DOX: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wanted kids to form his personal military

 
We want to thank the tipster who sent us a fascinating document we hadn’t seen before. Dated July 7, 1986, it was produced a few months after the death of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard when, apparently, the Sea Org was having more problems than usual with the children of its members.

In order to get things under control, the document cites lots of things Hubbard himself had to say about how kids in Scientology should be treated, and it’s pretty telling.

So we turned to two former Sea Org members who have helped us in the past with Scientology’s documents about children, Sunny Pereira and Mark Plummer, for their thoughts on this rambling text. And be prepared: It’s long, repetitive, and ultimately depressing as Hubbard’s ideas about treating children as adults and preparing them for lifetime service in Scientology are spelled out in minute detail. But we think it’s worth showing it to you, and getting some perspective from Sunny and Mark…

SEA ORGANIZATION
EXECUTIVE DIRECTIVE

FLB ED 120
7 July 1986

ECs
ACs
HCOs of Base Orgs
ALL BASE CREW

THE HANDLING OF CHILDREN AND CADETS

There has been a lot of confusion as to the handling of Sea Org children at Flag(R). Some children have posts, some are with their parents on their posts, some are at the DCC or Cadet Org, and some are around the FH [Fort Harrison Hotel] with no supervision at all. In addition, there has not been certainty on the lines for discipline, or ethics, etc… is it the parents or the nannies duty? These questions are going to be answered in this issue based on the LRH (TM) references.

A brief view of the history of Flag shows that it is and always has been a PRODUCTION oriented Base. In the earlier days of the Flag Ship if a couple got pregnant they would be assigned to an outer org or unit. They would no longer be on the Ship due to the fact that the Ship and Flag were not the place to raise a child. The high production and the environment itself was not appropriate for this.

When Flag moved to land, the idea of being the Very Top of The Bridge(R) Classification and Graduation Chart and the Highest Production Unit on the Planet did not and never will change. The concept of children being the future of the Planet is also understood. Yet this particular Base remains the Top of The Bridge and thus its delivery of OT(R) Advanced Religious Counseling to the Planet is the prime concern and concentration.

However, shortly after we did get to land, a large number of children were born or brought on the Base. And, although our purpose as a Base is not to raise children, we want to do an excellent job of raising the children who are here.

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For many years LRH advices have failed to be applied. The intention of this issue is to educate you on what LRH has to say about Sea Org children an the Cadet Org and their proper handling.

Back in the days of the Ship, LRH tried to give children posts and let them produce and be a part of the Sea Org. From this period of time come most of the definitions we have for this area:

Children: 1) people who have not passed checksheets and have no paid posts in the Sea Org (FO 760) 2) a child is one who cannot handle an org or ship post. He or she is not on the payroll. (FO 1630)

Babies: 1) anyone below 6 is to be called “Little Children” or “babies.” (FO 1630) 2) (babies-small children) people who are under six years of age, who are not cadets (FO 3167)

Cadet: any child who has passed his Staff Status II and AB or Engine Room checksheet and has a post which he is holding in the Sea Org and who has a good ethics record is hereafter to be referred to not in the generality of “children,” but as a CADET. A cadet has a rank equal to a deckhand or motorman. (FO 760)

 
Sunny Pereira: Around 1986 (when this appears to have been written) the PAC situation with regard to children was in a very, very bad state. The children were not supervised for years. Many had not been going to school. Many had been roaming the streets of LA (we were not allowed at Big Blue, per Hubbard, so we roamed LA instead). Several had gotten into drugs, several had gotten arrested, several had been missing for days and weeks. It finally came to a head and all the children were rounded up by CO CMO PAC and given a “briefing.” Sign your Sea Org contract now, or join the Cadet Org. If you don’t want to do either, SP declare was your only other option.

Also from FO 760: “The title CADET must be conferred by Flag Orger. Proof of qualification for the title must be given to the LRH Comm Staff.”

