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

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...

. The current commander (2011) is Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Jeffrey A. Jacobs, who assumed command in October 2011, succeeding Major General David N. Blackledge.

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 civil affairs and psychological operations units, along with the branches' training and doctrine, continues to fall under the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

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.

Some proponents of USACAPOC(A) point to its units' success in humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...

 operations, and also in their ability to spread information to civilians. The command's special operators are some of the most highly trained soldiers in the U.S. Army, and bring civilian expertise not found among regular active duty Soldiers to the table. The projects they complete comprise many of the 'Good News' stories run in the American media each day about Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa

Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...

.

Civil Affairs

During wartime, the primary mission of Civil Affairs

Civil Affairs

Civil Affairs is a term used by both the United Nations and by military institutions , but for different purposes in each case.-United Nations Civil Affairs:...

 is to conduct civil-military operations

Civil-military operations

Civil-military operations or CMO are activities of a military force to minimize civil interference on and maximize civil support for military operations to facilitate accomplishing the mission. CMO is conducted in conjunction with combat operations during wartime and becomes a central part of a...

. Civil Affairs Soldiers are responsible for identifying non-governmental and international organizations operating in the battlespace, handling refugee

Refugee

A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

s, 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

Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....

 operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Bosnia and Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, 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. Mark McQueen	Pensacola, Florida Pensacola, Florida Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...	321st CA Bde. – San Antonio, TX 413th CA Bn. – Lubbock, TX 451st CA Bn. – Pasadena, TX 486th CA Bn. – Tulsa, OK 490th CA Bn. – Grand Prairie, TX 402nd CA Bn. – Ft. Buchanan, Puerto Rico 478th CA Bn. (ABN) - Perrine, FL
351st Civil Affairs Command		Brig. Gen. Gary Medvigy	Mountain View, California	364th CA Bde. – Portland, OR 405th CA Bn. – Pleasant Grove, UT 445th CA Bn. – Mountain View, CA 448th CA Bn. – Ft. Lewis, WA 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. Edward G. Burley	Fort Meade, Maryland	354th CA Bde. – Riverdale, MD 401st CA Bn. – Webster, NY 414th CA Bn. – Southfield, MI 422nd CA Bn. – Greensboro, NC 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. Hugh Van Roosen	Ft. Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York	304th CA Bde. – Philadelphia, PA 403rd CA Bn. – Mattydale, NY 404th CA Bn. (ABN) – Ft. Dix, NJ 411th CA Bn. 411th Civil Affairs Battalion (United States) 411th Civil Affairs Battalion is a civil affairs unit of the United States Army. It is based at Danbury, Connecticut. The unit includes Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Headquarters Companies, all located in Danbury...  – Danbury, CT 443rd CA Bn. – Warwick, 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

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 truthful 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

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 PSYOP capability rests within USACAPOC (A)'s 2nd and 7th Psychological Operations Groups located in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 and California respectively.

Psychological Operations units

Unit	Unit Insignia	Commander	Headquarters	Subordinate Units
2nd Psychological Operations Group 2nd Psychological Operations Group The 2nd Psychological Operations Group is a psychological operations unit of the United States Army Reserve.Constituted 29 October 1965 in the Regular Army as the 2d Psychological Operations Group. Activated 20 December 1965 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Inactivated 13 September 1972 at Fort...		Col. David Frisone	Twinsburg, Ohio Twinsburg, Ohio As of the census of 2000, there were 17,006 people, 6,641 households, and 4,695 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,366.7 people per square mile . There were 6,871 housing units at an average density of 552.2 per square mile...	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 303rd PSYOP Co. – Pittsburgh, PA 316th PSYOP Co. – Peru, IN 340th PSYOP Co. – Garner, NC 346th PSYOP Co. – Columbus, OH 16th PSYOP Bn. – Ft. Sheridan, IL 310th PSYOP Co. – Forrest Park, GA 325th PSYOP Co. – Nashville, TN 338th PSYOP Co. – Ft. Jackson, SC 393rd PSYOP Co. – Aurora, IL
7th Psychological Operations Group		Col. Wayne Tasler	Moffett Field, Calif.	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. – Ft. Lewis, WA 320th PSYOP Co. – CP Withycombe, OR 324th PSYOP Co. – Aurora, CO 306th PSYOP Co. – Ft. Carson, CO 349th PSYOP Co. – Elwood, IL 361st PSYOP Co. – Bothell, WA 14th PSYOP Bn. – Moffett Field, 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. – Dallas, TX 399th PSYOP Co. – Baton Rouge, LA 306th PSYOP Co. – Los Alamitos, CA

External links

• USACAPOC(A) Web site
• PSYOP Fact Sheet Detailed information about U.S. Army Psychological Operations
• Civil Affairs Fact Sheet Detailed information about U.S. Army Civil Affairs