Like many of us, he stayed longer than he should have. But it wasn't so easy leaving in the circumstances he found himself in. As he wrote:
[bcolor=#ffff99]"We were all trapped on board ship in a foreign country by the simple expedient of having had our passports taken away. Moreoever, we were paid very low wages and literally were always without money. In such circumstances any attempt to leave the ship would have been futile. Nevertheless, certain brave souls did make the attempt. More often than not they did not get beyond Customs by reason of the fact that they did not have a passport. If they succeeded in overcoming this hurdle and got as far as their particular Embassy, Hubbard would deal with the position by sending well-dressed representatives who would merely report to the Embassy that the people in question had been guilty of theft on board ship or some such thing."[/bcolor]
Anyways, the 30+ page affidavit he submitted is a gem, so he gets big points for that in my book, as he was fully aware of the Fair Game tactics of the Guardians Office, including death threats made against him personally after he left the Sea Org and refused to go back.
I recently stumbled upon several writings about chronic\complex PTSD -
When one is subjected to moral\psychological\physical\financial abuse (for years\decades) by authoritative figures (even worse the one humanitarian man you admire) you can expect a deeply complex PTSD installment.
In such situations, one is always deprived of any sense of security since basics needs fullfillment ensuring are denied (shelter, home, food, sleep, money, isolated from family and friends ) and all ID cards, credit cards, cell phone and passeports are held but the cult, and either you are physically unable to leave(ship at sea) or posted in a foreign country.
So..what's left ?????
The Sea Org ''family''
The staff ''family''
The Apollo ship ''family''
The Tech promise
the freedom dream
the belief into gaining eternity
Why people didn't leave upon all sort of abuses they witness or are themselve subjected to is essentially that they became traumatized and victimized and were only trying to hold to the last bit of security they thought they had...But when you are stuck in such a condition you don't even know it...you are struggling with fear, lost of self-confidence and feel hopeless (since having those thoughts of ''blowing'' means you are a suppressive being a ''scumb of the earth...''
Some of us (like me) were luckily not totally deprived and isolated YET, so they could escape while they still had friends and family out of the COS to find some help to rebuild a life and security. (leaving when you don't have money anymore and nothing left , and know you will be declared is still very difficult)
Edit to add:
It's just recently that it came to my mind that the toughest issue for me when I blew and escape was that I was now fitting with the definition of an sp and thought really bad of me..weak..unable to stand pressure...unworthy of trust by the group...leaving good hard working people behind...
and ,just recently, realized it was the opposite..since it took courage to plan my escape, respect my own integrity, refuse a slave life even though I thought I was to be denied my freedom ... and knowing I would face a tough return to the wog life.
Now..I can't believe I was so fearfull of loosing what I was given at birth for FREE....and can't even explain how I have been so indoctrinated and fearfull...I can't!