United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command

The United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), or USACAPOC(A), was founded in 1985. USACAPOC(A) is composed mostly of U.S. Army Reserve soldiers in units throughout the United States. Its total size is approximately 10,000 soldiers, making up about 94 percent of the DoD's Civil Affairs forces and 71 percent of the DoD's Psychological Operations forces. It is headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The current commander (2014) is Major General Daniel R. Ammerman, who assumed command in June 2014, succeeding Major General Jeffrey A. Jacobs.

Historically, USACAPOC(A) was one of four major subordinate commands comprising the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. In May 2006, the reserve component of USACAPOC(A) was transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve Command. The Army's active duty Special Operations Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations units, along with the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Force Modernization/Branch Proponents, continue to fall under the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and its subordinate United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School respectively. The active component special operations civil affairs brigade 95th Civil Affairs Brigade falls under United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC).

Army Reserve Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations make up 5 percent of the U.S. Army Reserve force, but account for about 20 percent of Army Reserve deployments. The command's soldiers bring civilian expertise not found among regular active duty soldiers. The projects they coordinate comprise many of the 'Good News' stories run in the American media each day about Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa.

Civil Affairs

The primary mission of Civil Affairs is to conduct civil-military operations. Civil Affairs soldiers are responsible for executing five core CA tasks, Civil Information Management, Foreign Humanitarian Assistance, Nation Assistance, Population and Resource Control, and Support to Civil Administration. Some sub tasks to these core tasks include 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 units are the field commander's link to the civil authorities in that commander's area of operations. The soldiers make up teams which interface and provide expertise to the host nation government. USACAPOC(A)'s Civil Affairs soldiers are particularly suited for this mission since they are Army Reserve soldiers with civilian occupations such as law enforcement, engineering, medicine, law, banking, public administration, etc.

Civil Affairs soldiers have been integral to U.S. peacekeeping operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Bosnia and Kosovo, among others. Tactical Civil Affairs teams 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.

Civil Affairs units

Unit	Unit Insignia	Commander	Headquarters	Subordinate Units
350th Civil Affairs Command		Brig. Gen. William B. Mason, III	Pensacola, FL	The 350th CACOM is the only CACOM HQ that is both a Brigade and a CACOM HQ. The 350th CACOM has the following direct reporting units (DRUs) 402nd CA Bn. – Ft. Buchanan, Puerto Rico 436th CA Bn. – Sanford, FL 478th CA Bn. (ABN) – Perrine, FL 486th CA Bn. – Tulsa, OK 321st CA Bde. – San Antonio, TX 410th CA Bn. – El Paso, TX 413th CA Bn. – Lubbock, TX 451st CA Bn. – Pasadena, TX 490th CA Bn. – Grand Prairie, TX
351st Civil Affairs Command		Brig. Gen. Stephen K. Curda	Mountain View, CA	364th CA Bde. – Portland, OR 405th CA Bn. – Pleasant Grove, UT 445th CA Bn. – Mountain View, CA 448th CA Bn. – Ft. Lewis, WA 440th CA Bn. – Ft. Carson, CO 358th CA Bde. – Riverside, CA 416th CA Bn. (ABN) – San Diego, CA 425th CA Bn. – Encino, CA 426th CA Bn. (ABN) – Upland, CA 492nd CA Bn. – Phoenix, AZ
352nd Civil Affairs Command		Brig. Gen. Alan L. Stolte	Fort Meade, MD	354th CA Bde. – Riverdale, MD 401st CA Bn. – Webster, NY 414th CA Bn. – Southfield, MI 422nd CA Bn. – Greensboro, NC 437th CA Bn. – Ft. Story, VA 360th CA Bde. (ABN) – Columbia, SC 412th CA Bn. (ABN) – Whitehall, OH 431st CA Bn. – Little Rock, AR 450th CA Bn. (ABN) – Riverdale, MD 489th CA Bn. – Knoxville, TN
353rd Civil Affairs Command		Brig. Gen. Glenn Goddard	Ft. Wadsworth, Staten Island, NY	304th CA Bde. – Bristol, PA 403rd CA Bn. – Mattydale, NY 404th CA Bn. (ABN) – Ft. Dix, NJ 411th CA Bn. – Danbury, CT 443rd CA Bn. – Newport, RI 308th CA Bde. – Homewood, IL 407th CA Bn. – Arden Hills, MN 415th CA Bn. – Kalamazoo, MI 418th CA Bn. – Belton, MO 432nd CA Bn. – Green Bay, WI

Psychological Operations

CAPOC pamphlet disseminated in Iraq. The text translates as, "This is your future al-Zarqawi," and depicts al-Qaeda terrorist al-Zarqawi caught in a rat trap. The arm holding up the trap has the Iraqi flag on it.

