SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)
Note: Images from this report were used in the article “Information Potential” in the monograph “Defense potential in Poland” as an example of effective information operations.
The 3rd PSYOP Battalion Distinctive Unit Insignia
A silver color metal and enamel device, 1 and 1/8 inches in height consisting of a vertical shield with a stylized sword between two arced lightning flashes. Around the bottom of the shield a silver metal scroll inscribed in red:
POWER TO INFLUENCE
The jungle green and silver gray are the colors traditionally used by Psychological Operations units. The sword represents military preparedness and has three combined cutting edges to denote teamwork and under-score the battalion’s numerical designation. The flashes are arced, simulating a circle, highlighting the importance of each army element’s role in total combat readiness. The sword and flashes together reflect the three sources and types of propaganda and refer to the truth, the half-truth and the untruthful. The distinctive unit insignia was authorized on 16 November 1995.
The 3rd PSYOP Battalion Coat of Arms
Shield: A stylized sword between two arced lightning flashes.
Crest: A double-headed chess knight with a palm tree in the center.
The double-headed chess knight symbolizes strategy as well as the dual nature of propaganda and psychological operations. It is banded in red to commemorate the unit’s Meritorious Unit Commendation and is superimposed by a palm tree for war service in Southwest Asia. The coat of arms was authorized on 16 November 1995.
BERET FLASH
A shield-shaped embroidered item with a semi-circular base 2 1/4 inches (5.72 cm) in height and 1 7/8 inches (4.76 cm) in width overall, divided diagonally from upper right to lower left bottle green over silver gray by three lines 1/8 inch (.32 cm) in width, scarlet, teal blue and orange; all within a 1/8 inch (.32 cm) black border. The beret flash was approved on 14 March 2014.
PARACHUTE WINGS OVAL
An oval-shaped embroidered item 1 3/8 inches (3.49 cm) in height and 2 1/4 inches (5.72 cm) in width overall, divided diagonally from upper right to lower left, bottle green over silver gray by three lines 1/8 inch (.32 cm) in width, scarlet, teal blue and orange; all within a 1/8 inch (.32 cm) black border. The background trimming was approved on 14 March 2014
3rd PSYOP Battalion Challenge Coin
Lieutenant Colonel A.G. Starunskiy mentioned the 3rd PSYOP Battalion in a 2003 article entitled “Psychological operations of U.S. military services at the present stage.” He said in part:
The 3rd Psychological Operations Battalion (POB) serves as the PSYOP dissemination battalion for printed, audio and video PSYOP material and maintains and supports communications system of PSYOP units. It is made up of a headquarters and support company (with an electronic equipment maintenance platoon and a motor transport maintenance section), a print company (management section, a fixed-site print facility platoon and three mobile print facility platoons, a radio and television broadcasting company (a management section, production and dissemination platoon, a radio engineering section and a signals company (a management section, a tactical echelon communications support platoon, a communications and control center and a theater communications support platoon). The battalion’s print company can print at the rate of one million one-color leaflets in 24 hours after getting the assignment. The battalion is equipped with practically all types of mobile radio stations, television broadcasting and studio complexes, communications and printing facilities of the U.S. military services PSYOP bodies.
Field Manual No. 33-1-1, dated 5 May 1994, Psychological Operations, Techniques and Procedures has a 21-page Appendix K on the Dissemination battalion. I will quote some pertinent comments, but the reader should read the information if more depth is required:
The PDB provides television and radio production and broadcast support to the 4th PSYOP Group. It also provides audio support, specifically, making prepacked loudspeaker products for the tactical and regional battalions. It installs and operates organic AM/FM/SW and television broadcast systems. It operates foreign production and broadcast facilities in support of conventional and special operations. It also acquires, records, and disseminates U.S. and friendly nation’s broadcasts transmitted into target area.
The PAMDIS System
This system combines AM and FM radio and television transmitter systems and comes with organic transportation. It includes two separate low-power (a 100-watt FM and a 200-watt TV) transmitter that can broadcast FM radio 97.5 MHz with a range of 15 to 20 km and television on channels 7 through 13 (NTSC) or channel 5 (PAL/SECAM) with a range of 10 to 15 km. The AM transmitter uses a 1-kw transmitter on 530 to 1620 KHz to broadcast 50 km.
The print company provides print, leaflet rolling, and leaflet dissemination support to the 4th PSYOP Group. It operates organic and foreign printing systems in support of GP and Special Operations forces. The print company consists of a headquarters section and five platoons that are equipped to print a variety of products. Four platoons have a combination of light print systems, medium print systems, and modular print systems. These platoons are deployable. The fifth platoon, the heavy print platoon, consists of stationary Heidelberg presses and supporting equipment. This platoon is located at Fort Bragg, NC, and is not deployable.
The Modular Print System (MPS)
One 15-kilowatt generator and two 60-kilowatt generators are organic to the MPS (modules A, B, C). It can, however, be powered by one 60-kilowatt generator. All shelters are climate controlled. A minimum of three C-5B aircraft are required for air movement of one complete MPS. Using organic software, a trained operator can scan in images drawn by illustrators or illustrations from any printed source for use in preparation of camera-ready art. The scanned image can be used as is or as a template to make a computer graphics drawing. Either image can be used in a page layout program to develop a product, combining graphics with text. Graphic images may also be drawn directly on the computer, and clip art files can be used as is or modified. Once the product is completed on the computer, it can be printed as a color proof or color separations by the printer. The software can make automatic color separations, either in spot version or four-color version. The black on white separations are then ready for the camera stage of the press operation.
Operation Desert Storm
Lieutenant Colonel James P. Kelliher
Lieutenant Colonel James P. Kelliher entered the United States Military Academy in 1968 and received an Infantry Commission upon graduation in 1972. In 1987, Kelliher began his service to the Psychological Operations Regiment serving until 1995 when he retired from active duty.
U.S. Central Command Patch
While serving as a Psychological Operations Officer, LTC Kelliher served in a variety of positions. He was the 4th PSYOP Group S-2 (Intelligence), S-3 (Operations) and XO (Executive Officer). He established the Psychological Operations Dissemination Battalion, now known as the 3rd PSYOP Battalion (Airborne), and served as its first commander. He deployed forward to support the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He was headquartered at the King Fahd International Airport in June of 1990. His Dissemination Battalion produced a great number of the Coalition propaganda leaflets and posters printed during Operation Desert Storm.
During his service, LTC Kelliher was awarded the Expert Infantryman Badge and is Master Parachutist rated. His awards include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak-leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal and the Humanitarian Service Medal.
Some brief comments about Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The original 4th Group PSYOP plan was called Burning Hawk and was complete by September 1990. It was not approved until December. General Schwarzkopf sent a letter complaining about the delay and then the plan was acted on. The European Command developed its own plan for PSYOP in Turkey called Proven Force. The cost for all the PSYOP during the war was estimated at $16,100,000. The result was that 86,743 Iraqis surrendered. Nobody knows how many Iraqis really quit the war because many simply took off their uniforms and started walking back home.
