Structure of the United States Army
The structure of the United States Army is complex, and can be interpreted in several different ways: active/reserve, operational/administrative, and branches/functional areas.
Prior to 1903, members of the National Guard were considered state soldiers unless federalized by 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.
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.
After World War I, former units were replaced by the Regular Army, the Organized Reserve Corps, and the State Militias.
[2] In 1941, the "Army of the United States" was founded to fight World War II.
[citation needed] After World War II, the ORC and ERC were combined into the United States Army Reserve.
The CSA is assisted by the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
[4] IG teams might then be assigned to a case, if need be, to perform inspections, assessments, and investigations.
A 2017 reorganization eliminated the need for Second Army's network operations coordinating function, and the headquarters was inactivated on 31 March 2017.
Currently, the Army classifies its branches as maneuver, fires, and effects; operations support; and force sustainment.
Generally, officers are assigned to sequential positions of increasing responsibility and authority within one of the three functional categories of the army branches (Maneuver, Fires and Effects; Operations Support; Force Sustainment) to develop their leadership and managerial skills to prepare them for higher levels of command.
The branches themselves are administrative vice operational command structures that are primarily involved with training, doctrine, and manpower concerns.
Special branches - contain those groupings of military occupational specialties (MOS) of the army in which officers are commissioned or appointed after completing advanced training and education and/or receiving professional certification in one of the classic professions (i.e., theology, law, or medicine), or other associated health care areas (e.g., dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, registered nurse, physician's assistant).
Officers of most special branches are restricted to command of units and activities of their respective department/branch only, regardless of rank or seniority.
Following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service in 1947, the army began to develop further its own aviation assets (light planes and rotary wing aircraft) in support of ground operations.
After the war in Vietnam, the role of armed helicopters as tank destroyers received new emphasis.
The Continental Congress unanimously elected Henry Knox "Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery" on 17 November 1775.
The Chemical Warfare Service was established on 28 June 1918, combining activities that until then had been dispersed among five separate agencies of government.
It was subsequently redesignated the Civil Affairs Branch on 2 October 1955, and it has continued its mission to provide guidance to commanders in a broad spectrum of activities ranging from host–guest relationships to the assumption of executive, legislative, and judicial processes in occupied or liberated areas.
The Signal Corps was authorized as a separate branch of the army by act of Congress on 3 March 1863.
Numerous shifts in duties and responsibilities have occurred in the Ordnance Corps since colonial times.
Consists of multifunctional logistics officers in the rank of captain and above, drawn from the Ordnance, Quartermaster and Transportation Corps.
[52] The history of the branch has generally paralleled the origin and development of the American system of military justice.
