Telling my story

[Chris Shelton]

Hi everyone. It's me, Chris Shelton, aka Galactic Patrol.

I've got a bit of a problem and maybe people here can help me out with it. My problem is, how do I encapsulate 27 years of Scientology into a post/article that people will find interesting and want to read without writing War and Peace? The problem is not finding things to write about - I've got plenty of that - it's selecting out the bits that people actually want to hear. Now that I'm out and willing to tell anyone anything about any time I was in, and I don't have any fear of telling "too much" for fear of being found out, I find myself in a quandry of having way too much to tell.

I think people here like stories, so here's my basic story in broad strokes:

My parents got into Scientology when I was about 4 years old and I did some kids courses but wasn't really a "Scientologist" when I was young. I grew up with the lingo but was kind of antago towards the subject because I didn't understand it really. When I was 15 (in 1985), my dad suggested (not ordered) that I check it out for myself and I went to our closest local org (Santa Barbara) and did a personality test. I was your usual 15 year old, shy, introverted, nerdy kid so she read me like a book and I bought every bit of what she was saying. When she told me this communications course they had would allow me to talk to girls, she didn't have to say any more. I consulted with the reg and my parents and we bought a package of Pro TRs, Student Hat (free at the time) and HQS. This was the old HQS that still had BTBs on how to co-audit objective processes and Self Analysis.

So Pro TRs ended up being the very first real course I did in Scientology and I have to admit that it changed my life for the better. I wasn't so shy, I was able to look people in the eyes and I had a newfound appreciation for honesty, openness and upfront communication. I took Hubbard's words to heart when he said "when in doubt, communicate." Boy did that get me in a lot of trouble later in life, ironically within Scientology!

Two years later, I was out of high school and recruited for staff. I went to ASHO for supervisor training. I bombed. I went back and held the DTS post for a year, almost routed off, but stayed strong and went back to ASHO to complete the supervisor training. This time I nailed it and I came back as an Academy Supervisor. In 1990 I went for the new Pro TRs with Clay Table Processing. In 1991 I went back again for KTL/LOC and was part of the international release of that service, supervising the courses in Santa Barbara. By the way, I'd say KTL and Pro TRs were the services I got more out of than anything else in Scientology. I am not a True Believer anymore and I don't push the tech or want any part of Scientology in my life as far as auditing goes. But those particular courses really helped me and to this day I'm glad I did them.

A couple of years later and I had moved up to Tech Sec in Santa Barbara. I had gotten Grades auditing and originated Clear. Went to Orange County org for a CCRD and came back Clear in 1993. I started the Solo course part I. For some reason I decided to go to AOLA to do it with a Santa Barbara public who was driving down to LA on the weekends for that. While on that course, I was reading in Scn 8-8008 about responsibility and it just really hit me between the eyes that I needed to do more. I had a big duty button and I felt that I was slaving away in Santa Barbara but I wasn't creating big enough effects! I wanted Scientology to be everywhere! So I decided, right then and there on my own bat, to join the Sea Org.

I walked down to the recruiter's office in AOLA but the recruiter wasn't there, so I ended up wandering over to CLO WUS. Luisa Basso was the HAS FOLO at the time (last I heard, she is Snr HAS Int now) and within 10 minutes I was signed up and sworn in.

It took them 6 months to replace me in Santa Barbara, mainly because the place was such a podunk org with like 10 staff members and I was holding down all the tech lines myself as the Tech Sec. No SO recruiter wanted to touch the cycle because of how hard it would be to replace me. Until Kurt Hahn, then holding the Training & Services Aide Flag Bureaux, came to get me. The Training & Services Aide was the post that was responsible for all the Tech Divisions in all the orgs on the entire planet. This post changed to Tech Aide FB in 1996 but the function was the same. Kurt needed a person under him in CLO WUS to handle the West US Tech Divisions and he decided I was the one to do it. So he got ok to come to Santa Barbara and worked out three people to replace me and it was actually a pretty sanely run cycle. The org was happy with it and I arrived to Los Angeles.

I'm leaving out so many details and tidbits in all of this and I already feel like I'm going on far too much. And I've only got to the point where I arrived to the Sea Org!

