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 (as of 2018, the Non-commissioned
Officer’s Leadership Center of Excellence) 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, The Military
Instructor Course and the Senior Battle Staff Course.
Fire Captain Herb Friedman
After retiring from the Army, he continued to serve his
community with the Fire Department
Since retirement 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, the
Nassau County Firefighters Veterans Medal of Valor, The New York City Fire
Department’s Military Service Ribbon, and the Bellmore Volunteer Fire
Department’s Veteran ribbon.
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 served as the mid-Atlantic spokesman to the press for the
Psychological Operations Veterans Association (POVA) and as their Historian;
and was the PSYOP history editor of the Psychological Operations Association
(POA) journal Perspectives starting about 1990. He was appointed the
American representative of the International Psychological Warfare (Psywar)
Society. He has written over 200 articles about PSYOP and has been the
expert source in over two dozen published books from around the world. A
very brief example are the German-language books Black Post and From Troy to PSYOPs – Facets of Psychological Warfare, The
Turkish-language Sex and Propaganda in WWII, the Hebrew-language book
Psychological Warfare and its Role in the Arab-Israeli Conflict,
and
Hebrew PSYOP 2.0.,
the
Indonesian-language book Indonesian Money, the Chinese-language book
Democratic Education - Nordic experiences for the Taiwanese classroom,
the Russian-language book MiG. Flying
through Time, the Dutch-language book Nachtmerrie Oorlog,
(Nightmare War), the Korean-language book The Korean War and American
Novels,
the Chinese language book
Democratic Education - Nordic experiences for the Taiwanese classroom,
the Saudi Arabian book Prognosis
/ Saudi Arabia: An Artist’s Odyssey,
The Italian Language book
Giovanni has a Long Mustache: Radio at the Front,
Information and Propaganda, 1934-2000,
The Filipino-language book
Filipino sa Modernong Panahon (“Filipino Language in Modern Times”),
The French-language book
Latvian Fighters and Refugees in the Cold War, and a host of English-language
books such as The Black Game, Propaganda – the Art of Persuasion, Japanese Invasion Currency, Democratic Republic of Vietnam Coins and
currency, Republic of Vietnam Coins and Currency, The Green Berets in the
Land of a Million Elephants: U.S. Army Special Warfare and the Secret War in
Laos, 1959-1974, Special Air Warfare and the Secret War in Laos: Air
Commandos 1964-1975, The War Lawyers, Propaganda and the Cyprus
Revolt: Rebellion, Counter-Insurgency, and the Media, 1955-59, End of
Empire, Surprising Spies,
Psychological Operations, a History
that said "This book was made possible by the generous help of the
USASOC History Office, SGM Herb Friedman and Major Ed Rouse at
WWW.Psywarrior.com,
Intelligence and Propaganda
in the Cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Afghanistan, and The Social Construction of Death: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.
Some of the more recent books that used my articles as a reference source are
"Propaganda and the Cyprus Revolt: Rebellion, Counterinsurgency, and the Media,
1955-59," "Illustration: A Concise History," and "For the Love of Vietnam", You
cannot Forbid the Flower about the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and
"The Zambezi Trilogy" on the war in Rhodesia.
In 2024 the
author of a book titled AMERICAN MILITARY PROPAGANDA LEAFLETS 1972-2022
was allowed to study my Iraq, Afghanistan, ISIS and Libya files of SGM Friedman and
published a book with the dedication "To Sergeant Major Herbert A. Friedman
(Ret.) for his lifelong contributions to documenting psychological operations
materials."
In 2024, my
article titled, “Poetry as Propaganda in Vietnam” was a major source for the
book, WHY VIETNAM: REFLECTIONS ON THE EFFECT OF WAR.
Also in 2024,
some of my images were requested by Author Andrew J. Birtle for his United
States Army in Vietnam series book ADVISE AND SUPPORT – THE MIDDLE YEARS –
JANUARY 1964 TO JUNE 1965.
He has also acted as an expert source in 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),
the National Broadcasting
Company (NBC), and worked with the
authors of articles in the New York Times, USA Today,
Washington Post, and other
American and foreign newspapers. He has been interviewed by the BBC Program
Today, their world news programs Newsday, and Newshour.
His interviews on psychological warfare have appeared in Cabinet magazine,
Slate Magazine, Aviation News, Icon, Print Magazine, The Psychologist, Good
Magazine, Psychological Operations [Iran] and Défense & Sécurité
Internationale [France]. The Ministry of Education of
Singapore uses his articles as resources in curriculum packages to support
the teaching of history courses in their curriculum. He has published
psychological warfare articles in Combat (Japanese language), Warriors of the Republic
[Vietnamese language], Soldier of Fortune,
Vietnam, Oui, Valor, Sir, Perspectives, the Falling Leaf
(Britain), the International Banknote Society Journal, the German Postal
Specialist, Scott's Monthly Journal, and the American Philatelist
to name a few.
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 called Sex Bomb, the Canadian Chum Limited television
documentary Sex and Psyops, 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. His
article on the Wandering Soul PSYOP campaign in Vietnam was the basis
for the radio play Mimi’s Guide broadcast by Radio L.A. Theatre
Works. He was interviewed for the German documentary Songs of War –
Music as a Weapon which won an international Emmy (Best Arts
Documentary) in 2012. In 2014, Radio Television Suisse used his data
and images for a program about music and its effects on human behavior and
Czech TV Barrandov interviewed him about Russian and Ukrainian
propaganda in the Crimea. South Korea’s Munhwa Broadcasting
Corporation interviewed him for a July 2014 feature-length television
documentary on psychological warfare titled Silent War. In 2015, he
acted as the PSYOP Advisor for the short film, Wandering Soul. In
2016, he was interviewed for a radio podcast called Ghost Tape Number Ten.
Later that same year he was again interviewed in another podcast called Military Psychological Operations - Influencing the enemy. In 2020, he
took part in a Center for International Ethics podcast on PSYOP used in the
Korean War.
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 of
the 4th PSYOP Group. PSYOP images from his various articles are on display on
the soffit all around the dining facility at United States Army John F. Kennedy Special
Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. He lectured
annually to the combined public
relations classes on military psychological operations at Long Island University
Post, formally C. W. Post, a private university in Brookville, New York, on Long
Island. It is the largest university in the LIU system.
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, President of the Board of Trustees, a County American Legion Division commander, and
the Commis Voyageur (Flag bearer) of the military Forty and Eight honor
society. He served as a two-time 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, the PSYOP Regimental Association, and the
Psychological Operations Veterans Association.
He was a member of the New York City Fire Department where he served as a
firefighter, Emergency Medical technician, motor pump operator and a computer programmer
and systems analysis in their Data Processing Unit.
PSYOP Regimental Association
Historian - Psychological Operations Veterans Association (POVA)
Member - Office of Strategic Services Society
He served as a volunteer member, ex-captain, and ex-Secretary to the Board of
Fire Commissioners of his local town fire department and rescue squad. He served as the
chartered representative of Boy Scout Troop 577 and the chairman of the military committee
of his community Town Fair. He volunteered as an adult literacy instructor. In 2006 he was
elected to the Board of Trustees of his town Library, and became President of the
Board in 2008.
SGM Friedman constantly researches and writes about psychological
operations. He currently has over one hundred and 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.
