DID YOU KNOW…During Desert Storm some Iraqi Commanders complained that the
Coalition forces did not fight “fair” because our forces engaged them at such
distances and with such overwhelming force that they did not have an opportunity to
surrender. Additionally, some complained that they were merely moving into position to
surrender. However, the burden (and risk) is upon the surrendering party make his
intentions clear, unambiguous, and unequivocal to the capturing unit: Geneva Convention
III: Prisoners of War.
DID YOU KNOW…Under the Geneva Convention Tobacco is one of the items that must be
provided to prisoners. During Desert Storm, the 301st Military Police POW camp required
3500 packages of cigarettes per day. Police and medical personnel know that tobacco is a
very soothing drug that works to keep fights and arguments down. I recall visiting
Bellevue Hospital in New York City in the 1950s and the halls of the wing where the insane
or those under observation was so thick with cigarette smoke that you could barely see
your hand in front of your face. “It keeps the residents quiet,” I was told by
an orderly.
Now that we see the official policy towards loudspeakers, I would
like to add some comments from Staff Sergeant Jon Cartier who led a
Tactical PSYOP Loudspeaker Team during Operation Desert Storm and did some
operations in enemy prisoner of war camps. He wrote the Psychological
Operations Team Leader’s Handbook as a lesson learned of how to
operate in a war environment and I found his writing to be both
interesting and insightful:
A
Tactical PSYOP Team in support of an EPW camp is tasked to assist in the
conduct and control of the day-to-day operations in the camp and to assist
the on-site PSYOP support element with their assigned missions. Usually
there is a PSYOP Team in the camp around the clock. Multiple Teams support
camp operations so that rotation is possible.
The EPW camps are large enclosures with guard towers surrounding three
internal compounds. Inside each compound, there are ten smaller enclosures
that hold around 600 prisoners each. Some of the enclosures are used for
administrative purposes, some are recreational for the prisoners, others
serve as holding areas. The rest of the enclosures serve as living
quarters for the prisoners. The smaller enclosures serve to break up the
sheer volume of prisoners and to segregate the officers, enlisted, NCOs,
and warrant officers.
All of them are provided with clothes and shoes, shower, and latrine
facilities, beds, and bedding, and have many other very humane
accoutrements. Every prisoner must be processed, be interviewed, given
sick call, have formations, be fed, receive information and news, be
entertained (optional), be informed of the rules, and most importantly,
controlled. With so many former enemy soldiers gathered in one place, the
potential for danger is very high. The
camps are also gold mines for the intelligence gathering people. Gathering
intelligence is always an on-going priority in the camps. All the while,
the camp commander must ensure that each prisoner is treated in full
accordance with the Geneva Convention regarding EPWs. For him it is like
running a small city. The Tactical PSYOP Team can say that the services it
can provide make the camp commander, the intelligence people, and the
prisoners very happy.
The Tactical PSYOP Team can be part of a camp quick reaction force that
responds to incidents inside the camp to regain control over the
prisoners. Some incidents that would require PSYOP support could be riots,
fights, escape attempts, or hostage taking. The reaction force is a
well-armed security contingent that can be used to back up any threat of
force.
The Tactical PSYOP Team is also very helpful in the conduct and control of
prisoners as they move through processing, conduct inspections, conduct
sick call, and organize work details. Another valuable usage of a TPT
asset is to disseminate information and news to the prisoners. Each day,
the camp commander and his staff put together information to be
broadcast.
During Desert Storm, this was broadcast to the prisoners along with a
credible outside news source (the Arabic BBC news out of Morocco). This
limits rumors and keeps the prisoners informed on the progress of the
conflict.
After the news comes the favorite part of the day for the prisoners, the
music and entertainment. The Tactical PSYOP Team can play music and
occasionally conduct games from outside the enclosure. The prisoners
respond very well to this unexpected privilege. It puts them in a good
mood and makes them easier to work with. It also gives the camp commander
something to take away for bad behavior. Some entertainment ideas are
"Simon Says," the Limbo, Relay races, and teaching songs.
Here are a few suggestions to make life a little easier.
•
Don’t go to enclosures next to each other. Skip every other one and let
the other TPT handle the enclosures between yours. This is so that the
prisoners in the enclosure next door cannot observe your actions and
possibly figure out what you are up to.