In FO 1630, Governess, LRH discusses the care of children, and the schedule which makes it possible for a child to work toward and attain the level of literacy to pass the courses required for Cadet Status:

…”the post of Governess is appointed for children who are not cadets, above the age of 6 or as determined by the captain…
…”Children may not smoke or possess matches. They may not have knives or toys which can be used as or resemble weapons.
…”Children only go on liberty with the permission of the Conning Officer and only accompanied by adult.
…”Children must spend at least 10 hours each day studying. They may not roam the ship at large…”

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And, in FO 301, there is additional pertinent data on children:

…”The nanny is responsible for the cleanliness and good order of the children and their quarters and possessions.
“A tutor is furnished for schooling
“A tight schedule must be maintained and must include:
(a) Exercise
(b) Meals
(c) School — The “Three R’s” etc.
(d) Scientology Study
(e) Work
“The children eat in their own area at the usual meal times.
…”Any child of 15 or less must complete his schooling if not possessed of a G.A.E….”

In order that a Cadet move up to the literacy level required by LRH, a Cadet School was established. FO 2013 states:

…”The basic purpose of Cadet School is to:
A. Have all cadets able to read quickly with a large vocabulary and compose well.

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B. Have all cadets able to write swiftly, legibly and elegantly.
C. Have all cadets able to do arithmetic quickly, accurately and legibly including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and including degrees minutes and seconds.

“Any program that does not rapidly accomplish the above three R’s (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) is not acceptable.
“Teaching is done by checksheet. The vocabulary required is 10,000 words. The writing standard is above that of the contemporary adult. The arithmetic standard is calculation at about three times as fast as the average adult.
“As soon as these are accomplished by a student of the Cadet School he or she can push on to subjects such as logic, science, languages, typing and reading of general subjects used in the world culture.
“Scientology subjects are taught in another section with other crew members and are not part of Cadet School.”

So it is clear to see what LRH has in mind for the education of each child. If a child does not attain this education, he will, to a greater or lesser degree, be handicapped in life. Our children are our future and are the future execs of the Sea Org. We want to leave it in good hands so what LRH says must be closely followed.

No child should be put on post in the Sea Org until he has attained the status of Cadet. To attain the status of Cadet a child must pass his Staff Status II and AB or Engine Room checksheet. In order that a child may study those courses successfully, he must have a high literacy level and a good command of the three R’s.

Another FO that also applies to this is as follows:

“FO 788
30th May 1968

CHILDREN
EACH CHILD MUST BE
PERSONALLY TOLD THIS

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“These rules apply:
1) Any child who is here because someone else wanted it may leave the vessel.
2) Any child who is being audited because someone else wanted it may not have auditing unless he or she asks for it…”

 
Sunny: I’ve seen this LRH quote several times over the years, saying that if we are here because someone else wanted it, then we should leave the vessel (we weren’t on a ship in my days, but those issues still applied as our Sea Org cases). It’s odd that I cannot remember a single time that I was asked if I wanted to be there. Besides me not wanting to be there, there were also other children who did not care to be there (as one example explains in my last article). Was any one of these children asked if they wanted to be there. I don’t know of any children saying they did not want to be there and then being allowed to leave. It makes me wonder why this article was written by Hubbard at all. On the part two, children were audited whether they wanted it or not. Especially for interrogations. No one, of any age, was allowed to refuse interrogations. You could try to refuse, but it would only make things worse for you. You would eventually be made to give in and receive the interrogation sessions. For regular auditing sessions, if a child refused, they would be allowed to not have auditing sessions.

Later on the time track of the Sea Org, in 1972 or 1973, LRH had a lot of attention on the child care scene in PAC. There was a lot of despatch traffic at that time between LRH and LRH Comm US. Some of this later information from LRH modifies what he says in the earlier FOs. This later information as you will see, was based on new data that LRH had on children.