Ok, why don't I post this and get some feedback here. Based on the above, any questions so far? If the above is totally uninteresting and of no consequence, what would you like to know?

 

[Udarnik]

Break things into sections either by topic or date.

I'm interested in more detail because as a never-in, I want to figure out your thought process at each decision point, and the organizational pressures that made your superiors push you in one direction or another.

 

[dchoiceisalwaysrs]

Its all cool Chris. You covered a basic route of 11 years. There are about 17 more to cover in an outline. Then go back and fill in whatever you feel like filling in along with answers to questions. I appreciate what you are doing and the dates help us align your experience with what we also know from our experiences.

I am a bit of a stats person since almost birth, long before scientology so it is an area that always interests me. That leads me to say you can monitor your views and replies and questions and that will give you some indication of how you can fruitfully share your experiences and knowledge.

Occasional if not even more than that 'in depth focus with lots of detail' can be very helpful to the 'never in' as well as those of us who didn't experience those aspects of scientology. For example I am quite lacking in experiences 'while on missions' were like both from the efforts on your part to get targets met, as well as from your dealings with your seniors. I have impressions but your details could well change a lot of my impressions and I am very open to that happening.

 

[NoName]

Thanks and

Here's a question for you - was there a covert takeover by the SO of the Santa Barbara Mission shortly (as in 2-3 years) before the Missionholders' Krystalnacht? I have some personal opinions on that, but so far it's a lot of rumor and speculation on my part.

 

[Knows]

Chris - excellent post again!! Now I have an understanding on how you got in. Of course, Scientology pushes the "responsibility" button we all have and Scientology stomps on that button HARD - we all want to help ourselves and each other....it is ingrained in most of us.

Lies are told to us in the beginning of our cult experience about how Scientology helps everyone - these lies are told to engage that responsibility button.

For me - It was not even possible that an Organization that has celebrities like Gretta Van Sustren, Kirstie Alley, Tom Cruise, Anne Archer, John Travolta - would LIE - but they do and the LIES ARE HUGE!

I could not confront such evil - so my experience of Scientology helped me confront that evil exists and one must really look (if in - step out and look). If it is not evil - it will stand on its own merits. Scientology does not stand on its own merits once one steps out of the bubble - it is ladden with lies, extortion, bribery, false stats and false promises....money is extorted, bribery occurs to keep members quiet...it is criminal!

I met you, talked to you and have read your posts. Hubbard was correct when he said "Evil SP's get rid of the best staff members"...Scientology took a huge loss when they lost you!! OUR GAIN!!

Post whatever you want - I love reading anything you have to say. I value your opinion and experiences - you took the good you could get out of Scientology and applied it to YOURSELF. Of course, the good was copied from other philosophies and religions - but you were able to do that and most of the Sea Orger's and Staffer's were not very nice - unless you were helping them get a stat that day - then it was love bombing until the stat was obtained. Once the stat was obtained...it was SOP - ignore.

I would love to hear about how much money (no names - but how much) people donated to the Ideal Org and if you were privy to what happened to them once they donated. Did you find out if they experienced financial hardship or was that kept from Sea Org and staffers.

It is helpful to read what "outpoints" you saw, experienced and tried to expose and what happened when you exposed them. Did you notice the "tech" was contradicting itself and at what point did you notice that? How were the living conditions for you? How often did you see your family? Are they still in and how is that going for you?

What is happening behind the scene - all of it?

It is empowering to read your posts because you have no bitterness or hatred and you are honest in telling the truth about the cult.

 

[Chris Shelton]

Here's a question for you - was there a covert takeover by the SO of the Santa Barbara Mission shortly (as in 2-3 years) before the Missionholders' Krystalnacht? I have some personal opinions on that, but so far it's a lot of rumor and speculation on my part.

Hi NoName. I came on the scene in Santa Barbara in 1985 as a public. At that time it had been converted to an org and moved into its current location at 524 State Street. There was a Sea Org command team running the show - Carol Monroe as CO/ED and Doris Hoyseth as Senior C/S. Carol was a screamer and you could literally hear her berating her staff at product conferences or around the org every single day. It was amazing that I joined staff given how crazy loud she was all the time. I was totally afraid of her. Fortunately, she was replaced out shortly after I joined staff, while I was on training in Los Angeles.