4th Psychological Operations Group Capabilities Handbook
This 55-page booklet was issued by the 4th Psychological Operations Group prior to Operation Desert Storm to let all the combat commands know what they could do as a force-multiplier. It explains their capabilities in printing, radio, loudspeakers, audio-visual, etc. Regarding the 3rd PSYOP Battalion it says in part:
The PSYOP Dissemination Battalion
The Print Dissemination Battalion possesses the 4th Group’s organic print, radio and TV broadcast and audio-visual product production, and communication capabilities…Print Company can generate over 1 million 3 x 6-inch black and white leaflets within the first 24 hours of notification. The PDA is also responsible for leaflet plotting. Leaflets are often delivered into the hands of the target audience by aerial dissemination. PSYOP soldiers use the time-tested formulas which factor in all applicable variables (e.g., current wind direction and speed, release altitude, and leaflet size and wight, to plot the leaflet dispersal pattern.
I asked LTC Kelliher to tell me about his Desert Shield/Storm deployment and he answered in some depth. His comments are in italics, mine are not. In several places I have added leaflets from my files and remarked about them. In each case I have stated “Author’s Note,” and it should be understood that these comments are mine and they in no way represent LTC Kelliher’s thoughts or beliefs.
The 3rd PSYOP Battalion, also known as the PSYOP Dissemination Battalion (PDB) was activated in June of 1990 as part of the provisional reorganization of the 4th PSYOP Group proposed by Col Normand and authorized by Lieutenant General Luck. The Group reorganization was not necessarily greeted warmly by the 1st, 6th, and 8th Battalions which lost sizable portions of their units to the PSYOP Dissemination Battalion and the 9th PSYOP Battalion which assumed responsibility for loudspeaker and tactical operations. But it made sense based on the experience gained in the run-up to and operations during JUST CAUSE in Panama.
Originally designated the PSYOP Dissemination Battalion, it was formed from the 90th Strategic Dissemination Company (SDC), the print sections from the line battalions and the communication sections from the battalions and the group.Initially the Battalion Headquarters was minimally staffed so we decided that we would have an S1/S2 (Personnel and Intelligence) and an S3/S4 (Operations and Intelligence) section based on the experience and strengths of the S2 and S3.Departure from the norm, yes, but necessary and it worked. Staff work was accomplished on computers borrowed from a Joint Special Operations unit based at Ft Bragg. The Battalion Headquarters was initially in the old SDC storage room, jammed in a large room with shelves crammed full of print material--ink, paper, plates--and photographic supplies. The SDC was located in a large building which housed the Heavy Print Section with its massive Heidelberg presses, the Electronic Maintenance Section (EMS) which maintained all the Group electronics--radios, cameras, etc., and the Radio and TV studios. The SDC became the Broadcast Company giving up its Heavy Print Section while retaining its Radio and TV production and broadcast capability as well as the EMS. Print Company assumed responsibility for all Light, Medium and Heavy Print Operations. Signal Company assumed responsibility for the Group's long hauls communications.
Note: The Broadcast Company (Bravo Company) had responsibility for Radio/TV Broadcast (Radio Platoon), Media Production (Media Platoon), and the Electronic Maintenance Shop (EMS).EMS supported the Army common communications equipment and all loudspeaker systems in all the Battalions of the Group.
The Signal Company (Charlie Company) was responsible for standard types of Army communications, mostly long haul, for the Group.Starting with Desert Storm, they also became responsible for moving the product information (at first analog and then digitized) between product development to production to points of dissemination.Standard Army communications could not provide the bandwidth necessary to send quality pictures, audio, or video quickly.That is when PSYOP started looking at its capabilities becoming “more CNN-like.”
The battalion began sorting out roles and responsibilities, especially in terms of providing support to the battalions that would develop the products. It was decided that the support would come as a package not augmentations so that it was less ad hoc. That would be the norm--the regional battalion would get a Task Force from the PDB that would come with everything needed to support the commander.
One of the first events was a Family Day to get folks acquainted with each other--begin to build some camaraderie. One of the fundraising events was to get the funds to have a local seamstress make a set of colors for the unit.
Joint Readiness Training Center
Most of the Battalion leadership and company commanders were at Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) observing or supporting a previously scheduled rotation with the 82nd Airborne Division when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. We got a call from the Group Commander telling us to return to Ft Bragg as soon as possible. Of course the airport was full of others who had been at JRTC and were heading back as well.
Once back, the battalion began preparing for deployment. One of the discussions with the supported Task Force Commander and his Operations Officer centered around the type of printing press to be deployed and a concept for support. The Battalion's position was that production support should be centralized so as to maximize production capability and ease resupply problems.
The Psychological Operations Task Force Operations Officer and Commander envisioned light print presses (LPS) at each Division with approval of products residing with the Division Commander.We wanted the biggest presses we could get into the theater.The light print presses could only do one color at a time and each subsequent run tended to blur the images.Ultimately, one Medium system was flown in on a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, maxing out the payload.It augmented an in-country print plant. After several starts, the Battalion joined the dozens of units convoying vehicles and material to the ports. The main body prepared to deploy, actually loaded the aircraft and then got a call from the 4th Groups’ Operation Officer who informed us there was no room in the inn, literally nowhere to put the Battalion in KSA at the time. So the plane was unloaded and we went home to families who had prepped for us to deploy and be gone. Couple more false start and we deployed. Several were told by their spouses to sleep in the office if the deployment didn't happen. We arrived in September, scorching hot. The first billeting was Hajj Tents on loan from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Latrines were old fashioned out-houses. Potable water was obtained from a fire hydrant, inspected by the Veterinarians and approved.
We waited in Limbo for the equipment to arrive. We did have a bit of a “dust up” with the neighboring Grumman OV-1 Mohawk unit. The Executive Officer apparently told the Battalion non-commissioned officers that his guards would shoot anyone straying over near the unit area. Common sense didn't prevail no matter who talked to him. One hot afternoon, the Battalion non-commissioned office was on his cot when the Mohawk Executive Officer burst into the tent, screaming about some real or imagined slight or trespass. I told him to calm down and he asked me who I thought I was. Putting on my uniform blouse I pointed at the black oak leaf and told him I knew I was a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army and for him to depart until he calmed down. I made the decision to end this feud and told the Supply Officer to keep the wrench for the fire hydrant, limiting all the water. Within a couple of hours a delegation of Warrant Officers approached and said they would keep the Executive Officer under control and away from us if they could get access to the wrench. It was a done deal, handshakes all around and all concerned went back to worrying about the real enemy.
King Fahd International Airport
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment had just departed King Fahd International Airport (KFIA) for King Khalid Military City (KKMC). We were lucky enough to be able to work out a deal and occupy the living and work spaces vacated by the aviators.
SOCSOUTH Patch and Insignia
After time in the tents, the prefabs were like luxury hotels. The Battalion began settling in and doing what they came to do.It looked like it would be an interesting time as the Battalion had little supply or support chain to reach back to.The staff began coordinating with various units. Special Operations Command South (SOCSOUTH) agreed to provide landline communications and access to medical support.The Personnel and Intelligence sections coordinated for Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) support again from SOCSOUTH. Just when it appeared that three Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs) a day would be the norm, we worked out an arrangement with the Air Force unit with a contract Mess Hall. The Battalion printed meal cards for the Air Force and we got two hot meals a day. Two or three officers and senior NCOs were assigned as Contracting Officers which went a long ways towards solving print and other supplies requirements. Port-a-lets (portable toilets) and cleaning support came by contract. The dust played havoc with the printing presses until a contract for paving was obtained. The presses ran much better after that. The Warrant Officer and his electricians in the Electronics Maintenance Section (EMS) not having equipment to repair put their skills to use and built large heaters (a giant variation on the old electric coil you put in your coffee cup to heat it) for the showers.
Part of the Battalion deployed north to support some classified leaflet balloon efforts. No more to say on that.
