Jim Channon

James B. Channon, an infantry officer of the Army from 1962 to 1982 who served two tours in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, wrote The First Earth Battalion in 1979 as a concept paper of Task Force Delta at Headquarters, Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, after a period studying the human potential movement, including visits to the Esalen Institute. The paper's title page gives him as "LTC James B. Channon," with Colonel D. H. Malone as author of the foreword and Major M. M. Ischinger and Malone (spelled Melone in the sponsors' line) as sponsors, and its disclaimer states that its views "do not purport to reflect the positions or policies of the Department of the Army." Malone's foreword ends: "Jim Channon is hereby appointed C.O., First Earth Battalion, responsible for assimilating, integrating, and communicating what the future may hold for our Army."¹²