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Further Reading

5th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne)

The 5th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne) has responsibility for all psychological operations activities in the US Pacific Command (PACOM) theater of operations, which includes the Far East and the Pacific Rim.

The unit's lineage dates back to 3 March 1951, when it was first constituted at Fort Riley, Kansas, as the 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company. The Company was activated on 19 March 1951 at Fort Riley, Kansas. The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 8 June 1953 as the 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company, on 24 June 1961 as the 5th Psychological Warfare Company, and on 25 June 1965 as the 5th Psychological Operations Battalion. The Battalion was inactivated on 20 June 1975 in Germany.

The Battalion was redesignated on 30 December 1975 as the 5th Psychological Operations Group and concurrently withdrawn from the Regular Army, allotted to the Army Reserve, and activated at Upper Marlboro, Maryland. It was reorganized and redesignated on 18 September 1990 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5th Psychological Operations Group. The Group was inactivated on 15 September 1994 at Upper Marlboro, Maryland

The unit was redesignated on 18 November 2003 as Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 5th Psychological Operations Battalion, withdrawn from the Army Reserve, and allotted to the Regular Army with its organic elements concurrently constituted. The Battalion was formally activated on 16 October 2004 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Prior to 2004, the 3 existing regional Battalions of the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) had pooled their resources to cover psychological operations responsibilities in the PACOM region. Eventually those resources had been formed into a task-organized provisional unit. It had been designated in 1997 as the PACOM Psychological Operations Battalion and relied heavily on assets from the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion. This unit was inactivated with the activation of the 5th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne). At the time of its formal activation, the 5th Psychological Operations Battalion was the sixth subordinate battalion of the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne).