United States Army

The United States Army, which is the arm of the United States Armed Forces, was formulated on June 14, 1775 after the American Revolutionary War. The United States Army had 480,000 active soldiers and 555,000 reserves in 2002. The Americas Army, as it is also referred, mainly concentrates on land-based military operations.

It was in the 1920s and 1930s that the Regular Army was formed with the “career soldiers” and the Officer and Enlisted Reserve Corps filled the vacancies. In 1941, the army of the United States was founded to fight the Second World War.

Presently, the United States Army has the Regular army and the Army Reserve as its two components. The United States National Guard is an armed force under the State governments. The National Guard members hold dual positions- as Guardsman and as Army Reservists in the Americas Army.

Every member of the United States Army is known as a “Soldier”. The Americas Army is structured along the lines of- Field Army, which is of four-star level (GEN). Corps is at three-star level (LTG) with two or more divisions. The Military Divisions with the Commanders are at two-star level (MG). Brigade or Group-with three or more brigades are headed by a Colonel, Battalion or Squadron. A Lieutenant with help of a Sergeant First Class/E-7(SFC) leads platoons. Staff Sergeants lead sections, which provide support to the junior NCO Squad leaders. A Sergeant leads the Squad, while a Fire Team consists of a fire team leader (often a corporal), a grenadier and two riflemen.

The army is organized by function. Infantry, Cavalry, Armor and Special forces are the Combat forces of the United States Army. The Artillery, Army Corps of Engineers, Army Aviation, Medical Corps, Ordnance Corps, Quartermaster Corps, Transportation Corps, Signal Corps, Intelligence Corps and Adjutant General’s Corps are the Combat support troops. The Judge Advocate General’s Corps constitute the Support troops of the Americas Army.