Secretive Army Group’s Recruiting Video Is Chock-Full of Hidden Meanings, Viewers Say
The
new Fort Liberty sign is displayed outside the base on Friday, June 2, 2023, in
Fort Liberty, N.C. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Posted: May 8, 2024 --- The Charlotte Observer | By Mark Price
Published May
07, 2024, at 1:07 p.m. ET.
A
secretive U.S. Army group known as the "Masters of Influence” has emerged from
the shadows of Fort Liberty with a recruitment video that is strange, a little
chilling — and crammed with subliminal messages. The 4th Psychological
Operations Group posted "Ghosts in the Machine 2” May 2nd on
YouTube, exactly 2 years to the day after it released an equally unsettling
recruitment video that had some accusing
the group of witchery.
That’s
sort of a compliment for the North Carolina-based 4th PsyOps, which
"targets psychological vulnerabilities” to create confusion and doubt in
adversaries. The new video is a ominous sequel of sorts to what came in 2022,
starting with the sound of thunder, the crackle of fire and a quote from author
John Steinbeck: "I am a little man, and this is a little town, but there must be
a spark in little men that can burst into flame.”
What
follows is much like a horror movie trailer, with echoing quotes about the
power of ideas, unsettling images of societal breakdown and isolation, and
hidden symbolism. A muffled plea to work together is a sound
bite from "Night of the Living Dead. A ticking watch shows the time (8:46) and
date the 1st plane hit a
tower on 9-11, and the seconds hand is a pitchfork.
A
vintage phone rings in the dark, with a ghost painted on the keyboard. "Behind
every choice .... invisible hands,” the video says. "Behind every emotion,
fire. Do you believe in the power of words and ideas. .. We believe.” The video
had nearly 95,000 views and more than 800 comments as of May 7th,
including from viewers who called it "creepy” and "a threat, disguised as
a psychological operation, disguised as a recruitment video.”
"Not really sure whose side these guys are on,” @abmermaid wrote on YouTube. "Why does this seem like something Batman would receive from a supervillain,” @bloodrunsclear posted. "This was the weirdest recruitment ad I’ve ever seen. I’m in,” @chrisjansen1943 wrote. The 4th PsyOps offered some explanation in a news release issued by the Department of Defense (DoD), noting the video is intended as a "powerful call to action” for people who "don’t often fit the mold of an average Army recruit.”
Ideal candidates are "very cerebral and analytical,” yet creative when it comes to solving problems, the group says. "The challenge there is how do you sell an intangible art form,” one PsyOps officer told the DoD, while declining to reveal his name. "With an intangible concept, you do it through art. ... We took the ethos that we don’t show the shark. By creating emphasis and a vibe through sound design and imagery, the human mind takes that and makes an image far more evocative than anything we can put on screen.”
