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The United States Army (USA) is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 and United States Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001. As the largest and senior branch of the U.S. military, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed (14 June 1775) to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–83)—before the U.S. was established as a country.[6] After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, to replace the disbanded Continental Army.[7][8] The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.[6]
As a uniformed military service, the Army is part of the Department of the Army, which is one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The U.S. Army is headed by a civilian senior appointed civil servant, the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY), and by a chief military officer, the Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the fiscal year 2016, the projected end strength for the Regular Army (USA) was 475,000 soldiers; the Army National Guard (ARNG) had 342,000 soldiers, and the United States Army Reserve (USAR) had 198,000 soldiers; the combined-component strength of the U.S. Army was 1,015,000 soldiers.[3] As a branch of the armed forces, the mission of the U.S. Army is "to fight and win our Nation's wars, by providing prompt, sustained, land dominance, across the full range of military operations and the spectrum of conflict, in support of combatant commanders."[9] The service participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force.
Contents [hide]
1 Mission
2 History
2.1 Origins
2.2 19th century
2.2.1 Early Wars on the Frontier
2.2.2 American Civil War
2.2.3 Later 19th century
2.3 20th century
2.4 21st century
3 Organization
3.1 Army components
3.2 Army commands and army service component commands
3.3 Structure
3.4 Regular combat maneuver organizations
3.5 Special operations forces
4 Personnel
4.1 Commissioned officers
4.2 Warrant officers
4.3 Enlisted personnel
4.4 Training
5 Equipment
5.1 Weapons
5.2 Vehicles
5.3 Uniforms
5.3.1 Berets
5.4 Tents
5.5 3D printing
6 See also
7 Notes and references
8 Further reading
9 External links
Mission[edit]
The United States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Section 3062 of Title 10 US Code defines the purpose of the army as:[10][11]
Preserving the peace and security and providing for the defense of the United States, the Commonwealths and possessions and any areas occupied by the United States
Supporting the national policies
Implementing the national objectives
Overcoming any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the United States
History[edit]
Main article: History of the United States Army
This article or section may need to be cleaned up or summarized. This section has been split from/to History of the United States Army.
Origins[edit]
Storming of Redoubt #10 in the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War prompted the British government to begin negotiations, resulting in the Treaty of Paris and British recognition of the United States of America.
The Continental Army was created on 14 June 1775 by the Continental Congress[12] as a unified army for the colonies to fight Great Britain, with George Washington appointed as its commander.[6][13][14][15] The army was initially led by men who had served in the British Army or colonial militias and who brought much of British military heritage with them. As the Revolutionary War progressed, French aid, resources, and military thinking influenced the new army. A number of European soldiers came on their own to help, such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who taught the army Prussian tactics and organizational skills.
The army fought numerous pitched battles and in the South 1780–81 sometimes used the Fabian strategy and hit-and-run tactics, hitting where the enemy was weakest, to wear down the British forces. Washington led victories against the British at Trenton and Princeton, but lost a series of battles around New York City in 1776 and Philadelphia in 1777. With a decisive victory at Yorktown, and the help of the French, the Continental Army prevailed against the British.
After the war, though, the Continental Army was quickly given land certificates and disbanded in a reflection of the republican distrust of standing armies. State militias became the new nation's sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The Regular Army was at first very small, and after General St. Clair's defeat at the Battle of the Wabash, the Regular Army was reorganized as the Legion of the United States, which was established in 1791 and renamed the "United States Army" in 1796.
19th century[edit]
Early Wars on the Frontier[edit]
Further information: Army on the Frontier
General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders during the defense of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812
The War of 1812, the second and last American war against Great Britain was a mixed success. The Army did not conquer Canada but it did destroy the Indian threat to expansion in the Midwest, and it validated American independence by stopping two major British invasions in 1814 and 1815. After the taking control of Lake Erie in 1813, the Americans were able to seize parts of western Upper Canada, burn York and defeat Tecumseh, which caused his Indian Confederacy to collapse. Following ending victories in the province of Upper Canada, which dubbed the U.S. Army "Regulars, by God!", British troops were able to capture and burn Washington which was defended by militia. The regular army, however, proved they were professional and capable of defeating the British army during the invasions of Plattsburgh and Baltimore, prompting British agreement on the previously rejected terms of a status quo ante bellum. Two weeks after a treaty was signed (but not ratified), Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans and became a national hero. Per the treaty both sides returned to the geographical status quo.