•
Don’t wear any rank or patches. This can allow you to mingle with both
officers and enlisted.
•
Never do anything concerning the prisoners without the knowledge and
approval of the camp commander.
•
Don’t eat or smoke in front of the prisoners.
•
Never openly give anything to a prisoner. It could start a fight or worse.
Enemy Prisoners of War Await the End of their Captivity
I had a personal relationship with the 800th MPs at that time. Just before
the buildup to Operation Desert Shield/Storm as a military instructor I was
tasked with teaching a leadership course that included some MPs from the
Brigade. Everything went well the first few days, then one or two MPs were
missing. They had been called up. Then a day or two went by and another few
were missing. This went on for a week or two and suddenly the class was
almost empty. Everybody got orders and disappeared. Soon I got a letter in
the mail too.
We learn more about the connection between the 800th MPs and the 13th PSYOP
Battalion in the 1992 report United States Army Reserve in Operation Desert Storm:
Enemy Prisoner of War Operations: The 800th Military Police Brigade. The PSYOP troops
are mentioned in just a few comments:
Much of the credit for the smooth operations of the camps rests with the
personnel of the 13th Psychological Operations Battalion, a USAR unit from St Paul,
Minnesota, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James P. Noll. The 13th PSYOP Battalion was
part of the CAPSTONE trace of the 800th MP Brigade and had specialized in working on EPW
operations. Although the unit had the mission of providing psychological operations
support for four camps with almost 70,000 EPW, only 32 members of the unit were activated
(out of 102 available), and this left the PSYOP part of the EPW mission severely
undermanned. Very little of the unit's organic equipment arrived in the theater, and the
lack of secure communications gear, computers, printing presses, and loudspeakers also
hampered the ability of the unit to perform its mission properly. The 800th MP Brigade
alleviated the manpower somewhat by augmenting the 13th PSYOP Battalion with 15 personnel
of the 338th Military Intelligence Detachment, USAR, from Waterbury, Connecticut,
commanded by Sergeant First Class Raul Jiminez-Cintron. In addition, 15 Arabic
interpreters were assigned to the PSYOP teams. Failure to activate the entire 13th PSYOP
Battalion is another indication of the lack of appreciation on the part of some planners
for the magnitude and importance of EPW operations and their willingness to accept more
risk in this area than is practical.
Ninety-eight percent of all EPWs reported that they had seen or possessed PSYOP
leaflets and taken the action the leaflets encouraged - e.g., deserting, defecting,
abandoning equipment, or surrendering.
Despite the lack of resources, the 13th PSYOP Battalion provided excellent
support to the camps. The PSYOP teams at each camp were valuable in judging the mind-set
and state of morale of the EPW population and helped to maintain order by accompanying the
MP Reaction Forces responding to occasional disturbances. They helped the camp commanders
explain to the EPW almost immediately upon arrival at the camp the rules and procedures of
the camp and the rationale for them. Audio tapes in Arabic were developed to tell the
prisoners what would happen during processing and how they were to respond. Signs in
Arabic were produced for each processing station and for displaying the camp rules and
locations. One sign, for example, warned the prisoners not to drink from an unsafe water
source. The PSYOP teams established at each camp a mobile shelter which provided Arabic
magazines and newspapers and played Arabic movies and music. PSYOP personnel prepared
special news programs in Arabic for the prisoners. Access to these shelters was prized by
the prisoners, and the threat of losing this privilege through misconduct was an effective
way to control the prisoners. The PSYOP teams were essential to the operation of the
camps.
Lieutenant Colonel Jon F. Bilbo also mentioned the 13th PSYOP Battalion in his
report: Enemy Prisoners of war EPW Operation Desert Storm. He says in
part:
During its planning for Desert Storm, the 800th also coordinated for the
activation of the brigade's CAPSTONE aligned, direct support PSYOP Battalion, the 13th
PSYOP Battalion from St. Paul, Minnesota. When the 800th was alerted and activated, the
13th POB should have been alerted at the same; however, this did not happen so the 800th
had to play catch up ball in the PSYOP arena. On 27 December, the 13th POB was alerted,
activated, and ordered to Southwest Asia. On 31 December, 32 of the unit's 142 personnel
left St. Paul for Ft. Bragg. Subsequently, the unit arrived at Pope Air Force Base and Ft.
