Read Online Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill - Free Book Online
Authors: Jenna Miscavige Hill
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the Ranch, we had to have great Ethics and Production records to receive clearance for the Int Base.
Virtually all of the chits issued had nothing to do with an adult observing bad behavior, but rather another kid in the group reporting it. The rule was that we had to speak up if we saw or knew of anyone who was “out-ethics,” or unethical, or else we would be considered an accessory to their crime and would receive the same penalty. Self-policing inside the group made it difficult for anyone to trust anyone else. LRH believed that a group’s success depended on all its members enforcing a code of mores, and making each other accountable.
Chits and humiliations were an essential part of keeping Cadets of all ages in line and cooperative. It was amazing how quickly even young kids would find themselves captive to this system, making even the most unruly eight-year-old eager to please. While teens were more resistant than the younger kids, if given the proper set of embarrassments and punishments in front of the group, they too would fall in line quickly.
On the occasion that a chit was written on me, an anxiety always built in my chest. The chit was usually for something unfair or an exaggeration of the truth because someone was angry at me, but no matter how misguided the reason behind the chit might have been, getting one was always enough to make me think twice about doing or saying something that was in any way contrary.
The sense of order these punishments created was incredibly important to life on the Ranch, because, whether you were seven or seventeen, nearly everything you did was about the group.
E ACH MORNING, WE WOKE AT SIX-THIRTY TO THE SOUND OF AN alarm clock. As soon as one of us was up, we would go to the courtyard and yell, “Wake up time!” We had until seven to get ready and complete our various cleaning stations in our dorms, such as laundry, sweeping, and trash collection. My assignment was cleaning the bathroom. We also had to prepare our uniforms for daily inspection, which meant shining our shoes, tucking in our shirts, and trying to hide holes in them by wearing a sweater.
Seven o’clock was muster time, when all our various units would line up. The Cadet group had a structure slightly different from the Children and the Precadets. One of us was named the Commanding Officer, or CO, Cadet. The rest of us were divided up into seven different Divisions, each led by a Division Head. Each Division had three departments. Different divisions had different duties they were to carry out. I was assigned to Division 5.
At the morning muster, each Div Head would account for each member of his or her division. The Commanding Officer would direct us to stand at attention, then a formal military-style report was done by the Master-at-Arms, also a kid. Each division head had to call out his group’s accountability with a salute.
“Div One, all present and accounted for!” would begin the roll call, and so it continued for each unit. Throughout the day but especially at morning muster, lateness was unacceptable and every instance was reported. In addition to it being embarrassing, the penalties for lateness were stiff, varying from having a bucket of ice water dumped on your head in front of everyone at the muster to having a chit written on you.
Our division accountability reports were finished in about two minutes, and we were then given a “Left face!” command. We all turned left so our Div Head could walk down the line and do a uniform inspection. Hygiene was also crucial, so our breath and armpits were smell-tested and our hair routinely checked for lice.
Next, we were given a “Right face!” command, so we would return to facing front. We would be asked to raise our hand if for some reason we had flunked our inspection. As with lateness, an inspection flunk would cause a chit to be written for our ethics folder.
After personal inspections, we would receive the results of our berthing
Virtually all of the chits issued had nothing to do with an adult observing bad behavior, but rather another kid in the group reporting it. The rule was that we had to speak up if we saw or knew of anyone who was “out-ethics,” or unethical, or else we would be considered an accessory to their crime and would receive the same penalty. Self-policing inside the group made it difficult for anyone to trust anyone else. LRH believed that a group’s success depended on all its members enforcing a code of mores, and making each other accountable.
Chits and humiliations were an essential part of keeping Cadets of all ages in line and cooperative. It was amazing how quickly even young kids would find themselves captive to this system, making even the most unruly eight-year-old eager to please. While teens were more resistant than the younger kids, if given the proper set of embarrassments and punishments in front of the group, they too would fall in line quickly.
On the occasion that a chit was written on me, an anxiety always built in my chest. The chit was usually for something unfair or an exaggeration of the truth because someone was angry at me, but no matter how misguided the reason behind the chit might have been, getting one was always enough to make me think twice about doing or saying something that was in any way contrary.
The sense of order these punishments created was incredibly important to life on the Ranch, because, whether you were seven or seventeen, nearly everything you did was about the group.
E ACH MORNING, WE WOKE AT SIX-THIRTY TO THE SOUND OF AN alarm clock. As soon as one of us was up, we would go to the courtyard and yell, “Wake up time!” We had until seven to get ready and complete our various cleaning stations in our dorms, such as laundry, sweeping, and trash collection. My assignment was cleaning the bathroom. We also had to prepare our uniforms for daily inspection, which meant shining our shoes, tucking in our shirts, and trying to hide holes in them by wearing a sweater.
Seven o’clock was muster time, when all our various units would line up. The Cadet group had a structure slightly different from the Children and the Precadets. One of us was named the Commanding Officer, or CO, Cadet. The rest of us were divided up into seven different Divisions, each led by a Division Head. Each Division had three departments. Different divisions had different duties they were to carry out. I was assigned to Division 5.
At the morning muster, each Div Head would account for each member of his or her division. The Commanding Officer would direct us to stand at attention, then a formal military-style report was done by the Master-at-Arms, also a kid. Each division head had to call out his group’s accountability with a salute.
“Div One, all present and accounted for!” would begin the roll call, and so it continued for each unit. Throughout the day but especially at morning muster, lateness was unacceptable and every instance was reported. In addition to it being embarrassing, the penalties for lateness were stiff, varying from having a bucket of ice water dumped on your head in front of everyone at the muster to having a chit written on you.
Our division accountability reports were finished in about two minutes, and we were then given a “Left face!” command. We all turned left so our Div Head could walk down the line and do a uniform inspection. Hygiene was also crucial, so our breath and armpits were smell-tested and our hair routinely checked for lice.
Next, we were given a “Right face!” command, so we would return to facing front. We would be asked to raise our hand if for some reason we had flunked our inspection. As with lateness, an inspection flunk would cause a chit to be written for our ethics folder.
After personal inspections, we would receive the results of our berthing
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