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The United States Army is the largest and oldest branch of the Armed Forces of the United States . Like all Armies , it has the primary responsibility for land-based military operations. The modern Army had its roots in the Continental Army which was formed on June 14 1775 , before the establishment of the United States , to meet the demands of the American Revolutionary War . Congress created the United States Army on June 3 1784 after the end of the war to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The Army considers itself to be descended from the Continental Army, and thus dates its inception from the origins of that force.http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/faq/birth.htm Control and operation of the Army is administered by the (ARNG) reported 333,177 and the United States Army Reserve (USAR) reported 189,005,http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/demographics/FY05%20Army%20Profile.pdf putting the approximate combined component strength total at 1,029,264. STRUCTURE The U.S. Army is made up of three components: the active ( Regular Army ) component; and two reserve components, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve . Both reserve components are primarily composed of part-time soldiers who train once a month, known as Battle Assembly , and conduct two to three weeks of annual training each year. Both the Regular Army and the Army Reserve are organized under Title 10 of the United States Code , while the National Guard is organized under Title 32 . While the Army National Guard is organized, trained and equipped as a component of the U.S. Army, when it is not in federal service it is under the command of individual state's governors. However the National Guard can be federalized by presidential order and against the governor's wishes. Perpich v. Department of Defense, 496 U.S. 334 (1990) The U.S. Army is led by a civilian Secretary Of The Army , who reports to the Secretary Of Defense , and serves as civilian oversight for the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, who is a member of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff , the service chiefs from each service who, as a body, under the guidance of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff advise the President and Secretary of Defense on military matters. In 1986, the Goldwater-Nichols Act mandated that operational control of the services follows a chain of command from the President to the Secretary of Defense directly to the Unified Combatant Command ers, who have control of all armed forces units in their geographic or function area of responsibility. Thus, the Chief of Staff of each service only has the responsibility to organize, train and equip their respective service component. The services provide trained forces to the Combatant Commanders for use as they see fit. The Army is currently undergoing a period of transformation, which is expected to be finished in 2009. When it is finished, there will be five geographical commands which will line up with the five geographical Unified Combatant Commands (COCOM).
Each command will receive a numbered army as operational command, except in the case of U.S. Army Pacific, which will not receive one but will have a numbered army for U.S. Army forces in South Korea . As part of the same transformation plan, the U.S. Army is currently undergoing a transition from being a Division -based force to a Brigade -based force. When finished, the active army will have increased its number of combat brigades from 33 to 42, and increases of a similar scale will have taken place in the National Guard and Reserve forces. Division lineage will be retained, but the divisional HQs will be able to command any brigades, not just brigades that carry their divisional lineage. The central part of this plan is that each brigade will be modular, i.e., all brigades of the same type will be exactly the same, and thus any brigade can be commanded by any division. There will be three major types of ground combat brigades:
In addition, there will be combat support and service support modular brigades. Combat support brigades include Aviation brigades, which will come in heavy and light varieties, and '''Fires''' (artillery) brigades. Combat Service support brigades include '''Sustainment''' brigades and come in several varieties and serve the standard support role in an army. See Also: Transformation of the United States Army Most U.S. Army units can be operational divided into the following components from largest to smallest: insignia]]
