Sergeant Major Herbert A. Friedman was discharged in 1995 after 26 years of
honorable service. He has held numerous positions in the military, holds three military
occupational specialties, several special skills identifiers, and is an honor graduate of
the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy at Ft. Bliss, Texas.
He has 22 military awards and decorations and has graduated 26 military
courses, including Psychological Operations, the First Sergeant's Course, and the Senior
Battle Staff Course.
He has been awarded New York State's most prestigious military medal, the
Conspicuous Service Cross. He has also been awarded the Town of Hempstead Veterans Medal
for his dedication "for the betterment of his brethren" and Nassau County's
highest decoration, the Executive's Distinguished Service to Veterans Award. New York
State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo Jr. appointed him to his Veteran’s Advisory Board
to study various issues that affect the veteran community, legislation being considered by
the New York State Senate, and future programs and community projects. The Vietnam
War Veterans Association presented him with their 2006 Veterans of the Year Award in
recognition of his long-standing dedication and commitment to that organization and
veteran's issues. In 2007, his town Chamber of Commerce awarded him the title of Community
Person of the Year.
He is the mid-Atlantic spokesman to the press for the Psychological Operations
Veterans Association (POVA), and the PSYOP history editor of the Psychological Operations
Association (POA) journal Perspectives since 1990. He is the American
representative of the international Psychological Warfare (Psywar) Society. He has written
over 100 print articles on the subject of PSYOP and has been the expert source in close to
a dozen published books and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. He has been
interviewed on Japanese television, ITN, and on the American news show Extra. He
has appeared on both the British and Canadian Broadcasting Corporations (BBC and CBC) and
worked with the authors of articles in the New York Times, USA Today,
and other American and foreign newspapers. His interviews on psychological warfare have
appeared in Icon, Print Magazine and Défense & Sécurité
Internationale. He was interviewed and acted as a subject expert for the American
History Channel Sworn to Secrecy documentary on psychological operations, the
British Channel Four documentary on sexual propaganda during World War II and the Tokyo
Broadcasting System documentary on American PSYOP during the invasion of Okinawa. He was a
special contributor to the Nova documentary “Missing in Mig Alley.”
SGM Friedman (Ret.) presents an Afghan War Rug to
Major General Herb "Buzz" Altshuler
Commanding General, United States Army Civil Affairs
& Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC)
He has guest-lectured on the history of PSYOP to both the United
States Army enlisted and officer's psychological operations training students at Ft.
Bragg, NC and was presented with a challenge coin by Colonel Jack N. Summe, Commander, 4th
PSYOP Group.
He has guest-lectured at Long Island University.
Taking part in ground breaking ceremony for the Nassau County
Monument to the Veterans of the War in Southeast Asia
Since retirement he has been a six-time Commander of his American Legion
post, a County American Legion Division commander, and the Commis Voyageur (Flag
bearer) of the military Forty and Eight honor society. He is a past Commander of
his Veterans of Foreign War post and an officer of the Vietnam War Veterans
Association and member of the 51st Fighter Wing Association.
He is a volunteer member, ex-captain, and ex-Secretary to the Board of Fire
Commissioners of his local fire department and rescue squad. He is the chartered
representative of Boy Scout Troop 577 and the chairman of the military committee of his
community Town Fair. He volunteers as an adult literacy instructor. In 2006 he was elected
to the Board of Trustees of his town Library
SGM Friedman constantly researches and writes on the subject of psychological
operations. He currently has over ninety articles published on various sites on the
Internet such as Psywarrior.com and Psywar.org. He is always willing to lend his expertise to
any project on that subject.
Readers with questions or comments may contact SGM Friedman (Retired) at sgmbert@hotmail.com.
