ABSTRACT
One of the most unsettling developments of the 1970's and 1980's for the United States (US) has been the steady decline of its military power relative to that of the Soviet Union. In 1980, the US Army instituted the Capstone program designed to more closely link peacetime planning and training of Active and Reserve component units to wartime need in both the Continental US (CONUS) and overseas. Relaxation of the restrictions on the frequency of outside CONUS deployment training for psychological operations (PSYOP) units is needed to ensure that vital exercise opportunities are not lost. The resurgence of interest in PSYOP which began in late 1979 and the additional resources the community has received as a consequence have helped to ameliorate the situation slightly, but it remains on the critical list. Failure to use PSYOP may mean defeat, but the use of bad or amateurish PSYOP may be equally dangerous.