I don't know when the mission became an org exactly but I heard lots of stories about how successful the place had been at its old location further up State Street. The 524 State St location was a total money pit and cause for years of Mortgage Payment Hell as we had to make our monthly mortgage payments and never had enough money for it. But as far as a takeover of the mission earlier, I'm sorry but that was before my time.

 

[Axiom142]

Hi Chris!

Firstly, let me thank you for telling your story. I have enjoyed your posts here, at The Bunker and on ‘Scientologists getting back in comm’. You have a clear and concise writing style which is very effective.

Hi everyone. It's me, Chris Shelton, aka Galactic Patrol.

I've got a bit of a problem and maybe people here can help me out with it. My problem is, how do I encapsulate 27 years of Scientology into a post/article that people will find interesting and want to read without writing War and Peace? The problem is not finding things to write about - I've got plenty of that - it's selecting out the bits that people actually want to hear. Now that I'm out and willing to tell anyone anything about any time I was in, and I don't have any fear of telling "too much" for fear of being found out, I find myself in a quandry of having way too much to tell.

Perhaps I’m not the best person to answer this, as I’m been pondering the same questions for the past 6 years! But I’m going to adopt an OT viewpoint here (i.e. ignore the facts and pretend I know what I am talking about) and answer them anyway.

Don’t worry about what others might think of your story. Your story is important to you. And, there will be many who will find it interesting and informative. Just speak from the heart.

Udarnik has a good suggestion (which I actually thought of first, but he must really be OT and stole in from my head) – break it up by timeframe or subject. How about taking a topic that you find interesting or important and discuss it, using your own experiences as a backdrop?

Or, you could just tell it in chronological order. It’s all good.

And, telling your story can be remarkably therapeutic. Talking and writing about my experiences, really helped me to make some sort of sense of what I had been through.

Ok, why don't I post this and get some feedback here. Based on the above, any questions so far? If the above is totally uninteresting and of no consequence, what would you like to know?

Personally, what I’d like to know is details about what it is like ‘behind the scenes’ in the Sea Org and what staff really think about the situation and the orders they are given. I hesitate to use the word ‘gossip’ but it’s the things you never normally get to hear about – who’s been going ‘out-2d’ with who, failed projects, how many have left staff, stupid orders, the crazy stuff.

I was in the SO, so I know how stupid things can get, but what goes through the minds of the staff when they are told to ring public up at 1am and tell them to buy some stupid package? Why do they carry on doing the same thing, no matter that it isn’t getting results?

But most of all, I’d like to know how people feel. Most stories just concentrate on the actions – I did this, then I went to here, so-and-so said this to me. But I don’t always feel that I know what is going on inside.

Anyway, take your time. There are no Thursdays at 2pm here on ESMB!

Axiom142

 

[sallydannce]

Hi Chris!

Firstly, let me thank you for telling your story. I have enjoyed your posts here, at The Bunker and on ‘Scientologists getting back in comm’. You have a clear and concise writing style which is very effective.



Perhaps I’m not the best person to answer this, as I’m been pondering the same questions for the past 6 years! But I’m going to adopt an OT viewpoint here (i.e. ignore the facts and pretend I know what I am talking about) and answer them anyway.

Don’t worry about what others might think of your story. Your story is important to you. And, there will be many who will find it interesting and informative. Just speak from the heart.

Udarnik has a good suggestion (which I actually thought of first, but he must really be OT and stole in from my head) – break it up by timeframe or subject. How about taking a topic that you find interesting or important and discuss it, using your own experiences as a backdrop?

Or, you could just tell it in chronological order. It’s all good.

And, telling your story can be remarkably therapeutic. Talking and writing about my experiences, really helped me to make some sort of sense of what I had been through.




Personally, what I’d like to know is details about what it is like ‘behind the scenes’ in the Sea Org and what staff really think about the situation and the orders they are given. I hesitate to use the word ‘gossip’ but it’s the things you never normally get to hear about – who’s been going ‘out-2d’ with who, failed projects, how many have left staff, stupid orders, the crazy stuff.