Safe Conduct Card
[Author's Note]: 330,000 leaflets in all were delivered by balloon. I depict a balloon leaflet from my personal collection above. These leaflets were coated with a plastic compound to make them sturdier and better able to resist desert sunlight. This leaflet was one of the items allegedly disseminated by German PSYOP balloon specialists during the war. The mission name for the distribution of this leaflet was “German S.” Because the leaflets were plastic coated they would not auto-rotate properly and thus were not accurate from high altitude. Since the leaflet would be dropped by balloon that did not matter. The same problem occurred with the Saudi cardboard leaflets. They would not auto-rotate properly due to their weight, but they were all dropped from low altitude helicopters so that did not matter either.
In the United States when an artist wants to show what a person is thinking in a caricature or cartoon, he draws a series of bubbles over the person’s head to imply thought. This is understood by most Americans, and one need not use any descriptive phrases like “He thinks…” During Desert Storm the Coalition produced a number of leaflets using such “thought bubbles” to show Iraqi soldiers thinking about home, their families, or the overwhelming might of Coalition forces. The only problem with the concept is that apparently there is no history of little bubbles meaning “thought” in the Arab world. If true, the Iraqi finder of this leaflet must have studied it in complete puzzlement for some time wondering, “Why is the family floating over his head?”
General Schwarzkopf CinC of Central Command
In the meantime, we set about providing support. Operation Desert Shield was basically a “Sitz Krieg” (In WWII they called it a Phony War when the Germans and the Allies sat and looked at each other before the shooting started in earnest. Central Command waited for authority to conduct PSYOP. The Group Commander had established a relationship with the Commander in Chief (CINC) by sitting outside his office at MacDill Air Force Base for a couple days until the CINC asked him what he was doing and was told that he was his PSYOP officer. He led the creation of a PSYOP campaign plan which was completed in October and sat in the Pentagon until the "bumbling bureaucrats" gave permission to move forward to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Developmental Artwork
[Author’s note] Colonel Kelliher mentions an early unapproved leaflet showing much Iraqi blood. The Colonel did not have an example but I have dozens of such illustrations so I show a similar leaflet from my own collection. This proposed leaflet depicts a Coalition F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter-bomber strafing and bombing an Iraqi soldier. There is no text, but a comment at the bottom of the page states that the drawing is a “draft color illustration for proposed product developed by Master Sergeant Lester M. Steenberg, U.S. Army on 14 December 1990 at Al Jubayl Saudi Arabia.” The artist did a similar draft the following day that depicted the Iraqi soldier in close-up while overhead three aircraft dropped bombs headed directly at his head.
Somewhere in this time frame the first leaflet proposed by a Division arrived.Sent up to the Headquarters in Riyadh it went to the CINC. The leaflet depicted an M-1 Abrams tank grinding an Iraqi soldier into the sand with appropriate spurts of blood. Needless to say, the CINC was not pleased, disapproved it and directed that approval authority remain at the Headquarters.
Draw a Line in the Sand.
The Video Production capability moved to the PSYOP Task Force headquarters to support efforts there. Most notable was the writing, development and production of the video “The Nations of the World Draw a Line in the Sand.” Its purpose was to show the Iraqi military (notably Saddam Hussein and his senior leaders) the overwhelming force and united coalition deploying to ensure a free Kuwait. Secretary of State Madeline Albright gave a copy personally to the Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations. Numerous copies were smuggled into occupied Kuwait and Iraq by clandestine means.
Loading leaflet rolls into a Leaflet Bomb
It turned out that the art of flying leaflets was perishable to say the least.Nobody in recent memory had done any work in that area. So it was start over time. One civilian Strategic Studies Detachment analyst has some experience from Korean ROK operations. The Print Warrant Officer retained a wealth of knowledge from Viet Nam. A contractor had developed a leaflet rolling machine which the printers were not impressed with but which was deployed anyway. Close relations with an Air Force maintenance squadron resulted in the printers being able to describe the dimensions for the forms for hand rolling the leaflets to the AF aircraft repairmen and the built them out of sheet metal. They worked great and with practice the printers out-performed the machine. Having been years since there had been a leaflet bomb loaded never mind deployed, it was decided that some practice was needed.
[Note] the official history of Desert Storm agrees. It says that an experimental machine to roll leaflets for packing into bombs was deployed, but proved to be temperamental and slow.
The UH-1H Iroquois Helicopter (also known as Huey)
The Operations Officer coordinated with the PSYOP Task Force and other units and we got a Royal Saudi Air Force fighter piloted by one of the many princes and a couple of US UH-1H helicopters.We loaded leaflet bombs with different color leaflets--each color had been rolled by hand or machine or stuffed in to the bomb--so that we could attempt to determine the best distribution pattern based on which color flew the best.We also used a Huey to test drops from a helicopter. We were able to video the test drops from another helicopter to capture the results. The hand rolled leaflets worked best. Then it was time to figure out how to fly leaflets. The Maintenance Warrant had a large Maintenance Tent that could be closed off so we had folks climb the supports up some 30 or so feet in the air and drop leaflets of different paper weight and sizes to determine the best dimensions.
Early on we deployed a small radio transmitter to Wadi al Batin up near the Iraqi border. Intent was to counter Iraqi propaganda directed against Arabic Coalition partners. The Saudis sent one of their top Disk jockey to host the program; unfortunately he was killed on a car wreck on the way there. Nevertheless, another Arabic Disk jockey was dispatched and the broadcasts went on. Our radio techs from Sacramento Army Depot did great work in getting increased range on the broadcasts using ground plane transmission which involved lots of copper wire and salt at the antenna base. In early December, the Iraqis made a push south and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was moved up to Wadi al Batin to counter any threat.
I got a call from the company commander who was up there visiting his folks. The Brigade Commander from the 101st had come over and told the PSYOP folks they had 12 hours to vacate the building they were using as a studio. I called the Group Commander in Riyadh and about an hour later the company commander called back and said that he had had a second visit from the Colonel who had received a call from his Division Commander who had gotten a call from the XVIII Airborne Corp Commander who had gotten a call from the Commanding General of the 3rd Army who had been called personally by the Commander in Chief, US Central Command and was told in no uncertain terms to leave the PSYOP troops alone.
The Colonel graciously offered any assistance he could give. About this time, we got orders to move the big radio system up the coast to an island where we figured it could reach into Kuwait and southern Iraq. The best laid plans of mice and men. Having asked the company commander dozens of times if he was ready to go and getting the affirmative every time, we believed we were ready only to find out that the radio folks had forgotten the gin pole--the one item essential for putting up the antenna. The gin pole is used to raise succeeding sections of antenna up to the final height of 250. No getting around it. As luck would have it one of the Reserve PSYOP groups was detailed to the United States Information Agency and was broadcasting with the same radio system from Bahrain so we were able to borrow their gin pole, get the antenna up, the system ready and start broadcasting.
The TRT-22 50 KW AM Transmitter under Installation at Abu Ali
Photo courtesy of Doug Elwell, Broadcast Engineer, Sacramento Army Depot
The Site still under Construction; the transmitter under the Cammo Net in the Distance
Photo courtesy of Doug Elwell, Broadcast Engineer, Sacramento Army Depot[Note] The transmitter was the AN/TRT-22 and it was installed on Abu Ali, near the Aramco Oil Co site, in the Persian Gulf. Abu Ali is not far above Al Jubail in Saudi. There were six radio platforms in all, two on EC-130s, two in Saudi Arabia and two in Turkey. The Desert Storm PSYOP report states that it took eight days to raise the antenna.
