Although this leaflet is undated we can say with some safety it was
from 1966. The early leaflets were crude and hand-drawn; by 1967 the Company
began dating their leaflets and in general the artwork was less crude. This
leaflet was aimed at villages dominated by the Viet Cong. Its theme was "The
Government supports you; support the government." 10,000 copies were printed
at the request of the Special Forces. The front depicts a doctor treating a
baby and farmers being given a bag of rice. The text on the front is:
This leaflet depicts a puppet being controlled by Hanoi and Peking. 500,000
copies of this leaflet on the theme “you were tricked” was requested by the
intelligence section S-2 of the 246th PSYOP Company. The text on the back
is:
Specialist 4 Eugene Simmons was an illustrator in the 246th PSYOP Company for all of
1967. He recalls that Viet Cong prisoners of war would sometimes be isolated, interviewed
and photographed. They would be asked to write a note to their combat buddies letting them
know they were at alive and healthy. Photos would be taken and a leaflet produced with a
photo of the prisoner on one side and his handwritten or typed note on the other side.
Leaflet 246-55-67 depicts Nguyen Van Tuong. 50,000 leaflets were printed to be dropped by
air over the 315B Unit at the request of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. The text on the
back says in part:
Staff Sergeant Robert "Dennis" Brown was a member of the 246th PSYOP Company
and later the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam during 1967-1968. He was first
attached to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and later the 25th Infantry
Division. He also supported Special Forces, and MACV Teams. He went on
operations with these units while they were in the field and flew daily from remote short-landing and take-off
airstrips.
He recalls dropping leaflets from U-10 Courier aircraft with pilots from the Air Force's 5th Air Commando Squadron,
Otters, C-47 Skytrain aircraft, and UH-1D Huey helicopters. He also
regularly played Chieu Hoi tapes and did loudspeaker missions. He said he dropped enough leaflets over Vietnam for the
Vietnamese people to never run out of toilet paper. The standard leaflet was
the Chieu Hoi leaflet. It promised the bearer, a North Vietnamese Soldier or
Viet Cong guerrilla, safe passage if he surrendered. It also promised him
money, relocation, land, and a home in South Vietnam.
He was involved in various "hearts and minds" projects such as Medical Civil
Action Programs (MEDCAP) with the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV)
and Special Forces teams. He says he never knew how successful his
efforts were, but he did get positive feedback on one occasion. He had often wondered if I had any effect on the outcome of that
war. He said:
David Summers of the 6th PSYOP Battalion, 4th PSYOP Group, sends a
picture of Lt. Smizer (left) and himself (right) preparing to mount up in their
two-seater U-10 to do some PSYOP broadcasting somewhere in the Third Corps
area of South Vietnam. He says:
In late 1966, the USAF selected a military variant of the Cessna Model 337 Super
Skymaster to supplement the 0-1 Bird Dog forward air controller aircraft then operating in
Southeast Asia. Designated as the 0-2, the aircraft was distinguished by twin tail booms
and tandem-mounted engines. Having twin engines enabled the 0-2 to absorb more ground fire
and still return safely, endearing it to its crews. The 02-A had hard points on the wings
for weapons and rockets. The 02B had no weapons but was designed to carry loudspeakers and
disseminate propaganda leaflets. The photograph was taken by photographer Richard
N. Levine who
took enemy fire on this mission.
This is one of the earliest 246th PSYOP Company leaflets I have seen. 100,000 copies of
this very crude leaflet were printed in early 1966. I have seen it themed both
“Transportation” and “Movement.” Apparently it was meant to be used
for control of the civilian population during military operations. The leaflet depicts a
small hamlet surrounded by ARVN or American forces while helicopter gunships patrol
overhead. It was distributed both by air and by hand. The text on the front is:
The 246th PSYOP Company printed 500,000 copies of leaflet 343 in July 1966. This
leaflet depicted the insignia of the 173rd Airborne Brigade on one side and soldiers
interacting with Vietnamese children on the back. It was considered a variation of 246-069
mentioned above. Some of the text is:
The 173rd Airborne Brigade (Sky Soldiers) arrived in Vietnam 7 May 1965. During the six
years it was in-country it was located at Bien Hoa, An Khe and Bong Son. It took part in a
combat parachute assault during Operation Junction City, 22 February 1967. Members of the
Brigade often refer to themselves as “The Herd.” The Brigade departed Vietnam on
25 August 1971.
This leaflet was prepared by the 246th PSYOP Company in Bien Hoa in 1967. It depicts an
American medic washing a Vietnamese baby on the front. The text is:
The back of the leaflet depicts an Army doctor treating a line of Vietnamese civilians.
The text is:
This leaflet is aimed at building trust between the Vietnamese people and the
Americans.
This 246th PSYOP Company often worked with the Australians and prepared leaflets for
them. This leaflet explains the Australian presence in Vietnam. 10,000 copies were printed
to be disseminated by aircraft and hand. The text says in part:
I have a list of all the American leaflets prepared for the Australians by the 246th
prior to April 1970. The total is 26 leaflets starting with 246-287-67 (Death by Napalm)
and ending with 246-353-68 (Viet Cong to steal rice from coming harvest). The Joint U.S.
Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) then took over the duty and the first of the new leaflets
was SP-927A (Come home to your family).
My Friend, former Sergeant Derrill de Heer, who was a member of the Australian 1st
Psychological Operations Unit from 1969 to 1970 told me:
The 246th also supported Thai troops in Vietnam. 75,000 copies of this 4 x 5-inch
leaflet were prepared in 1968 by the 246th PSYOP Company. They were distributed by
aircraft and by hand. The leaflet depicts a Thai soldier and a Vietnamese civilian. The
text is in part:
There were many native tribes like the Montagnards living in Vietnam. They
were persecuted and cared little for either the Vietnamese government or the
Viet Cong. They wanted to be left alone. The Americans saw them as an
opportunity. They could be helped with food, medicine, clothes, and weapons
and with Special Forces training would make a loyal ally in the fight
against Communism. But most could not read. How do you tempt them to join
your forces? This is a leaflet for the native tribes that says it all with
pictures. On both sides we see the native who has been drafted and forced
into service by the Viet Cong in a fire fight. On one side the wounded
native crawls back to the Viet Cong camp to be treated. He finds that the
communists have abandoned him, and he is left to die alone. On the other
side, he surrenders to the government or American forces holding a leaflet.
He is taken to a hospital where a doctor treats his wounds. Many of the
native tribes of Vietnam did become loyal allies of the American forces.
This is an interesting leaflet depicting
Viet Cong at a roadblock. They will stop traffic, perhaps steal food, rice,
and materials, perhaps take money as taxes, and perhaps even take young men
and force them to join their force. The text on the back is:
Leaflet 246-11-67 concerns the distribution of captured rice. The 246th printed 50,000
copies of the 3 x 6-inch leaflet for local villagers with dissemination by aircraft. The
leaflet depicts Australian forces returning captured rice to the villagers and the
supporting text:
I note this leaflet is lower than the lowest number shown in the report above. I cannot
explain any of that. The military seems awful at getting numbers and dates straight. I can
just report what I read from their documents.
Leaflet 246-21-67 depicts an Allied air strike with a dead Viet Cong in the foreground.
The 246th printed 50,000 of the 3 x 6-inch leaflets for distribution by aircraft and hand.
The text tells of the destruction to come in future air raids.
In general, PSYOP troops are asked not to show dead enemy bodies because it seems to be
gloating and it does nothing but anger the enemy and make them fight harder. As always, we
and our allies ignore the prohibition. It seems we just believe that we can scare the Hell
out of the enemy and keep producing these leaflets that we are told is unproductive.
This leaflet
targets the 9th Viet Cong Division. 100,000 copies were printed. It depicts
a small lone Viet Cong soldier facing three giant Allied soldiers. The text
on the back is:
This crude cartoon leaflets tells the people that the Viet Cong Main Force units are
pushing those people drafted from the villages to the front when attacking. 100,000 copies
were printed to be distributed by air. The leaflet consists of three panels. The front
depicts Viet Cong telling the local draftees to attack. The back shows dead guerrilla in
front of an Allied position, and the final picture shows happy Vietnamese in front of a
Chieu Hoi building. The text says in part:
In July 2018, my pal Derrill de Heer who was with the Australian PSYOP force in Vietnam
wrote to me with a request:
I had information on the alleged napalm leaflet in my files. Of course, it had nothing
to do with napalm. In fact, it was a warning to the Vietnamese that if Viet Cong forces
stayed within their villages, force would be used against them. The theme was
“movement,” and the concept was to get the Vietnamese to leave their village for
their own safety. The leaflet depicts a village with Allied aircraft bombing and strafing
Viet Cong fighters. There is what appears to be a bomb blast and I suppose that the
left-wing press might have tried to imply that was napalm burning innocent women and
children. A Vietnamese villager is seen in a wagon escaping the village at bottom right.
His life has been saved by the warning. 50,000 copies of this leaflet were prepared to be
disseminated by air or by hand. The leaflet was originally requested by the 5th Special
Forces Group. The text on the front is:
Leaflet 246-391-67 was in the form of a personal letter from American General Hay to
his opposite number on the enemy side.
Captain Edward N. Voke, S2 (Intelligence) staff officer of the 6th PSYOP Battalion from
1966 to 1967 told me about a leaflet which tells of the enemy of their dead lying unburied
on the battlefield: He considered this leaflet one of the best he had seen:
Warrant Officer 1 Chip Decker flew the “Huey” helicopter for the 128th
Assault Helicopter Co. (Tomahawks) in Vietnam. He told me that in regard to the General
Hay letter-leaflet:
I have depicted a good representation of the leaflets produced by the 246th PSYOP
Company. I could have shown a hundred more. Now it is time to leave the company and see
the coming of the new 6th PSYOP Battalion.
The 246th PSYOP Company was officially deactivated on 31 December 1967 to become the
6th Psychological Operations Battalion on 1 January 1968. The battalion colors were
presented to Major Clarence A. Barkley, the 6th PSYOP Battalion Commander by the 4th PSYOP
Group Commander on 5 January 1968 at Bien Hoa.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion moved its residence from the Train Compound to the Honour-Smith
Compound on the 28th of January 1968. The move was made due to expected increase in unit
strength and the present lack of adequate space at the Train Compound.
By 1969, the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion consisted of 33 officers, 2 Warrant
Officers, and 151 enlisted men for a total of 186 troops.
In May 1968,
enemy infiltrators in Saigon's Gia Dinh Section reached a critical point -
the two choices: surrender or continue to fight. Vietnamese and American
psychological operations teams moved in and 135 chose to surrender. Many
Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers, remnants of the elite Quyet Thang
(Resolved to Win) Regiment, were classified as returnees under the
Government of Vietnam's Chieu Hoi "Open Arms" program. The figures add up to
the largest mass defection of the war.
The enemy
regiment infiltrated Gia Dinh on May 31. Elements of the U.S 6th Battalion
and the Vietnamese 50th Political Warfare (POLWAR) Battalion conducted
leaflet drops and aerial loudspeaker missions starting 5 June.
Captain Capers
G. Barr III of the Group PSYOP Development Center said:
By June 17
only 200 were alive, less than half the regiment's original strength; of
these 80 were wounded. That afternoon
the unit's deputy commander, Captain Pham Van Xuong, rallied to the ARYN 5th
Airborne Battalion in Gia Dinh carrying an Allied surrender leaflet. At the
suggestion of the 50th POLWAR Battalion, the deputy commander recorded a
surrender appeal, stating that he was being well treated and urging his
former subordinates to defect, pointing out the hopelessness of their
position: The tape was repeatedly broadcast by the 6th PSYOP Battalion
loudspeaker team from helicopters over enemy positions that night and the
next morning. By noon June 18, Vietnamese Marines had received more than 100
defectors.
A "quick
reaction" team from the 4th PSYOP Group interviewed six officers from the
regiment. They credited the PSYOP broadcasts with convincing them to
surrender. One of the defectors directed Allied forces to a weapons cache
conta1n1ng, among other things, 18 grenade launchers, 81 B-40 rocket rounds,
16 82mm mortar rounds and 5,000 AK-47 cartridges.
The 6th Psychological Operations Battalion reported these quarterly production totals:
Leaflets printed: 49,800,000; Leaflets disseminated: 372, 800,000; Loudspeaker broadcasts:
1,425 hours and 40 minutes; Total missions: 1002. Of the 20 officers assigned to the 6th
Battalion, 14 had formal PSYOP training. The remaining 6 were enrolled in after-hours
study course. A small Viet Cong propaganda printing press was presented to the 6th PSYOP
Battalion by the 5th Special Forces Group.
At one point while writing about a 4-color leaflet I mentioned that
the process to make such a leaflet was slower and more expensive than making
a one- or two-color leaflet because it takes two passes through the printing press and perfect
registration. This led directly to Former Specialist 5 Ed
Kristak writing to me and sending the picture above and
stating, "on the wall behind us is a sample of color posters we printed."
The picture depicts
from left to right, Ed Kristak, Staff Sergeant Gail Surrem, and
Specialist 5 John Johnson. Notice the stacks of leaflets on the desks and
the many posters on the wall.
When I
mentioned the comment I made about a leaflet such as the Tet "Year of the
Rat" leaflet above, Ed told me about his experience with 4-color printing:
General Westmoreland Inspects Leaflets being loaded into an M129E1 Leaflet
Bomb
The new 6th PSYOP Battalion that became part of the 4th PSYOP Group supported the III
Combat Tactical Zone from Bien Hoa. They supported the following units:
Although he had no PSYOP training, Rich Hosier was assigned to the 6th PSYOP Battalion
in Vietnam in August 1967. He was issued a 5-page booklet that explained the mission:
He was later sent to the 244th PSYOP Company and 7th PSYOP Battalion in Da Nang. He was
then sent to Chu Lai to support the 23rd Infantry (Amercal) Division where he started his
“On-the-Job training.” He went on various missions winning “hearts and
minds” and showing movies. He always started with hygiene movie to explain the proper
way to brush your teeth or bathe a child, and then he would show a real Hollywood movie.
The favorites were Westerns. The Vietnamese loved the horses! Once his team was laughing
as they watched “The Green Berets” although it was in English and most of them
couldn't understand a word of it.
Speaking of loudspeaker missions, there were numerous reports of the Viet Cong opening
fire on the loudspeaker aircraft. Army Specialist 4th Class John (Snake) Orr of B Company,
6th PSYOP Battalion (Bien Hoa) told me that during his Vietnam tour he was assigned to and
supported at different times the 101st Airborne Division, the 1st Infantry division, the
1st Air Cavalry (almost 600 hours flying speaker and leaflet missions) the 9th Infantry
Division, and the 25th Infantry Division. John said that the 9th Infantry Division was the
only unit that thanked him. He said that in general, most of the infantry patrols were
unhappy to have his team tagging along. He suspects that they considered his PSYOP troops
just dead weight who they hoped could shoot straight in a firefight. John preferred flying
to ground operations; though he admits that he took a heck of a lot more bullets in
choppers than he ever did on the ground.
Chad Spawr, a former PSYOP Team Leader of the 6th PSYOP Battalion during 1968 and 1969
also mentioned the Wandering Soul:
On another occasion Bennett talked about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He
was flying over what was supposed to be a “Post B-52” bombed area. It was normal
to go in after the bombing and tell the enemy that the B-52s would come back again and
recommend that they go Chieu Hoi and turn themselves in. The enemy is considered more
compliant after a bombing when they are all beat to hell and concussed. Well, in this case
the timing was not quite right. Bennett says:
Chad mentions that his chopper was often
fired at on PSYOP Mission. Howard Patrick told me the same story, and by
coincidence, he often worked with Chad.
One of the things that always amazed me when you speak or read about PSYOP
troops back in the 60s is how often they were shanghaied and sent to a unit
with little or no training. When you read the orders from back then the
commander or officers usually signed their papers something like "Mark
Johnson, Captain, Infantry." None of the officers had been trained for PSYOP
and they were all from Infantry or Artillery or some other type of unit. The
same with the enlisted men. I have heard many stories of men that got to
Vietnam ordered to one unit and when it was found out that they had writing
or radio experience suddenly found themselves in a PSYOP unit, being sent on
missions with little training. That is all different today, with both the
officers and enlisted men being highly trained at their own school and
receiving occupational specialties. An example is retired PSYOP trooper
Howard Patrick. He was thrown into battle as a PSYOP specialist with no
training but through perseverance and hard work had a successful and
meaningful tour. He told me:
Specialist 5 Albert Viator was a trained broadcaster and journalist who
found himself assigned to the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam and instead of
writing articles for a newspaper or broadcasting on a radio station found
himself in the bush humping a loudspeaker or in the air dropping leaflets.
He wrote a biography of his 1968 tour titled An Accidental [Psy] Warrior
and mentioned some of his daily activities (edited for brevity).
I should add that not only was Viator untrained for
the job he was given, but he also points out in the book that he had four
different officers during his year in Vietnam and not one of them was
trained in PSYOP. It was quite common in those days to just "shanghai" an
infantry or artillery officer and assign him to PSYOP. Now, all the officers
and enlisted men are trained and have their own PSYOP military occupational
specialty (MOS).
