Psyop

[KISS ARMY]

Are there in of these units in the guard?Is it high speed?

[kirbaeus]

I know two PYSOPS guys. One was in Basic with me, and the other is my cousin. They're both Army Reserve - and I don't think the job is available in the Guard to my knowledge.

High Speed? My cousin did some pretty high speed stuff in Afghanistan with his PSYOPS team in the eastern part of the country. He also had to learn Pashtu, the local dialect of Arabic (hopefully got that right). He had some pretty interesting stories, but whether that was due to his job or just the objective his particular unit was assigned, I don't know.

[matthew.ritchie]

Are there in of these units in the guard?Is it high speed?

The Guard has no psyop units, although there are a few psyop positions at brigade and division HHC, and in the SF groups.

"High speed" is in the eye of the beholder. They certainly consider themselves high speed.

I would advise caution. Sometimes these sorts of MOS look way better on paper than they are in real life. Because they are so few, you may find that the nearest unit is hundreds of miles away, and promotion may be difficult. I'm not telling you that it's a bad idea to pursue, but I do want to you count the cost before you sign, so you have no bad surprises later.

[KISS ARMY]

Are they consisderd elite?

[CPT Burritt]

Civil Affairs and Psyops often end up being the "touchy-feely" arm of the Army, like MAJ Ritchie said, it isn't all covert ops stuff like it is made out to be all the time.

This is a seriously small field, so as the MAJ said, be aware.

[California Major]

A few years ago, I was a Task Force Engineer on a three week Brigade exercise, and we had this nervous little Civil Affairs Specialist assigned to the Brigade TOC...Everytime the Brigade Commander started talking about moving forces from point A to point B, this poor kid had the task of raising his and hand and telling the Colonel "Sir, there is a villiage there, and you can't just roll through it with a column of tanks. You have to send out a team, let them know we are coming through, clear roads, and then there are damage claims after you leave for road repair, or things like livestock you may have run over..."

Now this is totally contrary to anything we practiced in the past, and the staff was growing tired of being told "no". He was treated with all due respect, but to watch the frustration on the Commander's face each time that hand went up..

"All right, any questions or comments?"

(hand goes up, nervous voice) "Um...Sir?"

<grooooooannnnn> "What is it this time Specialist?"

"The village, Sir"

(Sigh)..."Well, tell them to MOVE....and get their chickens out of the road"