I was in the SO, so I know how stupid things can get, but what goes through the minds of the staff when they are told to ring public up at 1am and tell them to buy some stupid package? Why do they carry on doing the same thing, no matter that it isn’t getting results?

But most of all, I’d like to know how people feel. Most stories just concentrate on the actions – I did this, then I went to here, so-and-so said this to me. But I don’t always feel that I know what is going on inside.

Anyway, take your time. There are no Thursdays at 2pm here on ESMB!

Axiom142

Dear Axiom142,

Would you please refrain from reading my thoughts & then sharing them on ESMB? It really is a bit disconcerting. :wink2:

Chris, tell your story as it rolls, from your heart. I too struggled with "my story" and ended up just letting it rip. I would sit at my computer and literally just let it fall out of me. The therapeutic "value" of that was it was very empowering and liberating. Scientology is all about structure and control. In essence how I let "my story" roll and fall was, looking back, very healing.

Taking your time, living life your way, on your terms, imho, is all part of the recovery. Someone said to me, a few years ago, "what is best for you?" and I didn't have a clue. I was so trained (like a seal) to do what was best for the group, for others. Don't worry about what we need or want (that old non-E formula) - do what is best for you. Learning to trust self that you won't stuff up and harm others without a formula to guide, is healing.

Hoping this makes sense. In a bit of hurry here.

 

[Markus]

Hi everyone. It's me, Chris Shelton, aka Galactic Patrol.

I've got a bit of a problem and maybe people here can help me out with it. My problem is, how do I encapsulate 27 years of Scientology into a post/article that people will find interesting and want to read without writing War and Peace? The problem is not finding things to write about - I've got plenty of that - it's selecting out the bits that people actually want to hear. Now that I'm out and willing to tell anyone anything about any time I was in, and I don't have any fear of telling "too much" for fear of being found out, I find myself in a quandry of having way too much to tell.

I think people here like stories, so here's my basic story in broad strokes:

My parents got into Scientology when I was about 4 years old and I did some kids courses but wasn't really a "Scientologist" when I was young. I grew up with the lingo but was kind of antago towards the subject because I didn't understand it really. When I was 15 (in 1985), my dad suggested (not ordered) that I check it out for myself and I went to our closest local org (Santa Barbara) and did a personality test. I was your usual 15 year old, shy, introverted, nerdy kid so she read me like a book and I bought every bit of what she was saying. When she told me this communications course they had would allow me to talk to girls, she didn't have to say any more. I consulted with the reg and my parents and we bought a package of Pro TRs, Student Hat (free at the time) and HQS. This was the old HQS that still had BTBs on how to co-audit objective processes and Self Analysis.

So Pro TRs ended up being the very first real course I did in Scientology and I have to admit that it changed my life for the better. I wasn't so shy, I was able to look people in the eyes and I had a newfound appreciation for honesty, openness and upfront communication. I took Hubbard's words to heart when he said "when in doubt, communicate." Boy did that get me in a lot of trouble later in life, ironically within Scientology!

Two years later, I was out of high school and recruited for staff. I went to ASHO for supervisor training. I bombed. I went back and held the DTS post for a year, almost routed off, but stayed strong and went back to ASHO to complete the supervisor training. This time I nailed it and I came back as an Academy Supervisor. In 1990 I went for the new Pro TRs with Clay Table Processing. In 1991 I went back again for KTL/LOC and was part of the international release of that service, supervising the courses in Santa Barbara. By the way, I'd say KTL and Pro TRs were the services I got more out of than anything else in Scientology. I am not a True Believer anymore and I don't push the tech or want any part of Scientology in my life as far as auditing goes. But those particular courses really helped me and to this day I'm glad I did them.

A couple of years later and I had moved up to Tech Sec in Santa Barbara. I had gotten Grades auditing and originated Clear. Went to Orange County org for a CCRD and came back Clear in 1993. I started the Solo course part I. For some reason I decided to go to AOLA to do it with a Santa Barbara public who was driving down to LA on the weekends for that. While on that course, I was reading in Scn 8-8008 about responsibility and it just really hit me between the eyes that I needed to do more. I had a big duty button and I felt that I was slaving away in Santa Barbara but I wasn't creating big enough effects! I wanted Scientology to be everywhere! So I decided, right then and there on my own bat, to join the Sea Org.