It was not only the Wandering Soul tape that was played by the 6th PSYOP Battalion in
Vietnam. Sometimes the Wandering Soul tape was used in conjunction with other sounds to
multiply the fear in the heart of the enemy. A former member of the 6th PSYOP Battalion
told me:
I had hoped to place tape 69 here but there were hundreds and I have 58 and 71 but am
missing the one I wanted. Just to show the reader what a tape is like, here is 71, to be
read over the loudspeaker in Vietnamese in 40 seconds.
The above Phil Fehrenbacher cartoon depicts a lonely Viet Cong reading an American
propaganda leaflet telling him that his neighbor Nguyen is in the sack with his
girlfriend. This is a great parody of a standard Chieu Hoi leaflet. Phil was assigned as
an 81E Illustrator assigned to 6th PSYOP Battalion at Bien Hoa. He told me:
Note: Among American soldiers, “Jody” appears in many marching cadences and
songs. He is the one who stayed home and is having fun with your girlfriend:
Besides leaflets and cartoons, the 6th PSYOP Battalion also printed
newspapers. According to the 1969 declassified report: Employment of US Army
Psychological Operations Units in Vietnam, they printed Tin Tong Hop (News
Roundup), issued daily, two pages, 40,000 copies per edition. The 6th PSYOP Battalion
printed Tin Tong Hop for VC and general population audiences in support of CORDS Corps
Tactical Zone III. They also printed Tin Chien Truong (News from the Front), one
page, 50,000 copies per edition. The 6th PSYOP Battalion printed Tin Chien Truong for VC
and NVA troop target audiences in support of CORDS Corps Tactical Zone III.
Retired Major Nelson Volk told me about his 1966-1967 tour in the 6th PSYOP Battalion
as an S-2 (Intelligence officer):
[Author’s note] During Desert Storm it was discovered that the color red signals
danger to an Iraqi and he would be hesitant to pick up a leaflet with a lot of red in the
image or text. Many early leaflets that used a lot of red were found to be unsuccessful,
and the color might have been a contributing factor. Allegedly, there was an official
recommendation to remove any trace of the color red, which is a danger signal to Iraqis.
The leaflet is colored a bright golden yellow with the message on the front. PSYOP
records indicate that 6 million copies were printed and forwarded to the flight line at
Nha Trang.
Nelson Volk did a second tour of Vietnam, now a major, in 1970-1971. He was
appointed a Senior Advisor to the Vietnamese 17th Armed Cavalry Regiment,
outside Da Nang.
One of the major efforts of the PSYOP Battalions was to show the people of Vietnam that
the Americans came as friends and were not invaders and occupiers like the French and
Japanese before them.
SP5 Jack O'Neil with Armed Propaganda Team (APT)
Specialist Five Jack O’Neil of the 6th PSYOP Battalion told me how the men tried
to help the local people:
While supporting the 82nd Airborne in 1969 First Lieutenant Ben Rogers and I
volunteered at an orphanage just outside Saigon. We were happy to spend time there because
the children were mostly orphans of ARVN soldiers whose parents had been killed by the
Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army. When we were there the kids would flock around us,
wearing my hat, and wanting hugs and laughter which we were able to give them by making
faces and funny noises. We also cried a lot worrying about their future. When working with
1st Air Cavalry we helped with MEDCAP and DENTCAP projects and spent time with the
children teaching them how to play baseball, taking them to the Saigon Zoo, giving them
comic books, coloring books, soccer balls and other items.
Specialist 5 Kenneth Bennett
Specialist 5 Kenneth Bennett was also a member of the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam.
His unit adopted an orphanage; one run by Catholic nuns in Bien Hoa. The unit helped care
for the children on a regular basis. They often bought food and milk for them.
The Nuns care for the Orphans
There was a minor medical emergency because the infamous hungry Vietnam rats would
enter the orphanage at night and sometimes gnaw the fingers, nose, or toes, of the
children. The volunteers found rabbit wire on black market and covered the doors and
windows and virtually ended the rat problem. The troops also built an 8-foot high wooden
fence to keep bad things outside and the children safe inside. Nobody talked about
expenditures or how much money they laid out. They just did it. Their hearts were in the
right place. For many of the troops, helping the children was great therapy, considering
they were living in a war torn country and missing their families and homes. This was a
way to think about what you could do for helpless orphans instead of thinking about the
injuries and deaths of your buddies.
The Orphans in their Classroom
They sponsored birthday parties for the orphans. The 6th Battalion members spent as
much time as possible helping and doing all that was needed to keep the place running
safely. The children were mostly GI babies and if the women kept them, they had hell to
pay for having relationship with men, especially American soldiers. That has not changed
much to this day. The Vietnamese still look down of children of mixed races.
Ken said that a few years ago he and his wife visited Vietnam and found the orphanage
and all the old buildings in Tan Mai, near Bien Hoa. A Catholic Nun gave them a tour. From
third floor, He could still clearly see the church and the old buildings he knew from the
war. Eventually he had to walk away, trying to hold back tears. The 3-story orphanage had
become a dumping ground for children with severe birth defects.
First Lieutenant Dennis Smiser with a NVA “Hoi Chanh”
defector, Vietnam 1969
From the Psychological Operations Veterans Association Newsletter (POVA):
During the Viet-Nam War, many officers were trained as advisors and sent to Viet-Nam
to advise both American and Vietnamese units on matters related to Psychological
Operations. Former Army officer Dennis Smiser attended and completed the Military Advisor
Training Academy (MATA) course at Ft. Bragg in 1967 before deploying to Vietnam, where he
was assigned to the 6th PSYOP Battalion from 1967 to 1969. Here is Dennis’
recollection of the training regime at Ft. Bragg:
“The MATA Curriculum as I remember centered on Culture, Religions, Geopolitics,
History, and Casual language training. The course lasted 6 weeks and was pretty intense.
After graduation 16 of us continued training. After completion my MOS has a 1 designator
added. Supposedly the Army field grades did too. There were very interesting classes and
some actually changed many of my opinions. Most classes were classified.
Chad Spawr and Dennis Smiser served together in the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Viet-Nam.
While working with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment north of Bien Hoa in a village
seal-and-search operation, the “seal” was put in place during hours of darkness,
preventing anybody either entering or leaving the village.
In the morning, when beginning the search process, Lieutenant Dennis Smiser walked
out of one of the village hootches complete with rucksack and weapons. When asked how he
got into the village, he simply said he’d been there all night. He then retrieved a
man who turned out to be a North Vietnamese “Hoi Chanh” defector, who Dennis had
convinced to surrender during the night, alone, with no support.”
Comic book 2078
Jack O’Niel mentions comic books above. Comic book 2078 is an example of a Chieu
Hoi product. Its title is A Nightmare Passed - Chieu Hoi. This July 1967 booklet is
5 x 7-inches in size and 20-pages in length. The comic book presents, in cartoon style,
the experiences and thoughts of a Hoi Chanh (defector or “rallier” from the Viet
Cong) on the events which led to his decision to Chieu Hoi (return to the National
Government). At the start of the book a happy young man is shown at school. Later he
decides to join the Viet Cong. His group is first bombed by the Americans and then he gets
sick but cannot be treated properly in the field. He is forced to take part in
self-criticism and after a second American aerial attack he finds Chieu Hoi leaflets on
the ground. He returns to the fold at the end of the book has returned to his old school.
There are other reports of comic books used in psychological operations in Vietnam. For
instance, 60 copies of Vietnamese War Heroes children’s comic books coded
6-789 and 50 copies of a later issue coded 6-791 were distributed during Operation Lanikai,
from November to December 1966 by PSYOP troops attached to the U.S. Army’s 25th
Division. On other occasions during the same operation 15 Navy Heroes and 30 Children’s
Heroes comic books were given to the locals. On another Medcap visit 10 copies of the
comic book History of America coded 6-182 were given to the children of Long Dinh.
These comics were of course all printed by the 6th PSYOP Battalion.
A
PSYOP Mobile Audiovisual Information Collection and Dissemination System (MSQ-85) waiting
for the ferry on the dock at Can Tho. The MSQ-85 was the primary system in the U.S.
inventory designated for tactical point dissemination of video products in
other-than-broadcast mode. The AN/MSQ-85 includes a printing press, an AQ-4A movie
projector, AN/UIH-6 loudspeaker public address system, AP-9 slide projector, AN/USH
two-track international standard tape recorder, BM-22A large projection screen and
R-520A/UUR radio receiver, a case of hand grenades, three cases of C-rations, a roll of
toilet paper, and a generator. The trailer in the back could have anything from leaflets,
magazines, and gifts of soap, to 105mm rounds (full of leaflets).
In early 1969, an AN/MSQ-85 team led by Lieutenant John Hilton and Specialist 4 Bruce
Berglund of the 6th PSYOP Battalion was attacked in a Vietnamese village during an evening
movie presentation. A satchel charge was thrown into the crew cab, where it exploded and
destroyed the interior. The PSYOP team was not in the vehicle at the time; they had been
accompanied by troops from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment on this operation for
security, and the team was able to return to Battalion HQ in Bien Hoa.
Chad Spawr
tells us more about the attack in his 2023 book, 614 Days: Memories from
my Time at War:
Our
Psychological Operations Battalion deployed several vehicles which were used
to carry the PSYOP “tools of the trade” when moving between different
assignments. Known as the MSQ-85, this was a 3/4-ton truck, based on the
Dodge M-37 medium duty truck with a large box-type cargo container in the
bed. In the container were a gas-powered electric generator, movie
projector, movie screen, spare parts for the projector, power cords, space
for several boxes of leaflets, and storage for a wide range of propaganda
videos and films. There was also room for our personal traveling gear,
weapons, water, food, and the range of things troops on the road might need.
Our PSYOP
teams deployed with these MSQ-85’s in support of both infantry and armor
forces and could set up in or near a local village and begin playing films,
music, and/or distributing flyers, leaflets, posters, pamphlets, etc., to
residents. In principle, it was a very useful PSYOP tool. In practice,
however, it was often a very juicy target.
On one
occasion, in August 1968, a two-man PSYOP team was traveling in support of
the 25th Infantry Division not far from Cu Chi. The truck hit a landmine on
the right front side, blowing the entire front suspension and wheel
backwards into the cab, striking Lieutenant John Miller. The driver, Burton
Kuhn, was badly dazed, lost control of the wreck and crashed. Within a few
minutes, the ambushing enemy soldiers approached the truck. Kuhn played dead
and was not further bothered. Apparently, Lieutenant Miller was not yet dead
and showed signs of life. He was shot multiple times by the enemy soldiers.
In the spring
of ’69, another MSQ-85 was working with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
and had set up to play films for a local village. Once set up and operating,
the team joined in distributing leaflets to the people watching the film.
While they
were distracted, at least one local Viet Cong snuck up to the vehicle and
dropped a large satchel charge into the cockpit of the truck. The explosion
destroyed the front end of the truck. While nobody was injured, the PSYOP
team was now stranded with only a few other Americans present to provide any
semblance of security.
The destroyed
MSQ-85 was towed by an armored cavalry assault vehicle (ACAV) to the Cu Chi
basecamp, and then flat bedded back to the 6th Battalion headquarters in
Bien Hoa. Virtually the whole battalion turned out for the show. I think it
was the first time many of the soldiers saw direct evidence that we were in
a real shooting war.
I only ever
had to drive an MSQ-85 once after that. It was a terrible vehicle to drive,
with that huge box and gear on the back, weight, and balance all out of
kilter, leaning like a drunk sailor on shallow curves. There was nothing
about it I liked, and I was very relieved when I was told I’d be going out
to work with the 1st Cavalry Division at Quan Loi.
Specialist 5
Albert Viator’s MSQ85 truck in Vietnam
Former 6th PSYOP Battalion member Specialist 5
Albert Viator mentioned his MSQ85 truck:
This is a picture of a three-quarter ton Army truck that was assigned to the
6th Battalion that I used as a PSYOP field team member for several months
during my tour in Vietnam. Besides the speaker array it carried a
generator, 16mm projector, and other gear in the box in the bed. I was
assigned to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade in III Corp when I used it to
support “Cordon and Search,” and other operations that could be reached by
road.
SP5 Viator by his chopper
The rest of the time we used Huey helicopters and river boats for speaker
missions
as
well as to get from place to place on occasion.
About a year after our initial discussion, several PSYOP veterans were
talking about how many different combat units they supported. Viator agreed:
It
seems like a lot of us were bounced around from one unit to another. I
didn't realize it was common practice. I did some time with the 25th
Infantry Division, then was sent over to the 1st Infantry Division, and then
was sent down South to join up with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade where I
remained for about 7 months of my tour. We got good at hitchhiking on mail
and resupply runs, river boats and convoys to get where we needed to be.
Tim Fitzpatrick
added:
The CUCV
(Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle) was a commercial pickup truck used to
replace the 50s/60s heavy duty dodge weapons carrier trucks. Senator Les
Aspen believed you could replace Military Information Support Team
specification equipment with commercial off-the-shelf equipment and just
paint it green as he believed most military specifications were bureaucratic
waste. The shelter on the truck was a standard communications shelter
designed to be mounted on weapons carriers or trucks. This one was then
modified to support PSYOP audio visual multimedia dissemination to large
groups. This one was Vietnam era, but such systems have been employed since
WWI.
I had the last 6 of those trucks in 8th POB at Fort Bragg in 1976
before we re-platformed to commercial pickup trucks. The weapons
carriers were bought up by local fire services and served with them well
into the 1990s for forest fire work.
Army Specialist 4th Class John Orr of the 6th PSYOP Battalion recalls helping an entire
Montagnard village go Chieu Hoi on one occasion:
A small group of about 20 men had gathered with one of their chiefs. I had
previously dropped leaflets on their village. I think that the men had either volunteered
or had been chosen by their chief to test out our process. That is, were the Americans
trustworthy and truthful?
I was supposed to escort them to Long Binh from their home in the highlands. They
were frightened of the Caribou transport plane and seemed to think that it might eat them
if they walked into the gaping hole at the back. I managed to get the chief to come into
the plane with me, then showed him how the tail was closed (so his tribe would not fall
out) and then took him back outside so his people could see that the Caribou had not eaten
him. We then talked some and I made the chief and his warriors a gift of a few packs of
Camel cigarettes (their favorites). That sealed the deal. I later heard that the entire
village came over to the government side but I doubt they were ever very close to the Viet
Cong anyway. I have worried on occasion (very deeply) about the plight of the Montagnards,
I fear they were not treated well after the North took control.
CREDIBILIS
All the PSYOP Battalions, the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th, were
subordinate to the 4th PSYOP Group. The Group was activated in the U.S. Army
on 7 November 1967 and activated with headquarters in Saigon on 1 December
1967. The Group published a monthly magazine called Credibilis ("Credible,
worthy of belief") that told of the exploits of the Group and the
Battalions. It is a nice way of keeping track of what any battalion was
doing at any specific time.
In December 1968, Credibilis looked back on that year in Vietnam
and said in part about the 6th Battalion:
The "Professional Litterbugs" of the 6th PSYOP Battalion work
around the clock executing psychological operations in III Corps...The most
well-known PSYOP program is The Government of Vietnam's Chieu Hoi Program.
In June, a record number of 121 ralliers laid down their arms in the Gia
Dinh area...more recently, 95 soldiers of the famed Khrum Kampuchea Kymer
rallied near the III Corps Cambodian border. In III Corps alone, more than
2,000 Hoi Chanh have come over in 1968. With the assignment of a helicopter
to the unit PSYOP teams can rush to the scene of a battle to make
loudspeaker appeals or drop leaflets. Another innovation, though
experimental is "Early Word." This is a relaying device that allows radios
messages from the ground to be sent directly to an overhead aircraft and be
broadcast by loudspeaker. A rallier on the ground can broadcast directly to
his comrades still in the fight. The 6th also has the unique responsibility
of providing support to the Black Panthers of the Royal Thai Army. The
battalion has five 1250 offset presses which run 24 hours a day. This year
the Battalion printed 251 million leaflets in addition to posters and other
special projects. During the first 10 months of 1968, the Battalion
disseminated 1,259,000,000 leaflets and broadcast 5,620 hours in its effort
to saturate III Corps with PSYOP information.
On 21 April 1971 a briefing
and demonstration of Early Word broadcasting was given at the Republic
of Korea headquarters. The purpose and method of acquiring loudspeaker
aircraft was explained to the Koreans to insure the widest possible use
of this PSYOP asset. Future demonstrations are planned for the Korean
White Horse Division and the Tiger Division in May.
The Monthly Operations Report
The Magazine Credibilis is usually about 20-pages long, highly
illustrated, and mostly light news for the Group members. The Monthly
Operations Report is a completely different animal. It has no fancy cover.
It would be sent back to Ft. Bragg and perhaps the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs
of Staff. Its length was decided by how much the Group and Battalions did in
a month, it is single-spaced, usually with no illustrations and it mentions
everything that was done in each month. It is highly detailed. If a
Battalion had 18 loudspeakers teams, it would mention each one of them. I
was going to give an example of some of the comments on several such
reports, but because they give so much information's I will just mention a
few comments from the December 1969 report. The reader will understand I am
ignoring 98% of the text.
