CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq - Wars are fought on many levels. The idea of an infantryman sweating in the desert, or slogging through rain or snow, is a simplified view. However, very little is known about the long hours intelligence analysts pour into their research, the resourcefulness of supply sergeants, or the mechanics who work outdoors on round the clock shifts.
I have one of these invisible jobs: Psychological Operations.
We abbreviate our job title to PSYOP. Even in the Army very few people understand the role PSYOP plays.
Typically, the response is something like, "Oh, so you screw with peoples’ heads, right?" As if they think I'm an illusionist, trained to fool them into believing whatever I wish.
The truth is less glamorous. PSYOP is not loud or overpowering. We aren't hypnotists. PSYOP is slow, indirect, and subtle. We drop ideas into the minds of a few and watch the ripples. We care for ideas, fertilize them, pull weeds from around them, and give them shelter from rough weather. A young idea is fragile, and we do not always win.
The U.S. withdrawal is creating a vacuum because America is no longer solving problems for Iraqis directly, and the people do not yet have faith in their government. They are at a critical point, and they have to realize only they can decide their own fate.
Spc. Martin Nolan is a member of my team. A 26 year-old Irish-Polish Catholic from the south side of Chicago who, if you don’t know him, comes across as a cocky, blue collar brawler who likes to drink, but has a level of insight and understanding that exceeds that of men I’ve known who were almost twice his age.
He recently went on a mission to visit a school being reconstructed and he managed to get a conversation going with a local tribal leader. As usual, the sheikh had complaints. The villagers could not use the school during the rainy season for fear the roof would collapse. There were new power lines running down his street, but no electricity for his village. This was the moment of opportunity Nolan needed. He planted the idea.
“You have to contact your government for help.” The sheikh instantly rejected the idea. He had tried that, it didn’t work, it wasn’t going to work, and the government was certainly going to fail. He even produced some paperwork proving he had submitted a request for aid, and then rubbed his hands together as if he was washing them of the whole affair. He had done what he could with the government, they had failed in his eyes, and he wanted the Americans to help.
Nolan came back with the idea again, stronger this time, “If you do nothing, nothing will happen. You have to be persistent. You cannot give up, or nothing will ever change.”
The sheikh was taken aback for a moment, and then the truth set in. You could see it on his face. His future, the future of his people, was in his own hands. It was on him to make his government work. It was on him to bring electricity and safe buildings to his people.
With the arrival of the June 30th security agreement, we have had an increasingly diversified role here. We no longer go out with the infantry and find the bad guys, plan massive media campaigns, or really do most of the things that we normally do. Now, we talk to locals and tell them their government is precisely that: theirs. We tell them defeat is not an option, they cannot give into corruption, as they must make their voice heard peacefully.
It is the same mission of all forces still here. We are teaching a nation they must stand on their own.