“I just found out why I couldn’t really get the child scene up on Flag and why they got offloaded.
“EVERY ORDER I PASSED DOWN CONCERNING THEM WAS PROMPTLY CROSS ORDERED AT A LOWER ECHELON BY REFERRING THE ORDER TO THE PARENT!!!!!!!
“I never before had this datum…
“This is what cost the kids FLAG. I found this in interrogating someone who had been on the lines — it never came up before: it was thought to be totally correct. YOW WOW! It’s a total offload of SO responsibility. As well as a Comm Ev offense to cross order. So this was why nothing could be handled. AND I AM CERTAIN THAT IS THE PAC WHY. It is a cultural abberation…” (LRH – Despatch to LRH Comm US, 28 Aug 73)

“However, I have found the why of this scene. Parents bringing children into the SO dump their parents hats on the SO and the SO instead of taking responsibility dump the hat back on the parents resulting in a totally cross ordered scene that no stable organization can be gotten into. I found for instance that every order I issued about children at Flag was at once referred to a parent and not one personnel to whom such an order was issued ever carried it out. This cost children Flag. It is making the trouble in PAC.
“As soon as you have that why some sense can be made out of the scene and it can be advance toward the ideal. But no ideal was ever stated. This would be competent and well trained children who are a credit to the SO and are resources.
“The tech on this is in the PL about depowering people by knocking their hats off. PTS research is beginning to reveal that the parents actions in knocking off the child’s hat is a basic of PTS. The weakening results in valence shifts. The answer of course is in hatting PLs. An unhatted child is going to be a juvenile delinquent and an unproductive child is going to be miserable. Pride and sense of value are interlocked into this.

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“It also happens that the American way of life runs very counter to child handling and is the basis of American trouble with this part of its culture which will of course eventually destroy the culture as it is built on children.
“Thus we will have a ruddy mess if this scene is not properly handled and evaluated…” (FDD 118 DIV 7 INT)

 
Mark Plummer: This issue talks about the same problems the Sea Org always had with children. Ever since the mid-’60s on the Apollo, Scientology management never did figure out how to care for, raise, or educate children properly and competently. Children in the Sea Org are seen only as future Sea Org members — a “resource” to exploit in order to enrich the cult.

So, what’s the solution to this cultural Why? LRH tells the LRH Comm US:

“Let them have their own space and scene and get happy and healthy with it. Kids are BEINGS not kids. American parents have yet to learn that. I want our kids to grow up.” (LRH — Despatch to LRH Comm US, 14 Aug 73)

“A bright idea I had was a CO Cadets and division into age groups with group leaders of each group, and a Sea Org school part time. The little shavers on Flag did wonderfully with stable nannies and tutors and really only when they had a SO school as a special part of the action that ran on FOs. They loved it and could then be persuaded over to the three Rs. They all made AB and were pleased with themselves and felt superior. Even little four-year-olds. Their school room was all decorated with SO and AB types of items. When that was dropped they felt out of it, gangsterism and crime came in because they were without purpose. The above bright idea is very recent: looking back over times when children have been no real problem. Also people forget that exact HCOPL Ethics has to be kept in especially on children. They have to be hatted. And that many need their own child MAA again hatted. Twice, true Suppressives, though only 5 in one case and 6 in another absolutely ruined not only the other kids but also every effort to put it to rights and one Org also! By sheer psychotic covert violence…
“Anyway, I’d give them a full Org Board for the nursery and age groups and divisions. And you’d see some order come into it and some real assets come out of it.
“We have the full admin tech to handle any kind of a group. So why should they be miserable and knocked about when they can have their own org and be respected and demand respect from their elders as well and feel proud of themselves. The kid product US is turning out is pretty strange…they’re so LOST.
“The real trick is to get them over to cause without their having to use naughtiness to be a covert cause. A Cadet Org could accomplish that.” (LRH — Despatch to LRH Comm US, 25 Aug 73)

 
Sunny: Something devastating to children is this line that Hubbard started: that the parents were not allowed to give any instructions to their own children without going through the nannies. This bizarre demand from Hubbard made it impossible for the parents to protect their children. We all want to think back 20/20 hindsight being so clear. Why didn’t the parents just pick up their kids and walk away? As children, we wish we knew.