Army components , , Patton , Spaatz , Eisenhower , Bradley , Hodges , Gerow .]] During The First World War , the " National Army " was organized to fight the conflict. It was demobilized at the end of World War I , and was replaced by the Regular Army, the Organized Reserve Corps, and the State Militias. In the 1920s and 1930s, the "career" soldiers were known as the " Regular Army " with the "Enlisted Reserve Corps" and "Officer Reserve Corps" augmented to fill vacancies when needed. In 1941, the " Army Of The United States " was founded to fight the Second World War. The Regular Army, Army of the United States, the National Guard, and Officer/Enlisted Reserve Corps (ORC and ERC) existed simultaneously. After World War II, the ORC and ERC were combined into the United States Army Reserve . The Army of the United States was re-established for the Korean War and Vietnam War and was demobilized upon the suspension of the Draft . Currently, the Army is divided into the Regular Army , the Army Reserve , and the United States National Guard . Prior to 1903 members of the National Guard were considered state soldiers unless federalized by the President. Since the Militia Act Of 1903 all National Guard soldiers have held dual status: as National Guardsmen under the authority of the governor of their state and as a reserve of the U.S. Army under the authority of the President. Since the adoption of the Total Force Policy , in the aftermath of the Vietnam War , reserve component soldiers have taken a more active role in U.S. military operations. Reserve and Guard units took part in the Gulf War , peacekeeping in Kosovo , and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq . Various State Defense Forces also exist, sometimes known as State Militias, which are sponsored by individual state governments and serve as an auxiliary to the National Guard. Except in times of extreme national emergency, such as a mainland Invasion of the United States, State Militias are operated independently from the U.S. Army and are seen as state government agencies rather than a component of the military. Although the present-day Army exists as an all volunteer force, augmented by Reserve and National Guard forces, measures exist for emergency expansion in the event of a catastrophic occurrence, such as a large scale attack against the U.S. or the outbreak of a Major Global War . The current "call-up" order of the United States Army is as follows: # Regular Army volunteer force # Army Reserve total mobilization # Full scale activation of all National Guard forces # Recall of all retired personnel fit for military duty # Re-establishment of the draft and creation of a conscript force within the Regular Army # Recall of previously discharged officers and enlisted who were separated under honorable conditions # Activation of the State Defense Forces/State Militias # Full scale mobilization of the unorganized U.S. militia The final stage of Army mobilization, known as "activation of the unorganized militia" would effectively place all able bodied males in the service of the U.S. Army. The last time an approximation of this occurred was during the American Civil War when the Confederate States Of America activated the "Home Guard" in 1865, drafting all males, regardless of age or health, into the Confederate Army . COMBAT MANEUVER ORGANIZATIONS The US Army currently consists of 10 divisions as well as several independent units. The following order of battle will be realized following the completion of the Army's transformation plan in 2009. Each division will have four ground maneuver brigades (shown here), and will also include at least one aviation brigade as well as a fires brigade and a service support brigade. Additional brigades can be assigned or attached to a division headquarters based on its mission.
HISTORY 1700s The Continental Army was created on 14 June 1775 by the Continental Congress as a unified army for the states to fight Great Britain , with George Washington appointed as its commander. George Washington, although not a great tactician, made use of the Fabian Strategy and used hit-and-run tactics, hitting where the enemy was weakest, to wear down the British forces and their Hessian mercenary allies. With a decisive victory at Yorktown , and the help of French and Dutch , the Continental Army prevailed against the British, and with the Treaty Of Paris , the independence of the United States was acknowledged. After the war, though, the Continental Army was quickly disbanded as part of the Americans' distrust of standing armies, and amateur state militias became the new nation's sole ground army, with the exception of one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with American Indians , it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The first of these, the Legion Of The United States , was established in 1791. 