I walked down to the recruiter's office in AOLA but the recruiter wasn't there, so I ended up wandering over to CLO WUS. Luisa Basso was the HAS FOLO at the time (last I heard, she is Snr HAS Int now) and within 10 minutes I was signed up and sworn in.

It took them 6 months to replace me in Santa Barbara, mainly because the place was such a podunk org with like 10 staff members and I was holding down all the tech lines myself as the Tech Sec. No SO recruiter wanted to touch the cycle because of how hard it would be to replace me. Until Kurt Hahn, then holding the Training & Services Aide Flag Bureaux, came to get me. The Training & Services Aide was the post that was responsible for all the Tech Divisions in all the orgs on the entire planet. This post changed to Tech Aide FB in 1996 but the function was the same. Kurt needed a person under him in CLO WUS to handle the West US Tech Divisions and he decided I was the one to do it. So he got ok to come to Santa Barbara and worked out three people to replace me and it was actually a pretty sanely run cycle. The org was happy with it and I arrived to Los Angeles.

I'm leaving out so many details and tidbits in all of this and I already feel like I'm going on far too much. And I've only got to the point where I arrived to the Sea Org!

Ok, why don't I post this and get some feedback here. Based on the above, any questions so far? If the above is totally uninteresting and of no consequence, what would you like to know?

Hello Chris,

thank you so much for telling your story here on ESMB.

 

[AnonyMary]

Hi NoName. I came on the scene in Santa Barbara in 1985 as a public. At that time it had been converted to an org and moved into its current location at 524 State Street. There was a Sea Org command team running the show - Carol Monroe as CO/ED and Doris Hoyseth as Senior C/S. Carol was a screamer and you could literally hear her berating her staff at product conferences or around the org every single day. It was amazing that I joined staff given how crazy loud she was all the time. I was totally afraid of her. Fortunately, she was replaced out shortly after I joined staff, while I was on training in Los Angeles.

I don't know when the mission became an org exactly but I heard lots of stories about how successful the place had been at its old location further up State Street. The 524 State St location was a total money pit and cause for years of Mortgage Payment Hell as we had to make our monthly mortgage payments and never had enough money for it. But as far as a takeover of the mission earlier, I'm sorry but that was before my time.

Hi Chris! Thanks for sharing all this with us. I distinctly remember Santa Barbara being the first WUS orgs to go Saint Hill Size back in the late 80s, early 90s. There was much pressure to compete against them. They were supposed to get the Universe Corp there. Were you one of those training for it back then, before you went SO?

 

[AnonKat]

Gonna have your back, AnonKat, Cat Daddy, KittyKatSpanker

Hi everyone. It's me, Chris Shelton, aka Galactic Patrol.

I've got a bit of a problem and maybe people here can help me out with it. My problem is, how do I encapsulate 27 years of Scientology into a post/article that people will find interesting and want to read without writing War and Peace? The problem is not finding things to write about - I've got plenty of that - it's selecting out the bits that people actually want to hear. Now that I'm out and willing to tell anyone anything about any time I was in, and I don't have any fear of telling "too much" for fear of being found out, I find myself in a quandry of having way too much to tell.

I think people here like stories, so here's my basic story in broad strokes:

My parents got into Scientology when I was about 4 years old and I did some kids courses but wasn't really a "Scientologist" when I was young. I grew up with the lingo but was kind of antago towards the subject because I didn't understand it really. When I was 15 (in 1985), my dad suggested (not ordered) that I check it out for myself and I went to our closest local org (Santa Barbara) and did a personality test. I was your usual 15 year old, shy, introverted, nerdy kid so she read me like a book and I bought every bit of what she was saying. When she told me this communications course they had would allow me to talk to girls, she didn't have to say any more. I consulted with the reg and my parents and we bought a package of Pro TRs, Student Hat (free at the time) and HQS. This was the old HQS that still had BTBs on how to co-audit objective processes and Self Analysis.