Psychological operations are a vital part of the broad range of U.S. political, military, economic and ideological activities used by the U.S. government to secure national objectives. PSYOP is the dissemination of information to foreign audiences in support of U.S. policy and national objectives.

Used during peacetime, contingencies and declared war, these activities are not forms of force, but are force multipliers that use nonviolent means in often violent environments. Persuading rather than compelling physically, they rely on logic, fear, desire, or other mental factors to promote specific emotions, attitudes, or behaviors. The ultimate objective of U.S. military psychological operations is to convince enemy, neutral, and friendly nations and forces to take action favorable to the U.S. and its allies.

Psychological operations support national security objectives at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of operations. Strategic psychological operations advance broad or long-term objectives. Global in nature, they may be directed toward large audiences or at key communicators.

Operational psychological operations are conducted on a smaller scale. They are employed by theater commanders to target groups within the theater of operations. Their purpose can range from gaining support for U.S. operations to preparing the battlefield for combat.

Tactical psychological operations are more limited, used by commanders to secure immediate and near-term goals. In this environment, these force-enhancing activities serve as a means to lower the morale and efficiency of enemy forces.

Both tactical and theater-level psychological operations may be used to enhance peacetime military activities of conventional forces operating in foreign countries. Cultural awareness packages attune U.S. forces before departing overseas. In theater, media programs publicize the positive aspects of combined military exercises and deployments.

In addition to supporting commanders, PSYOP units provide interagency support to other U.S. government agencies. In operations ranging from humanitarian assistance to drug interdiction, psychological operations enhance the impact of those agencies' actions. Their activities can be used to spread information about ongoing programs and to gain support from the local populace.

Psychological operations units in the U.S. Army Reserve are language and culturally oriented. Seventy one percent of the Department of Defense's PSYOP capability rests within USACAPOC (A)'s 2nd and 7th Psychological Operations Groups located in Ohio and California respectively.

Psychological Operations units

Unit	Unit Insignia	Commander	Headquarters	Subordinate Units
2nd Psychological Operations Group		Colonel Michael Barger	Twinsburg, Ohio	11th PSYOP Bn. – Upper Marlboro, MD 305th PSYOP Co. – Ft. Story, VA 312th PSYOP Co. – Upper Marlboro, MD 351st PSYOP Co. – Fort Totten, NY 360th PSYOP Co. – Jersey City, NJ 13th PSYOP Bn. – Arden Hills, MN 319th PSYOP Co. – Arden Hills, MN 321st PSYOP Co. – Grand Rapids, MI 339th PSYOP Co. – Arden Hills, MN 350th PSYOP Co. – Twinsburg, OH 15th PSYOP Bn. – Cincinnati, OH 310th PSYOP Co. – Forrest Park, GA 325th PSYOP Co. – Nashville, TN 340th PSYOP Co. – Garner, NC 346th PSYOP Co. – Columbus, OH 16th PSYOP Bn. – Ft. Sheridan, IL 303rd PSYOP Co. – Pittsburgh, PA 316th PSYOP Co. – Peru, IN 338th PSYOP Co. – Ft. Jackson, SC 393rd PSYOP Co. – Aurora, IL
7th Psychological Operations Group		Colonel Randall Cartmill	Mountain View, California	10th PSYOP Bn. – St. Louis, MO 307th PSYOP Co. – St. Louis, MO 308th PSYOP Co. – Belton, MO 318th PSYOP Co. – St. Louis, MO 362nd PSYOP Co. – Fayetteville, AR 12th PSYOP Bn. – Mountain View, CA 320th PSYOP Co. – CP Withycombe, OR 324th PSYOP Co. – Aurora, CO 349th PSYOP Co. – Aurora, CO 361st PSYOP Co. – Bothell, WA 14th PSYOP Bn. – Mountain View, CA 301st PSYOP Co. – San Diego, CA 304th PSYOP Co. – Sacramento, CA 315th PSYOP Co. – Upland, CA 353rd PSYOP Co. – Las Vegas, NV 17th PSYOP Bn. – Austin, TX 341st PSYOP Co. – San Antonio, TX 344th PSYOP Co. – Austin, TX 345th PSYOP Co. – Lewisville, TX 399th PSYOP Co. – Baton Rouge, LA 306th PSYOP Co. – Los Alamitos, CA

References

External links

• USACAPOC(A) Web site