9th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne)

The 9th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne), or 9th POB(A), has a Regular Army lineage and a history of tactical influence and information warfare support. Its Fort Bragg service includes assignments under 4th POG(A) and 8th POG(A).

Mission and Role

In the later 8th POG(A) organization, USASOC described 9th POB(A) as the PSYOP Regiment’s National Mission Force, responsible for supporting special mission units around the world. Its Soldiers brought tactical influence, media and communications capabilities to that work.

Command History

The battalion moved from 4th POG(A) to the newly established provisional 8th POG(A) in 2011 and remained part of the group’s later information warfare organization.

8th POG(A) inactivated on September 29, 2026. That announcement confirms the group headquarters’ inactivation, not a separate inactivation date or new command assignment for 9th POB(A). Read the 8th POG(A) history.

Historical Highlights

• Origins: The 9th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company was constituted on April 14, 1952, and activated at Fort Riley on April 26, 1952. After service as the 9th Psychological Warfare Company in the Panama Canal Zone, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion on April 1, 1967.

• Operation Desert Storm: The battalion is credited with executing one of the most successful tactical PSYOP missions in modern military history. Utilizing helicopter-mounted loudspeakers, a 9th PSYOP team broadcasted surrender instructions to the Iraqi garrison occupying Failaka Island. The following day, over 1,400 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to arriving U.S. Marines without a single shot being fired.

• Modern Conflicts: The unit deployed extensively throughout Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, providing critical loudspeaker operations, leaflet dissemination, and civilian influence efforts alongside both conventional forces and Special Forces.