Throughout the III Corps Tactical Zone emphasis continues to be
placed on Pacification and Vietnamization with special emphasis placed on
joint US/ARVN operations. The 6th PSYOP Battalion has organized a program
called "Operation Blue Eagle Six," designed to build the Government image in
Bien Hoa where the Viet Cong infrastructure is strong. The battalion also
initiated "Operation Tune-in," encouraging field teams to spend time in
face-to-face communication with the people. During December, the battalion
processed 249 leaflet mission requests. 94 hours of aerial loudspeaker time
was broadcast, and 47,000,000 leaflets were dispensed for the Tinh Tuong
campaign. The battalion produced 6,923,000 impressions and printed
24,230,000 leaflets 3 x 6-inches in size. Loudspeaker team HB-15 supported
the Royal Thai Army. Loudspeaker team HB-3 supported the 1st Air Cavalry
Division. Mobile Loudspeaker team HB-6 supported the 1st Infantry Division.
As part of a "No Fire" day, with multiple Chieu Hoi messages, 53 enemy
became Hoi Chanhs. Loudspeaker Team HB-9 supported the 199th Light Infantry
Brigade. 35 hours of broadcasting supported Provincial Cultural Drama Teams.
Loudspeaker Team HB-17 called in a Hoi Chanh who pointed out AK-47s,
mine-making materials and booby traps. Subsequent caches gave up hammocks,
radios, medical supplies, food clothes, gas masks, and assorted documents
and ID cards. Audio-Visual Team HB-9 supported the 1st Australian Task
Force. A grenade was found wired to the wheel of one vehicle, but a village
boy pointed it out. The Team supported the Aussies in the May Tao mountains
resulted in 15 Hoi Chanhs and 30 prisoners of war. Six caches or arms and
ammunition were found. Leaflets and posters were printed for the State Road
4 campaign.
Combat Intelligence Lessons
Before I start to depict the
leaflets, I thought I would add this comment from the 4th PSYOP Group, found
in the classified confidential report Combat
Intelligence Lessons, printed from about 1968 to 1971 that talks about
the need for better coordination:
PSYOP/Intelligence Staff Coordination in staff operations.
Psychological operations (PSYOP) personnel in Vietnam have not been
integrated adequately into the normal activities of military staffs. The
average staff officer does not appreciate fully the importance of PSYOP and
occasionally PSYOP staff members have isolated themselves and have failed to
utilize the staff resources which are available to them. This lack of staff
integration has been especially critical in coordination with G2 and S2
sections. In Vietnam there has been a tendency to isolate so called PSYOP
intelligence from the normal intelligence gathering process. The
intelligence required for effective PSYOP is an all-encompassing type of
intelligence which requires an integration of all factors bearing on the
conduct of the war.
The Leaflets
Ho Chi Minh Trail Campaign Leaflet T-16
I chose this leaflet because it bears the symbol of Laos. This is the three-headed
Erawan elephant national symbol from Hindu mythology of the 14th century kingdom whose
name translates to “Land of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol.” This
Lao image is the most popular theme among the Trail leaflets and there are over a dozen
different types with various surrender messages. The United States had to deal with the
Lao government to arrange for them to accept Vietnamese prisoners. All of these leaflets
bear text in Vietnamese on one side and Lao on the other. The Vietnamese-language side of
the leaflet says:
Pass for safe conduct
To: All North Vietnamese Soldiers in Laos.
You are offered the chance to escape death and live in safety and peace for the
duration. The Royal Lao Government and people will welcome you and treat you as a brother.
Show this pass to any Royal Laos Government citizen or soldier and he will guide you
to safety.
Commander in Chief
Lao National Armed Forces
The Lao-language side says:
Pass for Safe Conduct – Valid at all times
To: All Citizens and Soldiers of the Royal Laotian Government.
Please welcome the bearer of this pass and provide him with safe conduct to the
nearest Royal Lao Government unit or post.
Commander in Chief
Lao National Armed Forces.
In November 1967, the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam requested that the 7th PSYOP Group
in Okinawa print 10 million copies of Trail leaflet T-16 with the theme: "Lao safe
conduct, flag for safe conduct" to be delivered by 30 December 1967.
Leaflet T-25
The 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam requested that the 7th PSYOP Group in Okinawa print
6 million copies of Ho Chi Minh Trail leaflet T-25 with the theme: "Return home, seek
refuge in Laos" to be delivered by 25 December 1967. This leaflet uses the theme of
the TET holidays to entice the enemy to return home or seek refuge in Laos. The image
depicts a happy and prosperous family celebrating the TET holidays. The back is all text
and says:
To all North Vietnamese fighters:
Spring has returned. This is a time when you should be enjoying the happiness of
family reunion in the North. Instead, you are walking through hostile jungles and
mountains on foreign soil.
What has led you to this life of hardship? It is because you have been lured by the
Party into believing that the South is in need of “Liberation” by the North. In
reality, the South is living in prosperity. Your comrades have turned it into a sea of
fiery war with consequences reaching all the way to the North. Your southern compatriots
do not wish to be liberated by the North; they only wish to live in peace.
You can end this war and your hardships by choosing a cease-fire of your own. Deny
the Party the use of your person as a tool to impose Party rule on South Vietnam.
Quit the Communist ranks, return to your homes, seek refuge with the Royal Lao
Government, or, if you reach South Vietnamese territory, take the opportunity to rally to
the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. This is the safest way to end the war and you
hardships.
Leaflet 6-127-68
I like this patriotic little leaflet because it gives the people a copy of the flag of
the Republic Of Vietnam. It is far more impressive in color, but many more copies were
done in black and white. The back is all text and says in part:
Support your Government
The Government of Vietnam and Allied Forces have once again shown their strength and
power in an effort to bring peace and prosperity to the people of South Vietnam. Since 4
May 1968, more than 3,000 enemies have died while trying to bring death and destruction to
our homes and cities…You must protect your family by telling the Government of
Vietnam and the Army of Vietnam where the enemy is hiding. This way they will be destroyed
before they come to your villages. Support your government and peace will once again
return to our land.
In 1969 the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense studied the
effectiveness of U.S leaflets in Vietnam. A sample of 1,757 Vietnamese was used to
represent the target audience. They included the inhabitants of Viet Cong controlled
areas, Hoi Chanh who had defected, and prisoners of war. The questions asked of the panels
was the effectiveness of symbols, appeals both locally and national, and the vulnerability
of certain groups. Leaflets were judged on a scale of very good, good, fair, bad, and very
bad. One problem was to reduce the number of leaflets to a workable size. In this test,
798 leaflets were judged and the leaflets were reduced to 77. Unfortunately, the report
did not explain why certain leaflets were good or bad. Leaflet 6-127-68 was rated VERY BAD
by the panel.
As I read further through the report it became apparent why the leaflet was so
disliked. The report states:
The flag of South Vietnam had moderate appeal among uncommitted and hostile South
Vietnamese, but is a strongly negative symbol to the North Vietnamese.
So, the NVA was fighting the South Vietnamese on a daily basis and taking dead and
wounded. They hated the flag of their enemy. That shows how strong the symbol of a flag
is, both from a positive and a negative standpoint.
Leaflet 6-333-68
This leaflet was prepared for the Dai Doan Ket and Chieu Hoi
Programs. It was nicknamed “Rallier.” It targeted the Viet Cong. 50,000
copies were printed at the request of the 101st Airborne Division. The text
on the front is:
Nguyen Van Thang has
rallied to the GVN.
The text on the back is:
I am Nguyen van Thang, First Sergeant working with the [VC]
independent unit. I rallied to the Government of Vietnam and Allied
forces on 5 May 1968.
The reason that forced me to rally is the hardship of living that I
cannot endure, such as the lack of food and clothing and having to fight for
an unjust cause.
Dear friends, we must not be so foolish as to live and hide in the
jungles then be killed either by bombing or by disease. I sincerely urge all
the comrades in my unit and those who still believe in the North and the
Party to attempt to find any way to return to the Government of Vietnam and
Allied Forces. A truth that you do not realize is that when you rally you
will be welcomed and given all facilities to help you become a good citizen
of the nation.
Phuoc Vinh, 5 May 68
Nguyen van Thang
Leaflet 6-345-68
This is a very common generic theme in American leaflets for
Vietnam. I have seen about a dozen showing a Viet Cong or North Vietnamese
soldier dead in the dust as U.S. Aircraft fly over. Most mention B-52 raids
and are in black and white. This one has a bit of color so I thought I would
add it. This was a tactical leaflet and targeted the enemy 2nd Independent
Battalion. 10,000 copies were printed and requested by the 9th Infantry
Division to be used by 11 May 1968. The text on the front is:
Don't let this be your fate
The message on the back is:
Attention Men of the 2nd Battalion!
Look around you. How many places do you see empty where brave men
stood yesterday? How many boys, who could have been in school today,
learning the best way to help build a better South Vietnam, are dead? How
many more men must die before you learn you cannot win? Dignity is not
gained by death; suffering does not guarantee victory! Only the Government
of Vietnam can offer you both dignity and victory.
Surrender now! Living is the only rightful alternative to dying!
Leaflet 6-600-68
This is an interesting reward leaflet that requests information. The front is a four
panel comic. In the first panel a young boy is looking intently at something. In the
second, he finds what appears to be a South Vietnamese soldier and tells him what he saw.
In the third panel the ARVN digs up a mine by hand. In the final panel the boy is told
that he will be rewarded. The actual text is:
If you see a Viet Cong mine or something you suspect may be a mine
Immediately report it to any Army of the Republic of Vietnam or allied soldier
An explosive ordnance specialist will come out to disarm it or to destroy it on the
spot.
The road will be made safe and you will be rewarded for your report.
Leaflet 6-074-69
I chose to add it because once again it breaks the ban on using
photographs of the dead or mutilated enemy. The psychologists and cultural
experts told the U.S. Army over and over that these leaflets made the
Americans look arrogant and Braggadocios about killing Vietnamese, and it
just antagonized the enemy. It did not matter. The troops loved them and
believed it scared the hell out of the enemy troops. The text on the front
of this leaflet is:
YOU WILL SHARE THE SAME FATE WITH THOSE COMRADES IN YOUR NEXT BATTLE
The text on the back is:
To the friends, soldiers, and cadres of the Viet Cong 95C Regiment.
During the Jan 14, 1999 battle at Ben Cui and the Cau Khoi rubber
plantation, 1,222 of your comrades were either killed or wounded.
Was it the kind of "liberation" that your commander Doan Van Huan
wanted you to bring to South Vietnam? Your actions are futile and resulted
in nothing except the unnecessary death of soldiers. What do Viet Cong
soldiers get for their service for Communism? Nothing except a meaningless
death and an unmarked grave with nobody to mourn over. Doan Van
Huan has failed his soldiers. Is leading his men to defeat commendable? Can
you avoid death under such a blind leadership by your commanders?
Note that the translator accidently or on purpose made the year
1999. Of course, it should be 1969.
Viet Cong Terrorist Reward Leaflet 6-083-68
The 6th PSYOP Battalion was also busy preparing reward leaflets. One of the more
interesting is an offer for a Viet Cong terrorist leader. The leaflet has a drawing of Tam
Nui on the front and the text:
Up to $50,000 VN Reward. Nguyen Van Lac, alias Tam Nui. 53 years old, 1 meter 68
tall, armed with a pistol. He is usually accompanied by a bodyguard of 30 men and is often
in or near Ap 6 Chanh (2) Michelin Plantation.
Text on the back is:
Allied Forces in Dau Tieng will pay up to $50,000VN for information which leads to
the apprehension of Nguyen Van Lac, alias Tam Nui, assistant VC district chief, Tri Tam
District. Tam Nui has shown himself to be an enemy of the Vietnamese people by his
unlawful terrorist activities in Dan Tieng and the Michelin Plantation.
The person providing information that leads to the apprehension of Tam Nui will
receive reward money that can provide the opportunity to start a new business and a new
life. If he so desires, the recipient may also be provided transportation for himself, his
family and his household goods to resettle anywhere with Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, Hau Nghia
or Gia Dinh provinces or in Saigon.
Leaflet 6-624-69
The 1969 Tactical leaflet was produced by the 6th PSYOP Battalion and targeted the
soldiers of the 275th NVA Regiment. It was prepared all in blue and depicts the Chieu Hoi
symbol on one side. The other side bears the message:
To the soldiers of 275th Regiment
Your commanders have exploited your blood and flesh to satisfy their invasion
dreams. Therefore, your weapons are more important than you are. They tricked you when you
are alive and neglect you when you die. They order you to carry your weapons back during a
retreat but leave behind the bodies of your fallen. Your life is all hardship and you may
die without a proper burial, not even a single marker. What do you think about this? Don't
continue to live in this situation. Return to the Government of Vietnam to live in
harmony, love and unity.
Leaflet 6-622-70
We have mentioned the Montagnard native people above so I want to show a 6th PSYOP
Battalion leaflet designed for the native tribe in September, 1970. This leaflet was found
by Sergeant Jim Hackbarth, a member of the 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion of
the 7th Cavalry, in 1970. Notice that the leaflet is dirty and stained from being on the
ground in rain and sunlight. My files show it is a “remake,” so it was printed
earlier and apparently they liked it enough to do so again. There are numerous other
leaflets for illiterates without text and six panels.
The Americans knew that most Montagnards could not read so this leaflet was designed to
be understood without any text. The front and back have three cartoon panels each. On the
front, an armed native who apparently was drafted by the Viet Cong finds a Chieu Hoi
leaflet. He takes it to an American soldier who points him to a Chieu Hoi center. At the
center a friendly ARVN accepts his AK-47 and hands him a cash reward. On the back the
native is checked for any medical problems. He is then put in a class and taught a trade.
In the last drawing he lives happily with his family in a peaceful setting.
Reproduction Leaflet 6-1027-70
The 6th PSYOP
Battalion did produce this leaflet, but not exactly this one. In 2023 I was
offered this leaflet by an owner who said it was used as a prop in a Vietnam
War movie. It is identical to the original leaflet, but probably just a
photocopy for the actors to look at or see fluttering down during some
scene. The owner had numerous other leaflets and various cards, and even a
fake booklet. I thought I should obtain this leaflet just so I could show it
to my readers. The front depicts a group of Vietnamese children with some
soldiers. The text is:
The gift is small, but the sentiment is limitless.
The back is
all text.
The bond between the military and the people.
The military
protects the people, the people love the military, this is the fine
tradition of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam. Army of Vietnam
servicemen are exemplary soldiers, beside their mission to kill the enemy,
they provide a comprehensive care to the people. The photograph on the other
side shows Army of Vietnam soldiers handing over health care items to
children.
There are
countless other civilian-serving deeds that the Army of Vietnam servicemen
passionately carry out to secure the water-and-fish bond between the
military and the people. With that heartfelt bond, we can proudly believe in
our day of victory over the Communists by the National Just Cause!
My translator says
that this appears to be written by a Hoi Chanh from the North. The language
is more North Vietnamese propaganda jargon than Southern language.
In 1961, Mao
famously observed that "a guerrilla swims among the people like a fish swim
in the sea. Without the support of the people the guerrilla is a fish out of
water, it cannot survive" Apparently this is what the text alludes to where
it says, "the water-and-fish bond."
Leaflet 6-2088-70
There was an entire series of leaflets for the Montagnards without text
later in 1970. I have about a half-dozen of them and it is almost tempting
to write a story just on the theme of leaflets to the native peoples of
Vietnam. This leaflet is dated 30 September 1970 and printed in blue. The
illustration on the front depicts evil Viet Cong stealing the Montagnards
food and forcing them to work as porters. On the back, they seek help from
Government of Vietnam officials and the South Vietnamese Army takes the Viet
Cong prisoners.
Most of the
non-text leaflets to the Montagnards Show 4 images, some show three images
that they can easily understand. Some of them are:
6-2196-70 –
Rally instructions. The images are: Montagnard family walking through
jungle; Montagnards walk down road; Montagnards rally at an ARVN checkpoint,
and Montagnards receive food and medical care from ARVN soldier.
6-2197-70 –
Rally instructions. The images are: Montagnards stand in clearing waving at
helicopter; Montagnards boarding helicopter; Montagnards eating food; and
getting medical care from ARVN soldier.
6-2198-70 –
Rally instructions. The images are: Montagnards walking through jungle;
Montagnards come to a government post and are greeted by a smiling ARVN
soldier; Montagnards receiving food; and medical care from ARVN soldier.
6-2228-70 –
Rally instructions. The images are: Montagnards look at beam of searchlight;
Montagnards near government post at dawn; and Montagnards are welcomed by
smiling ARVN soldier.
Leaflet 6-848-70
This Chieu Hoi (Open Arms) leaflet targeted the enemy and tried to
get them to come over to the National Government of Vietnam so that they
could live a meaningful, peaceful life. It depicts two dead enemy fighters
on the front. At the bottom there is a design showing bones and skulls.