Then, in September of 1973, LRH gave a briefing to CS-7 and Pers Comm on the PAC Childrens Scene. He says:

…”Now what we have going out there is very elementary. And that Why I have is perfectly correct because it goes back for years. The parents dump their hats on the Sea Org, and then the Sea Org dumps their hats back on the Parents and it becomes just a cross ordered mess.
“And, she’s also supposed to put in a Cramming Section at once. Regardless of how she does this she’s supposed to put in a Cramming Section, so that these kiddies when they start their school — we’ll take ’em in their off school study time and we’ll kick ’em through the little Study Manual of the Guardians Office.
“…An order cannot be passed directly to a child, not even ‘Johnny, wipe your nose.’ That’s it. Had it. And a child may not be disciplined except through a Master At Arms, and in addition to that, any disposition of a child must be done by Comm Ev or other Justice procedure on which only children can sit on a Comm Ev on children. That will tend to keep themselves straight.
“Now I worked out what PTSness is and PTSness is hat knock off, and it’s the Depower PL. So, by hatting these children and keeping their hats on they will become very good representative children.
“Now, adults do nothing but knock off children’s hats in the US and it is the only thing the adult knows about children in the US. He’s well educated in that the child’s hat is to be knocked off. And, you’ll find out when I work this out a little bit further — not work it out but get it written up again. Adjunct to PTS tech, that you’ll have PTSness blowing all over the place here that nobody ever imagined he had. And, it’s where you get your bumbly, super at effect being.
“He’s just had his hat knocked off and it isn’t his recent had knock off. Those are just late on the chain. So, if we can prevent that from happening why we’ve got a winner.
…”The scene is susceptible to being cleaned up if a strong standard approach is made. Well, the strong standard approach is you don’t have a mob, you have an Org, and I think all will start working out…
“But this is the American scene with regard to children and the Americans do not like children, and they will not really let a child wear his hat. And we’ve had it on board here. And this is what cost the children Flag. You couldn’t get anybody to cooperate worth a damn in letting a child wear his hat. If he had a job with a little dust pan to sweep down a set of stairs you would jolly well find if you turned your back somebody yanking that dustpan right outa his hand. You never saw such hat knock off in your life. With violence.
“And, if you left the scene drift for as much as a week without looking at it, they’d knocked off their hats. The child didn’t have to do anything. Now, we do have a pluspoint on this line and there is a point of the track where it was running OK, and for a little while we had some guys aboard here who were perfectly interested in kicking the kids through some training. And they had a little Cadet School running here and they had it all decorated up with Sea Org stuff, and they had all the little kids that could box the compass and do this and that and they were very proud of themselves. And they were doing alright.
“…it’s hattedness. In fact as the population explosion continues, if we just went in the business of hatting people, why…[unclear]…civilization. That was carried forward — that is PTSness, and that’s gonna solve our problem with our kids. But you can’t hat a guy against org structure.
“There’s also an order there on cramming so that order has got to be re-expressed in your child’s eval. That’s a cramming right now — regardless of whether they have an organization or not, there’s got to be somebody there cramming those kids and puttin’ ’em through study tech and making sure that they catch up that wise, tech wise.
“Maybe part of your eval is to hat the parent with regard to handling the child in the Sea Org.
…”A Child is not on the 2nd Dynamic. It’s a First and Third scene. And children that are having trouble with their parents and so on are having trouble on the First and Third. And, the Second Dynamic was entered into it with Mr. Freud. And, I don’t believe, really, family belongs on the 2nd Dynamic. And so, if you had something on the wrong dynamic all the time, and were concentrating on it, of course you’d have all kinds of trouble. But it’s a First and Third.