1800s The First Barbary War (1801-1805) was the first of two Barbary Wars fought between the United States and the North Africa n states known collectively as the Barbary States . The First Barbary War proved that America could execute a war far from home, and that American forces had the cohesion to fight together as Americans rather than Georgians or New Yorkers. The United States Navy and Marines became a permanent part of the American army and the American mythos, and Lieutenant Decatur returned to the U.S. as its first post-Revolutionary war hero. The War Of 1812 (1812-1815), the second and last American war against the British, was mostly a series of defeats for the US Army. An invasion of Canada completely failed, and US troops were unable to stop the British from Burning The New Capital Of Washington, D.C. . However, the Regular Army, under Generals Winfield Scott and Jacob Brown , proved they were professional and capable of defeating a British army in the Niagara Campaign of 1814. Two weeks after a treaty was signed, though, Andrew Jackson defeated the British Invasion Of New Orleans . However this had little effect, as per the treaty both sides returned to the Status Quo . Between 1815 and 1860, a spirit of Manifest Destiny struck the United States, and as settlers moved west the US Army engaged in a long series of skirmishes and battles with American Indians the colonists uprooted. The US Army also fought the short Mexican–American War , which was a victory for the United States and resulted in the new territories of California , Nevada , Utah , Colorado , Arizona , Wyoming and New Mexico . The Civil War (1861-1865) was the most costly war for the United States. After most states in the South Seceded to form the Confederate States Of America , CSA troops opened fire on the US fort Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina , starting the war. For the first two years Confederate forces solidly defeated the US Army, but after the decisive Battle Of Gettysburg combined with superior industrial might and numbers, Union troops fought a brutal campaign through Confederate territory and the war ended with a Confederate surrender at Appomatox Courthouse in April 1865. Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all White males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South. The Deadliest War Following the Civil War, the US Army fought a long battle with American Indians, who resisted US expansion into the center of the continent. But by the 1890s the US saw itself as a potential player internationally. US victories in the Spanish-American War (1898) and the more unknown and controversial Philippine-American War (1898-1913), as well as US intervention in Latin America and the Boxer Rebellion , gained America more land and international prestige. 1900s The US joined World War I (1914-1918) in 1917 on the side of Britain and France. Millions of US troops were sent to the front and were instrumental in the push that finally broke through the German lines. With victory on November 11, 1918, the Army once again decreased its forces. World War II started in 1939 but the United States did not join until 1941 following the Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor . On the European Front , US Army troops made up large portions of the forces that captured North Africa , Sicily , and Italy , and on D-Day , the resulting liberation of Europe and defeat of Germany , the millions of US Army troops played a central role. In the Pacific, millions of Army soldiers participated in the " Island Hopping " campaign that wrested the Pacific Islands from Japanese control. Following Axis Powers surrender in August/September 1945, US troops were deployed to Japan and Germany to occupy the two nations. However, this set the stage for the west-east confrontation known as the Cold War (late 1940s to late 1980s/early 1990s). Millions of US troops were deployed to West Germany and the rest of Europe in anticipation of Soviet attack, but the invasion never came. Instead, US troops and their allies fought non-Soviet Communist forces in Korea and Vietnam , as part of the Domino Theory . The Korean War started in 1950. Hundreds of thousands of US troops, under a UN umbrella, were sent to prevent the takeover of South Korea by North Korea , and later, to invade the northern nation. After repeated advances and retreats on the part of both sides, as well as Chinese involvement, a cease-fire returned the peninsula to the status quo in 1953. The Vietnam War is often regarded as a low point in morale in the Army's record. While US troops had been in the Republic Of Vietnam since 1959, they did not come into the country in large numbers until 1965, to fight the communist North Vietnam . The Guerrilla War tactics of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army proved difficult to adapt to, and with political handicaps and changing priorities in the political climate back home, the US military was allowed to withdraw from Vietnam in 1973. Two years later, the country was unified under a communist government. The 1980s was mostly a decade of reorganization. The US Army converted to an all-volunteer force with more emphasis on training and technology. The Goldwater-Nichols Act was passed in 1986, creating the Unified Combatant Command s. In addition, the Army had a small participation in the successful invasions of Panama ( Operation Just Cause ) and Grenada ( Operation Urgent Fury ). By 1991 Germany was reunited and the Soviet Union was near collapse, and the Cold War was effectively over. Then Iraq Invaded its tiny neighbor Kuwait , and the international community