Bragg, completed its SOF validation, and deployed 30 out of the original 32 people to
Saudi Arabia. Two personnel were unable to meet the validation and remained behind.
Shortly thereafter, two volunteers were found, and they too deployed with the battalion to
Saudi. On 15 January, the 13th arrived in Dhahran and immediately deployed to its wartime
location which was a block away from the 800th's headquarters in Al Khobar and five hours
away from its higher headquarters, the 4th PSYOP Group in Riyadh.
800th MP Brassard
Upon arriving in the theater, the 13th began preparing to send a five man EPW
PSYOPSupport Team to each of the 800th's four camps as they were being built. In each
team, either the team leader or NCOIC had worked with the 800th MP Brigade on training
exercises in the past and was knowledgeable of EPW camp operations. Additionally, one or
more of the five soldiers from the 13th POB were qualified interrogators. However, because
of the unit's European orientation, only one soldier spoke Arabic. During this period,
each five man team was augmented by a five man loudspeaker team from the 338th Military
Intelligence Detachment and three to five Arabic speaking Saudi and Kuwaiti interpreters
from the host nation government and some of the 15 interrogators that the 800th gave the
battalion. The missions of these fully augmented teams were to: conduct an EPW
Pacification Program, keep the prisoners responsive to MP authority, act as a force
multiplier for the MPs, and advise the MP Camp Commanders on the psychological impacts of
their actions. Additionally, the battalion started purchasing the requisite equipment
(generators, loudspeakers, and video cameras) to support the PW camps from the local
civilian economy. About a week later after the teams were adequately manned and equipped,
the four teams in DS of the 800th's camps relocated to their respective locations and
began to settle into their new homes.
During the war, more than 17,000 Iraqi troops defected into Saudi Arabia
and Turkey, and 44 percent of the Iraqi military deserted. The International Red Cross
reported that nearly 87,000 Iraqi soldiers turned themselves over to coalition forces,
most of them clutching the leaflets or hiding them in their clothing.
The PSYOP EPW Education Campaign was particularly helpful in reducing the
concerns and frustrations of the prisoners and also in providing them some small source of
recreation, while at the same time accomplishing the PSYOP objective. According to Captain
Sanderson C. Prescott, a member of one of the PSYOP teams from the 13th POB that conducted
this campaign, team members used a man-packed loudspeaker system and locally procured
mosque speaker systems to broadcast audio recordings throughout the camp. Music and news
from a PSYOP radio station, EPW camp rules, and in-processing station procedures were also
disseminated over these systems. Another very vital part of this campaign was the printed
media. Myriad signs, posters, informational sheets, and camp newspapers were all printed
in Arabic and distributed in all of the camps. A real big winner with the prisoners and a
very good source of leverage for the PSYOP teams was the MSQ-85B multimedia complex that
was used to show big-screen entertainment videos to the prisoners. Throughout the entire
duration of the war and in the conflict termination phase afterwards, the PSYOP teams in
direct support of MP units in the combat zone as well as in support of the 800th did a
super job! They were particularly helpful in reducing confrontations stemming from the
differences and misunderstandings over culture, customs, religious practices, and dietary
habits. Between 20 January when the 800th received its first prisoner and 20 April, the
units of the Brigade, and for that matter all of the MP units in theater involved in EPW
operations, processed in excess of 69,000 EPWs without one serious incident.
Captain Scott Meehan was assigned to the 8th POB during Operation Desert Storm. He
published a book about his experiences entitled All I Could Be. He mentions his
surprise when he sees how many EPWs are being brought in to the prisoner-of-war camps.
One afternoon the Iraqi prisoners came in a caravan of flatbed cattle trucks with
attached flatbed trailers. They were packed together like sheep going to slaughter. The
fourth largest army in the world, prior to Desert Storm, looked shattered. I was leaving
the EPW camp for the night and heading back to the Marine base camp.
“Stop here a minute” I instructed my driver, “I want to count
them.” Staff Sergeant Schmidt pulled up to the first truck in line trying to get into
Kibrit. Both of us started to count the bewildered, demoralized men. “I count
sixty” I said. “Yes sir” that is about right. “Drive down the road,
let’s see how many trucks there are.” We drove slowly past the trucks leading
into the EPW camp and down Tap Line Road leading northwest. I began counting again –
this time the number of trucks pulling trailers. “My God, there are 60 trucks, all
with trailers. That means there are at least thirty-six hundred prisoners.”