I asked Doug Elwell, the greatest expert on PSYOP radio that I know why there were no photographs of the radio station when finished. He explained:
“Because Broadcast Company did not have the gin pole for erecting the tower, the Army tower riggers could not erect the antenna until they finished another tower installation that had similar equipment. We got to Abu Ali on 15 October and I left to return stateside the day prior to the shooting phase of Operation Desert Storm (16 January). We left because our work was basically done, not due to the onset of hostilities. To leave because of combat operations would have tipped off the Iraqis – very bad operational security. The antenna was not erected for at least a few more weeks after I left.I know of no one that took pictures of the site when it was completed.I really wanted to see a photograph of the completed site.”
The TRT-22 Transmitter
By the end of 1990 most all of the PSYOP Dissemination battalion was in Saudi Arabia with the print presses and broadcast equipment. Production was in Riyadh and the transmitters were on hold until the Saudi’s would approve sites. The TAMT-10 was moved to north central Saudi Arabia, to the airport at al Qasuma (near Hafir al Batin). The TRT-22 was convoyed to the East to Abu Ali on the Persian Gulf. These systems were part of the Voice of the Gulf.
We said on Psywarrior.com at the time:
“The 4th PSYOP Group began broadcasting the "VOICE OF THE GULF" radio network on 19 January 1991. It operated continuously through 1 April 1991 with more than 210 hours of live broadcasting and 330 hours of prerecorded programs. A total of 2072 news items were aired along with 189 PSYOP messages. The VOICE OF THE GULF network consisted of a 50 KW AM transmitter located at Abu Ali, Saudi Arabia broadcasting on AM 1134; a 10KW AM transmitter located at Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia broadcasting on AM 1179; a 1KW FM transmitter located at Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia broadcasting on FM 87.5 and two Volant Solo EC-130 aircraft of the 193rd Special Operations Wing broadcasting on AM 690 and FM 88.5 and 87.9.”
An example of the gummed labels used to build morale among the Kuwaitis
The battalion was also providing support to Radio Free Kuwait--sponsored by the US and UK and manned by refugee Kuwaitis. Peel and stick symbols of the Kuwaiti resistance were also printed and handed over to SOCCENT and other organizations which got them into Kuwait City where they were placed to remind the Kuwaitis of coming liberation and give the Iraqis something to think about.
MOPP Gear
Our life was pretty routine by this time. The food was pretty good, two hot meals a day. The Morale, Welfare, and Recreation tent had a large screen TV. Morale calls once or twice a week made life more bearable. The Personal and Intelligence staff did a super job with this and also in arranging MWR trips to Riyadh as well as Half Moon Bay; a kind of resort.Since we were hung out at the far end kind of on our own, we played the orphan unit like a pro and we were able to get support from various larger formations.The PSYOP Dissemination Battalion had become known as the Pretty Deep Bunker Battalion because we bunkered in pretty well.We were down 6 to 8 feet with sandbag and timber overhead cover.Bunkers were dug near the living quarters and the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) was also dug in so that operations could continue without interruption.Chemical attacks were still a potentiality and with practice the Battalion could be in Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) IV and in the bunkers from a dead sleep in the middle of the night in less than a minute.The Operations folks practiced moving communications form the TOC to the bunker until it became a fine art.
[Note]: I hated MOPP gear. It was hot and uncomfortable and made every phase of life difficult. I used to be a scuba diver so I was very comfortable with wearing a mask. However, I found that after 10-12 hours in a gas-mask without having any peripheral vision one could become a bit paranoid. I remember that going to the bathroom was a major project of about a dozen steps, trying to keep your skin free of chemical agents. If you knew it was just a test you went ahead and secretly ignored all the safety rules, although you did know them by heart. Some soldiers told me that in a real wartime chemical agent emergency they would just urinate in the suit; it would be quicker and safer than going through all the steps.
Waiting for the All Clear Signal
One soldier mentioned a story about a time the alarms went off. In a way it is a terrible story, but in another way it kind of shows the military sense of humor:
One night, after a SCUD Missile was launched and Air Defense Sirens went off, we all jumped into MOPP Level-2 gear and were listening to Armed Forces Radio. We had our chemical detector unit turned on per NBC policy.
After about five minutes the chemical detector alarms started whaling and we donned gas masks, gloves and the whole nine yards. It was MOPP Level 4. Quickly, the nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) non-commissioner officer realized that the caps were not removed from the sampling tube on the detector, causing it to alarm. The problem came in when we tried to verify it was a false alarm and did not have chemical detection paper to sample for chemical agents.
When the ranking Chief Warrant Officer called out the lowest ranking soldier and told him he needed to crack his mask and take a breath, the Private burst into tears, refusing a direct order, crying his eyes out and about ready to crap his pants. The whole time we could hear his muffled voice from inside the mask saying, “No. No. I don’t want to die. No. No. I don’t want to.”
Great memory! I still chuckle to myself thinking about it.
Iraqi missile shot down in the desert by Patriot tactical air defense missile during Operation Desert Storm on 26 May 1992
We got alerted to SCUD attacks three or four times but never took a hit. On one occasion, the Executive Officer was enjoying a shower when the sirens sounded. The incredible the sight of all 6 feet, 6 inches of him blowing out of the shower clutching what seemed to be a washcloth around his middle was a sight burned into the memory of most of the unit.
The EC-130 COMMANDO SOLO
VOLANT SOLO (now COMMANDO SOLO) the EC-130 unit was in theater and providing broadcast support. In the days before computer communications, getting the tapes to the flying unit was a challenge. One method was hooking up two recorders to a phone line and playing the messages from the product developers at PSYOP headquarters in Riyadh over a telephone line and recording it in King Fahd International Airport. The only accessible landline belonged to ARAMOCO, the Saudi US Oil consortium.They agreed to let us use the line but many times someone would pick up a phone and break the connection or begin dialing ruining the tape.Tapes were also driven from Riyadh to King Fahd International Airport.
Christmas Menu – Operation Desert Shield
[Author’s note]: The U.S, military knows how important holidays are for the morale of the troops. As a result, the cooks will move Heaven and Earth to prepare a big holiday meal and somehow get it to where the troops are, even on occasion to the front lines. Because they have printing facilities, PSYOP units are often asked to prepare the menus for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. During Desert Shield menus for both holidays were prepared.
Christmas Card - Operation Desert Shield
Christmas came and went. We printed dinner menus and Christmas cards for the Joint Psychological Operations Task Group since Christmas cards were hard to get; every soldier got a few.
LTC Kelliher as Santa Claus at the Battalion Christmas Party
When did Santa start wearing Combat boots?
Photo by Specialist Robert PassiniThe Battalion Commander dressed up as Santa Claus and distributed gifts of various sorts to the assembled soldiers.Bob Hope did his final USO tour and lots of the soldiers took a break to attend it. Then it was back to the grind. Leaflet rolling and bomb packing was down to a fine art. After some instruction by AF weapon technicians the PDB soldiers rolled the leaflets, prepped the bombs (inserting the detonation cord for separating the halves when the fuse fired at altitude and remembering to slit the tape that held the rolls together). The Battalion was responsible for getting the leaflet bombs to the right airfield at the right time. That mission devolved to the AIR Non-commissioned officer who got plenty of frequent flier miles as well as hours in military vehicles. Due to weather and operational tempo, and weather, he spent many a night sleeping in culverts on various air bases or waiting out alerts in them.