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“It (children’s scene) responds to a standard SO approach like a bomb. And it doesn’t respond to other approaches. Mission tech did it. And, other tech had not been applied. Parental tech has not done it. You wouldn’t have the American civilization as it exists today if parental tech worked. I have been walking down streets and I have been looking at children, and I have found…
…”Are you aware of the fact that there are some FOs concerning children?
“There are penalties for taking a hat away from a child and this and that. Did you have those? Because if you’ve got an Ethics Why then you’d better have the Ethics FOs and so forth that match it up. Those that set up the Parents Committee don’t have very much validity and some of those would require cancellation. Those orders do require cancellation. So something has to be done about them. The earlier ones (FOs) are as valid as the flowers of Spring. There are some stiff penalties for taking a hat away from a child — knockin’ a kid’s hat off. Those are the ones you want to resurrect, (2 or 3 issues).”

 
Mark: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. With this document (FLB ED 120) Scientology is STILL trying to get a handle — after TWENTY years no less — on the situation with regards to the children of Sea Org members. If one studies LRH Flag Orders on children from 1967 and onward, and Hubbard’s dispatches in the early ’70s with the “bright ideas” and programs he communicated to the then LRH Comm US Toby Young, countless “evals,” CMO and GO orders, etc., it becomes very clear that Hubbard’s ideas and policies do NOT work.

And, from FO 301, we get what LRH is saying about the penalties for knocking a child’s hat off:

“…Any member of the ships company that obstructs a midshipman, cadet or child from doing his work or deprives one of his possessions or a job is liable to an assignment of a Condition of Non-Existence, it being observed that the main thing that upsets young people is losing a job or possessions.
“Depriving midshipman, cadet or child of what is his or taking away a task the child is doing or preventing him from doing his work or failing to hat him has been the basis of any trouble we have had with young people.”

The definition of Midshipman from MODERN MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY DEFINED, is:

“MIDSHIPMAN, are junior officers in training to be good officers. Midshipmen are future officers of the Sea Organization.” (FO 1592)

Then in July of 1976, LRH was once again trying to handle the PAC children’s scene. This time he did an Eval, Aides Order 203-53, PAC ESTATES UNSCRAMBLE. Under SITUATION THREE of the eval, part of the data is;

…”The CMO is unable to recruit any members from the Cadet Org because those there are so irresponsible. Several former recruits to the CMO from the Cadet Org have been failures. (NO SOURCE OF POTENTIALLY VALUABLE PERS ASSETS AS IT IS CURRENTLY RUN — CADET ORG.)”

And the:

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“IDEAL SCENE: A PROPERLY POSTED AND FUNCTIONING ESTATES ORG AT ANY BUILDING OCCUPIED BY CHILDREN AND A PROPERLY POSTED AND FUNCTIONING CHILDREN’S CADET ORG WHEREIN THEY CAN LEARN TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND COPE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AND NOT GROW UP AS DISENFRANCHISED PERSONS.”

And the:

“HANDLING:…Use the remaining adults to post the Estates Org of the cadet building with specific duties and titles including maintenance, finance, MAA, child care and all the other needful estates functions…
“Select an LRH Comm from amongst the children (7 of them are from 13 to 17) and have this LRH(TM) Comm Cadet Org post up the Cadet Org exec posts and enforce an order similar to CMO ED 25 about command channels. Mini hat cadets and give them duties and cleaning stations.”

From the above, it is easy to see that LRH wanted the Cadets serviced by an estates org, not the Cadets to service the estates and that he wanted a real org for the children manned and run by the children.

 
Sunny: Sadly, Sea Org parents were told many different things to convince them that this way of bringing up children was for the best:

1) Nothing is more important than saving the planet. The planet is in peril, and the Sea Org and what you do with Scientology is the ONLY thing that can save it.
2) Children are a distraction for the parents and the nannies have to be the ones responsible for them, 24/7.
3) The nannies knew better. They had all the proper LRH tech and training on how to raise children so they were the best pick for the job.

