The British Army is setting up a psy-ops unit that will fight its battles on social media “in the information age”.
Head of the Army General Sir Nick Carter said the move was about trying to operate “smarter”.
Dubbed the 77th Brigade, the unit will be made up of reservists and regular troops and based in Hermitage, Berkshire.
Apparently, it has been inspired by the Chindits who fought in Burma in World War Two and seeks “new ways of allowing civilians with bespoke skills to serve alongside their military counterparts”.
Chindits was the name given to the Long Range Penetration (LRP) groups that operated in the Burmese jungle behind enemy lines, targeting Japanese communications.
The new unit will also use the old Chindit insignia of a Chinthe, a mythical Burmese creature which is half-lion and half-dragon.
The unit recognises that the actions of others in a modern battlefield can be affected in ways that are not necessarily violent and it draws heavily on important lessons from our commitments to operations in Afghanistan amongst others.
Recruitment for the brigade, 42 percent of whose personnel will be reservists, will begin this spring.
Its members will come from the Royal Navy and RAF as well as from the Army.
