State of the Regiment: Strained But Improving

As we approach the end of 2009 and having just attended a “Council of Colonels”, I felt it was appropriate to provide an update on the State of the Regiment. Overall 2009 was a very positive year. Most Importantly PSYOP soldiers continue to excel globally and the ‘dwell time’ (time between deployments) for Reserve PSYOP soldiers remains around 20 months – less time at home than the active counterparts tend to enjoy. Soldiers and their families are stepping up to the challenge and enduring this unprecedented level of sacrifice.

We were able to recognize exceptional long standing PSYOP contributors with the first annual award of the McClure Gold Award for PSYOP Excellence. Regimental week, hosted by the 4th POG at Fort Bragg, was a success and a rewarding experience for all who attended.
The Regiment continues to feel the detrimental effects of splitting active and reserve PSYOP forces between the US Army Reserve Command and the US Army Special Operations Command. This bifurcation resulted in degraded cohesion across the force and has had a negative impact on training and standards.

The Regiment continues to be well served by two associations (POA and POVA), each of which has its own stated core goals. However, neither of them has risen to the needed critical mass of other associations such as MI, Artillery, SF or CA. Consequently, the Regiment does not have a strong, financially viable, unofficial voice that can also serve as a catalyst to grow the Regiment and increase esprit de corps. Among other things, a strong association is needed to:
• Recognize the entry into the Regiment of newly qualified soldiers and officers.
• Record and maintain legacy of PSYOP
• Engage in training process to provide a historical perspective
• Represent the interests of PSYOP internally within DOD and externally
• Enhance Morale

Positive steps are being taken to champion the Regiment and move it forward. In past years informal coordination was facilitated with a “Council of Colonels” who met at least annually at the “Worldwide PSYOP Conference” and other venues. I am pleased to report that this cross organizational body has been reconvened and is making plans to foster cross-organizational cooperation and strengthen the Regiment and its activities.

It is hoped that SWC will step up to its responsibilities as the “Regimental Home Base” and afford the same professional courtesies to the PSYOP Regiment that it has continually provided to the SF Regiment.

Regimental Week is again tentatively scheduled for the week of June 7, 2010 at Fort Bragg. The PSYOP Troop Commanders have all committed to participate in next year’s event to make it truly a Regimental function. In addition a strong commitment was voiced to approve criteria for the Silver and Bronze McClure Awards and to secure funding so that proper recognition made be given to outstanding PSYOP personnel.

As we look forward to 2010, I am optimistic that the Regiment will grow and mature to support our marvelous PSYOP force that continues to excel in spite of hardship and sacrifice.

PSYOP Award Update

One of the purposes of this Blog is to update the PSYOP community on items of interest. An important issue today is the status of an award for excellence in PSYOP. At the moment there are two different award approaches being explored. (photo from Wikipedia)

For the past year a multi-organizational project, coordinated by USACAPOC has been under way to plan for and grant awards for exceptionally meritorious service or achievement within the PSYOP Community. Championed by the DCG of USACAPOC, the project has involved representatives from the 2nd PSYOP Group, the 7th PSYOP Group, the PSYOP Association (POA - http://www.geocities.com/psyopassociation/), the PSYOP Veterans Association (POVA - http://www.usapova.com/) and the PSYOP Regiment as represented by yours truly, the Honorary Colonel.

The award has been tentatively named the McClure Award in honor of MG Robert McClure who is considered the ‘father’ of modern day PSYOP. The award would be inclusive in nature meaning it could be awarded to a current or past member of any service from any country who excelled in service or achievement for PSYOP. It could also be awarded to civilians, veterans or deceased personnel who were nominated and selected.

It is envisioned that nominations would be submitted to a committee made up of representatives from the organizations noted above under the auspices of the PSYOP Regimental Association (PORA) which would serve as an umbrella organization serving the overall ommunity interest. Both POA and POVA would continue to function independently. POA concentrating on its stated mission of PSYOP education and POVA concentrating on its stated mission of holding reunions.

