What do you know about PSYOP?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:25:20 -0400

I'm interested to hear what you experience and knowledge of PSYOP. If you are a 37F please do not comment.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Jun 3 at 2015 2:27 PM

Capt Seid Waddell — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:27:01 -0400

They dropped fliers and broadcast to the enemy in Viet Nam.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 2:30 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:30:05 -0400

Only what they want me to know. And that's only a mystery shrouded in a myth based on a ruse...

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 2:47 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:47:37 -0400

Psychological Operations have been in use in various forms for, probably, centuries. It is the act of persuading military forces and civilians to stop supporting the fight, usually through some sort of propaganda machine. i.e. Radio broadcasts, flyers etc.

In my opinion, it can be difficult to fully measure the success of PSYOPS, but there is obvious success, otherwise it would no longer be used.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 2:51 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:51:43 -0400

Product* America doesn't distribute propaganda. Have you ever worked with Psyop?

Response by CPT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 3:07 PM

CPT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:07:56 -0400

My understanding is that PSYOPS is basically marketing, made more difficult by the culture difference of the two sides. It should have a back-and-forth element so that the effectiveness of the messaging can be measured. Another complicating factor is the military structure: combat arms is in charge of deciding what happens; in a regular marketing environment, the marketing department runs all successful companies so that if a product is terrible it can be changed to meet the needs of the target demographic. In the military, PSYOPS can't prevent the combat arms commander or troops from being idiots and making enemies if they choose to do so. The product being sold here is the Americans and pro-American government.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 3:41 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:41:30 -0400

They are Civil Affairs' poorer cousin.

Response by SSG Thomas Brousseau made Jun 3 at 2015 3:44 PM

SSG Thomas Brousseau — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:44:02 -0400

If you don't mind deployments, it's the best job to have in the Army!

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 3:45 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:45:32 -0400

What I know I cannot tell. Just kidding. However there is more to it than pamphlets

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2015 3:47 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:47:40 -0400

I've worked directly with PSYOP teams both tactical and non-tactical. Their effectiveness was really based on their imagination of how to accomplish their mission. In non-combat setting, they seemed to be much more productive, likely because there were not as many constraints.

My experience with the team personalities were much different also. One team wanted to be an island, didn't want to incorporate into the SF mission going on, and thought they were super secret squirrels. In my opinion, they sucked.
The other team incorporated well with us, which served both of our missions better, and created a task-force of different capabilities moving towards the same objective. In my opinion, they were great and brought a lot to the team.

Response by SPC Christian Ziegler made Jun 3 at 2015 3:50 PM

SPC Christian Ziegler — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:50:24 -0400

Did some escorting of PSYOP's thru Bagdad they had the loudspeaker system on there truck, and they would say there thing and go back to playing one of the CD's we gave them of AC/DC, Metalica, Alice in Chains, they where great DJ's. Someone would shot at them we would open up with our gun trucks, they would turn the music up. We had a blast with them, they made firefights fun. Scouts Out

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jun 3 at 2015 4:13 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 16:13:23 -0400

Not a thing but OPSEC/OPDEC, COMSEC, PHOTINT, ELINT, COMINT, SIGINT, Information Warfare those were my worlds in a previous life.