The army's major campaign against the Indians was fought in Florida against Seminoles. It took long wars (1818–58) to finally defeat the Seminoles and move them to Oklahoma. The usual strategy in Indian wars was to seize control of the Indians' winter food supply, but that was no use in Florida where there was no winter. The second strategy was to form alliances with other Indian tribes, but that too was useless because the Seminoles had destroyed all the other Indians when they entered Florida in the late eighteenth century.[16]
The U.S. Army fought and won the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), which was a defining event for both countries.[17] The U.S. victory resulted in acquisition of territory that eventually became all or parts of the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming and New Mexico.
American Civil War[edit]
Further information: Union Army
The Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War
The American Civil War was the costliest war for the U.S. in terms of casualties. After most slave states, located in the southern U.S., formed the Confederate States, C.S. troops led by former U.S. Army officers, mobilized a very large fraction of Southern white manpower. Forces of the United States (the "Union" or "the North") formed the Union Army consisting of a small body of regular army units and a large body of volunteer units raised from every state, north and south, except South Carolina.[citation needed]
For the first two years Confederate forces did well in set battles but lost control of the border states.[18] The Confederates had the advantage of defending a very large country in an area where disease caused twice as many deaths as combat. The Union pursued a strategy of seizing the coastline, blockading the ports, and taking control of the river systems. By 1863 the Confederacy was being strangled. Its eastern armies fought well, but the western armies were defeated one after another until the Union forces captured New Orleans in 1862 along with the Tennessee River. In the famous Vicksburg Campaign of 1862–63, Ulysses Grant seized the Mississippi River and cut off the Southwest. Grant took command of Union forces in 1864 and after a series of battles with very heavy casualties, he had Lee under siege in Richmond as William T. Sherman captured Atlanta and marched through Georgia and the Carolinas. The Confederate capital was abandoned in April 1865 and Lee subsequently surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House; all other Confederate armies surrendered within a few months.
The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers. Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6.4% in the North and 18% in the South.[19]
Later 19th century[edit]
Following the Civil War, the U.S. Army had the mission of containing western tribes of Native Americans on their reservations. There were many forts set up, and several campaigns. U.S. Army troops also occupied several of the Southern states during the Reconstruction Era to protect freedmen.
The key battles of the Spanish–American War of 1898 were fought by the Navy. Using mostly new volunteers, the U.S. Army defeated Spain in land campaigns in Cuba and played the central role in suppressing a rebellion in the Philippines.
20th century[edit]
U.S. Army troops assault a German bunker, France, circa 1918
Starting in 1910, the army began acquiring fixed-wing aircraft.[20] In 1910, Mexico was having a civil war, peasant rebels fighting government soldiers. The army was deployed to American towns near the border to ensure safety to lives and property. In 1916, Pancho Villa, a major rebel leader, attacked Columbus, New Mexico, prompting a U.S. intervention in Mexico until 7 February 1917. They fought the rebels and the Mexican federal troops until 1918. The United States joined World War I in 1917 on the side of Britain, France, Russia, Italy and other allies. U.S. troops were sent to the Western Front and were involved in the last offensives that ended the war. With the armistice in November 1918, the army once again decreased its forces.
American soldiers hunt Japanese infiltrators during the Bougainville Campaign
For a list of campaigns see List of United States Army campaigns during World War II
The United States joined World War II in December 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On the European front, U.S. Army troops formed a significant portion of the forces that captured North Africa and Sicily, and later fought in Italy. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, and in the subsequent liberation of Europe and defeat of Nazi Germany, millions of U.S. Army troops played a central role. In the Pacific War, U.S. Army soldiers participated alongside the United States Marine Corps in capturing the Pacific Islands from Japanese control. Following the Axis surrenders in May (Germany) and August (Japan) of 1945, army troops were deployed to Japan and Germany to occupy the two defeated nations. Two years after World War II, the Army Air Forces separated from the army to become the United States Air Force in September 1947 after decades of attempting to separate. Also, in 1948, the army was desegregated by order of President Harry S. Truman.
Men of the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, advance in a snowstorm behind a tank, January 1945
The end of World War II set the stage for the East–West confrontation known as the Cold War. With the outbreak of the Korean War, concerns over the defense of Western Europe rose. Two corps, V and VII, were reactivated under Seventh United States Army in 1950 and American strength in Europe rose from one division to four. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops remained stationed in West Germany, with others in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, until the 1990s in anticipation of a possible Soviet attack.