The leaflet was dropped by pilot Joe Sepesy who served three tours
of duty in Vietnam from 1970 to 1973, as a UH-1 helicopter pilot with the
1st Cavalry Division and 1st Aviation Brigade. Joe told me that he dropped
the leaflet over Cambodia on 30 June 1970. The text at the top of the
leaflet is:
Is this a glorious and noble death? Save your life by returning!
Joe mentions leaflet drops in Once We Flew, a Memoir of a US
Army Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam and a Life with PTSD.
I dropped PSYOP leaflets three or four times, thousands of pieces
of paper that advised the enemy to surrender. The leaflets were three by six
inches and usually had one or two graphic photos of mangled and decomposing
corpses of NVA or VC soldiers. These leaflets were part of the Chieu Hoi
(Open Arms) program.
If an enemy soldier approached an American, yelling, "Chieu Hoi,
Chieu Hoi!" the American was not supposed to shoot the son of a bitch. He
was supposed to accept the son of a bitch's surrender and take him to a
place of safety where he would be rewarded for demonstrating common sense
and saving his own sorry ass. The Chieu hoi was given clothing, food, and
money, and of course, pumped for as much military information as they were
willing to spew. If the Chieu Hoi could be trusted, he became a scout for
some infantry units. An occasional entrepreneurial Chieu Hoi was documented
as going Chieu Hoi more than once, thus collecting additional money,
clothing, and food.
PSYOP leaflets were usually thrown out by the handful or one box
shaken empty at a time, thus increasing the area of coverage. But these
leaflets also became stuck throughout the interior of the aircraft, between
seats, under straps, in storage holes, down our collars, and more than any
other place, in the chin bubbles. Of all these thousands of leaflets, I kept
one as a souvenir" just one. I know these leaflets are now in high demand by
collectors of military memorabilia" and I kept one, just one, lousy, little
leaflet.
5 Flag Safe Conduct Pass
This is the official safe conduct pass of the Vietnam War. It has many variations. The
first was the five-flag pass, showing flags of the United States, South Korea, Australia,
and New Zealand, in addition to the flag of Vietnam. This leaflet and its variants were
produced before 1967. In 1967, a seven-flag version was introduced, showing the additional
flags of Thailand and the Philippines. Finally, in 1972, when Vietnamization became the
focus of propaganda, all flags except that of Vietnam were removed. Several different
forms of propaganda were used on the back side. The original leaflet was given the code
893. Subsequently, the letters "A" through "F" were added to
distinguish some of the modifications.
We do know from a 6th PSYOP Battalion Facts on Battalion Operations, that 50
million copies of leaflet SP-893 was ordered in December 1967. 10 million were delivered
to Da Nang, 10 million to Bien Hoa, 6 million to Nha Trang, 12 million to Can Tho, 6
million to Pleiku, and 6 million to the 360th TWS.
A second document makes this order more clear. To show the popularity of this leaflet,
in the one month of November 1967 alone the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam requested that
the 7th PSYOP Group in Okinawa print 300 million copies in six different batches of 50
million each, to be delivered on 20 January, 20 February, 20 March, 20 April, 20 May and
20 June of 1958.
The Vietnam War Ends
By 1969 the American Congress had tired of the cost of the Vietnam War and the loss of
life and President Nixon agreed and decided to pull out American forces and leave the
South Vietnamese to fight on under a plan he called Vietnamization. A promise was made
that the Americans would return if needed, but of course that never happened.
A Vietnamization Leaflet
The full-color safe conduct pass that once depicted seven nations fighting together was
ordered destroyed and a new leaflet was printed that depicted a lonely Republic of Vietnam
flag, now an orphan, fighting an enemy still backed by China and the USSR.
I enjoy reading about interesting leaflets designed to mess with the enemy’s head.
One of the last leaflets the 6th Battalion printed was in the form of a death notice. The
leaflet, coded 6-904-70 told the enemy that the Allied forces would provide a proper
burial and inform his family after his death. There were blanks on the leaflet for the
enemy solider to fill in his name, rank and unit. Nobody believed the enemy would fill in
the leaflet and keep it; they just wanted him to start thinking about his death in South
Vietnam.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion was inactivated on 30 June 1971 in Vietnam and the men returned
to Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. The last American combat troops left Vietnam on 29 March
1973.
This was not the end of the 6th PSYOP Battalion. There were other uprisings and
revolutions’ occurring around the world and the U.S. Army was aware that a strong
psychological operations force was needed to protect the interests of the United States of
America. As a result, a new 6th PSYOP Battalion was activated on 13 September 1972 at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina.
The
Vietnamese Refugee Resettlement, 1975
Bruce Liscombe and his Translator, Mr. Hanh
In 1975 the Republic of Vietnam fell to the invading forces of
Communist North Vietnam. There was a panic and the southerners tried to
escape from the county and find freedom. Many had worked with and supported
the United States effort, so it was decided that they would be allowed to
resettle in the United States. The refugees first went to relocation
processing centers in Guam, the Philippines, Thailand, Wake Island and
Hawaii before being flown to four resettlement centers in the United States.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion helped the 20,000 Vietnamese and 2,000 Cambodian
refugees in Ft. Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania to get accustomed to the
American way and to find families to sponsor them and help them to become
citizens of their new home. This became Operation New Arrivals.
The refugees were given Identification and meal cards. They
underwent physicals and the children received immunizations. Families were
randomly assigned to barracks, which were outfitted with partitions that
were adjusted to fit families of different sizes. The Vietnamese arrived
classified as "refugees" and were immediately eligible for
Medicare/Medicaid, welfare, and food stamps. They were given this status by
the Attorney General under powers granted to him by the Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1952. By December, there were 74 weddings, 128 births and
10 deaths. During the day, sewing and craft classes were offered, as were
classes that taught English. In the evening, films were screened on a
projector outdoors.
Vietnamese Refugee Resettlement Chart
Retired Master Sergeant Bruce Liscombe told me about his assignment
working with the Vietnamese refugees:
I was with them at Ft. Indiantown Gap from May to December 1975.
Ft. Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania was the fourth and last reception center to
open on 28 May 1975. I joined the 6th battalion about two weeks before we
deployed to Indiantown Gap. I was assigned to a HB loudspeaker team with
Specialist 6 Robert DeLeon as the team leader. We had a couple of press
operators with us, Specialist 4 Robert Orso from Pennsylvania, and
Specialist 4 Thomas Klingler from Ohio. Klingler was a veteran of the 6th
PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam, so he knew the people. We had some illustrators
with us too.
One day Orso and I were sitting on one of the old coal bins by our
office and we see this little Vietnamese kid heading to his barracks with an
animal under his arm petting it. We figured he found a cat and was taking it
into the barracks as a pet. The next thing we know there are Vietnamese
jumping out of the windows. Well it wasn't a cat it was a skunk. Area reeked
for a couple of days
We had about 10 of us there from the Battalion. Captain Kraft was
our detachment commander and Lieutenant Meade was our detachment Executive
Officer. We had some problems with the Military Police because we had 24
hour passes to all the compounds and they didn't like that as they could
only come into the compounds at certain times for their shifts.
Vietnamese Newspaper Dat Lanh Good Land
We had to go to the airport in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to meet the
aircraft and escort the refugees to Indiantown Gap. I was a 31B field radio
repairman at that time. The HB teams consisted of a 31B and 96B
(Intelligence Analyst). I was tasked with setting up the loudspeaker system
to broadcast important messages to the people about current and upcoming
events. The messages that were broadcast were so that the people knew what
time they had to go see the people from the State Department, church
services and things like that. The detachment even printed a newspaper for
the refugees. One had the news in Vietnamese on one half of the page and in
English translation on the other half of the page. They did the same thing
in the Cambodian language.
One day Klingler and I were at the NCO club having a beverage and
playing pinball. We had our jeeps parked in the parking lot in the spots
designated military vehicle only. Tom was playing and I was looking out the
window and I see an MP driving Klingler's jeep away. I laughed and told him
"Somebody just stole your jeep." He thought I was kidding, finished his turn
walked over, looked out and said, "You are right, and, somebody is taking
yours right now."
The MPs just wanted to harass us and cut the locks and took the
jeeps. We went looking for the vehicles and found them in front of their
Provost Marshal Office building. We went to Captain Kraft and told him
about the jeeps. Being a Special Forces Captain, he asked us how they
got the jeeps. We said they cut the locks and took them. He said, "Go
cut their locks and take them back." We got the supply Sergeant to go
with us. He went inside and started arguing with the desk Sergeant while
we were cutting locks. As soon as we had the motors running, we honked
the horn, and he came out and jumped in Klingler's jeep as he went by.
Nothing more was ever heard of the incident
We had a running battle with the MPs. They didn't like
the stuff we could do, and they could not, and of course we caught them
doing some things that weren't exactly legal and turned them in. They pulled
me over one time because they said I had too many passengers in my jeep.
Well you know how small the Vietnamese were and I had about ten of them in
the jeep. Later that night the MPs rolled one of their jeeps with seven
people in it, I guess karma is a bitch!
The Vietnamese Refugees Celebrate Independence Day in their new Home
We had some Military Intelligence translators that worked with us.
They worked directly for the State Department. They were asked to translate
a poster for us because the Vietnamese had never used pampers before. In
English they said, "Do not flush baby diapers down toilets." They made a
minor error in their Vietnam translations and said, "Do not flush babies
down toilet." Somehow that became our problem and we caught hell for their
error.
The
Vietnamese Independence Day issue of Good Land
From
Bruce Liscombe's Bound Book of the Newspapers
I asked Bruce if he had any anecdotes about his Vietnamese guests.
He told me this one:
When I was there the refugees had to go to the State Department to
be interviewed. They were asked what they did in Viet Nam and why they had
fled the country. We had one guy that had an interesting answer. He said "I
was a First Lieutenant in the North Vietnamese Army but not a very good
officer. I figured that once the North secured the country, they would
start thinning the ranks and it was likely I would be discharged. I had
nothing at home, so it seemed time to leave."
I smiled at that answer because in the U.S. Army they have thing
called riffed." If you are not a very good officer or enlisted man from
time to time the Army looks at everyone and just discharged off all the
people, it thinks have no bright future or that they have no room for. I was
surprised that the Vietnamese officer was afraid of being riffed. Not
exactly the same thing but I knew man that after the war turned out to have
been a Viet Cong Colonel. He was an authority on Viet Cong currency, so we
talked often. I asked him why he left Vietnam and the answer was like that
of the Lieutenant. He said:
After we won, I expected to receive a position equal to my rank. I
was a Colonel; I should have been given an executive position of authority.
However, the North did not trust the Southerners. They considered us to have
led an easy capitalist life in Saigon while they were being bombed by B-52s.
They thought we had all been infected with a love of money and luxury by the
Americans. I was given a menial job watching parked bicycles in a Saigon
park. Shortly afterwards I defected and made my way to Canada. I made a
better life for myself.
The Bureau of Public Affairs Office of Media Services of the
Department of State Special Report No. 21 of September 1975 mentions
the Vietnamese settlement. It says in part (edited for brevity):
I am pleased to be able to announce to you the one hundred
thousandth refugee has been processed through our system to resettlement
with an American sponsor. On 18 April 1975, the Task Force was created by
the President to deal with a problem unique in the history of this country.
Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees were beginning to arrive by the thousands
at safe havens in the Pacific.
Over a much longer period we had absorbed more than 600,000 Cuban
refugees and some 40,000 Hungarian refugees when circumstances in their
countries forced them to leave.
The phasing-out of the four refugee reception centers within the
continental United States and the one in the Pacific is proceeding on
schedule, and every state in the Union has accepted some refugees. The
center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida officially closed on 15 September
1975. Camp Pendleton, California, is scheduled to close at the end of
October. The center at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania will be phased out
by the end of November. Fort Chaffee, Arkansas anticipates a final closing
during the month of December 1975.
Before I end this tale of saving the Vietnamese, I should mention
that Canada did some very similar. It was called Operation MAGNET. In 1978,
following the collapse of the South Vietnamese government and the fall of
Saigon in 1975, the Government of Canada through the Canada Employment and
Immigration Commission and Department (CEICD) and the Canadian Forces
arranged for the airlift and resettlement of over 50,000 people from
Vietnam. Operation MAGNET occurred in three phases from 1978-1981.
Iran Rescue mission
Sometimes the Battalion was simply called to help support Special Force missions
without even knowing what the mission was. In other cases the mission is humanitarian but
could quickly turn dangerous. One former member of the 6th PSYOP Battalion told me:
Our support mission for Special Forces Phase training was an ongoing affair. They
borrowed equipment from us all the time and were surprisingly good about returning it to
us in good condition. One day I was handed a letter by someone who looked like a very
serious civilian that ordered me to have three specific vehicles ready for delivery on
such and such a date at such and such a time (very late at night). This was very out of
the ordinary for us. We were to remove all markings and have all the canvass complete and
in place. The letter listed the estimated return date as “to be announced.” That
was even more unusual for us. As it turned out, the vehicles were used to train for the
failed mission in April 1980 to rescue the American hostages in Iran. The vehicles never
left the States, so I was told after the fact, but, they were nowhere near Ft Bragg for
the training. It was a very grim time on Smoke Bomb Hill for quite a while. Some very good
people who were the absolute best at what they did never came home for reasons they had
zero control over.
The Cuban Mariel Boat Lift
The Mariel Boat Lift
On April 20, 1980, the Castro regime announced that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to
the U.S. were free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the
Mariel. The first of 125,000 Cuban refugees from Mariel reached Florida the next day. It
was discovered that a number of the exiles had been released from Cuban jails and mental
health facilities. They were placed in refugee camps while others were held in federal
prisons to undergo deportation hearings. Of the 125,000 Marielitos, as the refugees
came to be known, who landed in Florida, more than 1,700 were jailed and another 587 were
detained until they could find sponsors.
Sergeant Ronald F. Marcil
Many of the Cubans were taken to the Army Base at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. PSYOP
troops were used to print newsletters, make loudspeaker broadcasts and generally keep the
peace. A former 6th PSYOP Battalion sergeant named Ron Marcil sent there to provide
support told me:
The 6th PSYOP Battalion was sent to Ft Indiantown Gap to work with the State
Department. Our mission was to print the camp newspaper. The Mariel Boat Lift was
my last hurrah so to speak. The State Department had the camp organized in separate areas.
Area 1 was the bad apples; many were known criminals. Area 2 was the homosexuals, a very
friendly place…too friendly. Area 3 was mainly single men and on up to area 5 which
was families. As people were sponsored, they moved out. By the time I got there, area 5
was empty; and Area 4 had very few left. Needless to say, area 1 and 2 was still full.
The Jeep wrecked by the Cubans
A few weeks into my routine, I was told to come quick, a riot had started. By the
time I got there, my jeep was missing. The driver had backed it up to the building with
the trailer attached to it so they could clear the building of our valuable gear before it
got torn up. He left it running and didn't lock it, two Cubans saw that and came up over
the wire, hopped in and took off. The story I heard was that something like 34 Cuban
nationals were in and on my jeep when they flipped it. The driver was very badly injured;
the rest were thrown clear. I have a very poor picture of that jeep on the back of a
wrecker.
During the riot, a C-130 landed on the runway and when the ramp came down, out
poured 120 combat loaded paratroopers from the 82nd. They formed up on the runway and
double timed over to area 1 very slowly. Not one work was spoken from them. Dead silence.
They jogged slowly through the area. Not 1 word spoken. The Cubans saw them and within a
very short time, everyone went back inside the building and things quieted down. Not a
word spoken. No one went inside the wire! Once they were given the OK, they marched back
to their C130 and off they went. That was the most brilliant PSYOP in action even I had
ever witnessed.
I read another description of this action written by one of the soldiers involved in
the Hardscrabble Farmer Website. The stories differ slightly but one is coming from
a PSYOP observer and the other from one of the airborne troops called to Indiantown Gap:
From a distance, you could see pillars of smoke rising from the camp and you could
smell it on the wind. It was a hot day and we wore battle fatigues and jump boots. Our
shields were lowered, visors turned down and we marched with a slow and steady cadence;
left foot stamping down, right foot dragging at a 90-degree angle behind, a stomp, drag,
stomp, drag that magnified by 120 other soldiers gave us the sound of something
formidable, an organic machine filled with ominous intent. With each step we took, we
would rap the back of our shields with the tip of the baton in unison, a sharp crack to
emphasize each step forward.
The mob was jumping and screaming; some of them holding weapons fashioned from
broken bunk beds and ruined buildings. At the same time that we saw them, they saw us. In
that instant, all the sounds, the acrid sting of burning mattresses, the steady vibration
of 240 boot-shod feet hitting the ground at precisely the same second, the World simply
stopped in its tracks. The sound of our boots on the street, the crack of maple against
metal the unified chuff of each breath that you could hear as if it were your own suddenly
became the only presence in my thoughts and in that instant, you could see it move like a
light wave out and away from us, traveling tsunami-like towards the Marielitos. And that
was it. They dropped whatever they were carrying, they broke and ran. Not one shot was
fired, not one man was so much as tapped with a baton.
