Psychological Operations (PSYOP) and Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR), these words generate thoughts of North Vietnam's "Hanoi Hanna", Japan's "Tokyo Rose" and more recently the Iraq's infamous "Baghdad Betty" of Desert Storm. To others the words psychological operations and psychological warfare conjure up images of our military playing mind games with the enemy. PSYOP is all this and much more, for you see there are essentially two great forces in warfare:-the physical and the moral. These two forces suggest two distinct approaches to warfare. One a "direct" approach, concentrating on the opponent's physical forces, and the other an "indirect" approach, focusing on moral forces. Both of these approaches have been tried throughout history, with a noted lack of emphasis on the indirect approach until more recent times. This website will attempt to give new emphasis to the indirect approach by conveying a better appreciation for the application of psychological operations. So sit back and join me on a tour of the history of Psychological Operations, and what PSYOP is today.
- A Brief History of Psychological Operations
- Links on the use of psychological operations/warfare during World Wars I
and II, Korean War, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama (Operation Just Cause) Gulf War (Operations
Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Haiti (Operation Uphold Democracy), Somalia (Operation
Restore Hope), Bosnia & Kosovo (Operation Allied Force), Afghanistan (Operation
Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom). Also samples of leaflets and
unusual PSYOP themes used by both sides in conflicts from World War I to the present,
information on the 4th Psychological Operations Group, the Civil Affairs and Psychological
Operations Command (USACAPOC), the Psychological Operations Veterans Association (POVA),
the PSYWAR Society, a Gulf War Photo Gallery, the Son Tay POW Rescue Raid, plus stories
about two of our nation's heroes, and much more.
