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The Rhodesian Army's 1 Psychological Operations Unit (P.O.U.) was formed at the height of the Bush War on 1 July 1977 under the command of the Corps of Infantry at Cranborne Barracks. Prior to the formation of the unit, psychological warfare operations in Rhodesia had been administered at local level by individual units from the British South Africa Police, Signal Corps, Corps of Engineers, Air Force, Infantry Corps and the Rhodesian intelligence service, the Central Intelligence Organization. As a result, the somewhat disjointed psychological warfare effort urgently needed a unified command structure, which the 1 P.O.U sought to fill. Their badge was stylized in the symbol of the Greek letter "psi", with the Shona motto "Tiri Tosi" which literally translates as "we are together".

Unofficially called the "Mind Benders Association" (or M.B.A.) with a unique "dagger-in-brain" logo, the unit drew from the very best psychological warfare servicemen in Rhodesia. Draw extensively from learned experiences in the Malayan Emergency, as well as the intensifying Rhodesian Bush war, the unit performed splendidly during it's short existence to sap enemy morale and force a large number of defections from disaffected communist guerillas. They were utilized to great effect particularly by helping force thousands of terrorist defections during the Muzorewa led government in 1979. In a Musketeer Press publication at the end of the Bush War, the unit and the men are mentioned thus: "1 P.O.U's establishment indicates timely recognition of the fact that conflict in Africa is primarily a battle for men's minds". The Rhodesian Mind Benders achieved this and more, in their brief but stunning existence.