The Indiantown Gap Newsletter La Libertad for Cuban Refugees
Lieutenant Colonel Michael W Totten
A message from the 6th PSYOP Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Michael W Totten in
the above newsletter said:
The 6th PSYOP Battalion is uniquely equipped and trained to support projects like
“Operation Resettlement.” Our mobile and highly flexible printing equipment
makes it possible for us to produce a wide variety of printed material on very short
notice. In fact, among other things; we are producing the camp newsletter, “La
Libertad.” Our public address and mobile audio-visual equipment enable us to reach
large audiences rapidly with perishable information or entertainment. Our most important
asset, however, is our soldiers. They are the highly-skilled and motivated professionals
who make the equipment work. Many of them are linguists, and several speak more than one
foreign language. They make our operations effective.
Instructional Cartoons
As usual when you are dealing with newcomers to the United States who are not aware of
the customs, the PSYOP newsletters almost always has instructional cartoons. When it was
Vietnamese and Muslim refugees much of the instructions had to do with the American way of
sanitation. The concept of toilet paper was very strange for many Muslims who were used to
cleansing themselves with a damp rag. The cartoon above shows a lone Cuban boy cleaning up
the mess left by the older Cubans. He drags a bag so full that the garbage is bursting out
of the back. He says:
What a lot of trouble it is for those grown-ups over there to pick up
a piece of paper.
Instructional Cartoon Two
Cartoon two is more in the form of pest control. When you go through basic training if
you bring food back to your barracks you are in a world of trouble. The Army knows that
food left in foot lockers or closets tend to invite ants, roaches, mice, rats and God only
know what else into the living quarters. Apparently the Cubans were prohibited from
bringing food into their quarters because two are depicted talking and one says:
Brother, let’s behave well; people are going to feel ill will
against us.
His companion replies:
Well? If you say so; let’s begin by not bringing any food out of
the mess hall.
As an aside, the last time I visited Ft. Bragg and used the term “mess hall”
from my generation, I was corrected and told that the term was now “dining
facility,” mess hall was considered a derogatory term. God, I love politically
correct people!
The Newsletter mentions that each area has its own elected Mayor and even a local Cuban
“police” force to keep the peace. I thought it funny that the worst
“criminal” problems seem to be from the homosexuals. The explanation is:
“Here in America, homosexuality is not a crime, so it appears that gays are enjoying
their new-found freedom, perhaps in an exaggerated way, and causing problems by agitating
straight men and families who do like their children to see or hear certain things. There
is a radio station with Spanish speaking Disk Jockey and Cuban music. The American Red
Cross offers first aid and health safety classes as well as English classes and supplies
for drawing, painting, writing, and even musical instruments. The Cubans had their own
theater where they put on plays. It seems that everything possible was done to keep them
busy while they awaited sponsors.
6th PSYOP Battalion Officers, 1981-1982
6th PSYOP Battalion Enlisted, 1981-1982
Desert Storm
The 4th PSYOP Group Booklet: Leaflets of the Persian Gulf War
At about 0200 on 2 August 1990, seven divisions of Iraqi armor, mechanized infantry,
helicopter forces, and the elite Republic Guard invaded Kuwait. The invasion force of
120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks quickly overwhelmed Kuwait. Iraq declared the annexation of
Kuwait. The Kuwaiti government-in-exile fled to Saudi Arabia where it was recognized as
the legitimate voice of Kuwait. President George Bush immediately froze all Iraqi and
Kuwaiti assets in the United States and called on Saddam Hussein to withdraw his troops.
United Nations Security Council Resolutions 660 and 662 condemned Iraq's invasion and
annexation and called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces.
On 20 August 1990, President Bush signed National Security Directive 45, the “U.S.
Policy in Response to the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait." The U.S. objectives included the
“immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all Iraqi forces from
Kuwait,” and the “restoration of Kuwait's legitimate government to replace the
puppet regime installed by Iraq.” President George Bush authorized the first call-up
of 40,000 Selected Reservists for 90 days active duty on 22 August 1990. By November Bush
upped the active duty time to 180 days with the option of a 180-day extension. On 18
January 1991, Bush signed an order authorizing 220,000 Reservists to be called up for 12
months.
A U.N. ultimatum, Security Council Resolution 678, followed on November 29, 1990. It
gave Saddam Hussein until 15 January 1991 to leave Kuwait. After that time, a coalition of
American and allied troops was authorized to drive them out. Eventually, 30 nations joined
the military coalition arrayed against Iraq, with a further 18 countries supplying
economic, humanitarian, or other type of assistance.
It is difficult to find much about what the 6th PSYOP Battalion did in Desert Storm. We
know that they were there, but most of the official publications do not mention
battalions, they usually just point out that PSYOP forces from the 4th Group were
deployed.
Colonel Noll wrote a 164-page Personal Experience Monograph entitled The 13th
Psychological Operations Battalion (EPW) During Mobilization, Desert Shield/Desert Storm
and Demobilization in 1993. The 6th PSYOP Battalion is mentioned several times in regard
to Desert Storm and the relief of the Kurdish people:
It was decided that all of the reserve companies would be attached to the 6th and
9th Tactical PSYOP Battalions for command and control and for support of the combat units
in theater… On 14 April 1991 the 4th POG commander and staff along with all its
operationally assigned units departed Saudi Arabia for Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The 6th
PSYOP Battalion, however, was deployed to northern Iraq in support of "Operation
Provide Comfort."
Jeffrey B. Jones and Jack N. Summe mention the 6th Battalion exactly one time in their
1997 paper: Psychological Operations in Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Urban Freedom
By mid-January 1991, the task force had grown to five battalions, including the 6th
PSYOP Battalion in support of VII Corps.
We don’t know exactly which leaflets were made by the 6th PSYOP Battalion, but
they were supporting VII Corps and some leaflets do mention the Corps.
VII Corps Patch
Iraqi thinks of Overwhelming Power of Coalition, Thinks of his Family,
and Surrenders
The back has a “Cease resistance” message and the VII Corps symbol which is
similar to the Star of David. The text is:
Cease resistance - Be safe
To seek refuge safely, the bearer must strictly adhere to the following procedures:
1. Remove the magazine from your weapon.
2. Sling your weapon over your left shoulder, muzzle down.
3. Have both arms raised above your head.
4. Approach the Multi-national forces slowly, with the soldier holding this document
above his head.
5. If you do this, you will not die.
This is a deception leaflet used to hold Iraqi Army in central Kuwait. The symbol of
the VII Corps is on the leaflet in hopes that the Iraqi Army would believe that they were
facing that organization In fact, VII Corps had moved far to the west of the expected
battleground. 270,000 leaflets were printed. It is alleged that because the Corps symbol
of a seven-pointed star was similar to the six-pointed Hebrew Star of David, the Iraqi
troops fought more fiercely where it was dropped. It is believed that Iraqi intelligence
told their troops that they were facing Israeli forces and this motivated the Iraqi
soldiers to fight with religious fervor. It was also thought that this symbol might
infuriate the other Muslim Coalition allies who would not want to be aligned with the
Israelis. As a result, the symbol was quickly changed to a Jayhawk.
A New VII Corps Symbol, the Mythical Jayhawk
Jayhawk leaflet
The text on the back is identical to the above leaflet.
This is another deception leaflet used to hold Iraqi Army in central Kuwait. The VII
Corps symbol has been changed to a Jayhawk. 270,000 leaflets were printed.
Giant cannon with Coalition flags aimed at Iraqi
The text on the front is:
The VII Corps of the Multi-national forces is heading in your direction. Your
fellow soldiers along the front either surrendered or have been killed. Your turn will be
next.
The text on the back is:
Follow these procedures to cease resistance. Pull your ammunition magazine from
your weapon. Put your weapon on your left shoulder and aim the barrel at the ground. Raise
your hands over your head and walk slowly. Wave with a white cloth or raise this leaflet
to show you are willing to surrender. All Allied soldiers know this initiative shows that
you are willing to surrender.
Two hundred 155mm leaflet artillery shells were taken to the Gulf. Nine were actually
fired at the enemy. The cannon leaflet above is one that was found in the shells. I had a
warrant officer friend in EOD who actually opened some of the shells and gave me the
leaflets rolled inside. He told me:
The leaflets were downloaded from the shells at the King Khalid Military City
(KKMC) Theater Storage Facility Area 4 in January 1992. There were between 100 and 200
engineering prototype 155mm projectiles stored in two areas from two different units. They
were unmarked but bore a metal parts number that indicated they were experimental and were
produced in November 1990. A small quantity of the projectiles, perhaps 12-20, had been
prepared for fire, loaded with leaflets, expulsion charges installed, but not fused. The
leaflets were in four round bundles, separated by pusher plates, spacers, and enclosed in
two semi-circular steel sleeves. I saw some evidence on the projectiles that they had been
hastily converted from VX binary chemical shells. They were on the pallet in a horizontal
rather than the normal upright configuration.
200,000 of the leaflets were printed. The Air Force claims to have dropped 311,000 and
the artillery had 100,000 at their disposal, so once again we obviously do not have
complete data on printing. This leaflet was designed by 4th PSYOP Group artist Tim
Wallace.
VII Corps Certificate of Commendation
Provide Comfort – Humanitarian Assistance to the Kurds
Psychological Operations Support for Operation Provide Comfort
In 1994, the 4th PSYOP Group published a 24-page booklet entitled Psychological
Operations Support for Operation Provide Comfort. Curiously, the 6th PSYOP Battalion
was mentioned just once on page two. The short comment was:
Elements of the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion deployed from Iraq and Fort
Bragg, North Carolina to provide PSYOP support to the Combined Task Force located in
Incirlik Air Force Base, Turkey. The Psychological Operations Task Force which was formed
to support this operation was co-located with the Combined Task Force at Incirlik.
As the Gulf War came to an end, the Iraqis immediately began attacking the Muslim
Shiites in the south and the Kurds in the North. This ultimately led to operations
Southern and Northern Watch to guard the skies against Iraqi military aircraft. The
emergency was such that it quickly led to Operation Provide Comfort, the attempt by the
Coalition to protect and nourish the Kurdish people.
Kurdish Freedom Fighters
The Kurds tried to take local power in March 1991; occupied several towns and put the
province of Mosul under siege. Saddam Hussein counter-attacked with a vengeance and his
revamped Republic Guard drove the Kurds into the mountains. Kurds are the second largest
ethnic group in Iraq and Turkey and the third largest group in Iran. Like the Armenians
and Jews, the Kurds are a close-knit nationalistic people who want a nation of their own.
This land, called Kurdistan, would be made up of parts of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. As a
result, the Kurds are unwelcome in all three nations and there were numerous purges and
pogroms against them over the centuries. For instance, The Kurds supported Iran in the
Iran-Iraq War and as a result in 1988, hundreds of Kurdish villages in northern Iraq were
destroyed, and as many as 200,000 Kurds were killed. The Iraqi government used chemical
weapons against Kurdish soldiers and civilians alike, causing an international uproar. A
March 1988 poison gas attack in Halabja, Iraq, killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds.
Kurdish refugees fled towards Turkey and Iran
After the failed rebellion, well over one million Kurds attempted to flee northward
into Turkey and Iran. The Iranians accepted some of the fleeing people. The Turks, no
friends of the Kurds, refused entry. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish men,
women and children were left stranded in the mountains, starving, ill-prepared for the
winter, and at the mercy of Iraqi forces. The temperatures were below freezing each night
and the Kurds were dying by the hundreds due to lack of food, water, medicines, shelter,
and blankets.
On 6 April 1991, President George Bush ordered that a Joint Task Force (JTF) be
assigned the mission of protecting the Kurds of northern Iraq. Bush stated the political
objectives of Operation Provide Comfort:
This is an interim measure designed to meet an immediate, penetrating humanitarian
need. Our long-term objective remains the same for Iraqi Kurds, and indeed, for all Iraqi
refugees, wherever they are, to return home and to live in peace, free from oppression,
free to live their lives.
PSYOP Loudspeaker Humvee
A Psychological Operations Task Force (POTF) was formed to support the Combined Task
Force. It consisted of 31 officers and soldiers. The POTF was broken up into a command and
control element, a propaganda development center, a liaison cell, and loudspeaker teams.
The POTF provided planning support and both printed and audio products to assist in the
humanitarian relief effort. They produced leaflets, posters and broadcasts to tell about
where food was available, what was in the Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), and explain the
danger of land mines and how to avoid them. They also produced language cards containing
key phrases in the local languages to assist JTF soldiers in communicating with refugees
and local officials. At the height of the operation the POTF expanded to 78 officers and
soldiers. The major PSYOP themes were: Introduction of Coalition forces, safety, aid
distribution, health and sanitation, medical care, mine awareness, safe passage home, safe
conduct passes, and command information. Company A, 6th PSYOP Battalion, also worked
closely with Civil Affairs troops. PSYOP strength never exceeded fifty personnel.
The U.S. and its allies saved countless Kurds by establishing safe
havens and
providing humanitarian assistance. Special Operations Forces spearheaded this effort.
The Leaflets
I have about two dozen of the PSYOP leaflets prepared for the Kurds. They are mostly
printed on poor quality paper and many are all text. For the purposes of this article I
will select four items to give the readers an example of what was printed during this
campaign.
My Friends
This black and white leaflet depicts a family of Kurds arriving at a tent marked with a
red cross and a green crescent. The man of the family shakes hands with soldiers guarding
the tent. There are baskets and bags of food on the ground. There is no text on the front.
Text on the back in English, Kurdish and Arabic is:
My friends!
The time for violence is over. We must all find peace and harmony again. Guns will
not be allowed inside the camp. If the international security forces at the checkpoints
find a gun, you will not be allowed into the camp. In the name of Allah, seek peace in
your heart; pray that Allah will give us compassion and forgiveness.
Baby Food
It was not enough, just to give aid. Sometimes what the aid was and how it was to be
used had to be explained. This bright pink leaflet depicts an infant with a bottle. It was
dropped with bundles of food to explain to the Kurds in English, Kurdish, Arabic, and
Turcoman that the package contained baby food. The leaflet is also found in blue.
Stop! Don’t Touch these Things.
A standard mine warning leaflet was prepared for the Kurds that is almost identical to
the type prepared just months earlier during Operation Desert Storm. The earlier leaflets
had some bright red color to catch the eye of the finder. The provide Comfort leaflets are
in black and white, depict nine different explosives, and have text in English, Kurdish
and Arabic:
Stop! Don’t touch these things. Call the authorities.
Language Card
In almost every war that the United States is involved in, at some point, language or
“Pointee-Talkee” cards are prepared to help with communication. The speaker can
pronounce or point at the word he wants the listener to understand. I have seen at least
four such products produced for Operation Provide Comfort. This card shows the same words
in English, Arabic and Kurdish.
Yugoslavia
Psychological Support to Operation Allied Force
The 4th PSYOP Group published a magazine entitled Psychological Support to Operation
Allied Force in 1999. It gave the history of the U.S. PSYOP effort in the war against
the ethnic cleansing ordered by the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. It regard to the
6th PSYOP Battalion is said in part:
In early August 1988, planners from the 6th PSYOP Battalion were dispatched to the
32nd Air Operations Group, U.S. Air Force Europe Headquarters, Ramstein Air Base, Germany,
to participate in planning for future operations in the area.
In February 1999, soldiers of the 4th Psychological Operations Group deployed to
establish and form the Joint Psychological Operations Task Force in support of Joint Task
Force NOBLE ANVIL. During the 78-day campaign, the Joint Psychological Operations Task
Force (JPOTF) developed over 40 different leaflets. More than 104.5 million leaflets were
dropped throughout Serbia from the Air Force’s MC-130 Hercules, F-16 fighters and
B-52 bombers over the course of the campaign. The 6th POB formed the core of the JPOTF.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion established two Product Development Centers (PDC), one at
the Warrior Preparation Center, near Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and one at Ft. Bragg,
North Carolina. The PDC at Ft. Bragg wrote the scripts for the radio and television
program and translated products, while the PDC in Germany created the leaflets.
Their mission was to get the message of truth to the diverse masses, which included
Serb military, police forces in Kosovo, and the civilian population in Belgrade as well as
in the small towns and villages throughout the remainder of Serbia, and to Kosovo refugees
in Albania and Macedonia.
The Psychological Operations Task Force prepared a multimedia campaign consisting of
leaflets, handbills, posters, and radio and television broadcasts aimed at countering the
distorted reports being fed to the Serbian people by their own government. This effort
included informing the Serbian people of the scope and magnitude of Slobodan
Milosevic’s campaign of mass murder, systematic rape, forced evacuation and
destruction of Kosovo. Additionally, the PSYOP campaign served as a source of information
and hope for the Kosovo refugees in Albania and Macedonia.
In March 1989, days after NATO began an air campaign against Yugoslavia, Commando
Solo broadcast aircraft deployed to Europe. The 6th PSYOP Battalion soldiers working in
the Product Development Center at Fort Bragg wrote a daily radio and television program
for broadcast into Serbia over AM, FM and television frequencies. The broadcast was called
“Allied Voice Radio and Television.”
Now that we have reported the official story of Operation Allied Force; I add some data
from my own notes and previous articles I have written.