The two major breakdowns that I recall to this were: The nannies themselves rarely stayed around. They left the Sea Org or were reassigned to other areas, leaving the children with little or no supervision. And the children, who were early on taught that they were adults, became difficult to control. They were not required to be children, instead were required to be adults immediately. The children were not allowed to grow and develop at the proper rate into adults. They were expected to immediately become adults. And so they became bossy, inconsiderate, and many illiterate (schooling was rare).

Also, from FDD 118, LRH specifies:

…”Its org board must be planned out must be standard. The cross order scene is then solved. No order to a child or about a child must be permitted to go off lines. Parents must pass any order not to the child but through the CO Cadets who may alter or cut it off program. Any discipline goes through the Cadet Org. They must every one of them be hatted. Unless they are signed up Sea Org members the children are used in the galley or estates EPF only. There must be a nursery. There must be QMs on duty as reception. There must be stable personnel — and there only could be if this were to have the status of an org.”

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The intention here is to have an official org. The same rules, and Policies that govern any other Sea Org org apply. The staff may not be recruited away from the Cadet Org, however, they may be promoted in the same manner that any Sea Org member is recruited to a higher Org.

All the Cadets are signed up Sea Org members. As you can see in the following excerpt from the briefing to CS-7 and Pers Comm, in September of 1973:

…”Now every kid in that place gotta sign up as a member of the Sea Org if he ever occupies any post. If he’s not a member of the Sea Org and doesn’t want to be in the SO why his only eligibility is the EPF. So, he can wash all kinds of dishes and sweep all kinds of floors, perhaps, but he for sure cannot occupy a post in that Org.”

You can see that standard applications of the third dynamic tech will be applied.

The children themselves have an incredible opportunity to take responsibility for themselves and the younger children. By the time they are promoted to other Orgs they will be real officer material.

They will use the standard procedures such as EPF, DPF and RPF but within the Cadet Org itself. Also, there will be MAAs and COs in every age division who report to the CO Cadets. The small children will have a standard ethics handling at all times with their peers sitting on Comm Evs, etc… There will be no arbitrary orders such as ‘go sit on that chair,’ or ‘you have to do an amends,’ or anything like that. The child goes through a standard justice procedure.

From CMO ED 335 PAC, 1 June 1979, PLAN, the following illustrates the above:

“With greater priority than getting parent’s cooperation, revive the Cadet Org’s RPF and remove any child from the Cadet Org and put them in that RPF. Make sure that the RPF is well organised. Immediately recruit an MAA as I/C of that RPF. Make it known to the children that any act of vandalism, theft or out-ethics or any crime committed by a child will be immediately followed by placing that child in the RPF under sever restrictions.
“Reimplement previous R orders (previous successful action) to have children running the children’s org.
“The Cadet R Comm of the Cadet Org must write me a report every week showing which of my orders are in force and which of my orders are not in force, stats of the Cadets, and his org stats.”

Some additional data can be acquired by reading the attached issues BFO 200 CADET ORG COMMAND CHANNELS and ED 206 FLAG MIDSHIPMEN.

The present Day Care Center is a very upstat area and the staff there are to be commended for their excellent work with the children and by putting in these advices it will truly become the Ideal Scene LRH envisioned. Now we will get all the above references in — and see a real expansion of the Cadet Org. It is hoped that this has helped to clarify the Cadet Org, Cadets, children and the proper LRH tech for handling them.

Further projects will now be done to smoothly get these Advices in.

Compiled by Project KOS I/C

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Authorized by
LRH Comm FC
LRH Comm FLB
for
Boards of Directors
Church of Scientology(R)

 
Mark: When one witnesses the sheer unworkability of Hubbard’s crackpot “tech” on the subject of children, and compounds that problem with the fact that the Cadet Org was a) always under-manned with fewer than legal ratios of child care workers to children (which is criminal), and b) the Cadet Org was staffed by cast-offs that were not qualified to hold posts in a service org, and c) not only were many Cadet Org staff not qualified, but in the words of Scientology management, the Cadet Org contained a “large number of DBs [degraded beings], criminals, and [sex] perverts” (ref: Aides Order 203-71). It’s no wonder the children’s scene was an abusive, neglected, and criminal environment. I’m so glad I left the Sea Org in 1983.