I have two comments on that observation. Some readers might think it cruel and unusual
to pack in troops in such a way. When I was asked to join the American Legion honor
Society years ago, the “40&8,” they went into great detail to tell all
candidates about the American troops in WWI sent to the front in French unheated boxcars
that were meant to carry either 40 men or eight mules. Those men were cold and sitting on
Mule feces, but they went because they had to get to the front. There are no luxuries in
wartime.
I soon found myself in a
similar situation. I did not like it, but I understood that we were feeling
ever so slightly the way those troops felt in WWI. I accepted it with pride.
As for the numbers of prisoners, in Conduct of the Persian Gulf War – Final
Report to Congress, April 1992 the Iraqi generals met to discuss the repatriation of
prisoners, the Americans were asked how many were currently in confinement. When told over
58,000, the Iraqi vice chief of staff was stunned and asked his own military commanders if
that could be true. They said, “It is possible.” Three days after the war the
Iraqi leadership had no idea how many men they had lost or where the front lines were.
General Schwarzkopf mentions the meeting in It Doesn’t take a Hero. His
comments differ slightly. The Iraqi Lieutenant General brings up the prisoners of war and
says that they have 41 Coalition troops. He asks about Iraqi POWs.
“As of last night, sixty thousand; Or sixty thousand plus, because it is
difficult to count them completely.” The Iraqi's face went completely pale: he had no
concept of the magnitude of their defeat.
800th Military Police Brigade Operation Desert Storm Certificate of
Achievement
The reader might wonder why so much care is taken to see that the prisoners are treated
fairly and humanely. Field Manual 33-1-1 explains:
EPW PSYOP not only provides a force multiplier but is critical in developing
PSYOP-related intelligence and in pretesting and/or posttesting products. In addition, the
attitudes and behavior of former EPWs towards the United States can have along-range
impact on relations with that nation in the future. A positive or at least neutral
attitude may preclude future armed conflict. Careful adherence to all provisions of the
Geneva Conventions in regard to EPW operations must be kept in mind. Legal consultation
may preclude incidents that could be used against the United States in opponent
propaganda.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Members of the 13th
Psychological Operations Battalion on the road from Baghdad to Kuwait in mid-April 2003.
Soldiers from the 350th Tactical PSYOP Company, 13th PSYOP Battalion, drop
leaflets over several villages in the Rashaad Valley near the Kirkuk province of Iraq, 23
March 2008.
President George W. Bush announced the opening of the second war Gulf War at 2215 on
19 March 2003 just 90 minutes after the deadline for Saddam to exile himself and his sons
from Iraq. The initial strikes on Baghdad were a target of opportunity. Intelligence
reports placed senior Iraqi military leaders with Saddam at a secret meeting place. The
initial salvos against Baghdad consisted of 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from six
Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, as well as precision-guided 2,000-pound
bombs dropped from two F-117A Nighthawk stealth jets. Three hours after the raids began, a
defiant Saddam, wearing military fatigues, appeared on state television calling on Iraqis
to defend their country. Iraq retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. troop positions in
Kuwait.
Daniel A. Castro adds in his 2007 Naval Postgraduate School thesis: Do
Psychological Operations Benefit from the use of Host Nation Media:
The start of the PSYOP campaign in Iraq started months prior to the March
invasion and it consisted of a campaign of leaflet drops, cell phone text messages, emails
and radio broadcasts that targeted the Iraqi leadership. Over 80 million leaflets were
dropped in March of 2003. Some leaflets threatened to destroy any military formation that
stood and fought, while others encouraged the Iraqi populace and military to ignore the
directives of the Baath Party leadership.
The January 2023 issue of VERITAS, the Journal of U.S. Army
Special operations History, featured an article titled, “Building the Airplane
in Flight, PSYOP In operation Desert Shield, Part 2, by Dr. Jared M. Tracy. He
says in part 2 about the 13th MP Battalion (edited for brevity):
For enemy
prisoner-of-war (EPW) operations, the Army would mobilize 32 soldiers from the
USAR 13th POB (EPW) from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel James P. Noll.
The second
aspect of reserve deployments involved PSYOP units for both EPW operations (the
13th POB) and tactical loudspeaker missions. The 13th POB had a running start
prior to mobilization. In July 1990, just before Iraq invaded Kuwait, the 13th
POB held its two-week annual training (AT) at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.