Joseph Tito
The United States found itself involved in the nation once called Yugoslavia several
times in the past decades. There was a violent disintegration of that country after the
death of Joseph Broz (Tito) in 1980. Tito had ruled a divided Serbian people. Those Serbs,
the largest ethnic group of Yugoslavia, were spread over four "Socialist Federative
Republics" and two Autonomous Regions. Much of this population shift had been caused
by the Ottoman Empire conquests and the politics of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Some 42%
of the Serbs were located outside Serbia proper.
Slobodan Milosevic
In 1989, a new nationalist leader by the name of Slobodan Milosevic took power in the
Serbian Republic. He had previously served as the leader of Belgrade Communist Party and
the Serbian Communist Party. He wanted to dominate all of the old Yugoslavia, but when it
became clear that he could not, he decided upon the ethnic cleansing of his country and
the creation of a Greater Serbia. He abolished Kosovo's autonomy. Croats and Slovenes
feared that they were next in line. There were daily news reports of murders, rapes, mass
killings and other atrocities carried out by the Serbs as Milosevic drove the minorities
from their lands and homes, "purifying" his Greater Serbia. The problem of
course, was that several portions of this new Greater Serbia were to consist of lands that
had never been part of the old Serbia or populated by Serbians. This was a policy of naked
aggression.
Two Operation Provide Promise aerial leaflets dropped on Bosnia
Two leaflets were prepared and dropped over Bosnia. They both depict a Hercules C-130
USAF cargo plane in front of a faint United States flag. Both leaflets picture crates
falling by parachute marked with a bright red cross, and both are written in Serbo-Croat
text, in Latin script on one side and Cyrillic on the other side.
On the first leaflet, the C-130 drops four containers. The leaflet tells the Serbs not
to fire on the aircraft. They drop food for all the people. The text is:
American aircraft will be dropping humanitarian aid for all people. Do
not fire on American aircraft. Food and medical supplies are intended for all people.
On the second leaflet, the C-130 drops three containers labeled "500 KG."
This leaflet was prepared because of accidents that occurred in Somalia. Starving people
rushed mindlessly into the drop zone only to be crushed by falling food crates. The
leaflet text is:
Danger! For everyone's safety, let humanitarian aid land before approaching.
Milosevic’s actions forced the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping forces and
begin humanitarian relief operations. Operation Provide Promise began on 2 July 1992.
Twenty-one nations formed a coalition to resupply war-torn Sarajevo with food and
medicine. The U.N. established "no-fly" zones over Bosnia. The United States
mediated an agreement between the Bosnians, the Bosnian Croats, and the Government of
Croatia to form a federation of Bosnians and Croats.
Before this first leaflet drop the U.S. Army’s 6th PSYOP Battalion had many
alerts, false starts and partial deployments while the great powers decided if the action
would be solely by the United States, under the auspices of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, or the United Nations. As a result, these first leaflets were designed in
three different formats in Germany. Eventually it was decided that this would be a NATO
operation, but the decision was already made that the first leaflets would display the
American flag. The images were faxed via a secure link back to Ft. Bragg for printing by
the Product Dissemination Battalion. When the leaflets were delivered shortly before the
first drop they were found to be poorly printed with a “grainy” appearance. The
PSYOP troops were very disappointed with the quality but it was too late to make any
changes or reprint the entire stock of leaflets.
There were numerous published reports of the aerial leafleting. On 25 February 1993,
U.S. aircraft dropped about 600,000 leaflets over Srebrenica, Cerska, Gorazde, and Zera.
On 27 February, two C-130s dropped another million leaflets. Five C-130s dropped 80 1-ton
food containers on 28 February. Aircraft dropped another one million leaflets on 1 March.
The Superman PSYOP comic book
There were many other propaganda publications used in Bosnia. Perhaps the most
interesting is the mine-warning 12-page Superman comic book entitled "Deadly
Legacy" that was produced pro-bono with DC Comics. The cover shows the man of steel
swooping down to save a two young boys who are about to pick up an explosive device on the
ground. The back of the book shows Superman flying the children to safety and the text:
Superman has come to help the children of Bosnia-Herzegovina! But even when he can't
be here, you can keep yourself safe from land mines! Mines kill kids! For more information
on how you can prevent these accidents, call the mine action center.
Sergeant Mark Jenkins
Sarajevo Airport - Good Friday, 1996.
Sergeant Mark Jenkins of the 6th PSYOP Battalion was not very enthused about the
comics. He was a stickler for details, planning and Intelligence studies and the comics
just appeared one day with the order to disseminate them. He told me:
I disagreed with them on principle, i.e., that they were pushed on us from outside
and had not gone through our campaign planning process, nor were they coordinated with any
of our existing mine-awareness efforts. So my reaction, as I recall, was,
“Whatever,” and I hoped they might do some good. But I was definitely worried it
was further evidence of our pre-packaged “ready-fire-aim” approach to it all.
Then Major Roger Smith (Ret.) with then Captain Karl Zetmeir (Ret.)
My friend retired Lieutenant Colonel Karl Zetmeir, formerly of the 6th PSYOP Battalion,
was the publisher of the Herald of Peace for a short time. He told me about his experience
with the magazine:
One of the most professionally satisfying psychological operations products I ever
worked on was the Herald of Peace. Though a relatively short-lived product, it represented
the hard work and true dedication to our craft on the part of its PSYOP soldiers as no
other. In a leaflet-dominated world often marked by simple illustrations and hip-shoot
phraseology, the Herald of Peace stands in a class of its own.
The Herald of Peace
August 1997 – The theme – “Election 97”
We simply called it “the HoP.” It was a magazine produced by the Combined
Joint Information Task Force in Sarajevo, Bosnia from 1996 through 1997. I myself reported
to the CJICTF in June 1997, where I worked for the Product Development Chief, Major Roger
Smith, as the Officer in Charge for all print product development, which included being
Chief Editor of the HoP, as well as the Budget/Finance officer for our overall PSYOP
campaign efforts. The officer I was replacing in both those functions was Captain Roger
Lintz. Roger’s drive and initiative had raised the bar from the HoP’s initial
format to that of a glossy, four-color, 36-page, TIME-quality magazine. He’d also
negotiated a robust print contract with a Zagreb-based company that made this quality leap
possible. Our transition from his team to mine was seamless and we eagerly accepted this
challenging job.
Distributing copies of the Herald of Peace
newspaper
The operational direction of the HoP came from our boss Roger Smith. Roger insisted
the magazine hold true to stories that supported the Stabilization Force’s
country-wide objectives, and we focused on themes like freedom of movement, election
participation, and other peace initiatives. The major stories covered subjects like the
recently restored Sarajevo ambulance service or the purchase of new firefighting
equipment. We deliberately steered clear of ‘collage’ photos of US or other
nation’s military forces conducting peacekeeping operations, unit rotations, changes
of command, etc. One Stabilization Force logo was found on the inside cover, along with
letters from the chief editor (Roger Lintz, followed by myself) and our Noncommissioned
Officer editor (Bob Kellogg followed by Hans-Marc Hurd) in each issue. In retrospect, we
were going for the same appeal as that of a “Readers Digest,” that even older
copies would be interesting and fresh to a war-devastated target audience, particularly in
the hinterlands, that rarely saw any printed media at all.
Sergeant Mark Jenkins of the 6th PSYOP Battalion tells us more about the
Herald of Peace, some of these facts from his After Action Report prepared 11 June 1996.
Production work for the Herald of Peace in Zagreb began the week of 25 December
1995.The first Zagreb issue was laid out on 28 December 1995 and printed at Radin Press
over the weekend. Dissemination began in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 4 January 1996.
Approved articles were received early in the week (usually Tuesday), translations were
completed by Wednesday evening, Disk files were prepared and forwarded to EuropaPress on
Thursday, printing over the weekend, quality control check on Monday, delivered and placed
on pallets on Tuesday, shipped to Bosnia on Wednesday.
Sergeant Jenkins told me some of the problems that he encountered:
Many of my memories are of frustration. We in the 6th PSYOP Battalion had been
alerted and then stood down so many times about Bosnia that I think some people had
decided we were never really going to go. I was apparently one of the few Serbo-Croat
linguists that had kept up language skills (and there were only three in the Battalion and
one did not deploy), something that I found difficult to comprehend, (and I was only all
too aware of my shortcomings as a translator). The potential for deployment to the former
Yugoslavia had been apparent for several years. We went in with so many good ideas and
were consistently defeated and ground down by bureaucracy and worse, such as the
ridiculously long time it took for news items to get approval for publication. At one
time, we had to submit everything back to Naples, and they tended to sit on it, no matter
our deadlines.
I took pains whenever I was briefing any officers to stress that this was a European
country we were dealing with, one with modern media, and if we weren't speedy, we had to
at least be credible, or we could kiss our influence goodbye. I'd watched some of
Milosevic's speeches on Serbian TV during my stint at the US embassy in Belgrade a year or
two earlier, and I was struck by how media-savvy he was (so unlike his portrayal in many
Western sources).
Attention Serbian Forces. You are a NATO target
This Allied leaflet depicts target crosshairs on a Serb tank. Text on the back reads:
Attention Serbian Armed Forces. You are a NATO target. Halt your current
operations and return to your garrisons immediately. If you fail to follow these
instructions, NATO will continue to attack your unit. Save your lives. Flee while you can.
This leaflet is coded 03-Q-02-L003. NATO aircraft dropped 800,000 copies of this
leaflet.
Master Sergeant (retired) Rod Schmidt of B Company of the 9th Psychological
Operations Battalion told me:
The sniper-scope green target leaflet dropped on Yugoslavia was based on a design I
provided to 6th POB, although they modified it. Originally, I had designed it to resemble
the light green, grainy tinge of low-light scopes without the NATO symbol. They were
forced to darken the green color because the presses they had at that time just couldn't
print the light green design at a high enough resolution to render the image clearly.
More than 3 million posters and handbills were disseminated throughout theater between
December 1995 and November 1997.
I will end this section with one of my favorite leaflets, a U.S. B-52 bomber in action.
Attention VJ Forces, Leave Kosovo
This leaflet depicts a B-52 dropping bombs. The code number of this leaflet is
03-NN-17-L002. NATO aircraft dropped 1.6 million copies of this leaflet. The text on the
back is:
Attention VJ Forces, Leave Kosovo, NATO is now using B-52 bombers to drop MK-82
225-kilogram heavy bombs on the Yugoslav Army units in Kosovo. Every B-52 bomber can carry
more than 50 of these bombs. These planes will keep coming back for you until they expel
your unit from Kosovo and prevent you from committing atrocities. If you want to survive
and see your family again, abandon your unit and weapon and leave Kosovo immediately!
Thousands of bombs…and the will, and the power, and the support of the entire world
to relentlessly drop them on your unit.
The Virgin Islands
Hurrican Hugo
Hurricane Hugo caused widespread damage
Hurricane Hugo was a powerful hurricane that caused widespread damage
and loss of life in Guadeloupe, Saint Croix, Puerto Rico, and the Southeast United States.
It formed over the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands on 9 September 1989.
Hurricane Hugo caused 34 fatalities (most by electrocution or drowning) in the Caribbean
and 27 in South Carolina, left nearly 100,000 homeless, and resulted in $10 billion (1989
US Dollars) in damage overall, making it the most damaging hurricane ever recorded at the
time. On 17 September 1989, Hurricane Hugo struck the island of St. Croix in the United
States Virgin Islands. Wind-speeds were maintained at approximately 140 mph as it crossed
the islands. The hurricane destroyed nearly all of the life support systems for a
population of over 50,000; including the fresh water supply, the island's electrical
generation capability, and the fuel supply.
Hurricane Hugo's devastation led to a President Bush
sending in the troops
The ensuing chaos and total breakdown of law and order resulted in widespread
looting and general lawlessness throughout the island. From 200 to 600 prisoners escaped
from the island's only territorial prison. On 20 September 1989, President Bush invoked
the Insurrection Act to federalize the National Guard to impose order following violence
and looting in the wake of Hurricane Hugo. Elements of the Army, Navy and the Coast Guard,
along with a contingent from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation formed Joint Task Force (JTF) 40 for Operation Hawkeye.
Broadcasting news and instructions
The 6th Psychological Operations Battalion deployed to Saint Croix and the U. S.
Virgin Islands as part of JTF-140 to provide Humanitarian Relief after Hurricane Hugo in
support of Operation Hawkeye. In general, when natural disasters occur the PSYOP troops
tell the people where to find food and water, where the medical tents are located and
generally inform the people and try to keep them calm. To see hurricane relief in greater
detail click here to see my article on PSYOP
during Hurricane Andrew.
Clinton R. Van Zandt mentioned the hurricane in an article entitled “When
Forces Work Together: Army PSYOP & the FBI in St. Croix” in Special Warfare,
May, 1993:
With the approval of both the FBI special-agent-in-charge and the commander of
U.S. Army personnel in St. Croix, the FBI negotiators and PSYOP soldiers developed an
assessment of the psychological mood of the local residents. They provided their
respective commanders with proactive ways to stop the looting of local businesses. The
looting had to be halted to prevent the situation from escalating into a full-scale riot.
The FBI advisers and their PSYOP counterparts made the following recommendations to the
FBI and the U.S. Army on-scene commanders:
• The PSYOP detachment should obtain current information on distribution
sites for food, water and medical aid from the local office of the Virgin Islands
Emergency Management Agency.
• The PSYOP detachment should be authorized to disseminate that information
via mobile broadcast units and leaflets and to provide taped messages for broadcast by
local radio stations when they became operational.
• To ensure that the image of U.S. forces was one of providing assistance,
public-service leaflets should be distributed by FBI and military personnel while on
patrol throughout St. Croix.
Once the local citizens saw the FBI and the U.S. military forces providing
information, aid and assistance, they began to view the joint operation as one of
assistance, not occupation. Local residents began to provide FBI and military personnel
with information concerning the location of escaped prisoners and the identity of looters,
and order soon returned to paradise…This blending of psychological thought and direct
application supported the mission of U.S. government forces deployed there, and broke new
ground in joint civilian law-enforcement and military operations.
Liberia
The African nation of Liberia has always held a special place in the hearts of
Americans. Founded by Americans of African descent in 1848, the capitol city Monrovia was
named after James Monroe, the 5th President of the United States. For many years,
Americans saw the oldest black African republic as a bastion of democracy on the African
continent.
President Charles Taylor
Civil war came to Nigeria in the late 1990s and the fighting left the country
dependent on other nations for food, fuel, and supplies. Rebel advances in 2003
culminating with attacks on Monrovia, coupled with two years of UN-imposed sanctions for
President Charles Taylor’s meddling in Sierra Leone's civil war, finally prompted
Taylor’s abdication from power in August 2003. One-half of Liberia's three million
people were displaced. Taylor became the only person in history (besides Slobodan
Milosevic of Yugoslavia) to be charged with war crimes while in office as the leader of a
nation. He flew to exile in Nigeria. In July 2003, following a cease-fire, the U. S. Army
Southern European Task Force was directed to establish a joint task force and provide
support to military forces of the Economic Community of West African States as it led
peace support operations in Monrovia, Liberia.
Leaflet LBM3aD02 – U. S. Forces are near
The 6th PSYOP Battalion deployed a five-man PSYOP Support Element to Vicenza, Italy.
These elements enable tactical commanders to communicate directly with the enemy and
foreign civilians. At the same time, the Product Development Center was making and sending
PSYOP products via "Reachback." Reachback is a term used for the ability to
exploit resources, capabilities, and expertise not physically located in the theater or
joint operations area. In the case of Liberia, the leaflets were prepared at Ft. Bragg,
and then forwarded to Vicenza. The leaflets were reviewed in Vicenza and then sent to the
U. S. Embassy for approval and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group at sea for printing by
the Navy. The 6th PSYOP Battalion was assigned two loudspeaker team attachments, which
were deployed to the Iwo Jima. They performed some missions on the ground in Liberia, and
were critical in helping the U. S. Navy print the PSYOP products aboard ship.
LBM5aD01 – U. S. Forces continue to monitor… prolong your
suffering
Specialist Heidi Cardona of the 6th PSYOP Battalion was a MOS 25M multimedia
illustrator member of the 5-person PSYOP team that prepared and printed the Liberia
leaflets and posters. Once the project was well underway she went forward with the team to
Monrovia, Liberia where they worked hand in hand with both the Marines and the U.S.
Embassy. She says in regard to the operation:
In doing the products, I based my designs on what the PSYOP troops envisioned.
They told me the kind of images they wanted and I put their basic concepts on paper. It
was a team effort. We put the products together with their concepts and my design skills.
We were there as peacekeepers. We were there to tell them to “play nice and to get
along.” It was proven by the end of the war that the messages we gave them helped. We
gave them good visual images and basic, simple words for them to understand their
situation and the consequences of their actions.
The most difficult aspect of the operation for us was that when we started out we
weren't on location. We were in a different time zone so it was difficult to get an
immediate response from the U.S. Embassy and to learn the reactions of the local people.
Towards the end of our mission we ended up erecting billboards so that everyone could see
how the U.S. and the U.N. were just in Liberia to help. I think it was a successful
mission. They now have a new president and things seem to be getting better.
