4th Psychological Operations Group

4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne)
Distinctive unit insignia
Active	7 November 1967 – 2 October 1971 13 September 1972–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Role	Psychological operations
Size	1,000
Part of	1st Special Forces Command (Airborne)
Garrison/HQ	Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Motto(s)	"Verbum Vincet" ("The Word Will Conquer")
Decorations	Meritorious Unit Commendation [1]
Commanders
Current commander	Colonel Rustie W. Kim [2]
Insignia
Group beret flash
1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) shoulder sleeve insignia, worn by all subordinate units [3]
Former combat service identification badge

The 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) or 4th POG(A) is one of the United States Army's active military information support operations units along with the 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne), which was activated 26 August 2011 at Fort Bragg. The 8th Group has responsibility for the 3rd and 9th Psychological Operations battalions while ^[4] the 4th Group has responsibility for the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th battalions.

On 21 June 2010, an announcement was made that the military intends to rename psychological operations, or PSYOP, to Military Information Support Operations. The decision, made a few days earlier by Admiral Eric Olson, Commander, United States Special Operations Command and Army's Chief of Staff General George Casey, was propagated through a memo dated 23 June 2010. ^[5] By October 2017, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) reverted its decision changing their name back to PSYOP stating, "Psychological operations refers to the name of units, while MISO refers to the function that soldiers in PSYOP units perform". ^[6]

The unit is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and is a part of the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), under the United States Army Special Operations Command. The 4th POG was constituted 7 November 1967 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Psychological Operations Group. Originally activated 1 December 1967 in Vietnam, it was inactivated 2 October 1971 at Fort Lewis, Washington, and reactivated 13 September 1972 at Fort Bragg. ^[7]

Operations

The 4th POG's mission is to degrade hostile morale to persuade the hostile to not carry out operations, as well as influencing global populations to "fight, to surrender, to BELIEVE.”

Campaign participation credits

Vietnam

• 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
• Consolidation I

Armed forces expeditions

• Grenada
• Haiti
• Panama
• Somalia

Southwest Asia

• Defense of Saudi Arabia;
• Liberation and Defense of Kuwait
• Southwest Asia Cease-Fire

Organization

4th POG(A) currently consists of a headquarters company and five regional PSYOP battalions (POB). ^[2] Each battalion is dedicated to a certain region of the world and supports a geographic combatant command on Military Information Support Operations.

1st POB(A) – United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM)

1st POB(A) Beret Flash

• Organized 8 November 1950 in the Regular Army at Fort Riley, Kansas, as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Radio broadcasting and Leaflet Group.
• Reorganized and redesignated 1 September 1951 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Radio broadcasting and Leaflet Group, 8239th Army Unit.
• Consolidated 21 February 1955 with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Battalion (constituted 30 November 1954 in the Regular Army) and consolidated unit designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Battalion; concurrently reorganized at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
• Reorganized and redesignated 24 June 1960 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Psychological Warfare Battalion. Reorganized and redesignated 20 December 1965 as the 1st Psychological Operations Battalion.
• Reorganized and redesignated 16 March 1990 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Psychological Operations Battalion.
• Reorganized and redesignated 16 November 1995 as Headquarters, Headquarters and Support Company, 1st Psychological Operations Battalion.

5th POB(A) – United States Pacific Command (USPACOM)

5th POB(A) Beret Flash

• Constituted 3 March 1951 in the Regular Army as the 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company, Army.
• Activated 19 March 1951 at Fort Riley, Kansas
• Reorganized and redesignated 8 June 1953 as the 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company
• Reorganized and redesignated 24 June 1961 as the 5th Psychological Warfare Company

See also

• Psychological Operations (United States)
• Ghost Army
• Ritchie Boys
• Special Activities Center

References

1. Army General Orders Unit Awards Index (PDF), US Army, 13 October 2015
2. "4th POG(A) Home". soc.mil. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
3. 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) change of command, 4th POG(A)'s official Facebook page, dated 5 June 2018, 9 July 2019
4. "8th POG(A) Home". soc.mil. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
5. "Military Information Support Operations". Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
6. The Army's psychological operations community is getting its name back, Army Times, by Meghann Myers, dated 6 November 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018
7. Globalsecurity.org, 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne)

External links

Media related to 4th Military Information Support Group at Wikimedia Commons

• 4th Military Information Support Group (Airborne) – Official Site