United States Armed Forces

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in December 2020.

Organization of the military services and military departments within the Department of Defense

U.S. Army Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division return fire during a firefight with Taliban forces in Barawala Kalay Valley in Kunar province, Afghanistan on 31 March 2011.

U.S. Army M1A2 Abrams tanks from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment maneuver in the streets as they conduct a combat patrol in the city of Tall Afar, Iraq, on Feb. 3, 2005.

U.S. Marines with India Company, Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit run on the beach during an amphibious assault demonstration.

A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft attached to VMX-22 prepares to land on the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) in the Pacific Ocean.

USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and Carrier Strike Group 3 underway with Republic of Korea Navy ships.

USS Nebraska (SSBN-739), an
ballistic missile submarine underway in the Atlantic Ocean.

U.S. Air Force B-2A Spirit stealth bombers flying with Royal Air Force F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters.

The Sodium Guidestar at the Directed Energy Directorate's Starfire Optical Range for real-time, high-fidelity tracking and imaging of satellites.

Boeing X-37B spaceplane after deorbiting and landing.

Service mark of the United States Coast Guard

USCGC Hamilton and TCG Turgutries in the Black Sea, April 30, 2021.

Coast Guard Reserve Port Security boat on patrol

Unified combatant commands areas of responsibility

A pie chart showing global military expenditures by country for 2019, in US$ billions, according to SIPRI

Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, awarded the Silver Star for direct combat

The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States.

- United States Armed Forces

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United States Department of Homeland Security

U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer addresses Vice President Dick Cheney (center); Saxby Chambliss (center right), a U.S. Senator from Georgia; and Michael Chertoff (far right), the second head of the DHS; in 2005

President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2004 on October 1, 2003.

U.S. CBP Office of Field Operations agent checking the authenticity of a travel document at an international airport using a stereo microscope

Organizational chart showing the chain of command among the top-level officials in the Department of Homeland Security, as of July 17, 2008

The Homeland Security Advisory System scale

Seal of the Department of Homeland Security.

The current headquarters at St. Elizabeths West Campus

Nebraska Avenue Complex, DHS headquarters from its inception until April 2019

According to political scientist Peter Andreas, the creation of DHS constituted the most significant government reorganization since the Cold War and the most substantial reorganization of federal agencies since the National Security Act of 1947 (which had placed the different military departments under a secretary of defense and created the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency).

Conscription in the United States

Conscription in the United States, commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the federal government of the United States in six conflicts: the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Young men registering for conscription during World War I in New York City, New York, on June 5, 1917.

Rioters attacking a building during the New York anti-draft riots of 1863

World War I era draft card belonging to writer Stoddard King

Secretary of War Newton Baker draws the first draft number on July 20, 1917.

World War II era draft card belonging to musician Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly

President Gerald Ford announces amnesty for draft evaders at the White House, Washington, D.C., in 1974.

Young men burn their draft cards in New York City on April 15, 1967, at Sheep Meadow, Central Park.

Jeffrey Mellinger in 1972; Mellinger was the last drafted U.S. NCO to remain in the army before retiring in 2011.

From 1940 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the United States Armed Forces that could not be filled through voluntary means.

United States Army

The storming of Redoubt No. 10 in the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War prompted Great Britain's government to begin negotiations, resulting in the Treaty of Paris and Great Britain's recognition of the United States as an independent state.

General Andrew Jackson standing on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders during the defense of New Orleans, the final major and most one-sided battle of the War of 1812

The Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War

U.S. Army troops assaulting a German bunker in France, c. 1918

U.S. soldiers hunting for Japanese infiltrators during the Bougainville Campaign

U.S. Army soldiers observing an atomic bomb test of Operation Buster-Jangle at the Nevada Test Site during the Korean War

US tanks and Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie, 1961

A U.S. Army infantry patrol moving up to assault the last North Vietnamese Army position at Dak To, South Vietnam during Operation Hawthorne

U.S. Army soldiers preparing to take La Comandancia in the El Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City during Operation Just Cause

M1 Abrams tanks moving out before the Battle of Al Busayyah during the Gulf War

Iraqi tanks destroyed by Task Force 1-41 Infantry during the Gulf War, February 1991

U.S. Army Rangers taking part in a raid during an operation in Nahr-e Saraj, Afghanistan

U.S. Army soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division returning fire during a firefight with Taliban forces in Barawala Kalay Valley in Kunar province, Afghanistan, March 2011

Organization of the United States Army within the Department of Defense

U.S. Army soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard conducting 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, New Jersey

U.S. soldiers from the 6th Infantry Regiment taking up positions on a street corner during a foot patrol in Ramadi, Iraq

The 1st Cavalry Division's combat aviation brigade performing a mock charge with the horse detachment

U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers from the 3rd Special Forces Group patrolling a field in the Gulistan district of Farah, Afghanistan

U.S. Army Rangers practicing fast roping techniques from an MH-47 during an exercise at Fort Bragg