U.S. Army soldiers look upon an atomic bomb test of Operation Buster-Jangle at the Nevada Test Site during the Korean War
During the Cold War, American troops and their allies fought Communist forces in Korea and Vietnam. The Korean War began in 1950, when the Soviets walked out of a U.N. Security meeting, removing their possible veto. Under a United Nations umbrella, hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops fought to prevent the takeover of South Korea by North Korea, and later, to invade the northern nation. After repeated advances and retreats by both sides, and the PRC People's Volunteer Army's entry into the war, the Korean Armistice Agreement returned the peninsula to the status quo in 1953.
The Vietnam War is often regarded as a low point for the U.S. Army due to the use of drafted personnel, the unpopularity of the war with the American public, and frustrating restrictions placed on the military by American political leaders. While American forces had been stationed in the Republic of Vietnam since 1959, in intelligence & advising/training roles, they did not deploy in large numbers until 1965, after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. American forces effectively established and maintained control of the "traditional" battlefield, however they struggled to counter the guerrilla hit and run tactics of the communist Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. On a tactical level, American soldiers (and the U.S. military as a whole) did not lose a sizable battle.[21]
A U.S. Army infantry patrol moves up to assault the last North Vietnamese Army position at Dak To, South Vietnam during Operation Hawthorne
During the 1960s the Department of Defense continued to scrutinize the reserve forces and to question the number of divisions and brigades as well as the redundancy of maintaining two reserve components, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.[22] In 1967 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara decided that 15 combat divisions in the Army National Guard were unnecessary and cut the number to 8 divisions (1 mechanized infantry, 2 armored, and 5 infantry), but increased the number of brigades from 7 to 18 (1 airborne, 1 armored, 2 mechanized infantry, and 14 infantry). The loss of the divisions did not set well with the states. Their objections included the inadequate maneuver element mix for those that remained and the end to the practice of rotating divisional commands among the states that supported them. Under the proposal, the remaining division commanders were to reside in the state of the division base. No reduction, however, in total Army National Guard strength was to take place, which convinced the governors to accept the plan. The states reorganized their forces accordingly between 1 December 1967 and 1 May 1968.
M1 Abrams move out before the Battle of Al Busayyah during the Gulf War
The Total Force Policy was adopted by Chief of Staff of the Army General Creighton Abrams in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and involves treating the three components of the army – the Regular Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve as a single force.[23] Believing that no U.S. president should be able to take the United States (and more specifically the U.S. Army) to war without the support of the American people, General Abrams intertwined the structure of the three components of the army in such a way as to make extended operations impossible, without the involvement of both the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.[24]
The 1980s was mostly a decade of reorganization. The army converted to an all-volunteer force with greater emphasis on training and technology. The Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 created unified combatant commands bringing the army together with the other four military services under unified, geographically organized command structures. The army also played a role in the invasions of Grenada in 1983 (Operation Urgent Fury) and Panama in 1989 (Operation Just Cause).
U.S. Army soldiers prepare to take La Comandancia in the El Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City during the United States invasion of Panama
By 1989 Germany was nearing reunification and the Cold War was coming to a close. Army leadership reacted by starting to plan for a reduction in strength. By November 1989 Pentagon briefers were laying out plans to reduce army end strength by 23%, from 750,000 to 580,000.[25] A number of incentives such as early retirement were used. In 1990 Iraq invaded its smaller neighbor, Kuwait, and U.S. land forces, quickly deployed to assure the protection of Saudi Arabia. In January 1991 Operation Desert Storm commenced, a U.S.-led coalition which deployed over 500,000 troops, the bulk of them from U.S. Army formations, to drive out Iraqi forces. The campaign ended in total victory, as Western coalition forces routed the Iraqi Army, organized along Soviet lines, in just one hundred hours.
