United States Army (USA)

Internet: www.army.mil

The United States Army's primary role is to organize, train, and equip forces to conduct sustained land combat operations. Historically, the Army has usually been the decisive element of military power, and it is typically the largest branch of militaries around the world. The United States Army has been reduced in size since the end of the Cold War, but it is still the largest of the services. Since complex contingency operations are conducted on land, the Army and, at a lower level, the Marine Corps have borne the largest share of the burden of providing units and personnel to support these operations.

The United States Army organizes its units into three general categories, which correspond to the role of the unit on the battlefield: combat arms (CA) (for example, infantry and armor), combat support (CS) (for example, communications and military police), and combat service support (CSS) (for example, supply and transportation). The branches for lawyers, medical personnel, and chaplains are considered special branches but perform service support functions. Additionally, the Army has many specialties that require advanced schooling and experience. These include public affairs specialists, comptrollers, and foreign area officers, who serve in U.S. embassies as military attachés. Joint operations generally require the participation of Army units from all categories, with the mix of these forces largely dependent on the nature of the given mission. In humanitarian and disaster relief operations, for example, a typical JTF is likely to include more combat support and combat service support units than combat arms units.

Individual soldiers are grouped into branches that constitute the three general categories (see table 4.1 below). In the Army, as in the other services, new recruits first undergo basic training (designed to enable them to function and survive on the battlefield) and then receive advanced training in a specialty appropriate to the branch to which they are assigned.

MILITARY POLICE

Military police (MP) play a critical role in stability operations, especially during periods of transitional security. The primary role of military police is to assist the military commander to accomplish his or her mission by providing security and military law enforcement. MPs provide security and protection for critical persons, facilities, and equipment. They are the initial response force to criminal and enemy attempts to demoralize, terrorize, or sabotage the military community or its operation. In detainee mission, MPs detain and safeguard prisoners of war and common criminals. During stability operations, particularly in Iraq, military police have conducted patrol operations and other types of operations that have involved them in combat with insurgent forces. At the same time, U.S. military police have provided training and technical support to Iraqi police forces, conducted joint patrols, and dealt jointly with civil disturbance and other public order missions. In Iraq, U.S. military police have proven highly versatile in moving from combat support operations and training to actual law enforcement within a brief time frame, as dictated by the constantly changing requirements of their mission.

Table 4.1 The Categories and Branches of Army Units

Combat Arms

• Infantry—the nucleus of the Army’s fighting strength. Infantry soldiers and units fight dismounted or mounted on vehicles; includes a variety of additional specialties, such as Rangers and airborne forces.
• Armor (and cavalry)—tank or combined arms organizations that fight using fire, maneuver, and shock effect, and cavalry organizations that perform reconnaissance and provide security
• Field Artillery—employs fire support assets—that is, cannons, missiles, and rockets—in support of combat operations
• Air Defense Artillery—uses antiaircraft weapons systems in support of land operations against enemy aircraft and missile attacks to protect military forces and geopolitical assets
• Aviation—attack and support helicopters and fixed-wing support aircraft employed in combat missions, including attack and air assault operations and combat support missions; for example, intelligence/electronic warfare, personnel and materiel movement, air traffic services, and combat service support missions, such as casualty evacuation
• Corps of Engineers—mobility, countermobility, survivability, general engineering, and topographic operations, road and bridge repair, obstacle breaching, obstacle emplacement, and production and dissemination of maps. As construction engineers, they manage and control military construction programs for the Army and other Department of Defense agencies.
• Special Forces—conduct missions of unconventional warfare, direct action, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, and counterterrorism

Combat Support

• Signal—data and communications systems for command and control
• Military Police (MP)—maneuver and mobility support operations, including circulation and refugee movement, law-and-order operations, internment and resettlement operations, and area security (covered in more detail in text)
• Military Intelligence (MI)—collection and analysis of information and production and dissemination of finished intelligence products
• Chemical—nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) defense; smoke, obscurants
• Civil Affairs—supports the commander’s relationship with the civil authorities and civilian populace to promote mission legitimacy and enhance military effectiveness (covered in more detail below)

Combat Service Support

• Adjutant General Corps (AG)—personnel management and administration, postal operations, and bands; also includes soldiers from public affairs and chaplain assistants
• Finance—personnel pay; commercial vendor support; and the banking, disbursement, auditing, and accounting of funds
• Transportation—truck and boat units, movement control, maritime terminal operations, and rail operations
• Ordnance—maintenance of equipment; management, maintenance, and supply of ammunition; explosive ordnance disposal (EOD)
• Quartermaster—supplies, including most equipment, food, water, and petroleum; field services, including laundry and shower, bakery, mortuary affairs, and Army and Air Force Exchange operations; and management of dining facilities operations

Special Branches

• Judge Advocate (JAG)—legal operations, lawyers, legal advice to the commander, and military justice/criminal law; administrative law and legal assistance
• Army Medical Department—health services and hospitals, includes doctors, medics, dentists, veterinarians, nurses, medical specialists, and medical administrators

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