deployed hundreds of thousands of troops, mostly US Army formations, to Take Back The Nation . The war was a major victory for the Army, as the US mechanized formations obliterated the Iraqi Army units, taking back the country in only a few days, and proving the effectiveness of the new untried all-volunteer force. After the Gulf War, the Army did not experience major combat operations for the remainder of the 1990s, but it did participate in numerous peace keeping activities such as the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia in 1993, where the abortive Operation Gothic Serpent action led to the total withdrawal of both US and UN forces, and also contributed troops to a NATO Peacekeeping Force in former Yugoslavia in the middle of the decade. 21st century After the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks and as part of the Global War On Terror , US and NATO forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, replacing the Taliban government. Much more controversially, the US and Other Nations Invaded Iraq in 2003 and defeated the Saddam Hussein dictatorship, his army weakened by 10 years of crippling UN sanctions. In the following years the war has arguably bogged down into another counter-insurgency campaign, with large numbers of Suicide Bomb attacks and the loss of almost 4,000 US servicemen and thousands more injured and paralysed. Despite the high price that US military is paying with rising casualties and longer deployments for Regular Army as well as Reserve and Guard troops, Iraq is still far from stable. However, some milestones have been reached, such as the capture of Saddam Hussein and the holding of elections which have had varying degrees of effective Democracy throughout the regions of Iraq . Values. In the mid- to late 1990s, the Army officially adopted what have come to be known as "''The 7 Army Core Values''." The Army began to teach these values as basic warrior traits. The seven Army Core Values are as follows: # Loyalty - Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and fellow Soldiers. # Duty - Fulfill your obligations. # Respect - Treat others as they should be treated. # Selfless Service - Put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own. # Honor - Live the Army Values. # Integrity - Do what's right, both legally and morally. # Personal Courage - Face fear, danger, or adversity, both physical and moral. The values were arranged to form the acronym LDRSHIP (leadership). The 7 Army Values , verified 2007-01-05 RANK STRUCTURE See Also: Ranks and Insignia of NATO United States Army enlisted rank insignia United States Army officer rank insignia These are the US Army ranks and their equivalent NATO designations. Commissioned OfficersFrom the Future Soldiers Web Site (http://www.futuresoldiers.com):
Warrant OfficersFrom the Future Soldiers Web Site (http://www.futuresoldiers.com):
Warrant Officers of rank CW2 and higher may also be addressed as "Chief (last name)". Enlisted PersonnelFrom the Future Soldiers Web Site (http://www.futuresoldiers.com):
UNIFORMS See Also: Army Service Uniform Army Combat Uniform Future Force Warrior Currently, the Army is in the process of phasing out the separate woodland and 3-color Desert Battle Dress Uniform (BDUs) and replacing them with the single Army Combat Uniform (ACU), which features a digital camouflage pattern and is designed for use in woodland, desert, and urban environments. The Army plans to deploy the Future Force Warrior system starting in 2010, with upgrades in subsystems deployed every two years following. Designed as a fully integrated infantryman combat system, initial versions are to be simple in operation with basic electronics; final versions (2032) involve such technologies as a powered Exoskeleton and various nanotechnologies. The standard garrison service uniform is known as "Army Greens" or "Class As" and has been worn by all officers and enlisted personnel since its introduction in 1956 when it replaced earlier Olive Drab (OD) and khaki (and tan worsted or TW) uniforms worn between the 1890s and 1985. The "Army Blue" uniform, dating back to the mid-19th century, is currently the Army's formal dress uniform, but in 2009 it will replace the Army Green and the Army White uniforms (a uniform similar to the Army Green uniform, but worn in tropical postings) and will become the "new" Army Service Uniform , which will function as both a garrison uniform (when worn with a gray shirt and necktie) and a dress uniform (when worn with a white shirt and either a necktie for parades or a bow tie for "after six" or "black tie" events). The beret, adopted Army-wide in 2001, will continue to be worn with the new ACU for garrison duty and with the Army Service Uniform for non-ceremonial functions. EQUIPMENT Individual weapons See Also: List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces The primary individual weapons of the Army are the , used by some Army Special Forces units.http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/mk23.htm In addition to these basic