United States Army

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 (June 14th, 1775) to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the U.S. was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on June 3rd, 1784, to replace the disbanded Continental Army. 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.

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 2017, the projected end strength for the Regular Army (USA) was 460,000 soldiers; the Army National Guard (ARNG) had 335,000 soldiers, and the United States Army Reserve (USAR) had 195,000 soldiers; the combined-component strength of the U.S. Army was 990,000 soldiers. 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." The service participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States.