The Army Illustrators
George Banagis artwork from the 1980s
Some members made T-shirts using this design and text such as “HB Team
1975-1978”
“HB” indicates “Loudspeaker”
Retired Sergeant First Class George E. Banagis served as team leader for the 6th
PSYOP Battalion's Graphic section from 1996 to 1998. There were from nine to eleven
Illustrators in his section at different times and he was surprised to discover that over
half of the illustrators had no drawing skills because the Department of the Army never
checked their bona fides at the time they enlisted. That made his job really
difficult because he soon learned that those without any natural drawing talent cannot be
taught how to draw.
A “Stock” Drawing to be stored for use by PSYOP Troops in a
Military Action
George says about the picture above:
The picture was an idea I had for 4th PSYOP Group to use stock photos done by our
illustrator staff to complete artwork for a mission ahead of time in their home base. The
analysts would have a stockpile of hundreds of images ready to use and a great saving of
time in the war zone. The artwork depicts the child of one of my soldiers and another one
of my soldiers is posing as a combat medic. I photographed the scene and then drew it by
hand. I presented this idea to the 4th PSYOP Group commander a few days before I was
transferred to a new assignment in Washington DC. I moved on to my new assignment and that
is the last I heard of the plan.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion graphic section was located in the old wooden barracks in Ft.
Bragg and they were in such bad shape that the members were required to do a lot of
construction work to improve the buildings. There was also a print van the section worked
in that was one of the five tractor trailers belonging to the print platoon.
Army Illustrator George Banagis
Banagis arrived at Ft. Bragg in March 1986 and was deployed within a week to Hohenfels,
one of the main bases in Germany, called at that time the Combat Maneuver Training
Command. The name was changed later to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center. George
was a platoon sergeant in charge of the Mobil Video Platoon and his platoon was in the VIPERs
or Visual Information Personal and was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company,
Hohenfels.
While stationed with the 6th PSYOP Battalion in Germany about 1987 George and his
fellow PSYOP specialists did some day trips into East Berlin. George told me:
We took the duty train at night to Berlin with the curtains drawn until we got to
the city of Berlin. I still remember the overly tall East German Soldier on the train as
we went through customs with his AK-47. It was an amazing city the moment we had stepped
off the train and one of my favorites. We walked around the area of the train station
until the van arrived that took us to Checkpoint Charlie museum which we toured. We had
exchanged East German marks in West Germany to get a better rate. The East Germans would
give you a one DDR mark for one West German mark, while in West Germany you got TEN DDR
marks for one West German mark. It made the drip to East Germany a lot more affordable.
The East Germans did not know what to think about our red berets and bloused greens.
Part of the 6th PSYOP Battalion Graphics Team in East Berlin
From left to right: SGT Banagis; SPC French; SPC Sims; SPC Semanski; and
SPC Burdock
We first drove around the city and you could see bullets holes left over from WWII
and the city seemed like a slum compared to the rest of Germany I had seen. We drove past
the Brandenburg gate and Hitler’s Bunker as well as the KGB Headquarters with its
mirrored windows so you could not see what was going on inside. We stopped at a shopping
area and had a beer and some food and were able to walk around the city but were not
allowed to speak to the East German people. We wore our class B uniforms with our red
berets and jump boots. We stood out like an elite unit.
Banagis made Staff Sergeant on his return trip from the temporary duty assignment after
completing Airborne School. He was later assigned to the Department of Army Personnel
Command out of Fort Myers, Virginia, and his last assignment was Platoon Sergeant for
Combat Camera in Hohenfels, Germany. About 1992 he was temporarily assigned to the US Army
Center of Military History Army Artist program and his art work was used in documenting
the US Army in Honduras and Panama. It is now part of the permanent collection at the US
Army Center of military history. He made honor
graduate at the US Army Advanced course for visual Information at Lowery AFB. He retired
in May 1995 from Hohenfels, Germany, and now appears at Art Festivals in New York State.
Martin J. Cervantez
Retired Master Sergeant Martin J. Cervantez enlisted in the Army Signal Corps in July
1986 as an 81E, Illustrator. During his first enlistment he was assigned to A Company, 6th
PSYOP Battalion. He was later detailed to the 9th PSYOP Battalion, which deployed in
support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm while attached to the 5th Special
Forces Group, 1st Special Forces Regiment. Martin told me:
I was assigned to A Company, 6th PSYOP Battalion, as an 81E, Illustrator. We did Cold War programs, and a lot of field training
exercises, and Army training and evaluation programs. I
made leaflets, did print ready artwork, and color separations by hand, and worked closely
with out then company organic light print platoon.I was then moved to C Company, 6th PSYOP
Battalion, which was the startup for Africa Company.We were given the last of 6
operational Jeeps to start our motor pool.They each had a trailer.I helped paint all of
them tan, and then a darker tan for camouflage.
I Got your Six
Members of 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry
Division, perform a security halt during a mounted patrol on 9 November, 2008.
His assignments included Graphics Non-commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) for the,
Operations Section, 509th Signal Battalion at Camp Darby, Italy from 1991 to 1992 and
later with the 7th Signal Brigade in Karlsruhe, Germany from 1992 to 1994.
In June 2000, while serving as platoon sergeant for 2d Platoon, 55th Signal Company, he
led Combat Camera teams during a deployment to Kosovo and again as the Joint Combat Camera
Team NCOIC for Foal Eagle 2002. He later served as First Sergeant for B Company, 3rd PSYOP
Battalion from September 2002 until March 2005. While serving in this position, he
deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism to Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Huge Responsibility
Second Lieutenant Patrick Farrell of The American Provincial Police Mentor Team and his
interpreter are meeting with the Afghan National Police Chief in the town of Khost in
November, 2008, to review local situations and provide mentorship on several issues. The
interpreter is covering his face so that he can’t be identified by anyone that may
have ties with the Taliban or Al-Qaida.
He is a former Artist in Residence at the U.S. Army Center of Military History where he
was responsible for capturing the Army's history on paper and canvas. He deployed to
Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from February to April 2011 and from
September to December 2008. He was also deployed in support of Operation Unified Response
in Haiti from January-February 2010. During these deployments he produced artwork that
visually recorded Soldiers’ experiences the Army’s achievements.
An Informal Open Air Latrine
Most of his paintings are remarkable for their clarity and color. I like this one
because it shows the boredom of the mundane life behind the lines in a war zone in a
foreign land. I don’t know what title Martin gave this painting, but every GI that
saw it called it “Piss tubes,” and added, “Been there, done that.”
The original photo was taken in Afghanistan, 2011, at Combat Outpost Iron. The oil
painting was completed in his studio at Ft. Belvior, Virginia, 2012. This piece will be in
the art exhibit at the National Museum of the US Army starting around summer 2021.
Mural Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift
Now retired, he took part in the creation of a mural commemorating the 70th anniversary
of the Berlin airlift along with Fabian Stenzel, a German graffiti artist, unveiled at
Clay Kaserne, 22 June 2018.
Randy Llewellyn
Randall (Randy) Llewellyn onboard a U.S. Air Force C-141 returning to Ft Bragg from a
NATO Exercise at RAF West Raynham May, 1981. The aircraft is on the tarmac at Pope Air
Force Base in Fayetteville NC. They were unloading the plane and then the men would be off
to their barracks on Smoke Bomb Hill.
Randy Llewellyn at 3rd Support Command in Frankfurt on the Main, Germany where he was
the Non-commissioned Officer in charge of the Operations (G3) Graphics Department.
Randy Llewellyn served in the 6th PSYOP Battalion from 1980 to 1982. He told me:
I started drawing at a very early age, one of my earliest memories was at my
grandparent’s farm stressing over making the wheels look right on car sketches. I
enlisted on the “Stripes for Skills” program as an Army Illustrator (81E) at the
rank of PFC. Right after basic training; I skipped Advanced Individual Training and
reported directly to the 6th PSYOP Battalion at Ft. Bragg, NC in June 1980 and was
assigned to the Battalion S-3 (Operations). The first months of my enlistment were the
adventure of my lifetime. I went from basic training to Ft Bragg, was promoted to
Specialist 4, graduated the Primary Leadership Development Course and earned my jump wings
in less than a year. My confidence was higher than any other time in my life, and I was
pumped and eager for more, but best of all, I met people and made friends that changed my
life forever.
Many of the propaganda campaigns I worked on were classified real world North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) packs. Some of my best work at the 6th PSYOP Battalion
was for NATO. Here is some of the work I did during my tour with 6th PSYOP. Unfortunately,
much of what I prepared was classified at the time and I was not allowed to keep samples
of the products.
Warning
This leaflet was used during an Army Training and Evaluation Program (ARTEP). It was
dropped on a division of airborne infantry in the field and supported with loudspeaker
broadcasts of snarling barking dogs throughout the nights of the exercise to cause worry
and sleep deprivation among the division. Notice the official looking U.S. Army Medical
Command (MEDCOM) signature at the bottom designed to create authenticity. The reverse side
of the Rabies Epidemic Leaflet played off of the sleep deprivation caused by the
loudspeaker broadcasts creating disorientation, and paranoia with the troops. Sick call
was swamped with patients throughout the ARTEP and the unit strength suffered greatly.
OPSEC Poster
I remember a campaign that actually caused one division to fail their ARTEP.
Unfortunately I didn’t actually work on it, but I’ll tell you about it anyway.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion was doing their Opposing Force (OPFOR) thing with leaflets and
loudspeakers and they managed to capture several of the division’s troops. (I seem to
remember they were trying to take out loudspeaker team, but I could be wrong) During their
interrogation they let slip the name of the most respected NCO in the unit. I’m not
sure if it was luck or skill but that NCO was also captured. He was reunited with the
other captives in the day room at the 6th barracks with women, beer and a few games of
pocket billiards and the photographs were made into leaflets. Combined with the other
campaigns the 6th PSYOP was running, the results were devastating to the division.
OPSEC Booklet
After the division failed the ARTEP above, it was realized that most units were
under-trained on fighting propaganda and as a result the Operation Security (OPSEC) 11 x
17-inch poster above along with a Soviet PSYOP Threat booklet and a pocket card with OPSEC
guidelines as well as other information was written and distributed in the effort to
educate our troops.
The Graffiti Pig
This graffiti pig was part of an effort to convince the Opposing Force
soldiers to believe they would be given pig’s blood transfusions if they were ever
injured in combat. I designed it so it could be spray painted easily by anybody in a
matter of seconds to avoid capture or worse. It took me a long time to come up with the
pig. Sometimes it very hard to keep things simple. The campaign was supported with the
typical propaganda methods and at one point we experimented with printing on kites.
[Author's Note]: I was rather interested in the kite propaganda because The Chinese
used leaflet kites as early as 549 A.D. The British used propaganda kites against Napoleon
and again against the Central Powers in WWI. During the Cold War the Chinese used kites to
move propaganda between the mainland and Quemoy. Most recently, in 2018 the residents of
Gaza used kites to carry burning rags and gasoline into Israel. I asked Randy to tell me
more about the kites:
One of our Specialist 4 intelligence analysts came up with the kite idea and our
leaders let him run with it. We were on a NATO exercise at RAF West Raynham, His first
task was to build a kite which may not seem to be difficult, but we didn’t have any
of the materials needed to actually build one. No string, no paper or kite sticks. The
whole project turned into a scavenger hunt. He cut sticks from trees outside of the air
base and used tabloid newspaper to cover it. I don’t recall where he got the string
but in the end, he found everything he needed. The final kite as I recall was not pretty
and I don’t remember if it flew, but I give him an “A” for effort. Beyond
that, the rest of the kite project was all in reports and no art work was ever created for
it. I do know the idea was to get the kite flying where Opposing Force were likely
to see it or tie it off so it could fly on its own.
After my tour at the 6th PSYOP Battalion, I got Permanent Change of Station orders
to Germany. I got out of the regular army did a tour in the Army Reserves. (The 365th
Engineers of the 79th Army Reserve Command) and was activated for Desert Storm. However, I
was then training to be a carpenter masonry specialist but since my military occupational
specialty was still 81E I was sent home. Later they called me to come back to continue my
training in the hope that they could get me ready in time for deployment. My Commander was
determined to get all of his troops to deploy with the 365th and I was called back again
but in the end a group of us who were as yet unqualified were reassigned to a Bailey
bridge company for training so I never deployed. Neither did the 365th. They got as far as
Ft. Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, and spent the remainder of Desert Storm there.
Operational Detachment One, 6th PSYOP Battalion, late 1981
SP5 Williams, SSG McCreedy, CPT Rieger, CPT Jones.
SP4 Dorfer, SP4 Jennifer Stengel, PFC Robinson SSG Linthicum.
MAJ Van Nest, SP4 Moses, SP4 Hecht, SP4 Marek, SP6 Chunn, SFC Jones.
I note that Specialist Stengel would later marry Illustrator Randy Llewellyn (above)
and change her name. I also note Illustrator Ed Marek (who we also mention below) in the
front row.
During his time in the 6th PSYOP Battalion Randy worked on numerous training-related
Cold War PSYOP campaigns: North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises and war games such
as Reforger with the British Royal Air Force at West Raynham, a former RAF base
built in 1939 during WWII.
The Reforger (Return of Forces to Germany) exercise itself was first conceived in 1967
during the Vietnam War. The Johnson administration announced plans to withdraw
approximately two divisions from Europe in 1968. As a demonstration of its continuing
commitment to the defense of NATO, a large scale force deployment was planned that would
deploy a division or more to West Germany in a regular annual exercise. The first such
exercise was conducted beginning on 6 January 1969. Reforger became an annual exercise
conducted during the Cold War by NATO. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had
the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the
Warsaw Pact.
Joint Training Exercise Solid Shield 1977
In 1977 we find the 6th PSYOP Battalion taking part in Joint Training Exercise Solid
Shield. Solid Shield was an annual massive military exercise that lasted one week each
year. It emphasized command and control in a unified environment. More than 50,000
personnel from the U.S. Army's Forces Command, the Navy's Atlantic Fleet, the Marine
Corps' Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, TAC, MAC, and the Coast Guard joined in the massive
exercise. Although I have about a dozen leaflets from this exercise, most are in black and
white. I add two there were printed in color here.
U.S. and Blue Allied for Victory
Armored Soldiers of Red
Some of the black and white leaflets were very attractive. I add one here:
Will you Ever Return to Her?
This Solid Shield leaflet depicts a lonely woman thinking of her man. It is the kind of
leaflet that is always used in every war. The back is also interesting since it shows the
insignia of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.
Ed Marek
Ed Marek “Self Portrait”
Ed Marek originally entered the Army as an 11B (Infantryman) in 1977 and was first
stationed at the Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. As a Specialist 4th Class member of the 25th
Infantry Division in 1979 he was already showing artistic skills and received a letter of
commendation for making display cards for the division reunion. In 1980 he reenlisted for
“Graphics Apprentice” School. He was interested in art and drawing since
childhood. His father was an artist so it came naturally. After the course at Lowry Air
Force Base, Denver, he was assigned to the 6th PSYOP Battalion as an 81E (Illustrator) in
the Propaganda Development section. He arrived at a time of relative peace while his
Battalion was deployed on the Cuban Mariel boat people operation. Ed told me:
It was a great experience working with the different people and specialties from
military intelligence analysts, photographers, artists to broadcasters. Field duty was
interesting as far as creating artwork on the fly out in the woods, midnight loudspeaker
missions and leaflet drops. Great people and had a lot of fun as a PSYOP specialist in the
3 years I spent with the 6th Battalion from 1980 to 1983. I did one more tour in
Darmstadt, Germany then left the Army in 1986 to attend the Academy of Art. I served in
the Army a total of 10 years.
After a couple of freelance positions I landed a spot as a Graphics Specialist at a
major Chicago publishing company, creating ads as well as laying out and producing
magazines and newspapers, where I worked for 25 years until leaving the business to spend
more time on other endeavors.
Ed Marek Assigned to the 11th Signal Brigade in 1984,
32nd Army Air Defense Command (AADCOM).
He told me about taking the PSYOP course at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center
and School where he had Madison Avenue advertising executives teaching classes and
techniques that were very helpful and that he used later as an illustrator. Most of his
work involved training exercises, war games, and even some work for the Ft. Bragg
Newspaper Paraglide. In 1982, he received a letter of appreciation for the artwork
he contributed voluntarily for the Paraglide.
Yesterday
Ed talks below about leaflets for the Warsaw Pact.
Here is a typical example from my own collection
The PSYOP units in Germany also practiced making mock leaflets against the Communist
German and Soviet troops. This 6th PSYOP Battalion Russian-language Cold War training
leaflet was made in conjunction with the German 800th PSV (Psychological Defense)
Battalion. The front depicts two Russian soldiers with the girlfriends and the text:
Yesterday
On the back of the leaflet the two Russian soldiers have disappeared and only the girls
remain. The text is:
Today, tomorrow, and then how long?
He did a lot of work on classified stock leaflets to be packaged and used in time of
war, but those leaflets were all taken to storage depots and saved. In the 80s the 6th
PSYOP Battalion was supporting the watching of the Warsaw Pact and Eastern Europe so he
could not keep even the drafts, drawings, and illustrations and paintings he did. One of
his favorites was a red watercolor of a Russian soldier and tanks designed for use on
Czechoslovakia and Poland as a leaflet or poster. Since he only did the artwork, he had no
idea what the text might be on the product, but it surely would have been divisive
propaganda meant to split the Communist-bloc armies.