After Operation Desert Storm, the army did not see major combat operations for the remainder of the 1990s but did participate in a number of peacekeeping activities. In 1990 the Department of Defense issued guidance for "rebalancing" after a review of the Total Force Policy,[26] but in 2004, Air War College scholars concluded the guidance would reverse the Total Force Policy which is an "essential ingredient to the successful application of military force."[27]
21st century[edit]
Army Rangers from the 1st Ranger Battalion conduct a MOUT exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Army Rangers take part in a raid during operation in Nahr-e Saraj, Afghanistan
On September 11, 2001, 53 Army civilians (47 employees and six contractors) and 22 soldiers were among the 125 victims killed in the Pentagon in a terrorist attack when American Airlines Flight 77 commandeered by five Al-Qaeda hijackers slammed into the western side of the building, as part of the September 11 attacks.[28] Lieutenant General Timothy Maude was the highest-ranking military official killed at the Pentagon, and the most senior U.S. Army officer killed by foreign action since the death of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, Jr. on June 18, 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II.[29]
In response to the September 11 attacks, and as part of the Global War on Terror, U.S. and NATO forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, displacing the Taliban government. The U.S. Army also led the combined U.S. and allied invasion of Iraq in 2003. It served as the primary source for ground forces with its ability to sustain short and long-term deployment operations. In the following years the mission changed from conflict between regular militaries to counterinsurgency, resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 U.S service members (as of March 2008) and injuries to thousands more.[30][31] 23,813 insurgents[32] were killed in Iraq between 2003–2011.
The army's chief modernization plan was the FCS program. Many systems were canceled and the remaining were swept into the BCT modernization program.[citation needed] In response to Budget sequestration in 2013 the army is planned to shrink to a size not seen since the WWII buildup.[33] The 2015 expenditure for Army research, development and acquisition changed from $32 billion projected in 2012 for FY15, to $21 billion for FY15 expected in 2014.[34]
Organization[edit]
Main article: Structure of the United States Army
Organization chart[35]
Army components[edit]
The task of organizing the U.S. Army commenced in 1775.[36] In the first one hundred years of its existence, the United States Army was maintained as a small peacetime force to man permanent forts and perform other non-wartime duties such as engineering and construction works. During times of war, the U.S. Army was augmented by the much larger United States Volunteers which were raised independently by various state governments. States also maintained full-time militias which could also be called into the service of the army.
U.S. general officers, World War II, Europe
By the twentieth century, the U.S. Army had mobilized the U.S. Volunteers on four separate occasions during each of the major wars of the nineteenth century. During World War I, the "National Army" was organized to fight the conflict, replacing the concept of U.S. Volunteers.[37] 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.[38]
In 1941, the "Army of the United States" was founded to fight World War II. 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.[38]
Currently, the army is divided into the Regular Army, the Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard.[37] The army is also divided into major branches such as Air Defense Artillery, Infantry, Aviation, Signal Corps, Corps of Engineers, and Armor. Before 1903 members of the National Guard were considered state soldiers unless federalized (i.e., activated) 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 or territory and, when activated, 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. For example, Reserve and Guard units took part in the Gulf War, peacekeeping in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Army commands and army service component commands[edit]
Headquarters US Army SSI.png Headquarters, United States Department of the Army (HQDA):
Army Commands Current commander Location of headquarters
United States Army Forces Command SSI.svg United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) GEN Robert B. Abrams Fort Bragg, North Carolina
AMC shoulder insignia.svg United States Army Materiel Command (AMC) GEN Dennis L. Via Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
TRADOC patch.svg United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) GEN David G. Perkins Fort Eustis, Virginia
Army Service Component Commands Current commander Location of headquarters
U.S. Army Africa Shoulder Sleeve Insignia.jpg United States Army Africa (USARAF) / Ninth Army / United States Army Southern European Task Force[39] MG Darryl A. Williams Caserma Ederle, Vicenza, Italy
US3ASSI.svg United States Army Central (ARCENT) / Third Army LTG James L. Terry Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina
USAREUR Insignia.jpg United States Army Europe (USAREUR) / Seventh Army (US) LTG Ben Hodges Clay Kaserne, Wiesbaden, Germany
US Fifth Army patch.svg United States Army North (ARNORTH) / Fifth Army LTG Perry L. Wiggins Joint Base San Antonio, Texas
USARPAC insignia.svg United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) GEN Vincent K. Brooks Fort Shafter, Hawaii
UNITED STATES ARMY SOUTH SSI.svg United States Army South (ARSOUTH) / Sixth Army MG Clarence K.K. Chinn Joint Base San Antonio, Texas
Surface Deployment and Distribution Command SSI.svg Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) MG Susan A. Davidson[40] Scott AFB, Illinois
United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command Logo.svg United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command / United States Army Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) LTG David Mann Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
US Army Special Operations Command SSI.svg United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) LTG Charles T. Cleveland Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Operational Force Headquarters Current commander Location of headquarters
Eighth Army SSI.svg Eighth Army (EUSA)[41] LTG Thomas S. Vandal[42] Yongsan Garrison, South Korea
US Army Cyber Command SSI.png United States Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER)[43][44][45] LTG Edward C. Cardon Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Direct reporting units Current commander Location of headquarters
Arlington National Cemetery and Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery[46] Jack E. Lechner Arlington, Virginia
US Second Army.svg Second Army[43][47] LTG Edward C. Cardon Fort Belvoir, Virginia
United States Army Accessions Support Brigade (USAASB)[48] COL Brian M. Cavanaugh Fort Knox, Kentucky
United States Army Acquisition Support Center (USASC)[49] Craig A. Spisak Fort Belvoir, Virginia
USACE.gif United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) LTG Todd T. Semonite[50] Washington, D.C.