A Heavy Saudi cardboard Leaflet – Later dropped from Helicopters
To Stay Here Means DeathThe Saudis printed leaflets but the card stock they used was so heavy that they wouldn't fly and were never really used. The Battalion was concerned about getting a good product out for dissemination. The developers back in Riyadh were doing yeoman's work coming up with leaflets that conveyed the Commander-in Chief’s intent. Needless to say, everyone had opinions on what should be on a leaflet. Prototypes went back to Washington DC and apparently seniors in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff had opinions on messages, colors etc. The best advice came from the Saudis--in particular one leaflet that showed Arab soldiers sitting down with Iraqis (implied was after the war) for a meal.
The Saudis ask that Bananas be Added to the Leaflet
Invitation CardThe Saudis recommended adding bananas to the fruit tray--the embargoes had ended the Iraqi ability to get bananas (which apparently were a favorite) and this was a reminder of what would come later.
[Author’s Note]: There was an unproven rumor that the Kuwaitis or Saudis played a trick on the Americans and had them add the bananas to the leaflet because they wanted to insult the Iraqi “monkeys.” If true, that would make this almost a “black operation.” It is a great rumor, but I never believed a word of it.
The Leaflet Considered One of the Most successful of the War - Arab Solidarity
In Peace we Will Always Remain UnitedThey also proposed the "Two soldiers holding hands walking into the sunset" leaflet which proved one of the most effective.
[Author's Note]: About 18,000 copies of this leaflet were printed. It is rumored that many were disseminated by balloon. The Arabs loved them as they showed the solidarity of the soldiers, hand in hand. Most Americans hated them and the concept of two men walking off into the desert together. The code name for this leaflet 1-W is “Sunset.” The image was very powerful and seemed to work well on the Muslim mentality.
With the noose tightening, the Air Force Special Operations Command MC-130s began leaflet drops. Experience gained from earlier operations helped the planners determine how to fly leaflets from near the Kuwaiti border into Kuwait City and its environs. Innovation and ingenuity on the part of the printers, operations staff and contracting representatives paid off. Some experimentation provided the ideal method of taping and the correct length of static line to get the leaflet boxes out of the aircraft. Years later, we learned of an urban myth about the boxes. I was told by an erstwhile young PSYOP officer about the exact dimensions required for a leaflet box. Asked where that information came from, we learned that it was from the first Gulf War. Hated to tell him that the boxes used were the only ones our purchasing agent on that mission could find.
Frustrated with getting answers on how long it took to produce a product, the companies were directed to create a capabilities handbook so that the customer knew, in black and white, what it took to get his product to him. One color leaflet equaled X hours.Two color leaflets equaled X+Y hours. A Radio broadcast took X hours to prepare. A Video product Took X hours per minute of video. We saved a lot of “He said, she said” conversations.
One of the Leaflets Actually Fired at the Enemy by Artillery
Follow these instructions if you want to surviveLeaflet rounds for the artillery entered the mix somewhere in this time, not a problem compared to the learning curve on bombs. Obviously based on the smaller size they contained far fewer leaflets and were easier to roll and load. Fusing was left up to the artillery units. 105mm rounds were the norm as we recall but there may have been some 155mm rounds. They were much easier to transport.
[Author’s note]: Two hundred 155mm leaflet artillery shells were taken to the Gulf. Nine were actually fired at the enemy. The advance of the Coalition was so fast that there was very little need for a combat unit to fire leaflets at the Iraqis. 60 such shells with 150,000 leaflets were at Logistics base Charlie. Another 25 shells with 100,000 leaflets were at Logistics Base Alpha. The U.S. Marines were issued 43 leaflet artillery shells and 431,000 leaflets.
So by mid-January, the Battalion was in full production mode with augmentation out of the Heavy print plant in the European Command.Leaflets were being printed on a 24-hour basis.The radio transmitters were in the same mode and tapes were getting to VOLANT SOLO on a daily basis.
Reports poured in daily of Iraqi soldiers surrendering--many if not most clutching leaflets which promised safe passage and good treatment. It was gratifying to the printers to know that their work had a positive effect as the Iraqi army's capability dwindled.
The Battalion received a heads-up late the night before that Central Command would transition from Desert Shield” to combat operations early the next morning. Desert Storm was really “Operations Normal” for the Battalion which had been operating full speed for some time.
The Wave Leaflet – Designed to Make the Iraqis expect an Invasion from the Sea
The leaflet inside a Water Bottle as delivered to the Kuwait Beaches
To support CENTCOM operations the Battalion printed the "Wave" leaflet which depicted a U.S. Marine storming ashore, on the reverse were surrender instructions.To get it to the target audience, we collected water bottles and stuffed leaflets into them and then provided them to Naval Special Operations which got them ashore.
The Marine Division Commander was so impressed with the Loudspeaker capability that he gave up his UH-1N Twin Huey helicopter and had it turned into a broadcast platform. The Electronic Maintenance Section figured out the physics required to get the loudspeakers mounted and hooked up to the electronics in the aircraft. By all accounts, it performed superbly.
Marine Aviation technicians complete the installation of loudspeakers on General Boomer’s Helicopter.
PSYOP Staff Sergeants Bernard (left), and Wright (center)
Loudspeaker Helicopter Returning from 1st “Scarface” Mission
[Authors note]: Staff Sergeant Larry Wright, Non-commissioned Officer in Charge PSYOP Liaison to the Marine Task Force’s 1st Marine Division Detachment, had this to say about the mission. I edited his comments for brevity:
“The 2700 watt speaker system was the accountable property of LTC Kelliher, Commander of the PSYOP Dissemination Battalion.The separate speaker banks were assembled as one unit by Marine Flight Crews. Effective range based on ground tests was up to 5.5 miles depending on wind direction. The two UH-1N helicopters were Marine Commanding General Boomer’s personal birds, one equipped with classified electronics that were always concealed from my vision. When airborne, the loud speaker effectively broadcast just over 3 miles. The Marine code-name for our missions was Scarface. During the test phase I flew with 4 missions across the berm. Specialist 4 Jason Wells was appointed team chief who, along with his Saudi interpreter, rotated helicopters/crews to fly airborne PSYOP missions almost non-stop for the entire 4 days of Desert Storm with very little rest. By the time Scarface flew over Failaka Island they had already seen more action in the war than any other soldier that I've heard of … and they were both exhausted.”
Failaka Island
The allied coalition effectively isolated, both physically and psychologically, a large element of Iraqi forces on Failaka Island. Rather than reduce the island by direct assault, a tactical PSYOP team from MARFOR, aboard a UH-1N helicopter, flew aerial loudspeaker missions around the island with cobra gunships providing escort. The message told the Iraqis below that should anyone wish to do so, they had until the next day to demonstrate their intention to surrender by relocating away from their defensive positions to the large radio tower on the island. The next day, to everyone's surprise, 1,405 Iraqis, including a general officer, waited in formation at the radio tower to surrender to the Marine forces without a single shot having been fired.
We return to Lieutenant Colonel Kelliher’s comments:
With the New Year, the intensity of operations and the requirements for products continued unabated with print operations going 24 hours a day. The radio stations continued operations as well. Somewhere in this time period, the Company Commander of the Broadcast Company was visiting his far flung units; his vehicle broke down on the TAP line (Trans Araba Pipeline) road. He made the decision to leave it and he and his driver hitched back to the radio station at Abu Ali. When the recovery team got there the next morning it was gone, never to be seen again. The assumption was that it had been liberated by the Marines who were up near the border.
