[[Fernand Gauvin]] was a civilian counterintelligence specialist from Rhode Island and an early member of the [[STARGATE PROJECT|Gondola Wish]] (later [[STARGATE PROJECT|Grill Flame]]) remote viewing unit. He was among the initial group of ten or eleven candidates selected by [[Frederick Atwater|Skip Atwater]] and [[Murray Watt|Scotty Watt]]. Gauvin had a long history of psychic experiences and transcendental yearnings, going back to his childhood. He practiced yoga and meditation, experimented with altered states, and read books about spirit-mediums and auras. In 1975, he had an unusual out-of-body-type experience, an encounter with a benevolent, luminous, loving entity.[^1] Gauvin worked at Arlington Hall, home to some of the more "James Bond-ish" elements of the U.S. espionage community. He was among the six most promising members sent to [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] for two weeks of outbound remote-viewing experiments. He was present during the intense and monotonous remote viewing taskings related to the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981). After the failed hostage rescue mission in April 1980, he left the unit, vowing never to remote-view again, highlighting the psychological toll of the relentless remote viewing operations.[^1] --- [^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.