A trainer with Company A, 1st Battalion 502nd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Strike, 101st Airborne Division assisting Iraqi army ranger students during a room clearing drill at Camp Taji, Iraq on 18 July 2016

U.S. Army soldiers familiarizing with the latest INSAS 1B1 during exercise Yudh Abhyas 2015

A Lockheed Martin Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system used for ballistic missile protection

A U.S. soldier on patrol in Iraq with the support of a Humvee vehicle

3rd Infantry Division soldiers manning an M1A1 Abrams in Iraq

An element of the 18th Infantry Regiment, wearing ASUs, representing the United States at the 2010 Victory Day commemoration in Moscow

The Ranger Honor Platoon marching in their tan berets and former service uniform

The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces.

United States Army Air Forces

The major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1945).

General of the Army Henry H. ("Hap") Arnold

USAAF insignia from July 1943 to January 1947

B-17G Fortresses of the 306th Bomb Group

P-51 Mustang of 361st Fighter Group, 1944

Medal of Honor recipient Major Richard Bong in Officer's Service Dress

Awards ceremony at RAF Debden, April 1944, illustrating varying shades of olive drab and the M-1944 "Ike jacket". Light shade 33 on left, dark shade 51 on right. Trousers are shade 33, khaki shade 1, and drab shade 54. The three combinations at right are "pinks and greens".

At the AAF School of Air Evacuation at Bowman Field, Ky., student flight nurses learned how to handle patients with the aid of a mock-up fuselage of a Douglas C-47 transport.

Female service dress in OD shade 33 at Randolph Field, 1944

It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States.

United States Marine Corps

U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit training

Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit depart USS Tarawa (LHA-1), using both a Landing Craft Utility and CH-53E "Super Stallion" helicopters, during amphibious operations in Kuwait, 2003.

Maj. Samuel Nicholas, first Commandant of the Marine Corps, was nominated to lead the Continental Marines by John Adams in November 1775.

British and U.S. troops garrisoned aboard Hornet and Penguin exchanging small arms musket fire with Tristan da Cuna in the background during the final engagement between British and U.S. forces in the War of 1812

The Final Stand at Bladensburg, Maryland, 24 August 1814

Five USMC privates with fixed bayonets, and their NCO with his sword at the Washington Navy Yard, 1864

Georges Scott, American Marines in Belleau Wood, 1918

Former French Foreign Legion Lieutenant, and U.S. Marine Corps officer Peter J. Ortiz, who served in the European theater, often behind enemy lines

Photograph of the Marine Corps War Memorial, which depicts the second U.S. flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi, on Iwo Jima. The memorial is modeled on Joe Rosenthal's famous Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.

F4U Corsairs providing close air support to Marines of the 1st Marine Division fighting Chinese forces in North Korea, December 1950

U.S. Marines of "G" Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines in action during Operation Allen Brook in South Vietnam, 1968

Beirut Memorial at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

U.S. Marines from 1st Battalion, 7th Marines entering a palace in Baghdad in 2003

U.S. Marines dismounting from an Assault Amphibious Vehicle in Djibouti

Organization of the United States Marine Corps

Opha Johnson (far right) in 1946, with Katherine Towle (far left). They are looking at Opha Johnson's uniform being worn by PFC Muriel Albert.

Two of the first female graduates of the School of Infantry-East's Infantry Training Battalion course, 2013

Marine recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego

An illustration of U.S. Marines in various uniform setups. From left to right: A U.S. Marine in a Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform with full combat load circa 2003, a U.S. Marine in a (full) blue dress uniform, a U.S. Marine officer in a service uniform, and a U.S. Marine general in an evening dress uniform.

The Eagle, Globe and Anchor along with the U.S. flag, the Marine Corps flag and the Commandant's flag

A recruiting poster making use of the "Teufel Hunden" [sic] nickname

Marines firing MEU(SOC) pistols while garrisoned aboard a ship

Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicles emerge from the surf onto the sand of Freshwater Beach, Australia

Marine parachutists jumping from an MV-22 Osprey at 10,000 feet

A Marine Corps F-35B, the vertical-landing version of the F-35 Lightning II multirole fighter landing aboard USS Wasp (LHD-1)

Assault Amphibious Vehicles approaching the well deck of USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)

A Marine and sailor training with rifles in Iraq

Marines unloading CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters from an Air Force C-5 Galaxy

The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces.

United States Navy

USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente during the Quasi-War

USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812

A carte de visite of a U.S. Navy lieutenant during the Civil War

The Great White Fleet demonstrating U.S. naval power in 1907; it was proof that the U.S. Navy had blue-water capability.

Columbia, personification of the United States, wearing a warship bearing the words "World Power" as her "Easter bonnet" on the cover of Puck, 6 April 1901

Battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) shelling Okinawa on 1 April 1945.