[Author’s note]: The Iraqis were not warned against using chemical or atomic weapons during Desert Storm. Years later when the Coalition entered Iraq under Operations Iraqi Freedom there were leaflets prepared that expressly warned against chemical or atomic weapons use by the Iraqis.
On a trip up to Wadi al Batin, where the smaller radio station was operating, the TAP line was crowded with convoys of armored vehicles headed up to the northwest--hundreds of tank transporters. The desert to the south of the road was dust cloud after dust cloud as armored vehicles churned up the sand. On the way back, my driver and I were chatting when off to the south of the road, a soldier in MOPP IV (full protective gear) popped up out of the hatch of an M88 Tank Retriever frantically giving the signal for gas attack. Both vehicles in our little convoy slewed off the road and in a matter of seconds, all four of us were MOPPed up and masked. As we waited before getting back on the road, we pondered the fact that this might be it and kind of shrugged--that stoic response one develops.
[Author’s note]: During the war Coalition chemical alarms went off about 2,000 times. Many of the alarms were on former Communist bloc countries and their equipment was known to be quite good in this area. The U.S. has claimed that American troops were never attacked with chemical weapons but I am not sure that is totally true. I had a Warrant Officer from an OD unit who told me that he had been ordered to blow up Iraqi munitions in place quickly because the Saudi Arabians wanted the Americans out of the country by Ramadan. He told me that he believed he had blown up Iraqi shells containing chemicals. If so, perhaps the Iraqis did not use chemical weapons, but the Americans gassed themselves by accident.
About that time, several of the TCN (Third Country National) drivers came running up, holding their breath, carrying masks not unlike the ones worn when running a sander and asking with sign language if they should put them on. "Sure," we told them, knowing they were of no use but as I told my very young driver, “It'll give them something to do.” Pretty soon the all clear were given, it had been a false alarm based on chemical alarm being triggered by some unknown event. Lots of stories to tell when the convoy arrived back at KFIA.
Iraqi Troops Surrendering Holding Coalition Leaflets
The number of Iraqi soldiers surrendering reached the tens of thousands, virtually all carrying surrender leaflets which constituted safe conduct passes. Some had literally plastered themselves with the paper--if one leaflet was good one hundred was even better. Surveys conducted by the 13th Battalion (EPW) showed the effectiveness of these pre-DESERT STORM leaflets as well as radio and loudspeaker broadcasts.
By mid-January, the three civilian radio techs departed the Area of Operation, their jobs being done. Just prior to the onset of DESERT STORM, the Battalion received a heads up and we prepared to produce products, in MOPP gear if necessary, as well as defend the various compounds if necessary. Neither was required. As the air campaign continued, production hit a fever pitch. The Psychological Operations Task Group had developed a great working relationship with the CENTCOM Intelligence Section and the Combined Forces Air Component Command, (CFACC) that allowed the product developers to take advantage of current intelligence as well as tactical air planning to "personalize" leaflets for various units.
B-52 Bomber Leaflet
This is your first and last warning! The 7th Infantry Division will be bombed tomorrow! Flee this location now! The bombing will be heavy. If you want to save yourself, leave your location and do not allow anyone to stop you. Save yourself and head toward the Saudi border, where you will be welcomed as a brother.
[Author’s note]: Six Iraqi Divisions were targeted with B-52 leaflets. They are the 7th, 16th, 20th, 21st, 28th, and 48th Infantry Divisions. General Schwarzkopf remembered the “Rolling Thunder” bombing campaign in Vietnam and wanted something similar.
Telling the commander of "X" Iraqi Division that the unit to his right or left flank had been decimated by B52 strikes and that unless he followed the surrender instructions on the leaflets his unit would suffer the same fate.
XVIII Airborne Corps Leaflet Back
Sometimes the message received was not always the one intended. It turns out that the Iraqis saw the Dragon on the 18th Airborne Corps patch and wondered why the horse was eating an arrow.
VII Corps Leaflet Back
Farther, east the leaflets with the Seven Corps patch had an unintended effect. The Iraqis determined that this would be the main effort and reinforced that area with several divisions causing the Special Forces teams embedded with the Egyptian and Syrian units to request that no more leaflet be dropped as they feared that those forces would be unable to fight their way through additional Iraqi forces.
Concurrently, we learned that the "Wave" leaflet and operations by Navy SEALS had again caused the Iraqis to misinterpret the Coalition’s intent and react incorrectly. Iraqi intelligence analysts decided that the leaflet and beach reconnaissance were preparation for an amphibious assault by the U.S. Marine Corps currently afloat in the Gulf. Accordingly, the Iraqis moved two or three divisions to defend against this impending, in their view, assault. This was exactly why the leaflet was designed and disseminated.
Another benefit of cooperation with the Intelligence system was that the Joint Psychological Operations Task Group was provided the frequencies and other pertinent data for various Iraqi units. The aircraft VOLANT SOLO, with an Egyptian Brigadier General onboard, was conducting live broadcasts into command nets with personalized messages in Arabic. He pretended to be an Iraqi solider pleading with his Commanders to spare their troops. The fact that these broadcasts intruded on command frequencies was not lost on those Iraqi generals.
MC-130's from the Air Force Special Operations Command continued to leaflet Kuwait City by dropping the leaflets in from relatively high altitudes. Mission planning transferred from primarily Army lead to Air Force as they gained experience. B-52 strikes decimated Iraqi unit after unit. Again close coordination between the product developers, the Intelligence community, the Product Development Battalion and the Joint PSYOP Task Force liaison non-commissioned officer to the Combined Forces Air Component Commander paid great dividends. Leaflet after leaflet detailing what had happened to the unit to the left or right of the targeted unit and giving the Commander a choice--surrender or die. Many Iraqi soldiers chose to come south, again clutching leaflets--many with the belief that the more leaflets they had, the safer they were.
King Fahd International Airport and the Product Development Battalion served as a way-station and ad hoc school both during DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. During SHIELD, the battalion hosted the "Lost Boys," a group of active duty officers selected for a crash course in Psychological Operations. They were introduced to the technical part of PSYOP--production of the product. Somewhere in that time frame, a class of Saudi officers came through as part of their PSYOP course. The battalion also hosted a Kuwaiti intelligence officer for a few days prior to the reentry into Kuwait City. A graduate of University of California Berkeley with a Master's degree in Computer Science, he was tasked with going back in to see what could be salvaged from the Kuwaiti Information Technology infrastructure. One night, he came up to me, clearly agitated. "Colonel, you must stop the movie." I'm thinking, "Oh, great, somebody's showing a movie they shouldn't be." "What's the movie and what's the problem?" "Born on the 4th of July, they won't fight after this movie." Thanked him and reassured him that the soldiers would do their jobs, movie or not. He went away satisfied and later on went with the first convoy back into Kuwait City never to be seen again by the Product Development Battalion.
Kuwaitis and Americans entering Kuwait City
DESERT STORM was over almost before it started. The battalion put together a small task group of technicians to go back into Kuwait City with the liberating forces to see if any of the Broadcast capability could be restored.The convoy heading in assembled at King Fahd International Airport, looking like something out of Mad Max. There was a mish-mash of Hummers, Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicles, large tactical vehicles, pickup trucks, 5th Special Forces Group desert mobility vehicles, flags of various nations fluttering very much like something from Lawrence of Arabia.