So Pro TRs ended up being the very first real course I did in Scientology and I have to admit that it changed my life for the better. I wasn't so shy, I was able to look people in the eyes and I had a newfound appreciation for honesty, openness and upfront communication. I took Hubbard's words to heart when he said "when in doubt, communicate." Boy did that get me in a lot of trouble later in life, ironically within Scientology!

Two years later, I was out of high school and recruited for staff. I went to ASHO for supervisor training. I bombed. I went back and held the DTS post for a year, almost routed off, but stayed strong and went back to ASHO to complete the supervisor training. This time I nailed it and I came back as an Academy Supervisor. In 1990 I went for the new Pro TRs with Clay Table Processing. In 1991 I went back again for KTL/LOC and was part of the international release of that service, supervising the courses in Santa Barbara. By the way, I'd say KTL and Pro TRs were the services I got more out of than anything else in Scientology. I am not a True Believer anymore and I don't push the tech or want any part of Scientology in my life as far as auditing goes. But those particular courses really helped me and to this day I'm glad I did them.

A couple of years later and I had moved up to Tech Sec in Santa Barbara. I had gotten Grades auditing and originated Clear. Went to Orange County org for a CCRD and came back Clear in 1993. I started the Solo course part I. For some reason I decided to go to AOLA to do it with a Santa Barbara public who was driving down to LA on the weekends for that. While on that course, I was reading in Scn 8-8008 about responsibility and it just really hit me between the eyes that I needed to do more. I had a big duty button and I felt that I was slaving away in Santa Barbara but I wasn't creating big enough effects! I wanted Scientology to be everywhere! So I decided, right then and there on my own bat, to join the Sea Org.

I walked down to the recruiter's office in AOLA but the recruiter wasn't there, so I ended up wandering over to CLO WUS. Luisa Basso was the HAS FOLO at the time (last I heard, she is Snr HAS Int now) and within 10 minutes I was signed up and sworn in.

It took them 6 months to replace me in Santa Barbara, mainly because the place was such a podunk org with like 10 staff members and I was holding down all the tech lines myself as the Tech Sec. No SO recruiter wanted to touch the cycle because of how hard it would be to replace me. Until Kurt Hahn, then holding the Training & Services Aide Flag Bureaux, came to get me. The Training & Services Aide was the post that was responsible for all the Tech Divisions in all the orgs on the entire planet. This post changed to Tech Aide FB in 1996 but the function was the same. Kurt needed a person under him in CLO WUS to handle the West US Tech Divisions and he decided I was the one to do it. So he got ok to come to Santa Barbara and worked out three people to replace me and it was actually a pretty sanely run cycle. The org was happy with it and I arrived to Los Angeles.

I'm leaving out so many details and tidbits in all of this and I already feel like I'm going on far too much. And I've only got to the point where I arrived to the Sea Org!

Ok, why don't I post this and get some feedback here. Based on the above, any questions so far? If the above is totally uninteresting and of no consequence, what would you like to know?

 

[Chris Shelton]

Hi Chris! Thanks for sharing all this with us. I distinctly remember Santa Barbara being the first WUS orgs to go Saint Hill Size back in the late 80s, early 90s. There was much pressure to compete against them. They were supposed to get the Universe Corp there. Were you one of those training for it back then, before you went SO?

Hey AnonyMary,

You're thinking of Orange County org actually. I went to OC in 1993 and did a CCRD and that place was hopping back then! I had come from Santa Barbara, which was and remains a totally podunk org doing absolutely nothing for its parishioners or its community. So when I went to OC, where John Woodruff was running things according to how he wanted to run things, and I saw lots of people on service, lots of people getting auditing and a lot of what appeared to be happy staff, I wanted to go there so badly. I did the CCRD, was attested to Clear and went back to my org a very happy camper.

And I knew without any shadow of a doubt that we were never, ever going to be competition for Orange County. They knew what they were doing. We were just barely surviving and paying our rent to keep the doors open.

