U.S. Army Special Operations Recruiting: ADO Psychological Operations

The United States Army Special Operations Command is seeking highly qualified officers to join the ranks of psychological operations. PSYOP forces are the Department of Defense's premier masters of influence. They use all forms of technology to influence the behaviors of select foreign target audiences. These activities strengthen our allies or exploit the psychological vulnerabilities of our adversaries. PSYOP is conducted both on the battlefield and in places that are not yet in conflict. PSYOP provides military commanders, interagency leaders, and multinational partners with truly unique capabilities delivered overtly, clandestinely, or as a deception. PSYOP is a critical element to the overall RSOF mission. RSOF's main mission being unconventional warfare. It's very hard to have a resistance movement without that propaganda call coming out and recruiting that G-Force to come in and train with you. So it's the critical first step in information warfare before you get to any type of decisive action. And we're seeing the same thing in multi-domain operations and near-peer threats, that information warfare comes first before actual warfare. The United States Army Special Operations Command, or USOSOC, is among the most diverse organizations in the U.S. military, bringing a broad range of competencies and disciplines to support geographic combatant commanders and ambassadors worldwide. USOSOC's mission is to prepare for any conflict and arm the joint force with the world's premier Army Special Operations Forces. Within USOSOC, there are three operational commands. First Special Forces Command, U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command, and the 75th Ranger Regiment. The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School assesses, selects, trains, and educates world-class civil affairs, psychological operations, and special forces warriors and leaders. On any given day, elements of the three of the five active duty special forces groups, one ranger battalion, more than 35 civil affairs teams, 35 psychological operations teams, numerous supporting logistics units, and some 34 special operations aircraft are deployed around the world. So the easiest way for me to describe psychological operations and what I do on the tactical side is trying to get a desired effect from either an enemy force or from a friendly force that is going to help us achieve kinetic effects using non-kinetic means. While in the infantry, I enjoyed my time, but I was always curious what else was out there. When I was in school, I was a marketing major, and so I always had a desire to do that as well, and I was really looking for a way to connect my desire for marketing as well as my desire to join the military, and I saw psychological operations as a way to do that. Psychological operations forces are the masters of influence that achieve global effects by shaping select foreign audience behaviors. They exploit psychological vulnerabilities of our nation's adversaries and protect those of our allies and partners. PSYOP employs all forms of communication, from high-tech to no-tech, utilizing methods from overt to clandestine and deception. PSYOP soldiers are culturally agile, intellectually curious, and creative thinkers that are the cornerstone of special operations. I went into the field artillery upon commissioning, but the root of me was never a field artilleryman. The root of me was something else, and I found psychological operations. I applied. I went to assessment and selection, and I found an organization where I could pull in the arts and my degree as a sociology major and combine it into one profession, and I found my life's calling being a psychological operations officer. PSYOP is what I was born to do. As a detachment commander, I had complete autonomy to run my detachments the way that I saw fit to prepare us for our deployments, and I really liked that small team mentality and working with a small group of guys that, you know, you did everything together. Officers who want to assess into psychological operations must first attend a 10-day assessment and selection at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Selected officers will then transition to either Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, or begin the SOF Captain's Career Course. The remainder of the PSYOP qualification course consists of the 37 Alpha Course, SOF Tactical Skills, the Black Knight Culmination Exercise, and concludes with Language and Cultural Training. After the qualification course, PSYOP officers will be assigned within the 1st Special Forces Command to either the 8th or the 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. PSYOP assessment and selection is a mental experience. It's physically stressing, but the focus really is on whether or not you are a creative, adaptive thinker. Can you work well with others? Can you be a part of a team? The PSYOP Detachment, or PSYDET, is a 12-person team consisting of a headquarters section and three PSYOP teams. The Detachment Commander leads the PSYDET and is the ultimate problem solver. No PSYOP mission is the same, and there's no set playbook for a good Detachment Commander. He or she must analyze the culture, environment, adversaries, and resources available in order to determine the best way to exploit psychological vulnerabilities. Detachment Commanders are expected to perform tasks beyond their pay grade. Whether managing critical relationships with foreign decision makers or executing sensitive activities against the greatest threats to our security, PSYOP Detachments conduct joint, interagency, intergovernmental, multinational missions, and deception operations. They are typically deployed the furthest forward where they conduct psychological operations as well as assessments. The PSYDET rarely deploys as a full section. Frequently, they will be spread across an entire theater or deployed in smaller elements or even as individuals. An operation that I know of our team has made a difference is in Afghanistan. I've personally done over two and a half years in Afghanistan. On my last rotation, as part of a precondition to negotiations, the Taliban demanded that we stop psychological operations in their country. So for us, as far as measure of effectiveness, that is the best thing that we can do is our enemy wanted us to stop doing what we were doing. In addition to special pay and unique training opportunities, Army Special Operations offers many benefits to officers and their families. Soft truth number one, humans are more important than hardware. The Human Performance and Wellness Program builds up Army Special Operations members to reach and sustain peak physical conditioning. The SOCOM Care Coalition prioritizes helping SOF members and their families through medical recovery, physical rehabilitation, reintegrating back to active duty, or transitioning from military service into a civilian career. Officers also have the opportunity to pursue graduate level degrees and work closely with U.S. defense agencies. I think RSOF has been a great opportunity for me because they take care of their soldiers quite a bit. Right off the back, RSOF understands that you have a high op tempo, so they're trying to give you as much time with your family as they can. Every month you're going to be getting a three or four day, usually a four day, and obviously the Army does this too, so imagine every Army three or four day that you're receiving that RSOF community is giving you probably one of their own as well. So you get a lot of opportunity to get back with your family. They're very big on, for the most part, finishing your work and then going home. So we're not trying to waste people's time. We're trying to get people in the door, do what you must do to get the effects that you need, and then go home so you can spend the time being a healthy individual, being a healthy human being. And healthy mindsets create good products, they create good work atmospheres, and that's what we're going after. We're going after someone who's a quality individual, and part of that quality individual is made through the work environment. And so we're trying to provide that atmosphere as much as possible. Now the other aspect of that is when it's time to work, and it could be long enduring hours when it's time to work. So they give you that time knowing that there are times where there is no complaining about coming into work at weird hours. You do what you have to do. Officers who want to apply for psychological operations must be a first lieutenant or captain in an eligible year group. Officers must be able to score a 210 on a standard Army physical fitness test with at least 60 points in each event, or 360 points in an Army combat fitness test with at least 60 points in each event. Officers need to volunteer for airborne training, must be eligible to receive a top secret clearance, and will incur a 36-month active duty service obligation after completing the PSYOPQ course. To start the process, contact the Special Operations Recruiting Station at your installation. If you don't know how to contact a S.W.O.R.D. recruiter, or if there isn't a recruiting station at your location, go to GoArmySoft.com.