That was the last major support effort. It was then time to get ready to redeploy. The old "who do we belong to” devil raised its head again. Not Central Command, not Army Command Central, not Special Operations Command Central and not XVIII Airborne Corps. So no command took responsibility for Time Phased Force and Deployment Data to get the battalion back to the Continental United States. It became very apparent, very quickly that if the battalion was not to become a permanent fixture in the Kingdom, it would need to redeploy itself and so it began.
The Battalion was a bit late getting into the redeployment game. The assumption was that the unit would be managed by the Group or another higher headquarters.“Assume” was the operative word and it was proven wrong. Most of the places that needed to be scheduled (wash racks, Customs, etc.) were solidly booked.
[Authors Note]: A unit returning to the United States must have all of its equipment clean so that no parasites, diseases or chemicals are brought back along with the unit’s vehicles, weapons and other supplies].
Customs checks for contraband souvenirs, weapons, explosives, art objects and of course cash. The weapons were particularly bad after Desert Storm. One of the prime souvenirs was Saddam Hussein’s gold plated AK-47 rifles. He had a stock of them in is palaces and many were brought back. Some officers were allowed to bring weapons back to be placed in the Museum at Ft. Bragg.
Desert Storm’s Most Prized Souvenirs
Saddam Hussein’s Gold-Plated WeaponsExplosives like cluster bomblets and hand grenades also seem to have been a desirable souvenir. I was at Ft. Bliss and in the mess hall there were about 30 young soldiers under guard, all awaiting trial for bringing back contraband. So many explosives were mailed home that the Army placed an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit at the post office to defuse anything that might explode].
The C-5A Galaxy
So with a combination of personal contacts and ingenuity, the process began. A next-door neighbor in Fayetteville was commanding one of the CH-47 Battalions and we were able to coordinate use of their wash racks late at night after they were done. The Provost Marshal for the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) was an old friend from the MP School so we were able to coordinate Customs inspections when the Inspectors had a little free time. The staff worked with XVIII Airborne Corps to schedule redeployment flights. It turned out that giving the service providers bags of our propaganda leaflets went a long way in getting help. Most of the soldiers had heard about leaflets but had never seen them so it gave them some souvenirs to take home. By mid-April, most of the Battalion redeployed on a C-5A Galaxy with a stop-over in Moron Air Base, Spain. We all agreed that the beer we had in their little canteen was the best one we'd had in 8 months, In accordance with General Order #1 it was the first we'd had. Our families met us at Green Ramp at Pope Air Force Base. We turned in weapons and equipment and went home.
There are a couple of things that turned up later that were important side notes. For months after redeployment, the PSYOP community briefed on the effectiveness of products in persuading Iraqi soldier to surrender. The data was based on 13th PSYOP (Enemy Prisoner of War) Battalion interviews and indicated that over 90% of the Iraqis were influenced by leaflets, radio or loudspeaker broadcasts. Unfortunately the fact that all of these interviews were pre-DESERT STORM didn't get transmitted effectively.
This leaflet depicts an Iraqi father and mother thinking of their dead son
Oh my dear son, when will you return?
The back shows the 26 flags of the Coalition Partners
The Joint PSYOP Task Force commander, giving a brief at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization conference, was called to task by a Spanish Officer who wanted to know why Spain's flag wasn't depicted along with other members of the coalition on the leaflet he was showing. Almost caught short, he paused and then explained that there were too many members to show all flags on one leaflet.
The “Lessons learned” is, make sure your data is correct and understand that the filler (back side of a leaflet) can be as important as the PSYOP message.
That is it…Finis.
[Author’s note]: The Colonel is rather modest about his achievements. These days people say, “Oh well, it was only Iraq.” They forget how formidable Saddam’s Army was. They don’t remember the doubts about the power of the U.S. Army, the worry that our weapons would bog down or be incapacitated by the sand, the memories of Vietnam and the 20,000 body bags and thousands of plastic coffins on pallets awaiting shipment to Saudi Arabia to bring back the dead. Instead, An American Army with new untested weapons like the M1 Abrams Tank and Apache Helicopter went up against the eighth largest army in the world, experienced from fighting Iran for almost a decade, and decimated them in 72 hours.
Balloon Operations
It is fairly common knowledge that the U.S, used balloons in Desert Storm. Richard Johnson mentions it several times in his book Seeds of Victory. In the case of the leaflet showing two Arabs holding hands he says:
Certain 4th PSYOP materials state that only 18,000 of either of the Sunset leaflets in combined total were produced. That same source also credits this leaflet with having been disseminated through balloon operations.
According to a 5th Special Forces Group Reconnaissance Team on the ground, one Coalition 12-foot balloon with an aluminum deployment canister that came down near them was packed with the Coalition leaflets called Invitation card and Tidal wave.
Colonel Jeffrey B. Jones discusses the Psychological operations in an article entitled “Psychological Operations in Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Urban Freedom, Special Warfare, July 1994:
Before the Gulf War, during combat operations, and in the aftermath, approximately 650 soldiers from the 4th Psychological Operations Group and from reserve-component PSYOP units contributed to the coalition efforts. They provided radio and TV support, broadcast tactical loudspeaker messages and produced 29 million leaflets. The leaflets were delivered by everything from balloons to B-52s…
The 4th PSYOP Group briefing on their actions during Desert Shield/Storm states that 29 million leaflets (29 tons) were dropped on the Kuwait Theater of Operations by balloon, MC-130, F-16, F/A-18 and B-52.
Another official report states that 330,000 leaflets were disseminated by balloon, 18,900,000 by MC-130, 7,800,000 by F-16, and 2,000,000 by B-52.
Another confusing 4th PSYOP Group document says that 342,000 leaflets were distributed by balloon, waterborne and man pack operations. If we subtract those last two methods we might be right back at 330,000.
The funny thing is that balloons are commonly used to carry propaganda. The Allies and Germans used them in WWI and WWII. The Red Chinese and Taiwan Nationalists have been using propaganda balloons against each other for years, as did the East and West Germans all through the Cold War. The North and South Koreans did it in the past and return to it every time they have a disagreement. The United States did it during the cold war through Radio Free Europe. The Americans have not done so in many recent wars because they usually control the air and have no need for balloons; they can fly their aircraft and drop leaflets wherever they wish. They are a good option when the bullets have not quite started firing and you don’t want to escalate tensions; and of course no pilots are killed in a balloon operation.
After 29 years, a former soldier recently wrote to me and told me about his balloon operations. Here is his story.
Private First Class Bob Dale
Private First Class Bob Dale told me about his time in the 3rd PSYOP Battalion:
I had a background in radio broadcasting and was assigned to the 6th PSYOP Battalion in 1990. I volunteered to work with the 3rd PSYOP Battalion during Operation Desert Storm. I was the S-3 (Operations) Clerk during Desert Storm and spent most of my time in the tactical operations center with the battalion leadership. I briefed the Commander daily on unit positions in the theater.
On 31 December 1990, about 2300 I was told to get a bag ready to depart for a mission at 0600 the next morning. I would need to check out and fuel up a 5 ton truck prior to departure, sterilize my BDUs, bring MOPP gear and my weapon.
