United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command
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The United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC) was founded in 1985. USACAPOC is composed primarily of reservists. Its total size is approximately 10,000 soldiers. It is headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The current commander is Maj. Gen David A. Morris, who assumed command in 2007. Previously, Maj. Gen. Herbert Altshuler commanded the unit from 2001 to 2007.
During war time, the primary mission of Civil Affairs is to minimize civilian interference in military operations. Civil Affairs soldiers are responsible for identifying non-governmental and international organizations operating in the battlespace, handling refugees, civilians on the battlefield, and determining protected targets such as schools, churches/temples/mosques, hospitals, etc.
Civil Affairs is the commander’s sole link between the US Army and host nation authorities. The soldiers provide general support functional specialty teams which interface and provide expertise to the host nation government. The CAPOC soldiers are particularly suited for this mission since they are reservists with civilian occupations such as law enforcement, engineering, medicine, law, banking, public administration, etc.
Civil Affairs Special Operators have been responsible for “nation-building” in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Its direct support tactical teams will go out and meet with local officials, conduct assessments, and determine the need for critical infrastructure projects such as roads, schools, power plants, clinics, sewer lines, etc., and check up on the status of the project after construction by a local company has begun.
Psychological Operations soldiers provide critical support to the commander by changing and influencing behavior of a local national target audience. The goal of this is to encourage the target audience to behave in a way that aids the commander in achieving his goals and objectives. These desired behavior changes range from supporting the local governments and not attacking military forces to reporting crime and participating in elections. 'PSYOP' is only used in the host nation country. It is not to be confused with Public Affairs, directed at the American Public.
Some proponents of CAPOC point to its success in humanitarian aid operations, and also in its ability to spread information to civilians. Its’ special operators are some of the most highly trained soldiers in the U.S. Army bringing civiliane expertise not found among regular active duty soldiers, and the projects they complete comprise many of the Good News stories run in the American media each day about Iraq and Afghanistan.
Civil Affairs is comprised primarily of civilian experts such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, police, firemen, bankers, engineers, computer programmers, farmers, and others, CA special operators provide critical expertise to host-nation governments and are also able to assess need for critical infrastructure projects such as roads, clinics, schools, power plants, water treatment facilities, etc., and it is the job of Psychological Operations to keep the general populace in the host nation country informed. Recently, CAPOC has come under criticism as several Iraqi insurgent groups have been taking credit for projects completed by CAPOC.
Historically, USACAPOC (Airborne) was one of four major subordinate commands comprising the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. As of May 2006, the reserve component of USACAPOC is administered by the US Army Reserve Command. The active component of USACAPOC, along with CAPOC training and doctrine will continue to be administered by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