Fortuitously, during AT, it supported the USAR 800th Military Police (MP)
Brigade, from Hempstead, New York, which it later supported in Saudi Arabia. LTC
Noll, the 13th POB commander, stated that the exercise “showed that [we were] in
a superior state of readiness, and with the exception of some missing or
outdated equipment, could be mobilized immediately.” He was understating the
problem with equipment. The battalion’s vehicles and loudspeaker systems were
obsolete or unserviceable, and its AN/MSQ-85 Audiovisual Unit was incomplete.
Over the next few weeks, the battalion procured a new series of loudspeakers
(AN/LSS-40), as well as AN/MSQ-85 parts and other equipment, thereby improving
its overall deployment posture.
On 6 August
1990, at Fort Bragg, LTC Daniel D. Devlin relinquished command of 6th POB to LTC
Savage. Among the attendees at the change of command ceremony was LTC Noll, who
received a verbal warning order (WARNO) from local USASOC and PSYOP leaders in
attendance that his battalion, the only one with an EPW mission, should expect
to be deployed.
An inside view of the AN/-85B
The 13th POB
would be assigned to the 8th PSYOP Task Force. It would deploy with loudspeakers
and the AN/MSQ-85B system. Housed in an S-280 shelter mounted on a HMMWV, the
AN/MSQ-85 could produce and conduct A/V presentations, develop 35mm slides, make
broadcasts from a 350-watt AN/LSS-40 loudspeaker system, and print a limited
number of leaflets.
Because the
13th POB would be deployed … in a Moslem culture and be dealing directly with
captured Moslem male prisoners, the unit was instructed not to include female
PSYOP soldiers on the camp teams. On 23 December the 13th POB received
notification of its forthcoming 180-day mobilization. On 8 January, Noll learned
that his group would arrive in Saudi Arabia by 14 January, the day before Iraq’s
deadline to withdraw from Kuwait.
Iraqis Surrender en masse
The Commander of the Iraqi 51st Infantry Division, with 8,000 men and as many as 200
tanks, surrendered with his unit. A 20-mile long convoy of Coalition Tanks and vehicles
was 100 miles inside Iraq and about 2-3 days from Baghdad. Fifteen hundred Turkish Special
Forces entered Northern Iraq to set up a buffer zone. The Associated Press reported
leaflets dropped over Iraq and radio broadcasts urging civilians to stay in their homes
and away from military forces.
Staff Sergeant Brian Doty (left), and Corporal Sam Weaver, both with Company B, 13th
PSYOP Battalion, are accompanied by local children while on a foot patrol in the city of
Suwayrah in northern Wasit province, Iraq. (Photo by Sergeant David Turner)
We find the 13th PSYOP Battalion mentioned once again in the Michael E. Cannon book Abu
Ghraib, Xulon Press, 2005. The 13th is mentioned only in passing as a mobilized
Chaplain from the MP Brigade serves in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and once again
we find both the 800th MPs and the 13th PSYOP Battalion there. The commander of the
Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Doyle invites the Chaplain to go with him to visit troops
scattered from Camp Bucca (named after a New York City Firefighter killed on 9/11) in
Southern Iraq and Baghdad. He visits the PSYOP Detachment at Camp Bucca on Palm Sunday and
provides services for them. He says that Camp Bucca was starting to look like an establish
EPW camp. The tents were in better condition than the ones the American troops lived in.
U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Sam MacKenzie from Alpha Company, 13th Psychological
Operations Battalion puts up wanted posters near the Ministry of Interior building in
Rusafa, Iraq, on 27 February 2008.
A Portion of Leaflet Bomb found at Umm Qasr, Iraq
Former Sergeant Tim Wones told me that about 25 March 2003 he was heading for what had
been a British base in Iraq named “Camp Freddy” that the United States was
taking over and renaming “Camp Bucca.” The facility was initially used by
British Forces to hold Iraqi prisoners of war. After being taken over by the U.S. military
(800th Military Police Brigade) in April 2003, it was renamed after Ronald Bucca, a NYC
Fire Marshal who died in the 11 September 2001 attacks.