USS George Washington (SSBN-598), a ballistic missile submarine

U.S. Navy officers aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) monitor defense systems during early 2010s maritime security operations exercises

U.S. Navy patrol boat near Kuwait Naval Base in 2009

The amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6), launched in 2012.

Organization of the United States Navy within the Department of Defense

Simplified flowchart of the U.S. Navy command structure

Areas of responsibility for each of the United States Navy fleets. Tenth Fleet serves as the numbered fleet for U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and therefore is not shown.

USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) docking at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan

A Marine F/A-18 from VMFA-451 preparing to launch from USS Coral Sea (CV-43)

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter preparing to land on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1)

Navy SEALs at one of the entrances to the Zhawar Kili cave complex

U.S. Navy warrant officer specialty insignias

Underwater Demolition Team members using the casting technique from a speeding boat

Combat Camera Underwater Photo Team – A U.S. Navy diver during underwater photography training off the coast of Guantanamo Bay

USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), a Zumwalt-class stealth guided missile destroyer

USS Independence (LCS-2), a Littoral combat ship

USS Freedom (LCS-1) underway in special naval camouflage

USS Typhoon (PC-5) departing Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia

USS Kentucky (SSBN-737), an ballistic missile submarine

USS Virginia (SSN-774), a attack submarine

U.S. Navy MH-60R maritime strike helicopter assigned to the HSM-78 Blue Hawks aboard the carrier USS Carl Vinson

Aviation Ordnancemen loading GBU-12 bombs in 2005

The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.

United States Space Force

Aerospace Defense Command was the Air Force's first major command to operationally utilize space forces.

Air Force Space Command was the direct antecedent of the Space Force.

Unveiling of the flag of the United States Space Force on 15 May 2020 in the Oval Office

Organization of the United States Space Force within the Department of Defense

The Space Force's first astronaut, Colonel Michael S. Hopkins

WGS satellites in its two configurations

The first 86 Space Force lieutenants being commissioned from the United States Air Force Academy on 18 April 2020.

The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, considered the premier commissioning source for Space Force officers.

Vice chief of space operations, General David D. Thompson swears in the first four enlisted Space Force recruits on 20 October 2020.

Chief of space operations, General John W. Raymond and Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman perform a transfer ceremony for 300 Space Force personnel at the Pentagon on 15 September 2020.

General Raymond wearing the interim service dress uniform.

General Raymond in the final service dress uniform.

General Raymond debuting the OCP uniform.

The basic (top), senior (middle), and command (bottom) ratings of the Space Operations Badge.

The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and currently the world's only independent space force.

United States Air Force

The first F-35 Lightning II of the 33rd Fighter Wing arriving at Eglin AFB

An Air Force RQ-4 strategic reconnaissance aircraft

An Air Force KC-46 Pegasus refuels a C-17A Globemaster III

An Air Force A-10 demonstrating close air support at Nellis AFB

Test launch of a LGM-30 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg AFB

Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base

Roundels that have appeared on U.S. military aircraft
1.) 5/1917–2/1918
2.) 2/1918–8/1919
3.) 8/1919–5/1942
4.) 5/1942–6/1943
5.) 6/1943–9/1943
6.) 9/1943–1/1947
7.) 1/1947–

The SR-71 Blackbird was a Cold War reconnaissance plane.

The F-117 Nighthawk was a stealth attack aircraft (retired from service in April 2008).

A row of Douglas C-54 Skymasters during the Berlin Airlift in 1949

Various Air Force personnel pose during the Air Force's 74th birthday celebration at the Pentagon, September 17, 2021.

Organization of the United States Air Force within the Department of Defense

Pararescuemen and a simulated "survivor" watch as an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter comes in for a landing

U.S. Air Force trainee demonstrating a butt stroke on a strike dummy as part of Basic Military Training.

A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft

A C-17 Globemaster III, the USAF's newest and most versatile transport plane

E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system

F-22 Raptor stealth air superiority fighter

KC-10 Extender tri-jet air-to-air tanker

RQ-170 Sentinel stealth unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance aircraft

A WC-130J Hercules from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron

An unarmed Minuteman III ICBM shoots out of the silo during an operational test launch

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services.

Space Operations Command

United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command.

A NORAD Space Defense Center orbital analyst tracking Kosmos 1402 in 1983.

A space systems operator from the 2nd Space Operations Squadron operating the Global Positioning System in 2005.

The Space Badge, which inspired the design of the Space Command emblem.

General Thomas S. Moorman Jr. was the first space operations officer to serve as commander of Air Force Space Command and be appointed a four-star general. He was the only space officer to serve as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.

Space Operations Command was established on 1 September 1982 as Space Command (SPACECOM), which was the first dedicated space command in the United States Armed Forces.

United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

Federal uniformed service of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.

USPHS Commissioned Corps emblem, which was fashioned after the Corps' official seal

Officers of the commissioned corps are classified as noncombatants, unless directed to serve as part of the military by the president or detailed to a service branch of the military.