 

[NoName]

So, my aunt (who I later lived with) took a few courses at the Santa Barbara Mission at the older location back in the early 80's. I actually didn't talk to her about it until fairly recently after I got sucked into the local org and blew in a matter of months. Then we talked about how the org seemed so happy go lucky, but the energy changed with the arrival of some SO, and she ended up blowing due to overly aggressive regges.

Anyway, she knew Kay Rowe and her husband Scott (?). There are some other people I may ask about in PM, as well as talk about specific details about the whole thing. We're both still pretty paranoid about the cult, so I don't say too much in public.

 

[Chris Shelton]

I'm working on the rest of my story and I'll be getting the "next chapter" up really soon.

I had to laugh today. The first two parts of my video interview with Karen got re-posted on PlainOldThetan's blog, http://possiblyhelpfuladvice.com, yesterday and it got almost 26,000 views. Normally his blog articles get around 4-5,000 so I was shocked. I emailed him to as about this and found out that some server in Arizona hit that article like 5,000+ times, probably in an effort to take down his blog with a Denial of Service attack. I guess I should be honored to be considered dangerous enough to try to take down.

Truth is truth and trying to suppress an idea is the silliest endeavor you can ever engage upon. Even Hubbard said something akin to that. I'm just glad I have a forum and opportunity to get some truth out there. Thanks for everyone who is supporting what I'm doing and forwarding the message. I guess it is creating some kind of effect

 

[Knows]

I'm working on the rest of my story and I'll be getting the "next chapter" up really soon.

I had to laugh today. The first two parts of my video interview with Karen got re-posted on PlainOldThetan's blog, http://possiblyhelpfuladvice.com, yesterday and it got almost 26,000 views. Normally his blog articles get around 4-5,000 so I was shocked. I emailed him to as about this and found out that some server in Arizona hit that article like 5,000+ times, probably in an effort to take down his blog with a Denial of Service attack. I guess I should be honored to be considered dangerous enough to try to take down.

Truth is truth and trying to suppress an idea is the silliest endeavor you can ever engage upon. Even Hubbard said something akin to that. I'm just glad I have a forum and opportunity to get some truth out there. Thanks for everyone who is supporting what I'm doing and forwarding the message. I guess it is creating some kind of effect

Ironic on how the Church of Scientology promotes "How to Confront and Shatter Suppression" - and then when the members try to correct the "OUTPOINTS" (in wog - it means CRIMES) within the Church of Scientology - Scientology SUPPRESSES.

Then the organization tries to SUPPRESS the truth from the members that leave because of the CRIMINAL activity within the Organization.

Spinning in the whacky world of Scientology is all the members do - due to the suppression. They don't even know the truth about the cult they are trapped in because they don't suspect their "Church" would ever suppress them! Their level of awareness has been seriously suppressed but they think they are more aware than anyone on the planet.

How sad for them!

 

[MissWog]

Hiya Chris!
Love your posts and videos! Thanks for sharing and speaking out

just in case you are interested... Check out this thread.. http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthre...nalist-wants-to-talk-to-former-Scientologists

 

[aegerprimo]

I would like to hear about "a day in the life" of one of your posts. How about a Thursday? Even the mundane like meals, personal hygene.

 

[Chris Shelton]

Well, thanks everyone for the input so far. I'll just get into the next part of my time track and see where this goes. I'm sure as this goes on, I'll eventually get to what everyone wants to know about.

I arrived into the Sea Org in June 1995. The EPF was a very fast action for me - about five days total - because I was a fast student, I had already done some of the courses (like the Ethics Course) when I was a public/staff member and because I didn't really have a problem washing dishes (the main MEST work I was assigned) and because they really wanted me on post. So I got through that in a whirlwind and arrived to the FOLO. The EPF kind of sucked and I didn't like the living conditions or the food but it was all an adventure so you just kind of roll with it.

I arrived to find the CO FOLO, Vicki Shantz (now CO CLO WUS) with a phone almost permanently cradled in one ear while she had two computer monitors (the old WICAT monstrosities) in front of her. She was probably one of the most intense people I ever met in Scientology. She had stats on one monitor and telexes open on another. Her day consisted of meetings and product conferences to stat push her managers and handle "flaps" (like orgs not making their rent payments) and most of her time spent directly on the phone to the org EDs (or anyone else in the org she could reach) to harass them about their stats and demand they do better. This was a daily activity and this was called "org management". Under her were one or two Programs Chiefs and then people like me who were over just one division of a Scientology organization. Stan Booth (who is now an advance man or tours reg at ASHO) was the main Programs Chief IIRC.