Cid patch color.jpg United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC) MG David E. Quantock Quantico, Virginia
United States Army Installation Management Command Shoulder Patch.png United States Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM) LTG Kenneth R. Dahl Joint Base San Antonio, Texas
INSCOM.svg United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) MG George J. Franz III Fort Belvoir, Virginia
MEDCOM.png United States Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) LTG Nadja West Joint Base San Antonio, Texas
United States Army Military District of Washington Insignia.svg United States Army Military District of Washington (MDW) MG Bradley A. Becker Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
US Army Test and Evaluation Command SSI.png United States Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) MG Peter D. Utley Alexandria, Virginia
US Army War College SSI.png United States Army War College (AWC)[51] MG William Rapp Carlisle, Pennsylvania
USMA SSI.png United States Military Academy (USMA) LTG Robert L. Caslen West Point, New York
Subordinate to United States Army Forces Command Current commander Location of headquarters
1st Army.svg First Army (FUSA)[52] LTG Michael S. Tucker Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Illinois
US Army Reserve Command SSI.svg United States Army Reserve Command (USARC)[53] LTG Jeffrey W. Talley Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Source: U.S. Army organization[54]
Structure[edit]
Main article: Transformation of the United States Army
See Structure of the United States Army for detailed treatment of the history, components, administrative and operational structure, and the branches and functional areas of the Army.
U.S. Army Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard conduct an urban cordon and search exercise as part of the army readiness and training evaluation program in the mock city of Balad at Fort Dix, NJ
Soldiers from the 6th Infantry Regiment taking up positions on a street corner during a foot patrol in Ramadi, Iraq
The United States Army is made up of three components: the active component, the Regular Army; 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 assemblies or unit training assemblies (UTAs), 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 and territorial governors; the District of Columbia National Guard, however, reports to the U.S. President, not the district's mayor, even when not federalized. Any or all of the National Guard can be federalized by presidential order and against the governor's wishes.[55]
The army is led by a civilian Secretary of the Army, who has the statutory authority to conduct all the affairs of the army under the authority, direction and control of the Secretary of Defense.[56] The Chief of Staff of the Army, who is the highest-ranked military officer in the army, serves as the principal military adviser and executive agent for the Secretary of the Army, i.e., its service chief; and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a body composed of the service chiefs from each of the four military services belonging to the Department of Defense who advise the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council on operational military matters, under the guidance of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[57][58] 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 commanders, who have control of all armed forces units in their geographic or function area of responsibility. Thus, the secretaries of the military departments (and their respective service chiefs underneath them) only have the responsibility to organize, train and equip their service components. The army provides trained forces to the combatant commanders for use as directed by the Secretary of Defense.[59]
The 1st Cavalry Division's combat aviation brigade performs a mock charge with the horse detachment
Through 2013, the army is shifting to six geographical commands that will line up with the six geographical unified combatant commands (COCOM):
United States Army Central headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina
United States Army North headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas
United States Army South headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas
United States Army Europe headquartered at Clay Kaserne, Wiesbaden, Germany
United States Army Pacific headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii
United States Army Africa headquartered at Vicenza, Italy
U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers from the 3rd Special Forces Group patrol a field in the Gulistan district of Farah, Afghanistan
The army is also changing its base unit from divisions to brigades. Division lineage will be retained, but the divisional headquarters will be able to command any brigade, 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. As specified before the 2013 end-strength re-definitions, the three major types of ground combat brigades are:
Armored brigades, with strength of 4,743 troops as of 2014.
Stryker brigades, with strength of 4,500 troops as of 2014.
Infantry brigades, with strength of 4,413 troops as of 2014.
In addition, there are combat support and service support modular brigades. Combat support brigades include aviation (CAB) brigades, which will come in heavy and light varieties, fires (artillery) brigades (now transforms to division artillery), and battlefield surveillance brigades. Combat service support brigades include sustainment brigades and come in several varieties and serve the standard support role in an army.