By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
While preparing for overseas deployment with the U.S. Marines last year, Staff Sgt. Nathan Hampton participated in a series of training exercises at Camp Pendleton, Calif. There were weapons qualifications. Grueling physical workouts. High-stress squad counterinsurgency drills. And weekly meditation classes.
In what's become a daily ritual, Tim Ryan finds a quiet spot, closes his eyes, clears his mind and tries to tap into the eternal calm. In Ryan's world, it's a stretch for people to get this relaxed. He's a member of Congress.
Ms. Stanley wrote a paper for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), essentially arguing that meditative techniques similar to those used by Buddhist monks were both necessary and appropriate for today's military — from drone pilots coping with information overload to infantrymen conducting dangerous and stressful counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations.
In the future, Ms. Stanley said, meditation may become as standard in the military as rifle practice, another way of making troops more effective and resilient.
