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United States Military

United States Military


The United States armed forces consist of five main branches; the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard and the Air Force. These help the UN in peacekeeping and are operational members of NATO. The president of the United States of America acts as the Commander-in-Chief, but all the armed forces are still under the civilian command. When in war charge of all operational tasks (in the geographical area designated to them) goes to the Unified Combat Commanders. The Department of Defense is responsible for only four of the armed forces branches, i.e. the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Air Force. The Coast Guard on the other hand is governed by the Secretary of Defense.

The prime armed force is the army which is the largest and the most operational. It is accountable for all land-based actions. The army is under the authority of the Secretary of the Army, this is usually a civilian. In spite of this, the Secretary of the Army is accountable to not one but two people; the Secretary of Defense and the Unites States Army Chief of Staff. The United States Army Chief of Staff is a member of the Joint Chief of Staffs which is a committee made up of all the Chiefs- of- Staffs of the different military branches, it advises the President on military related issues.

The three basic divisions in the army are the Army National Guard, the United States Army Reserve, and the Regular Army. The Regular army is the main fighting force of the nation and is maintained through both, war and peace times. The Army National Guard is the most long-standing army branch and it acts as a reserve of the Regular army. While The Army National Guard is under the authority of the particular state's governor, it is watched over by the National Guard Bureau. The United States Army Reserve is only consists of part-time soldiers and units. Reserve army soldiers are volunteers who go through training only in their spare time; however, their pay is equal to their Regular Army counterparts. They usually work in the day time. Whenever they are called up to perform their duties, they have to take resign or take extended leave .

The United States Navy takes care of all kinds of naval based operations. The Navy is large and varied; it consists of over 500,000 men and women, 278 ships and more than 4,000 aircrafts. The Navy works under the department of the Navy. The secretary is the one who leads the Navy. After him, the Chief of Naval Operations comes. The Chief is the member of the Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff that helps the president in the form of advisory council. Together the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations are responsible for the organizing, recruiting, training, and equipping of the Navy. They have to ensure that the Navy is consistently fully operational.


The Navy is broken up into nine categories:

United States Atlantic Fleet United States Pacific Fleet, Naval Forces Central Command, Naval Forces Europe, Naval Network Warfare Command, United States Navy Reserve Navy Reserve, Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Warfare Command, Operational Test and Evaluation Forces, and Military Sealift Command.

The fleets themselves are not operational in battles, what they do is train other navy units which will eventually be involved in combats. These units are supplied to the Unified Combatant Command. A fleet is only accountable for those units which are in its geographical area of responsibility. The Navy has five fleets and each is commanded by its own Vice Admiral.


The fleets are:

Second Fleet: This operates in the Atlantic Ocean and is the only fleet in the Atlantic Ocean. Its headquarters are located in Norfolk, Virginia. Its services are used by Joint Forces Command and by NATO too. It is NATO’s Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic that also oversees naval of forces of NATO in the Atlantic.

Third Fleet : This operates is the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Pacific Ocean along with the West Coast of the United States and is only part of the Pacific Command. The Third Fleet has to train with either the Fifth or Sixth fleet in training crusises before it leaves for the sea. It is not supposed to be used in a battle instantaneously; only in the event of general war, Third Fleet participates in active combat operations. The headquarters of this fleet is based in San Diego, California.

Fifth Fleet: This operates in the Middle East, and parts of the Indian Ocean. The Fifth Fleet’s resources are used by the Naval Forces Central Command; this is the naval division of the larger Central Command. Fifth Fleet is based at Manama, Bahrain.

Sixth Fleet: This operates in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. It provides its forces for Naval Forces Europe. This is the European Command’s naval sector. It is based in Gaeta, Italy and also the base of the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO.

Seventh Fleet: The seventh fleet operates in the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf, the East coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and the East coast of Africa. It is the largest U.S. fleet and it makes up the combat ready half of the Pacific Command. Its headquarters are located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.

In the past a First fleet did exist but it was disbanned in the early seventies. A Fourth did also exist but it was also disbaled. No other fleet has taken their place.

The Coast Guard is thought of as the First Fleet during wartime; but the United States never uses this oreintation offically. The Coast Guard is the smallest force of the American armed forces and the oldest of the sea forces. It is a part of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime but in times of war it is delegated to the Department of Defense which comes under the Navy. The Coast Guard is responsible for enforcement of the maritime law, search and rescue, national defense and mariner assistance. In addition, it plays an important role in the marine environmental pollution response and the maintainence of river, intercoastal and offshore aids to navigation. The United States Coast Guard has roughly 48,150 men and women on duty and 35,000 auxiliarists – they are called the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. It is the non-military part of the Coast Guard and helps in missions which do not involve any sort of combat and law enforcement activities.

Continental Marines was the initial name of the United Nations Marine Corps – it works under the United States Department of the Navy. It is used to implement policy and by means of threat or force at sea under crisis; moreover, it is known for its ability at amphibious assault techniques. The marines have the unique capilbility to be deployed and reach anywhere in the world with days. The Marine Corps has 220,000 Marines and this makes it the second smallest of the American armed forces. The highest ranking Marine officer, who is in charge of organizing recruiting and training, is the Commandant of the Marine Corps.


The Marine Corps are divided into four sectors:

Headquarters Marine Corps;
The Operating Forces;
The Supporting Establishment;
Marine Forces Reserve.

The Operating Forces be divided even more, into three distant categories: Marine Corps Forces, Marine Corps Security Forces and Marine Corps Security Guard. The Marine Corps Forces are delegated the unified command, the Marine Corps Security Forces are delegated the protection of high risk naval installations and the Marine Corps Security Guard the protection of American embassies.

The United States Air force was the part of the United States army till 1947. Nowadays, it words as a separate branch of the American armed forces. The Air Force employs over 352,000 men and women and contains over 12,000 aircrafts. It is falls under the authority of the Department of Air Force and its head is the Secretary of the Air Force. The Secretary of the Air Force is supported by the Secretary, Under Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, General Counsel, the Inspector General and the Air Reserve Forces Policy Committee.

An Air Staff exists which is made up of non-civilian advisors to the Secretary of Air Force, this staff is made up of the Chief of Staff, Vice Chief of Staff, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, four deputy chiefs of staff , the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General, The Judge Advocate General, the Chief of the Air Force Reserve, and any other supplementary personnel that the Secretary of Air Force requires.

The Air Force has Field operating agencies which are sub-divisions; they are to specialize in an Air Force wide mission. A Numbered Air Force is just one level below Major Command and it is never fully operational as they do not have fully functional staffs. It consists of wings, groups and squadrons. A wing follows the Numbered Air Force and may have more than one squadron. An operational wing is one that has an operations group and related operational mission activity assigned to it and is self sufficient in maintaining itself. Those bases that do not have operational wings or which are quite large only for one wing would have an air base wing. The Air Base Wing is like a supporting faction, it is capable of maintaining and operating a base.

Several groups complied make up a wing and several squadrons complied make up a group. When two or more flights are put together Squadrons is formed. When faction is not part of the main mission, it will be made into an independent group.

Posted by: Helen P. Nash

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