The combined United States armed forces consists of 1.4 million active duty personnel along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and National Guard. There is currently no conscription. The United States Armed Forces is the most powerful military in the world and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other singular nation.

The United States military is a hierarchical military organization, with a system of military ranks to denote levels of authority within the organization. The military service is divided into a professional officer corps along with a greater number of enlisted personnel who perform day to day military operations. Unlike certain other countries, the United States officer corps is not restricted by society class, education, or nobility. United States military officers are appointed from a variety of sources, including the service academies, ROTC, and direct appointment from both civilian status and the enlisted ranks.

The U.S. military also maintains a number of military awards and badges to denote the qualifications and accomplishments of military personnel.

On July 26, 1948 U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which racially desegregated the military of the United States. Homosexuals, however, are still barred from serving openly (see Don't ask, don't tell.)

Capabilities

The United States military is unique in the amount of power it can project globally. Although France and the United Kingdom are capable of projecting limited amounts of power
overseas, the United States military is the only military capable of fighting a major regional war at a distance from its homeland. The U.S. military is also one of the few nations in the world that has a sizable nuclear arsenal and maintains active doctrines for plausible nuclear attack operations.

As such, much of the U.S. military capabilities are tied up in logistics and transportation, which allow rapid buildup of forces as needed. The Air Force maintains a large fleet of C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster, and C-130 Hercules transportation aircraft. The Marine Corps maintains Marine Expeditionary Units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. The Navy's fleet of 12 aircraft carriers, combined with a military doctrine of power projection, enable a flexible response to potential threats.

The United States Army is not as portable as the Marine Corps, but Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker announced a reorganization of the Army's active-duty units into 48 brigade groups with an emphasis on power projection.

Organization

Under the President is the United States Secretary of Defense, a Cabinet Secretary responsible for the Department of Defense.

Both the President and Secretary are advised by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In accordance with the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 (which fundamentally changed the organisation of the Department) the 4 Service Chiefs together with the Chairman and Vice Chairman form the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

However operational control flows from the President and Secretary of Defense to the Commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands. (see Goldwater-Nichols Act)

Each service is responsible for providing military units to the commanders of the various Unified Commands.

National Command organizational chart

Unified Combatant Commands

• United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM)
• *Admiral Timothy J. Keating (USN)
• *Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
• *North America and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles. NORTHCOM provides homeland defense and coordinates homeland security with civilian forces. NORTHCOM was formed in 2002 in response to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. Before 2001, the US and Canada were not part of any military command, with the exception of Alaska, which was formerly under Alaskan Air Command, and is currently jointly part of Alaskan Command.
• United States Central Command (CENTCOM),
• *General John Abizaid (US Army)
• *Macdill Air Force Base, Florida
• *Covers the area from the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, into Central Asia.
• U.S. European Command (EUCOM)
• *General James L. Jones (USMC) (also Supreme Allied Commander Europe(SACEUR))
• *Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany
• *Covers Europe and African and Middle Eastern nations not covered by CENTCOM.
• U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM)
• *Admiral Willaim J. Fallon (USN)
• *Honolulu, Hawaii
• *Covers the Asia-Pacific region including Hawaii.
• U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)
• *General James T. Hill (US Army)
• *Miami, Florida
• *Covers South, Central America and the surrounding waters

• U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
• *General Bryan D. Brown (USArmy)
• *MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
• *Provides special operations for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
• U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM)
• *Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani (USN) (also Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT))
• *Supports other commands as a joint force provider. JFCOM originated as United States Atlantic Command, but its regional responsiblities have been split between NORTHCOM and EUCOM.
• United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM)
• *Admiral James O. Ellis Jr (USN)
• *Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
• *Covers the strategic deterrent force (ICBMs and other nuclear weapons) of the United States. It commands all of these forces, whether air (missiles and bombers), ground (artillery), or naval (nuclear strike submarines-SSBNs), regardless of location. With the merger of SPACECOM and STRATCOM in 2002, STRATCOM now also coordinates the use of space assets for support, intelligence, and command and control; this includes aerial refueling and airborne, satellite and computer network communications. STRATCOM also has information warfare capability: see Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare
• U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM)
• *General John W. Handy (USAF)
• *Scott Air Force Base, Illinois
• *Covers global mobility of all military assets for all regional commands.
  

  Personnel

  Personnel in each service

  As of the middle of 2004

  Personnel deployed

Overseas

Within the United States

Including territories and ships afloat within territorial waters

A total of 1,168,195 personnel are within the United States including some deployments in:

Budget Comparison

The United States military budget is larger than the military budgets of the next twenty biggest spenders combined, and six times larger than China's, which places second. The United States and its close allies are responsible for approximately two-thirds of all military spending on Earth (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for two-thirds), dollar for dollar. Military spending accounts for more than half of the United States' federal discretionary spending, which is all of the U.S. government's money not spoken for by pre-existing obligations. [1]

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2003 the United States spent approximately 47% of the world's total military spending of US$956,000,000,000.

Military expenditures for the Department of Defense in 2004 was $437.111 billion.

Notes

1. The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. Title 14, United States Code, Section 1, states "The Coast Guard as established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times." In peacetime it is part of the Department of Homeland Security, but in wartime becomes part of the Department of Defense. Coast Guard units have seen combat in every war of the United States, including the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
   

   See also

2. Military history of the United States
3. List of U.S. military books
4. U.S. military historical joint commands

   External links

5. United States Order of Battle
6. kamouflage.net: online index of camouflage uniforms from around the world
7. *kamouflage.net > North America > United States of America > index