The Thousand Yard Stare
There is a very famous image of a soldier in Combat with his eyes hollow and unseeing
in what has been called “the thousand yard stare.” Here, Ed Marek does his own
version of that picture for a stock, pre-packaged morgue file. Ed was told to create a war
weary soldier. Should war come, the next artist would be able to use the image, change the
uniform into that of the enemy and make whatever changes were necessary.
Citizens of Pahran!
I liked this leaflet because of the text on one side:
Citizens of Pahran!
BEWARE!
The American paid killers have arrived
The other side show two American soldiers and an enormous pile of cash, obviously paid
to them to kill the local guerrillas.
Safe Conduct Pass
This is a standard safe conduct pass with an insignia at the center that is the same as
worn by the enemy artillery forces. Ed told me that the defecting soldier on the other
side of the leaflet is wearing that patch. The leaflet offers hot meals and claims to be
from a POW who has defected to the other side and has been treated well. The back depicts
the defector with a woman and talks about all the food he has eaten and implies there
might be some sex in his future. The woman, Khatahbah Katie, is 6th PSYOP Battalion
Intelligence Analyst Specialist Sergeant. Laura Williams. Ed told me that she retired as a
First Sergeant.
Paraglide
Ed showed me several images he drew for the Ft. Bragg newspaper Paraglide. I liked this
one, a scene of a soldier about to face a board and in shock when hearing himself called.
Training and Wargame Leaflets
Dragonfire
This poster was printed very quickly on the spot, in the field, to commemorate the
visit of Major General George E. Marine, Deputy Commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The
exercise was called “Dragonfire” and featured the 1st of the 73rd Field
Artillery. It was an ARTEP (Army Training and Evaluation Program). The entire poster
project took 2 hours and it was 42 minutes from Marek’s drawing board to print. The
poster explains:
This was printed during Major General Marines’ visit to OP 15, 26 May 1982.
Demonstrating the swift and professional capabilities of the 6TH PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
BATTALION.
Tick
Many leaflets try to frighten the enemy with tales of the dangers to be found in the
field. I have leaflets that show poisonous snakes, spiders and even ticks. Marek was
particularly fond of this leaflet. He called it the 1/73 ARTEP "Award Winner".
He told me that the officers and analysts hated the tick leaflet but as a former 11B
infantryman, he knew that the ticks were a discomfort and a worry to the foot soldier. He
thought it would be effective and found that it was. If I can add a personal note, Rocky
Mountain Spotted disease is very dangerous. At one time in my career I was involved in
projects of this sort and one of my comrades broke a Petri dish containing that disease
and cut his hand. He died soon afterwards. It was a reminder to be very careful when
working with little bugs that can kill you.
The Third Terd
I do not know how to describe this leaflet. In general, at war games everyone is very
gentlemanly. In fact, in WWII, Sefton Delmer the head of the British black propaganda unit
caught a lot of flak from politicians because of his leaflet profanity and pornography. He
basically replied, “All things are fair in love and war; it is what the Germans like
to read.”
Apparently, some PSYOP agents infiltrated the Military Police Company’s field mess
and gained some inside information on the unit's members. Ed told me:
Two of our analysts infiltrated their basecamp at chow time and as I remember were
able to hang around there for a briefing or two and gossip with some of their soldiers.
They were both good looking, and Sergeant Laura Williams found that being an attractive
female had its advantages. They heard stories about all the enemy soldiers and learned
their nicknames. Nothing about that leaflet was politically correct. Messing with their
heads was the deal.
Tony Sims
Tony Sims deployed for Training at Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia in 1987
Tony M. Sims started drawing when he was about 7 years old. He took every art class in
middle and high school. He knew he wanted to be an artist, but was not sure on how to go
about it. The military seemed to be the answer. Tony served in the U.S. Army from February
1986 to November 1998. He started his military life with basic training at Fort Dix, New
Jersey, in 1986. He took his advanced training at Lowry Air Force Base. He was assigned to
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the Military Occupational Specialty of 81E, with the
duties of illustrating drafts and laying out illustrations for posters, graphs, charts,
tests, and training aids. He served as an illustrator and propaganda specialist from 1986
to 1990 in the 6th PSYOP Battalion; Company A. He did many things in his years as an
artist, such as designing the logo for the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in
Fayetteville, NC. He worked on and supervised over a dozen leaflet missions. From 1991 to
1995 he was assigned to the Print Dissemination Battalion which later became the 3rd PSYOP
Battalion. He now lives a quiet life working for the Union Pacific Railroad out of South
Morrill, Nebraska. He has lived in Torrington, Wyoming, for the past 20 years, with his
wife Carla.
A Tony Sim’s drawing of a radioman with a PRC-77
Tony told me in 2018 that he had been part of the team that printed the 4th PSYOP Group
booklet on Operation Desert Storm depicted above. He also helped to print a folded
cardboard piece that honored the 4th PSYOP Group and featured photographs and histories of
the various units that took part in the Persian Gulf War.
Folded card front
Folded card back
Note the comment at the left:
During operation Provide Comfort the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion
(Airborne) aided millions of Kurdish refugees near the Turkish-Iraq border. Soldiers were
deployed from Ft. Bragg and Saudi Arabia, where during the war they lent loudspeaker
support to units of the Coalition Force. Near the border they assisted the refugees with
loudspeaker announcements and leaflet drops encouraging the Kurds to seek refuge in
established camps.
The Special Operations Booklet for Congress
Tony also was part of the team that printed a booklet for Congress that told the story
of Special Operations and Psychological Operations. The booklet is 38-pages long and
mentions all the units of Special Forces, the equipment they use, the organizations and a
number of the operations they took part in. Since we write about PSYOP I have included the
two pages that mention psychological operations.
The Airborne and Special Forces Museum Logo
In 1992, Tony Sims designed the logo for the Airborne and Special Forces Museum in
Fayetteville N.C. The design shows several important historical symbols, the old patch
worn by the first Special Service Force in WWII, a Special Forces dagger Which was
apparently modeled after the Fairbairn-Sykes British Commando knife, and a master
parachutist badge. Tony was recognized with a certificate in 2018 for his achievement
which said:
Certificate of Appreciation
For his artistic and creative efforts in the development of the
Museum’s logo.
The logo you created embellishes the spirit of the Airborne and
Special Operations Soldiers the museum strives to honor.
Ethiopia
U.S. Officer mentors Ethiopian military officers
In June 2009, Michelle Butzgy wrote an article in Paraglide entitled “Fort Bragg
Soldiers work at winning hearts and minds around the world.” She said about the 6th
Battalion:
Specialist Esther Cutler, 6th PSYOP Battalion worked in Ethiopia, part of African
Command. She said:
There's tension in those tribes. The battalion designed a tri-arm logo for unity and
promoted a basketball team to spread the word. During their games, they stop and talk to
the audience about unity. They (travel) around the regions of Ethiopia so they're going to
take that message with them. The battalion is also sponsoring a soccer league with the
same unity message. They also put together a unity concert with world musicians Pras
Michael, Aster Awoke and Gosaye. It was huge.
LIBYA
Libya Independence Protests in Benghazi
A civil war erupted in Libya on 15 February 2011. The situation began as a series of
peaceful protests. On the evening of 15 February, between 500 and 600 demonstrators
protested in front of the police headquarters in Benghazi after the arrest of human rights
lawyer Fathi Terbil. The protest was broken up violently by police, resulting in 38
injured, among them ten security personnel. Protest rallies were held in Al Bayda, Az
Zintan, Benghazi, and Darnah. Libyan security responded with lethal force. A “Day of
Rage” was planned for 17 February inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Within a week, this uprising had spread across the country and Gaddafi was struggling to
retain control. Gaddafi responded with military force and other such measures as
censorship and blocking of communications.
The rebels established a coalition named the Transitional National Council based in
Benghazi. The International Criminal Court warned Gaddafi that he and members of his
government may have committed crimes against humanity and the United Nations Security
Council passed an initial resolution freezing the assets of Gaddafi and ten members of his
inner circle, and restricting their travel. The United Nations intervened, the initial
coalition expanded to 17 states. The effort was initially largely led by France and the
United Kingdom, with command shared with the United States. NATO took control of the arms
embargo on 23 March, named Operation Unified Protector. On 24 March, NATO agreed to take
control of the no-fly zone, while command of targeting ground units remains with coalition
forces.
Captain Geoffrey Childs wrote an article entitled “Military Information Support to
Contingency Operations in Libya for Special Warfare, January-March 2013. He summed
up the PSYOP well and I thought we would use his numbers as a guide in this article. Some
of his comments are:
More than 50 messages were disseminated throughout the first 12 days of Operation
Odyssey Dawn and an additional 200 were disseminated during the seven months of the
Operation Unified Protector…Commando Solo flew its first sortie, broadcasting 11 MISO
messages in three languages, the same day the JTF dropped its first bomb. These messages
were developed, approved, translated, recorded, uploaded and disseminated within a 17-hour
time period…Of the more than 9 million leaflets disseminated, only a few achieved
their desired effect, but most were credited to have bolstered the spirit of the TNC
forces and civilians in fear of the regime alike.
Childs mentions the activities of the 6th PSYOP Battalion and says in part:
PSYOP approval authority was limited in scope to support exclusively the
non-combatant evacuation mission, which therefore remained the singular focus of the 6th
PSYOP Battalion. When UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorizing the use of force to
protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under the threat of attack was ratified on
March 17, 2011, the company, at Fort Bragg, began developing a PSYOP series based on
the secretary of defense’s preapproved psychological operations programs in
anticipation of coalition lethal actions against the Gadhafi regime.
It is impossible to empirically prove that the PSYOP campaign directly caused the
eventual collapse of the Gadhafi regime. While NATO’s approach to PSYOP was, at
times, at odds with the American process, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest 6th PSYOP
Battalion-enabled NATO messages contributed to the overall success of contingency
operations in Libya.
Leaflet Operations in Libya
Colonel Gaddafi…
I am going to show three Leaflets Captain Childs used to illustrate his article
although I have all the leaflets used in the campaign. Readers who want to learn more
about the PSYOP of the Libyan campaign will find my article here.
This leaflet depicted Gaddafi at the right and Libyan citizens near a bomb blast at the
left. The text is:
Colonel Gaddafi’s orders to attack civilians are illegal and as a result he has
been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Non-Libyan Fighters…
One of the more interesting leaflets depicts a Libyan banknote on fire. It was believed
that Gaddafi was paying foreign mercenaries to fight for his regime. Text on the front of
the note is:
Non-Libyan fighters, this is the only money you will receive for continuing to
endanger Libyan citizens.
Stop Tearing Libya Apart
This leaflet depicts a Libyan soldier on the front, split down the middle to show a
government soldier on one side and a rebel on the other. Behind the soldier is a tank,
behind the rebel an armed truck (sometimes called a “technical”) and armed
fighters. NATO symbols appear at the lower left and right. The text on the front is:
Stop Tearing Libya Apart
One Libya, one people
The 6th Battalion in Europe Today
The military magazine Special Warfare mentioned the 6th Battalion in its January-June
2016 issue. It said in part:
The 6th PSYOP Battalion, part of 4th Military PSYOP Group, is the primary force
provider of PSYOP Soldiers to support special operations, conventional, and partner forces
throughout the European Command Area of Responsibility. 6th PSYOP Battalion Soldiers serve
as influence advisors to supported commanders by assessing, shaping, disrupting, and
ultimately influencing behaviors of foreign related to situations and issues through
precision messaging. PSYOP Soldiers are also working on planning, coordinating, and
executing training engagements with partner and allied nations focused on improving the
existing capabilities of these countries and their emerging information operations
programs.
The 6th PSYOP Battalion is composed of a diverse group of regionally aligned
Non-commissioned officers and officers who have a career focus on the political, military,
economic, social, infrastructure, information, physical environment, history, and current
events of a specific region of Europe. Many 6th PSYOP Battalion soldiers are native
speakers and possess fluency one or more European languages, which makes them critical
assets in the countries they are assigned to serve.
In regard to Special Forces the Magazine adds:
Acting in support of Special Operations Command Forward-Eastern Europe, Special
Operations Command Europe, and a host of inter-agency and military formations, the U.S.
Army Psychological Operations Regiment, specifically the 6th PSYOP Battalion, form the
main effort in influence and information activities designed to prevent or end conflict
and to counteract threats facing the U.S. and our allies in the European Command area of
operations. PSYOP Soldiers are involved in every aspect of regional Special Operations
Forces initiatives.
Training and Public Relations
On 31 July 2014, Psychological Operations held an Open House at Ft. Bragg, North
Carolina, to show what they do and exhibit some of their products. Sergeant Matt Conley, a
PSYOP Specialist assigned to A Company of the 6st PSYOP Battalion explains his job to an
interested soldier. Conley said:
I just want other soldiers to know what we do, and how many benefits you can gain
from joining this career field. From extraordinary experiences to amazing education
benefits, the PSYOP career has a lot to offer.
A 6th PSYOP Battalion Soldier works with his team to make his way across a wire
obstacle and complete a leader reaction course at Camp Dawson, West Virginia. During the
unit’s mission readiness exercise, the 6th PSYOP Battalion validated their skills to
join teams that will augment Special Operations Command Europe in the coming months. Among
their skills tested are language proficiency and cultural understanding. (Photo by Captain
Stephen Von Jett)
In Memorial
Specialist 4 Darel L. Sills, of Salem, Oregon, assigned to the 246th PSYOP
Company, 6th PSYOP Battalion (Airborne) was killed on 13 October, 1966 when the military
vehicle in which he was riding hit an explosive mine. Sills’ skill badges and
decorations included the Aircraft Crewman Badge, the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army
Commendation Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Military Merit Medal, and Gallantry Cross
with Palm.
Staff Sergeant Rodger E. Terwilliger, of Littleton, Colorado, assigned to the 246th
PSYOP Company, 6th PSYOP Battalion (Airborne) was killed on 15 October 1966 when the
vehicle he was riding in struck a mine in Vietnam.
First Lieutenant John S. Martin, of Oklawaha, Florida, assigned to the 244th PSYOP
Company, 6th PSYOP Battalion (Airborne) was killed on 10 August 1967 when the C-130B
Hercules aircraft he was flying in crashed into Dong Nhut Mountain, Vietnam
Specialist 4 Arnold D. Syrovatka, of Ethan, South Dakota, assigned to the 244th PSYOP
Company, 6th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne), died on October 15, 1967
from injuries from a gunshot wound in Vietnam.
First Lieutenant John Edward Miller, of Arlington, Virginia, assigned to the 6th PSYOP
Battalion (Airborne) died of wounds following an attack on Forward Operating Base Four on
24 August 1968 in Quang Ngai province, Vietnam.
Specialist 5 John E. Lynch, Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, assigned to the 6th PSYOP
Battalion (Airborne). On 15 June 1969 Lynch was conducting a leaflet drop/loudspeaker
mission aboard a UH-1 ‘Huey’ Iroquois belonging to B Company, 229th Aviation
Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in III CTZ near Long Khanh, Vietnam. Around
1430 hours, the helicopter hit high voltage wires, crashed, and burned. Lynch was killed,
along with Warrant Officer 1 (WO1) Kish L. Green (pilot), SP4 Larry D. Lemaster (gunner),
and RVN interpreter My Vu Tan. Amazingly, WO1 William K. Geloneck (pilot) and SP4 Larry M.
Pollitt (crew chief) survived with serious burns. Lynch was posthumously promoted to
Sergeant. His decorations include the Aircraft Crewman Badge, the Air Medal, and the
Purple Heart.
Specialist 4 Marc P. Decoteau, of Waterville Valley, New Hamshire, assigned to the 6th
PSYOP Battalion (Airborne) died at Forward Operating Base Nunez, Afghanistan, was killed
on 29 January 2010 in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, when he was shot by an Afghan
interpreter while supporting combat operations during Operation Enduring Freedom.
6th
PSYOP Battalion Awards and Decorations
The Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for VIETNAM 1966-1967 and again
for VIETNAM 1967-1968
Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for SOUTHWEST ASIA
1990-1991
The Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class for
VIETNAM 1967-1970
The 6th PSYOP Bn received campaign participation credit for:
Vietnam: Counteroffensive; Counteroffensive, Phase II; Counteroffensive, Phase
III; Tet Counteroffensive; Counteroffensive, Phase IV; Counteroffensive, Phase V;
Counteroffensive, Phase VI; Tet 69/Counteroffensive; Summer-Fall 1969; Winter-Spring 1970;
Sanctuary Counteroffensive;Counteroffensive, Phase VII.
Southwest Asia: Defense of Saudi Arabia;
Liberation and Defense of Kuwait.
This ends our very short look at the history of the United States Army’s 6th
PSYOP Battalion, a unit that has deployed to numerous nations to support legal governments
and fight anti-government guerrillas and armed enemies of the United States for over 50
years. Readers who wish to comment or send further information are encouraged to write the
author at Sgmbert@hotmail.com.
