I have been in the martial arts for over 49 years, as many of you know. I also have had the delight of being able to work with the United States military in various subject matter expert positions. I also spent 10 months in combat in Cambodia in 1972. So my education in martial arts started very young and I had a wonderful opportunity, or let's say it this way, a plethora of good instructors. These instructors range from what I would call technicians all away to mental masters. The mind and the body cannot be separated when you consider your self defense or in martial arts training.

I was called on the phone, out of the blue, by the BBC. A gentleman from the BBC asked if I knew about the first Earth Battalion? I of course know about the first Earth Battalion. This is an organization, or rather a complete concept for the future warrior; which was developed by Colonel Jim Channon. I will of course give a link to the first Earth Battalion website where any of the readers can download Colonel Jim Channon's manuscript. Essentially, Colonel Jim Channon was an infantry officer in Vietnam who after completing his tour started to ask some good questions. He actually got the opportunity to go experiment and research new strategies that might be used for the warrior on the battlefield. This adventure took Colonel Jim Channon to some very strange and wonderful places. You have to place yourself in the 1972 to 1974 era, in California, with all the hippies and counterculture "new age" sprouting out of the woodwork. Jim took advantage of this counterculture to examine their principles and see if they could be used by future warrior monks (his term).

Colonel Jim Channon did in fact wrapped his arms around some incredible technology and move it forward toward the war college. At first glance, and the BBC special makes it look worse, these concepts do in fact raise an eyebrow. These concepts go from bending metal with your mind, walking through walls, and the ability to project yourself into your opponents. I will let his first Earth Battalion download manual educate you about all the various aspects of what Colonel Channon developed. Suffice it to say, the BBC was interested in talking with me because I work with military units specifically in hand-to-hand combat. I do believe in much of what Colonel Jim Channon has set forth in his manual.

Back to the case at hand, the BBC asked me if I understood what MK-ultra was and some of the other earlier mind experiments, or rather, mind altering experiments, and I answered “yes”. So from that standpoint I wasn't sure exactly where they were going with their documentary however I agreed to meet them at Camp Pendleton, California. Now, remember this is a group from England who typically can't get on a military base here in America, but I thought it was the best place to set our interview and their introduction to my new self defense weapon.

I met Jon Ronson who is a celebrity in England from the BBC Channel 4. We immediately had some very interesting questions and dialogue based on where they were heading with their particular documentary. It turns out that the it is "the crazy rulers of the world". This particular BBC three part series can be found on the web in various places for you to watch. My particular involvement is in part one. The BBC was interested in if I could kill a goat by staring at it? I laughed. Why would I want to do that? After all I have never seen an attack goat on the battlefield! He then asked if I could freeze a person by touching them or set them on fire by touching them. I can in fact make you feel as if you're on fire by touching you, these are common known as visceral nerve attacks, and I smiled and said yes I can do that. So as you can ascertain we were going to have a very interesting interview, to say the least.

Once I took them out to the field where we train Marine Corps martial arts I introduce them to my self defense weapon. It's a small plastic tool, which of course you can see in the BBC special part one, and Jon Ronson wanted nothing to do with it. He asked me if I would apply the techniques to someone else. I said no! I have to do them to you. Otherwise, you can't convey to your audience just how much pain and control these weapons can apply on you. Suffice it to say, you should watch part one of "crazy rulers of the world". It is quite amusing to watch Jon Ronson bounced around like a rag doll.

So what ultimately took place was me showing him how you can "project" yourself, your mental energy, into another person. You will see a very classic example of this in part one of that series. I made a believer out of him, I believe so much so, that he understands that Colonel Jim Channon and the first Earth Battalion has some credibility. What is the taste of tea, unless you actually taste it. This is precisely where I wanted to put Jon Ronson. I knew if he experienced it that he could from a journalistic standpoint report that in fact it's true. Now, others in the documentary, I don't think fared as well as I did. However, all that being put aside, from this three-part series Jon Ronson produced a book titled "the men who stare at goats". My chapter is Chapter number eight. The self-defense weapon, known today as a defender, was known in those days as a predator. I had a name change because selling to the general public, the name predator, didn't sit well with many people.

Being somewhat connected to Hollywood, one of mine friends and part time employees works in Hollywood, will specifically in movies and TV specials. He happened to be on the movie set for "House", and he had brought with him a Playboy for some light reading material in the long and boring day. He opened it up and was reading of course the articles and there was my picture. He was shocked. And after he phoned me I think I was even more shocked than he was. Well sure enough, Playboy did a particle on the book "the men who stare at goats". My picture was one of four in the article. How embarrassing for me. I'm just glad that my parents are dead. It's a personal thing.

At any rate, the book got out and there was a lot of controversy centered around the book. I got lots of phone calls from people who were also in the book asking me if the BBC had really been here and discuss things with me. I assure them that they had. It amazed me, just that little bit of publicity coupled with the three-part TV series, "the crazy rulers of the world", I actually get recognized places where I go. I wouldn't have thought that at all. As a matter of fact the first time I got a chance to see the three-part series was on a vacation trip to Hawaii. Well it wasn't actually a vacation, it was a working vacation but the people that I was working with had actually downloaded it from the Internet.

So now they're making a movie based on the book "the men who stare at goats" starring George Clooney. I saw a trailer the other day and I believe that it is a dark humor type of movie. I fear I will have some more discussions and more phone calls, back and forth, between those of us who were somewhat on the inside track of the first Earth Battalion. In my next article I will explore a bit more about the first Earth Battalion and how it may not be as crazy as it really sounds. I might also, if encouraged, tell a little bit more about my time with the self-defense weapon and Jon Ronson.

Oh, by the way, I did in fact like Jon Ronson, so don't get the idea that I'm upset with him. I look forward to seeing the movie, which I believe premiers November 3, 2009. If this article does improve that life is strange and you can find yourself in some very own places, I'll put in with you.

Master Peter Brusso

http://www.selfdefenseweaponsite.com/

http://www.awarriorsway.com