Tim’s Detachment 232, B Company, of the 13th PSYOP Battalion, went to where they
had been assigned to set up their tents and Tim saw a metal object sticking out of the
sand. It had orange and blue bands he knew exactly what it was since he had attended the
worldwide PSYOP conference the year prior and one had been on display. It was part of a
leaflet bomb. Curiously I had been at that same conference.
The Leaflet Bomb Tim found in its Original State
Tim approached the bomb segment carefully to ensure it was safe, pulled it out of the
sand, wiped it down, and had his whole detachment sign it. I should add here to the young
troops that read this website: Do Not remove any Bombs Found in the Ground and bring
them home. That is a job for experts!
Tim kept it through his entire tour in theater, then when out-processing at Arifjan,
a United States Army installation in Kuwait which accommodates elements of the US Air
Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard, Customs did not want to let him take
it home. His Battalion Commander overheard the conversation and told Tim to place the
segment in his Conex. It passed through customs easily and Tim brought it home.
The Leaflet bomb that was displayed at the PSYOP Conference
Just recently Tim was talking to a F-18 pilot and when he told him that he had been
assigned to a PSYOP unit the pilot said that he had dropped what he called “Info
Bombs” over Umm Qasr at about the same time and there was a good possibility
that the bomb Tim found had been dropped by that pilot.
Leaflets using EPWs as a Theme
Leaflet IZD-069
Leaflet IZD-069 depicts a group of Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles with a white
flag tied to their antennae at the right, and a group of unarmed Iraqi soldiers at the
left. Between them is an arrow overprinted "1 Kilometer." Text above the
vignette reads:
To avoid destruction, follow Coalition guidelines.
The back of the leaflet is all in text. It tells the Iraqi military:
For your safety follow these Coalition Guidelines. Park vehicles in squares, no
larger than battalion size. Stow artillery and Air Defense Systems in travel
configuration. Display white flags on vehicles. No visible man portable air defense
systems. Personnel must gather in groups, a minimum of one kilometer away from their
vehicles. Officers may retain their side-arms; others must disarm. Do not approach
Coalition forces. Wait for further instructions.
Leaflet IZD-057
This leaflet also asks the Iraqi soldier to return home to protect his family. The
front depicts Iraqi soldiers with a dead Iraqi at the center. The text is:
Do not risk your lives and the lives of your comrades!
The back depicts the soldier in civilian garb surrounded by his family and the text:
Leave now and go home
Watch your children learn, grow and prosper.
Leaflet IZG-7500
This leaflet instructs Iraqi soldiers how to act when they have been taken prisoner.
The front depicts a surrendering soldier, and Iraqi civilians. The back is all text:
You have been captured by Coalition forces. Our dispute is with Saddam and his
regime, not the Iraqi soldier. We will not detain you. Cease resistance, return to your
home and live in peace. If you again bear arms against Coalition forces you will face the
consequences.
Afghanistan
I am yet to find any great amount of data on the Battalion in Afghanistan but I did
read a report of their return to the United States which said:
On 12 April 2011, the 13th PSYOP Battalion returned home after a
year’s deployment in Afghanistan.
A U.S. Army Soldier from Alpha Company, 13th Psychological Operations Battalion pulls
security from a Humvee at a vehicle control point in the village of Kapisa, Afghanistan,
May 15, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel)
Major Thomas Brown from the 13th PSYOP Battalion and a Polish soldier prepare a box of
informational leaflets to be dropped over an Eastern province of Afghanistan on 12 October
2007. (photo by Staff Sergeant Tyffani L. Davis).
Sergeant Timothy Wones of A Company, 13th PSYOP Battalion, in Nangahar
Province, Afghanistan 2007-2008
Staff Sergeant Evan L. Batie, a reservist with the 319th PSYOP Company, 13th PSYOP
Battalion, poses in front of the “radio in a box” or RIAB, at Forward Operating
Base Lightning, Paktya province, Afghanistan in 2010. Batie works as a psychological
operations planner.
Sergeant Spencer Case of the 304th Public Affairs Detachment wrote an article about
Batie on 20 October 2010. Spencer said in part:
PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Staff Sgt. Evan L. Batie, a reservist with the
319th Psychological Operations Co., 13th Psychological Operations Battalion, is on the
forefront of the information war in Afghanistan.
