Raised in Scientology, He Became a Military Helicopter Pilot and Rescued His Abused Mother with Mike Brown

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2024

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike tried to escape Scientology’s undue influence when he was 15. As punishment for trying to escape, he was isolated, sleep-deprived, and forced to do hard labor for over a year and a half. Mike reflects that he felt like a prisoner during this time. Mike finally escaped Scientology at age 27 and joined the military. He had little education and no credit history. Despite these odds, he was inspired by his family’s previous military service and flourished in the Army. Mike became a helicopter pilot and instructor. Mike served five combat tours between Iraq and Afghanistan in his nearly 20 years of service. Mike’s parents joined Scientology when he was seven. Later he says he was made to join the Sea Organization or “Sea Org,” a paramilitary section of Scientology. Mike’s mom, Rosemary, worked directly for one of Scientology’s top executives, Ronnie Miscavige Jr., older brother of the organization’s leader, David Miscavige. Mike reflects that the military was less controlling than Scientology for him. Later, Mike rescued his mother from the cult. An utterly fascinating story. Learn more about Steven Hassan and Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Visit freedomofmind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Stephen Hassan with another episode of the influence continuum.
0:10.4	And today we have Mike Brown with us.
0:13.9	I want to let our listeners know who have been listening to our podcast and following us for a while. I did an interview recently
0:24.2	with Daniela Mastanek Young about how she was raised in the Children of God cult and joined the
0:33.4	military, became a captain of intelligence, went to Afghanistan, exited.
0:39.5	And that last conversation we had, we talked a lot about applying the bite model to the
0:48.0	military and her experiences.
0:51.4	And it was a fascinating discussion. And I had the opportunity to meet Mike Brown
0:58.2	on my guest today who was raised in a different cult, Scientology, and had a dramatically
1:05.9	different experience in the military, which I think is fascinating and very important.
1:12.7	We can talk, you know, flesh out all the little details.
1:16.1	But Mike is an extraordinary human being.
1:19.8	Let me just give you a little backstory.
1:22.7	Well, first I want to say that he got out of Scientology at 27.
1:28.5	He tried to get away at 15, I think he's told me, Mike,
1:32.7	but got out and joined the military at 27.
1:37.0	You flourished in the army, you said.
1:39.6	You served five combat tours between Iraq and Afghanistan
1:43.9	and have been in the service for 20 years.
1:49.5	And you are a Chinook helicopter pilot extraordinaire and now trainer, but you are even shot down in
2:00.5	the battlefield. We'll chat about that. I mean,
2:05.4	you have so many certifications. I don't even want to list them, but we'll put that in the blog
	...

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