U.S. Army 5 Ton Truck
We departed King Fahd early the next morning and drove to King Khalid Military City. It was only then that we were briefed as to what the mission was. We were housed in an aircraft hangar. This hangar had offices and hot showers. My detachment bunked in a large conference room overlooking the hangar. My 5 ton truck was loaded with 32 tanks of helium. Our mission was to go out each night to predetermined coordinates and launch helium balloons carrying leaflets. We were given a crash course in how it all would work, from packing the leaflets into the boxes, what weight each type of balloon could carry, how to set the timers that would detonate and cut the string holding the flaps of the boxes closed, how to anchor the balloons while inflating and how to inflate the balloons. We used two types of balloons, simply referred to as “large” and “small.”
Unfavorable weather conditions in early January made many missions impossible. We would spend our days packing boxes, planning missions and sleeping. Sometime in the afternoon we would get a “Go” or “No go” from the Officer in charge. During the two weeks we were in King Khalid Military City that we completed 5 or 6 missions. There were one or two times that we got on site and could not launch. Once the wind came up during inflation and the damn thing dragged four of us around the desert trying to hold on. It was a particularly poor stretch of weather in early January with rain, freezing rain, and unfavorable winds. Prior to our arrival a very small group had run a couple of missions before realizing they needed more manpower and supplies.
Targeting was a bit complex. As with all aerial leaflet dissemination, a target area was chosen, a dispersal rate decided and then, using weather balloons (called “Pie Balls”) and weather forecasts on winds at elevation you work backwards to your point of release. Figuring for the rate of rise for each type of balloon with a full payload and the winds you pinpoint a release point on the ground. That point needed to be within a few hours’ drive of King Khalid Military City so we could get there, fill and launch balloons and get back before sunrise.
Mother thinking of her dead son leaflet
Oh my dear son, when will you return?
Typically, we would drive up through Hafir al Battin up Highway 50 to somewhere in the desert around the 50/628 intersection. Our missions were all directed into Kuwait. I cannot say which units were targeted, but, the leaflets we dropped were the early PSYOP leaflets of with the theme of the Coalition, brotherhood with Arabs holding hands, an old mother thinking of her son dying, etc. These were the very early leaflets. Past Hafir al Battin - we drove in blackout condition to our release point. I can tell you that 68 mph in a 5 ton truck in blackout trying to keep the vehicle in front of you in sight and then determine whether you just saw the brake lights or not is quite harrowing. (Hafir al Battin had also been evacuated and driving through an empty town is also a little unnerving)
In my time there we only launched one of the "big" balloons and four or five of the small ones.The big ones actually looked like balloons; the small ones looked like giant trash bags. We did multiple smalls on a couple of nights.The big balloon I remember so well, because we released it on a beautiful clear still full moon night. About an hour after launching I looked up and our balloon was high in the sky and perfectly silhouetted against the moon. For all of the blackout driving and secrecy - if you were within 5 miles of our location I guarantee you could hear 32 helium tanks clanking together in the back of the truck bouncing across the desert. It always made me feel a little like a bullet magnet lumbering through the desert. I should also mention that there is a night-vision video of us doing the balloon operations. The Broadcast Company sent a videographer on this mission as well. So somewhere in the PSYOP archive is video.
One of the Coalition F-111 Leaflets
This position is about to be attacked. Get out quickly and save yourself
One interesting note - we heard from some forward observation Special Forces guys (they were billeted with us at KKMC) that they witnessed leaflets falling to the ground on enemy troops at night and the Iraqis would all begin firing in the air assuming there was some aircraft overhead. Supposedly, the Iraqi soldiers believed that we had an invisible airplane. They thought the F-111 was not just invisible to radar, but completely invisible to the human eye. That is why it is featured in many of our leaflets. They were really afraid of the F-111. And, according to some prisoner-of-war interrogations, many Iraqi soldiers said that leaflets had been dropped by the F-111 because they neither saw nor heard any aircraft. Of course, most were dropped by C-130's well out of Iraqi or Kuwaiti airspace and we used to joke that that crew was back on the ground drinking coffee before those leaflets landed.
The Cunard Princess Rest and Relaxation Cruise Ship
I was scheduled for Rest and Relaxation on the Cunard cruise ship anchored at Bahrain. We halted offensive operations two days before my scheduled R&R. I took (with permission) several samples of leaflets for trading. I ran into 3 Marines on board and we began talking. They had taken hundreds of POWs and he said, “They were all holding your leaflets over their head when they surrendered.” I said I sure would like to have one of those. He had some with him for trading. I traded him a handful of the Marine Wave leaflets for one POW leaflet. It was pretty cool to have a leaflet that had gone full circle. For all I know it might have been one of the leaflets I dropped.
I asked Bob about the sterilized uniforms. As far as I knew, Saudi Arabia invited the United States to enter the country as a protector, so why take the names and patches off the uniform? This was not like Laos where our forces were undercover in a country we were not supposed to be in. He was not sure but talked a bit more about that aspect of the story:
I can tell you that our printers who were operating at a fixed (in country) print facility wore sterilized uniforms. Many of the leaflets were classified Top Secret. A CNN news crew was at the checkpoint just a hundred yards from our compound and we were ordered not to interact with them. We were not allowed to discuss what we did with anyone at the chow hall. There was a lot of secrecy around our entire mission, not just the balloon mission.
Sometimes we had a funny reaction to our uniforms. I was waiting in line at a PX truck to get some supplies and a young female Specialist in line behind me struck up a conversation. She said, “Hey, how come you guys don't have anything on your uniform?” I said we had to sterilize our uniforms. “What are you doing?” I can't tell you that. She then went on to tell me about her military intelligence unit, where they were stationed and what they were doing. I finally said, “You realize you just gave all that information to a guy in a sterilized uniform and you don't even know who I am or what country I might be working for.” That finally shut her up.
During Operation Desert Storm from 1990 to 1991 the 3rd PSYOP Battalion was known as the Dissemination Battalion. They are mentioned in a 4th PSYOP Group folded card featuring the PSYOP Groups and Battalions that took part in that operation.
The front of the folded card
The back of the folded card
Notice the comments at the far right on the back of the card:
Over 29 million leaflets were printed and disseminated by the 4th Psychological Operations Dissemination Battalion (Airborne)’s Print Company throughout Operation Desert Storm,, illustrator and printers worked around the clock to draw, print, cut and roll leaflet for dissemination by leaflet bombs and boxes out of Air Force aircraft. One Iraqi soldier surrendered with over 300 leaflets, believing the more he carried, the better he’d be treated by Coalition Forces.
Psychological Operations Dissemination Battalion (Airborne)
Print Company Leaflet Magazine
At the end of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm the Print Company printed a book depicting many of their propaganda products during the Persian Gulf War. The booklet notes that the Print Company of the Dissemination Battalion actually printed over 40 million leaflets within a 75-day period, and 29 million were actually distributed. Their mission was to print, package, and deliver leaflets to a specified location on time and on target by means of balloons, leaflet bombs, leaflet artillery rounds and leaflet boxes. When I sent Colonel Kelliher some images from this booklet and asked him about it, he was not familiar with it. He said:
I think this was a Print Company internal project, not a PSYOP Dissemination Battalion or PSYOP Group effort. I am guessing that in the young Company Commander's enthusiasm, they included a leaflet that should not have been in there. I see the word “Thugs” in one caption and I don't believe we would have used a word like “thugs” in our verbiage. I may have seen it while delivering or receiving an ass chewing but I can't recall. I don't have contact with any print company folks any more
A Typical Illustration from the Print Company Leaflet Magazine
For those that want to know more about the PSYOP of Operation Desert Storm we recommend you look at out article here
Kurdish Freedom Fighters
