don’t talk back to him or his hierarchy of people – or you’re not around for very long if you do – my wife and I and many others experienced that to be true.

That is not what the Sea Org was all about when it was a free organization. We had self perpetuated justice and ethics and protocols, and yes, we wore uniforms, but we were free to think and act and talk. We weren’t puppets. We weren’t afraid, and Hubbard never ran from a dictatorial stance. He ran it with a standard of discipline and protocol – but he ran it like it was an organization of OTs which is what we all wanted it to be and wanted to be like. OT.

(He pauses and looks off out the window and sighs)

Nomad: The sad thing about the Sea Org is that once Hubbard was gone, the safety net was gone too. Miscavige turned the whole ship in the direction he planned and he’s been at the helm ever since. When Hubbard was actively present in the operations, you sensed the same dynamic, spirit and drive that was the essence of Scientology. When he was gone – something else came in.

Interviewer: We’re going to end this segment of our interview, but before we do so, can you tell us a bit about what you plan to cover in the next segment?

Nomad: I will give you some of my insight and experiences showing how David Miscavige started the long term decline of Scientology – starting back in the 80s. Some of this information is known and some may not be known – but nevertheless – it’s my story and hopefully it will shed some light of truth on the situation for others.

Interviewer: Thank you Sir.

Nomad: My pleasure.

Written by Outside the Box