The United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC ( )) is the command charged with overseeing the various special operations forces of the United States Army. Headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, it is the largest component of the United States Special Operations Command. It is an Army Service Component Command. Its mission is to organize, train, educate, man, equip, fund, administer, mobilize, deploy and sustain Army special operations forces to successfully conduct worldwide special operations.
Subordinate units
1st Special Forces Command (Airborne)
The 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) is a division-level special operation forces command within the US Army Special Operations Command. The command was established on 30 September 2014, grouping together the Army special forces, psychological operations, civil affairs, and other support troops into a single organization operating out of its new headquarters building at Fort Liberty, NC.
Special Forces Groups
Established in 1952, the Special Forces Groups, also known as the Green Berets, was established as a special operations force of the United States Army designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counter-insurgency, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapon of mass destruction, and security force assistance. These missions make special forces unique in the U.S. military because they are employed throughout the three stages of the operational continuum: peacetime, conflict, and war. Often SF units are required to perform additional, or collateral, activities outside their primary missions. These collateral activities are coalition warfare/support, combat search and rescue, security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian de-mining, and counter-drug operations. Their unconventional warfare capabilities provide a viable military option for a variety of operational taskings that are inappropriate or infeasible for conventional forces, making it the U.S. military's premier unconventional warfare force.
Today, there are seven special forces groups, each one is primarily responsible for operations within a specific area of responsibility: 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), (USINDOPACOM) 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), (AFRICOM) 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), (CENTCOM) 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), (USSOUTHCOM) 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), (EUCOM) 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (ARNG), (USINDOPACOM) and (CENTCOM) 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (ARNG), (USSOUTHCOM)
Psychological Operations Groups
The mission of the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) and 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne), a.k.a. PSYOP units, are to provide fully capable strategic influence forces to Combatant Commanders, U.S. Ambassadors, and other agencies to synchronize plans and execute inform and influence activities across the range of military operations via geographically focused PSYOP battalions.
4th PSYOP Group (A) consists of five battalions: 1st PSYOP Battalion (USSOUTHCOM) 5th PSYOP Battalion (USINDOPACOM) 6th PSYOP Battalion (USEUCOM) 7th PSYOP Battalion (USAFRICOM) 8th PSYOP Battalion (USCENTCOM)
The 8th PSYOP Group (A) consists of two battalions: 3rd PSYOP Battalion (Dissemination) 9th PSYOP Battalion (Tactical).
Psychological operations are a part of the broad range of U.S. political, military, economic and ideological activities used by the U.S. government to secure national objectives. Used during peacetime, contingencies, and declared war, these activities are not forms of force but are force multipliers that use nonviolent means in often violent environments. Persuading rather than compelling physically, they rely on logic, fear, desire, or other mental factors to promote specific emotions, attitudes or behaviors.
The ultimate objective of U.S. PSYOP is to convince enemy, neutral, and friendly nations and forces to take action favorable to the United States and its allies. The ranks of the PSYOP include regional experts and linguists who understand political, cultural, ethnic, and religious subtleties and use persuasion to influence perceptions and encourage desired behavior. With functional experts in all aspects of tactical communications, PSYOP offers joint force commanders unmatched abilities to influence target audiences as well as strategic influence capabilities to U.S. diplomacy.