In the civilian world, Batie is a student at the Metropolitan State University
Saint Paul, Minnesota campus studying business management in human resources. Since his
deployment to Forward Operating Base Lightning, Paktya Province, began in June, Batie has
been working as a psychological operations planner. Batie said:
Psychological Operations are the art or practice of influencing an audience by means
of face to face communication, print news and other media. What is the best way to get the
Afghan people to see our side of the story? If they're attacking, how do we get them to
stop attacking? If they're rioting, how do we get them to stop rioting? In short, it's
about behavior modification.
In Batie's previous two deployments to Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 and Iraq in 2004,
he served on PSYOP teams. On this deployment, one of Batie's biggest responsibilities is
working with an Afghan disc jockey, overseeing a tactical radio broadcast, or low-power
radio transmitter. The job may seem superfluous to outsiders, but Batie said the radio
broadcast is a critical medium between coalition forces and the Afghan National Security
Forces and the Afghan people.
Usually Batie's job involves only moving along messages from higher command and
supervising the Afghan Disk jockey at the radio station. However, on 24 September 2010,
circumstances forced him into a more active role. Shortly after noon, nearby Forward
Operating Base Goode came under attack by a squad-sized element of insurgents. The
fighting, which eventually left five insurgents and one Afghan security contractor dead,
quickly spread to Forward Operating Base Lightning.
Upon learning the base had come under attack, Batie ran to the wall and stood on
guard. After scanning his sector for 45 minutes, Sgt. 1st Class John W. Nagy, a radio
station manager with Combined Joint Task Force 101, advised Batie to write a brief
statement warning civilians in the area to remain indoors until attacks and counter
operations were over. Batie wrote the statement and within an hour, Forward Operating Base
Lightning radio broadcast a warning to the Afghans in the area to stay indoors and, if
possible, to avoid the area altogether.
In addition to his work with the radio, Batie advises Afghan National Army
soldiers who are part of the 203rd Thunder Corps Religious and Cultural Advisory at
Forward Operating Base Thunder, a base adjacent to Forward Operating Base Lighting. The
Afghan Ministry of Defense has not yet set up an Afghan psychological operations
counterpart, but Batie does what he can to share the skills he knows such as crafting
radio addresses.
Staff Sergeant Nick McLaughlin, Tactical PSYOP Team Leader 1322, 319th Tactical PSYOP
Detachment, 13th PSYOP Battalion, explains to a Alikheyl villager how to utilize the
medicine he is offering him during a Good neighbor operation; Laghman province,
Afghanistan, 26 July 2010. (Photo by SSG Ave Young)
Staff Sergeant Nick McLaughin, center, and Sergeant Clayton Herman of the
319th PSYOP Company, 13th PSYOP Battalion, meet with village elders from Mangow village in
Afghanistan's Laghman Province, 21 January 2011. (Photo by Specialist Kristina L. Gupton)
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Brad Neff, center, 13th PSYOP Battalion, talks with a local
Afghan national during a patrol in Bari Desert, Afghanistan 18 May 2012. PSYOP
assisted the Marines of a Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) and Afghan National Army
soldiers during a seven-day operation to erect Patrol Base Sledgehammer Six and disrupt
insurgent activity in the area. (Photo by Sergeant Michael Snody)
We know very little about the duties of the 13th PSYOP Battalion in Afghanistan during
Operation Enduring Freedom. We do know they were there.
Training and War Games
All PSYOP units train on a regular basis. I have written an entire article just on
training and war game leaflets. Here we see that the 13th PSYOP Battalion is no exception.
They spend much of their time preparing for war.
Sergeant Coady Shiltz of the 13th PSYOP Battalion fires an M-4 rifle April 8 at a
qualification range during Beach Warrior 2013 at Camp Pendleton, Virginia. Beach Warrior
2013 is a collaboration between the 352nd Civil Affairs Command and the 2nd Psychological
Operations Group to choose each unit’s best junior enlisted Soldier and
non-commissioned officer. (U.S. Army photo by Sergeant 1st Class Matthew Siemion)
Much of the time during war games is used in preparing leaflets to be used against the
mock-enemy. Specialist 5 Marney E. Mason of the 13th PSYOP Battalion told me about one
leaflet he prepared during a war game:
Back in the early seventies, as a training mission, we would sometimes drop
leaflets. We had a good time doing these and put in some time developing the message,
doing the artwork, printing the leaflets and dropping a limited number of them on the
combat units. We had one I can remember specifically. We distributed a leaflet ostensibly
from the division surgeon. The message was to guard against life threatening hypothermia.