It's almost impossible to give a crash course on all the different complexities of management if you don't know what an org board is, so I'm just going to assume here that anyone reading this at least knows what the org board is. At continental level, there are people overall responsible for each division for the entire cont. They are called "Aides". Actually, at continental level they are called Assistant Aides and they "assist" the Aide who exists at Int/Flag Bureaux level. So you have one guy at Flag Bureaux who is responsible for all the Dissemination Divisions across the entire planet. That is the Dissemination Aide. He has assistants in each continental CLO/FOLO and he directs his assistants for their geographical areas. You have a Treasury Aide, a Technical Aide, a Qual Aide, etc. And I went immediately onto post as the Assistant Technical Aide for the Western US.

When I had been a Class V staff member in Santa Barbara, I had received a couple of telexes and some direction on programs, but I had mainly ignored all that and just kind of done my job. There had been a Flag Representative in our org and she had contacted me and made me do program targets to improve things in the course room and stuff like that. I hadn't really had much of a concept of org management or why programs were important and I just followed her directions and did the program targets because I wanted to make her happy.

Now it was up to me at this end to write and send those telexes to the Tech Secs in all the West US orgs and make sure they did not ignore my direction and make sure they did get those programs done. My biggest problem to start with was writing telexes that were too long. They were supposed to be crisp and concise. So I got corrected on that and eventually learned how to do it right. (fun fact: many years later, the person in charge of external communications/telexes told me that I was actually the guy who had the highest answer/response rate on my communications/telexes out compared to all the other West US org managment personnel).

But the biggest and scariest part of the job was not sending out telexes or dispatches, it was having to physically go into the Sea Org orgs (AOLA and ASHO) and deal with the veteran SO members who ran these orgs and tell them what to do. And pretend that I knew what I was doing. Oh what a crazy time. Management of the SO orgs did not consist of sending telexes. Hell no, they were right outside our front door. If you wanted something done in those orgs, you just went over there and told them what to do.

So I learned quickly that it was my job to get these people to comply with our orders and that we were to take no flak or bullshit from them. It was to be expected that we would get a lot of bullshit and backflash and nonsense and our job was to push through that crap and get compliance. That was the attitude of management towards the orgs right from the start of my career and it pretty much never changed. Kind of an Old Testament viewpoint if you know what I mean. Do what I say OR THERE WILL BE BLOOD, because I love you and only want what's best for you. Sometimes over the years, a more Christian, New Testament viewpoint would come down and we would be kind and gentle but that didn't last long in the face of rent flaps and non-compliance with RTC orders and the urgency to get staff to Flag for training on whatever the latest "training evolution" was. Oh my god, I hate even thinking that word "evolution" again. Oh the torture connected with that word!

And with that I will take a break.

 

[Gib]

.

At continental level, there are people overall responsible for each division for the entire cont. They are called "Aides". Actually, at continental level they are called Assistant Aides and they "assist" the Aide who exists at Int/Flag Bureaux level. So you have one guy at Flag Bureaux who is responsible for all the Dissemination Divisions across the entire planet. That is the Dissemination Aide. He has assistants in each continental CLO/FOLO and he directs his assistants for their geographical areas. You have a Treasury Aide, a Technical Aide, a Qual Aide, etc. And I went immediately onto post as the Assistant Technical Aide for the Western US.

with all these aides running each division in orgs, what exactly does the ED of each org do?

let me guess, as Hubbard says in the book "Problems of Work", why get efficient & do work now and come and loaf with me, put ones feet up on the desk with hands interlocked behind one's head.

 

[Bea Kiddo]

with all these aides running each division in orgs, what exactly does the ED of each org do?

let me guess, as Hubbard says in the book "Problems of Work", why get efficient & do work now and come and loaf with me, put ones feet up on the desk with hands interlocked behind one's head.

Squeeze money out of parishioners, of course!