United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command
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The United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC) was founded in 1985. USACAPOC is composed primarily of reservists. Its total size is approximately 10,000 soldiers. It is headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
During war time, the primary mission of Civil Affairs is to minimize civilian interference in military operations. Civil Affairs soldiers are responsible for identifying non-governmental and international organizations operating in the battlespace, handling refugees, civilians on the battlefield, and determining protected targets such as schools, churches/temples/mosques, hospitals, etc.
Civil Affairs is the commander’s sole link between the US Army and host nation authorities. The soldiers provide general support functional specialty teams which interface and provide expertise to the host nation government. The CAPOC soldiers are particularly suited for this mission since they are reservists with civilian occupations such as law enforcement, engineering, medicine, law, banking, public administration, etc.
Civil Affairs Special Operators have been solely responsible for “nation-building” in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Its direct support tactical teams will go out and meet with local officials, conduct assessments, and determine the need for critical infrastructure projects such as roads, schools, power plants, clinics, sewer lines, etc., and check up on the status of the project after construction by a local company has begun.
Psychological Operations soldiers provide critical support to the commander by advertising the good work of Civil Affairs soldiers to the local populace via leaflets, radio and television broadcasts, and print publications. They also keep the host nation populace informed of dangers such as minefields. They also conduct broadcast operations during raids and military operations, warning civilians of imminent danger.
These special operations soldiers were primarily responsible for keeping the Iraqi and Afghan public informed about their elections, providing directions to polling places via print and broadcast. 'PSYOP' is only used in the host nation country. It is not to be confused with Public Affairs, directed at the American Public, and is not a part of CAPOC.
Some proponents of CAPOC point to its success in humanitarian aid operations, and also in its ability to spread information to civilians. However, critics maintain that the organization exists primarily to spread pro-American propaganda.
Historically, USACAPOC (Airborne) was one of four major subordinate commands comprising the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. As of May 2006, the reserve component of USACAPOC is administered by the US Army Reserve Command. The active component of USACAPOC will continue to be administered by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