The leaflet specified that if you had any of the symptoms, you should report to the
nearest medical personnel as soon as possible. Then we described these “Life
threatening symptoms.” The soldiers were told not to wait. Time was of the essence.
Then we essentially described (in great detail) being cold and sleepy...The next morning
there were lines formed at the Medics tent.
Sergeant Coady Shiltz of the 13th PSYOP Battalion, plots his points on a
map during a land navigation course at Beach Warrior 2013 at Fort Story, Virginia. Beach
Warrior 2013 is collaboration between the 352nd Civil Affairs Command and the 2nd
Psychological Operations Group to choose each units best junior enlisted soldier and
non-commissioned officer. Those readers who want to learn more about the pitfalls of land
navigation are invited to read my article on Maps .
(U.S. Army Photo by Sergeant Emilie J. Lenglain)
Specialist 5 Mason told me about another leaflet he printed during an exercise:
Back in the 70s, when some soldiers were deployed they found it necessary to just
turn their dogs loose in the remote areas of installations, wrongly believing these pets
could survive on their own. Some of them bound together in packs and became a nuisance and
even a menace.
So, we made a leaflet. We mentioned the packs of ravenous dogs, some of which could
be rabid, attacking people. We warned that they could be heard barking and snarling as
they neared and to frighten them off, you should go to the nearest vehicle and flash the
lights on and off repeatedly and honk the horn until the dogs left.
Then we sent in a loudspeaker team, with a tape of barking dogs. The troops thinking
they heard vicious animals coming in their direction turned on their engines and the
perimeter lit up like a Christmas tree. The cacophony if all those horns honking made
sleeping impossible, as well as divulging the location of their entire perimeter.
Incidentally, being proactive, the military now try to assist soldiers and families
with finding homes for pets when they are deployed.
Captain Sean Flanagan, a U.S. Army Reserve officer with the 319th Psychological
Operations Company, 13th PSYOP Battalion, poses for a portrait after completing a medical
training exercise at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, July 18, 2019. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by
Staff Sergeant Nicholas De La Pena).
With uniforms stripped of name tapes, rank, and unit patches, U.S. Army Reserve
Soldiers from the 13th Psychological Operations Battalion based out of Arden Hills,
Minnesota, tested their combat medical skills in a culminating training lane under
simulated combat conditions at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, July 18, 2019. U.S. Army Reserve
Captain Sean Flanagan, 319th Psychological Operations Company, 13th PSYOP Battalion, said:
When saving lives, rank isn’t important. In a situation like that, if
you’re combat lifesaver qualified, regardless of your rank, you're going to have to
do some dirty work. Get your hands dirt, maybe apply tourniquets.
A group of 13th PSYOP Battalion Soldiers gathered at the Fort McCoy Medical Simulation
Training Center for three days to conduct classroom instruction followed by a simulated
training lane. At the center of one team, 1st Lieutenant Zachary Huberty, 13th PSYOP
Battalion, laid on the floor posing as a casualty, while the team rehearsed how to treat
him.
U.S. Army Sergeant Gary Tenhan of the 321st PSYOP Company of the 13th PSYOP Battalion,
and Slovenian army Corporal Madjaz Volovec, play a propaganda message over a loudspeaker
during a mission rehearsal exercise
Enemy Propaganda
Soldiers from the 319th PSYOP Company of the 13th PSYOP Battalion participated in
military information support operations during a training event 8 June 2014. Soldiers were
tasked to conduct face-to-face communications with a small village to get as much
information out of the villagers as possible. They also collected propaganda hanging up
around the village to take back to their commanders and figure out a way to counter it.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Sharilyn Wells).
U.S. Soldiers of 339th PSYOP Company, 13th PSYOP Battalion, 2nd PSYOP Group conduct a
mission brief during exercise Combined Resolve III at the Joint Multinational Readiness
Center in Hohenfels, Germany, 4 November 2014. Combined Resolve III is a multinational
exercise, which includes more than 4,000 participants from NATO and partner nations, and
is designed to provide a complex training scenario that focuses on multinational unified
land operations and reinforces the U.S. commitment to NATO and Europe. (U.S. Army photo by
Specialist John Cress Jr.)