A US Army centric approach, focusing on excellence with the Army PSYOP branch, is progressing under the championship of the new CG of SWC. MG Thomas Crsnko (see http://www.soc.mil/swcs/MG%20CSRNKO.pdf) assumed command of the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg on 28 June 2008. He has directed his staff to initiate a project for awards recognizing Army personnel in the PSYOP branch for their service and achievements. This award, tentatively named the St. Bernadine Medal, would be awarded in three classes: Gold, Silver and Bronze based on nominations processed through an ad hoc committee formed by SWC.

By way of background, the CG of SWC is considered the “Home Base Commander” and as such is the higher HQ for the PSYOP, CA and Special Forces Regiments. Consequently it can be argued that they are indeed the proponent for the PSYOP, CA and SF Branches.

The 4th POG has scheduled PSYOP Regimental week at Fort Bragg for 1 – 5 June 2009 and it is hoped that PSYOP award or awards can be presented during that week.

USACAPOC and SWC are working together to deconflict the issues surrounding the awards.

If you have any input or suggestions regarding awards within PSYOP, please comment on the Blog and I will be glad to pass them along if you would like. Any comment to the Blog must be approved by me prior to posting (so far I’ve posted every one I’ve gotten since the Blog started in 2007), so do not be concerned that your input will be posted automatically. If you’d rather correspond privately, say so in the comment and I’ll get back to you via return e-mail.

Reserve PSYOP and Homeland Defense

Today’s Washington Post reported that SecDef Gates has asked the military to review their roles, responsibilities and capabilities to cope with Homeland Defense in addition to the current Warfighter missions. (see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402456.html)

PSYOP is likely to be in the forefront of any military mission associated with Homeland Defense because it is the only practical means a military commander would have to inform the population of actions they need to take (e.g. store extra food and water), actions to avoid (e.g. curfew enforcement) and information (where to gather or obtain medical help, etc.)

PSYOP will undoubtedly be integrated into the Emergency Support Functions (ESF) supporting FEMA efforts that will be activated to deal with the situation. The various ESF are:

ESF#1 - Transportation

ESF#2 - Communications

ESF#3 - Public Works and Engineering

ESF#4 - Firefighting

ESF#5 - Emergency Management

ESF#6 - Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Housing and Human Services

ESF#7 - Logistics Management and Resource Support

ESF#8 - Public Health and Medical Services

ESF#9 - Search and Rescue

ESF #10 - Oil and Hazardous Materials Response

ESF#11 -Agriculture and Natural Resources

ESF#12 Energy

ESF#13 - Public Safety and Security

ESF#14 - Long Term Community Recovery

ESF#15 External Affairs

Homeland Defense missions may be actually fraught with more tension thancombat missions because the activity is taking place in the soldier’s homeland and perhaps even his or her neighborhood and because USAR PSYOP forces in are not trained in Homeland Defense or domestic activities, and have no on-going interaction with DHS or other domestic agencies that would likely be involved with domestic incidents.

As a minimum PSYOP units should consider developing contingency plans and on-call rosters. Homeland defense missions will likely occur without significant warning and require rapid response. Commanders would do well to integrate homeland contingency deployments with their home station training and to exercise teams with short, no-notice exercises. In addition selected personnel should be encouraged to become familiar with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and to complete a pre-determined minimum number of courses. This can be done on-line at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/nims_training.shtm. Furthermore, RSTs and other resources should be employed to pay soldiers for their time and encourage participation.

The National Planning Scenarios (see http://www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/publications/gc_1189788256647.shtm) can form the basis of ODP and NCODP sessions and provide great CPX materials. Creative trainers can transplant and adjust the various NPS to suit their particular needs and geographic areas of emphasis.

September 11 taught us the lesson of being unprepared and the critical need for organizational interoperability, let’s hope we have learned it.