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At Fort Bragg, translations are scrupulously checked – "So we don't end up having an advertisement for a car that says 'Won't Go,' " says Rohm, referring to a classic marketing screw-up involving the Chevy Nova. (In Spanish, no va translates as "won't go.")

In Afghanistan, the psyop-ers deliberately avoided using the word "surrender" because they knew it would not play well with the Taliban. They substituted appeals along the lines of "Return to your homes and villages." Military mind-warriors had faced that problem before.

"That's an old issue going back to the Second World War and leaflets that were directed at the Japanese," explains Robert D. Jenks, another doctorate-holding civilian analyst at Fort Bragg. "They discovered that [surrender] was offensive to Japanese. So they retooled and phrased it differently. What they said was: 'Cease resistance.' "

Over the years Army psychological operations have spread to the civilian arena. Because the unit supports peacetime anti-drug and de-mining efforts around the globe, the old term "psywar" accurate when John Wayne made his Vietnam War movie is out of favor now. But the swaggering spirit seems to live on among the guys who bring strong editing and graphic skills to combat, who can write radio scripts and leaflet slogans with a certain punch.

In October, when Army Rangers parachuted behind enemy lines outside Kandahar, four members of Fort Bragg's psyop group jumped with them. They left behind their calling cards for the enemy – leaflets, of course. "We wanted them to know that we were on the ground," says Lt. Col. Glenn Ayers.

One bore an image of firefighters raising the American flag. It said simply, "Freedom Endures."

Leaflets created by the 4th Psychological Operations Group: "The Taliban reign of fear is about to end," left, and "Who really runs the Taliban?"Warriors schooled in marketing and advertising techniques: A soldier packs a leaflet bomb at Fort Bragg, N.C.