rifles and sidearms, many combat units' arsenals are supplemented with a variety of specialized weapons, including the or the Mossberg 590 Shotgun for door-breaching and close-quarters combat, the M14 Rifle for long-range marksmen, and the M107 Long Range Sniper Rifle , the M24 Sniper Weapon System , or the XM110 Semi-automatic Sniper Rifle for snipers. Hand Grenade s, such as the M67 Fragmentation Grenade and M18 Smoke Grenade , are also commonly used by combat troops. Crew-served weapon systems See Also: List of crew-served weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces The Army employs various crew-served weapons (so named because they are operated by two or more soldiers in order to transport items such as spare barrels, tripods, base plates, and extra ammunition) to provide heavy firepower at ranges exceeding that of individual weapons. The machine guns on the M1 Abrams tank and the M2 Bradley IFV, respectively; the M240B is the infantry variant and can be fired from a bipod or tripod if carried by hand, or employed from a pintle mount atop a vehicle. The M2 .50-caliber Heavy Machine Gun has been in use since 1932 in a variety of roles, from infantry support to air defense. The M2 is also the primary weapon on most Stryker ACV variants and the secondary weapon system on the M1 Abrams tank. The MK 19 40 Mm Grenade Machine Gun is mainly used by motorized units, such as Stryker Brigades, HMMWV-mounted cavalry scouts, and Military Police.http://www.army.mil/factfiles/equipment/individual/mk193.html It is commonly employed in a complementary role to the M2. The Army uses three types of , usually employed by mechanized battalions, Stryker units, and cavalry troops because its size and weight require it to be transported in a tracked carrier or towed behind a truck.http://www.army.mil/factfiles/equipment/indirect/m120.html Vehicles in Iraq ]] See Also: List of armoured fighting vehicles by country#United States The U.S. Army was the first in the world to achieve 100% automotive mobility, and spends a sizable portion of its military budget to maintain a diverse inventory of vehicles. The U.S. Army maintains the highest vehicle-to-soldier ratio in the world. The Army's most common vehicle is the Armored Personnel Carrier .http://www.army.mil/factfiles/equipment/tracked/m113.html Artillery See Also: List of crew-served weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces#Artillery The U.S. Army's principal (which will replace the M198 ).http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/lw155.htm Aircraft See Also: List of military aircraft of the United States While the U.S. Army operates a few fixed-wing aircraft, it mainly operates several types of rotary-wing aircraft. These include the heavy-lift transport helicopter.http://www.army.mil/factfiles/equipment/aircraft/chinook.html In addition, the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment operates the MH-6/AH-6 small assault/attack helicopters, as well as highly-modified versions of the Black Hawk and Chinook, primarily in support of US Army Special Operations Forces, but also those of the other US armed forces. .http://www.soc.mil/160soar/soar_home.htm TRAINING Training in the United States Army is generally divided into two categories - individual and collective. Individual training for enlisted soldiers usually consists of 14 weeks for those who hope to hold the MOS, 11B (Infantryman). Other combat MOS's consist of similar training length. Support and other MOS hopefuls attend nine weeks of Basic Combat Training followed by Advanced Individual Training in their primary Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) at any of the numerous MOS training facilities around the country. The length of time spent in AIT depends on the MOS of the soldier. Depending on the needs of the Army BCT is conducted at a number of locations, but two of the longest running are the Armor School at Fort Knox , Kentucky and the Infantry School at Fort Benning , Georgia. For officers this training includes pre-commissioning training either at USMA , ROTC , or OCS . After commissioning, officers undergo six weeks of training at the Basic Officer Leadership Course at Ft. Benning or Ft. Sill followed by their branch specific training at the Officer Basic Course which varies in time and location based on their future jobs. Collective training takes place both at the unit's assigned station, but the most intensive collective training takes place at the three Combat Training Centers (CTC); the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin , California, the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk , Louisiana, and the Combined Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) at Hohenfels , Germany. FAMOUS FORMER SOLDIERS
Source: Baron, Scott. ''They Also Served: Military Biographies of Uncommon Americans''. http://www.amazon.com/They-Also-Served-Biographies-Americans/dp/1877639370 MAJOR COMMANDS http://www.army.mil/organization/major.html SEE ALSO
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