United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command The United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command ( Airborne ) , or USACAPOC ( A ) , was founded in 1985 . USACAPOC ( A ) is composed mostly of U . S . Army Reserve soldiers in units throughout the United States . Its total size is approximately 10 , 000 soldiers , making up about 94 percent of the DoD ' s Civil Affairs forces and 71 percent of the DoD ' s Psychological Operations forces . It is headquartered at Fort Bragg , North Carolina . The current commander ( 2013 ) is Major General Jeffrey A . Jacobs , who assumed command in October 2011 , succeeding Major General David N . Blackledge . Historically , USACAPOC ( A ) was one of four major subordinate commands comprising the U . S . Army Special Operations Command . In May 2006 , the reserve component of USACAPOC ( A ) was transferred to the U . S . Army Reserve Command . The Army ' s active duty Special Operations Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations units , along with the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Force Modernization / Branch Proponents , continue to fall under the U . S . Army Special Operations Command and its subordinate United States Army John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School respectively . The active component special operations civil affairs brigade 95th Civil Affairs Brigade falls under United States Army Special Operations Command ( USASOC ) . Army Reserve Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations make up 5 percent of the U . S . Army Reserve force , but account for about 20 percent of Army Reserve deployments . The command ' s soldiers bring civilian expertise not found among regular active duty soldiers . The projects they coordinate comprise many of the ' Good News ' stories run in the American media each day about Iraq , Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa . Civil Affairs . The primary mission of Civil Affairs is to conduct civil - military operations . Civil Affairs soldiers are responsible for executing five core CA tasks , Civil Information Management , Foreign Humanitarian Assistance , Nation Assistance , Population and Resource Control , and Support to Civil Administration . Some sub tasks to these core tasks include 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 units are the field commander ' s link to the civil authorities in that commander ' s area of operations . The soldiers make up teams which interface and provide expertise to the host nation government . USACAPOC ( A ) ' s Civil Affairs soldiers are particularly suited for this mission since they are Army Reserve soldiers with civilian occupations such as law enforcement , engineering , medicine , law , banking , public administration , etc . Civil Affairs soldiers have been integral to U . S . peacekeeping operations in Iraq , Afghanistan , the Horn of Africa , Bosnia and Kosovo , among others . Tactical Civil Affairs teams 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 . Psychological operations are a vital part of the broad range of U . S . political , military , economic and ideological activities used by the U . S . government to secure national objectives . PSYOP is the dissemination of truthful information to foreign audiences in support of U . S . policy and 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 . military psychological operations is to convince enemy , neutral , and friendly nations and forces to take action favorable to the U . S . and its allies . Psychological operations support national security objectives at the tactical , operational and strategic levels of operations . Strategic psychological operations advance broad or long - term objectives . Global in nature , they may be directed toward large audiences or at key communicators . Operational psychological operations are conducted on a smaller scale . They are employed by theater commanders to target groups within the theater of operations . Their purpose can range from gaining support for U . S . operations to preparing the battlefield for combat . Tactical psychological operations are more limited , used by commanders to secure immediate and near - term goals . In this environment , these force - enhancing activities serve as a means to lower the morale and efficiency of enemy forces . Both tactical and theater - level psychological operations may be used to enhance peacetime military activities of conventional forces operating in foreign countries . Cultural awareness packages attune U . S . forces before departing overseas . In theater , media programs publicize the positive aspects of combined military exercises and deployments . In addition to supporting commanders , PSYOP units provide interagency support to other U . S . government agencies . In operations ranging from humanitarian assistance to drug interdiction , psychological operations enhance the impact of those agencies ' actions . Their activities can be used to spread information about ongoing programs and to gain support from the local populace . Psychological operations units in the U . S . Army Reserve are language and culturally oriented . Seventy one percent of the Department of Defense ' s PSYOP capability rests within USACAPOC ( A ) ' s 2nd and 7th Psychological Operations Groups located in Ohio and California respectively .