In 2022, a recruiting video which can best be described as a movie trailer for a psychological
thriller made by a conspiracy theorist with a Cold War fascination, made the rounds online.
Complete with ghosts, creepy imagery, and even real-life uprisings,
the mysterious video was made by the United States 4th Psychological Operations Group.
Also known as PSYOP, the unit defines itself as Masters of
Influence and practitioner of information warfare, as stated on its website: [QUOTE]
"We conduct influence activities to target psychological vulnerabilities and create or
intensify fissures, confusion, and doubt in adversary organizations."
Aside from the unsettling undertones, the video is pretty straightforward,
calling to join the 4th Psychological Operations to find, manipulate and
become part of an elite team that functions as a puppeteer pulling the world's strings,
particularly those of hot-button national security threats like the Chinese and Russian governments…
Ghosts In The Machine
After an eerie recruitment video titled ‘Ghosts in the Machine,’ was published on YouTube on May 2,
2022, some are now linking the United States Army with mysticism and perhaps even sorcery.
Playing more like a movie trailer and less like a standard recruitment video,
the 3-minute-35-second clip comes with no explanation other than the mysterious words:
(QUOTE) “All the world’s a stage. Join us.”
Despite starting almost innocently, with popular Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ quotes followed by
clips of cartoons and stock footage of multicultural city streets and subways,
the video then starts leaning towards the strange.
Growing increasingly disturbing, complete with hair-raising whistling
in the background and suspenseful music, the edit then shows a clip of a shadow-like man,
anxiously staring at dark skies, riot scenes, and soldier deployment.
Dark and tense, the video contains clips of old cartoons and radio segments from
world events combining perfectly to create both an intriguing yet unsettling sensation.
It then ends with an ominous message: (QUOTE) “You’ll find us in the shadows
at the tip of the spear. ... Anything we touch is a weapon. We can deceive,
persuade, change, influence, inspire. We come in many forms. We are everywhere.”
Psychological Operations Group
The video was released by the 4th Psychological Operations Group - Airborne,
and has amassed more than one million views in less than a year. The group is one of the
two active military information support operations units based in Fort Bragg.
While this specific group is relatively unknown due to its secretive nature,
military information support operations are vital.
Psychological operations or PSYOP rely on logic, fear, desire,
or other mental factors to promote specific emotions and behaviors and convince enemy,
neutral, or friendly nations to take favorable actions toward the United States and its allies.
Whether there is peace, contingencies,
or full-on war, units like these cover the dissemination and circulation of
information to foreign audiences in support of United States policy and national objectives.
Instead of relying on force, PSYOP is all about influencing everyone,
from governments, people of power, and even everyday citizens.
When properly employed, psychological operations even have the potential to
save lives by gradually reducing the adversary's will to fight.
By lowering the adversary's morale and efficiency, the 4th PSYOP Group can also discourage aggressive
actions, creating indifference within the ranks and ultimately leading to surrender.
PSYOP elements are adaptive thinkers with language and cultural expertise, and they specialize in
deception and cyber warfare, working in small teams. As a small and niche community within
the US Army, the 4th Psychological Operations Group has only one thousand active duty soldiers.
Behind The Scenes
As part of the special operations community,
the qualification course to become a PSYOP soldier is lengthy and demanding.
The course, which extends to 56 weeks, is broken up into five different phases,
including a prep and conditioning course, an assessment selection,
and an almost three-month-long PSYOP qualification course where
potential members learn about the fundamentals of psychological operations and behavioral theories.
In addition, trainees also take a foreign language course that lasts between 16 and 24 weeks.
In an interview with Colonel Chris Stangle, commander of the 4th PSYOP Group,
he states that the strange and macabre viral video was created in-house as a
recruitment effort and to show the general public what they can do.
He adds that creating niche, highly persuasive media is part of psychological operations.
Stangle also said that the artist behind the video tailored it a bit after the iconic horror
film ‘Jaws,’ where the filmmakers show restraint in showing the menacing shark.
Instead of showing the enemy head-on, the viewers can sense it lurking just below the surface:
(QUOTE) "Drawing on this approach, we kind of sought to create a piece that doesn't
show what a PSYOP soldier does necessarily, because it's so complicated and there's so
much about it — quite honestly. It's just not incredibly sexy — but what it
feels like to do our craft when we're successful. And we think that kind of
allows the audience to immerse into what our world is, and what our craft is."
At Work
PSYOP soldiers work with over 40 countries around the world, and these partnerships are
critical in preventing future conflicts and managing them as they unfold in real time.
According to Stangle, psychological operations are everywhere in the world,
in every day and every component of our lives.
Right now in Eastern Europe, where Ukraine is proving to be much more
successful in the information war than the Russians, it is happening in real time.
Stangle went on to say that after the annexation of Crimea in 2014,
the American PSYOP community and other NATO allies teamed up to help Ukraine build its own abilities:
(QUOTE) "We've helped them build their PSYOP force (...) We've helped through
[military-to-military] partnerships, us as well as more than 12 allies and partners.
And what we've been able to do is just sit and watch how amazing their arguments are … Ukraine
has done a masterful job; they've taken the training and the work we've done with them,
as well as their own inherent skill, and have just really blown it up."
Sinister Basis
The overall response to the ‘Ghosts In The Machine’ video has been positive, not
only from civilians who have watched it but also from soldiers in the field who identify with it.
Because of the unit's secrecy and behind-the-scenes nature,
when a PSYOP mission is successful, no one talks about it, and it is not covered in the
news. But with this engaging, albeit creepy video, they have felt seen.
According to Stangler, the video is nothing more than an informative recruitment tool,
evoking emotions and mental sensations with its unusual imagery. However,
several conspiracy theorists and free thinkers suggest that the
video’s intent might be darker and possibly related to the occult.
Some internet sleuths have claimed the video’s allusions to magical happenings
are not figurative, and that units like PSYOP commonly research supernatural
phenomena and the occult, including events like extra-sensory perception and remote viewing.
The video also sparked dozens of online articles trying to decipher the meaning of
the clandestine units, while some even doubted its veracity. According to one commenter, clandestine
Army units like this don’t make recruiting material because it brings unwanted attention.
Even so, there has been continued debate, but most people seem to agree that it effectively does
what PSYOP units are supposed to do, which is to confuse, mislead, redirect, and occupy our minds.
As the video puts it: [QUOTE] "Warfare is evolving, and all the world's a stage."
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