 
Sunny: I love how anytime Hubbard says anything about children, it comes down to us being adults, needing to be put to work, we are not part of a family (we are part of a group). Anyone who joins the Sea Org as an adult is doing so because they want to. But wait, here we are as children, being made to be part of a group (not part of a family) because we were born. We did not join the group as the parents did. We were simply born. And that made us part of their Sea Org group.

The idea of bringing in control of the out-of-control children of PAC isn’t a bad idea in itself. Many of the kids needed to get some control on them. I would say the majority needed it. But this particular round-up in 1986 was an enforced “do or die” situation for the children. The idea was to impinge on us so hard that our reactive minds that were controlling us would be blown off and we would become rational and ethical again.

Organizing the children and putting them back into school was a good idea as well. Back then, the Apollo Training Academy was set up again for us to do our schooling in the same style as Delphi. The plan was to put us to work in our own children’s org (called the Cadet Org) and get all of us schooled and ready for our billion year contract Sea Org life. The funny thing is that, as a sign of our commitment, we had to sign a billion year Sea Org contract to join the Cadet Org.

I’ve always been confused about how many years I was in the Sea Org for this reason. I was in the Cadet Org for a total of about 6 years. Plus the Sea Org proper (with the EPF) for 17 years. I never could get a straight answer about whether my Cadet Org years counted on my billion years or not. But hey, I really should have fought for it more. Six years in the Sea Org (Cadet Org) gets $5 a year extra bonus. I could have gotten $30 extra bucks every year!

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Hey, it looks like the Columbus, Ohio Ideal Org is almost ready for its close-up. Who’s taking odds on which opens first, Columbus or Kansas City?

 
Um, whatever you say, Meghan.

 
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HowdyCon 2019 in Los Angeles

THURSDAY NIGHT OPPORTUNITY: This year’s HowdyCon is in Los Angeles. People tend to come in starting on Thursday, and that evening we will have a casual get-together at a watering hole. But we also want to point out that Cathy Schenkelberg’s “Squeeze My Cans” will be running at the Hollywood Fringe, and we encourage HowdyCon attendees to see her show on Thursday night, June 20. Tickets and more dates available here.

Friday night June 21 we will be having an event in a theater (like we did on Saturday night last year in Chicago). There will not be a charge to attend this event, but if you want to attend, you need to RSVP with your proprietor at tonyo94 AT gmail.

On Saturday, we are joining forces with Janis Gillham Grady, who is having a reunion in honor of the late Bill Franks. Originally, we thought this event might take place in Riverside, but instead it’s in the Los Angeles area. If you wish to attend the reunion, you will need to RSVP with Janis (janisgrady AT gmail), and there will be a small contribution she’s asking for in order to help cover her costs.

HOTEL: Janis tells us she’s worked out a deal with Hampton Inn and Suites, at 7501 North Glenoaks Blvd, Burbank, (818) 768-1106. We have a $159 nightly rate for June 19 to 22. Note: You need to ask for the “family reunion” special rate.

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Bad boys, part two: Scientology’s involvement with drug smugglers had a long legacy
[TWO years ago] Professor Hugh Urban takes us to task for our review of his Scientology OT 8 investigation
[THREE years ago] Hold your horses! We can tell you who were the big celebs at Scientology’s grand opening
[FOUR years ago] What happened when an actual scientist of the mind checked out L. Ron Hubbard in 195
[SIX years ago] Is After Earth Will Smith’s Scientology Coming Out Party?

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on May 31, 2019 at 07:00

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Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele