Marine Corps

Birth of the U.S. Marine Corps -- 230 Years Old Yesterday
On November 10, 1775, during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passed a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy. The resolution, drafted by future U.S. President John Adams and adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. 

Since then, Marines have participated in all the wars of the United States and in most cases were the first soldiers to fight. In all, Marines have executed more than 300 landings on foreign shores. Today, there are more than 200,000 active-duty and reserve Marines, divided into three divisions stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California; and Okinawa, Japan. Each division has one or more expeditionary units, ready to launch major operations anywhere in the world on two weeks' notice. Marines expeditionary units are self-sufficient, with their own tanks, artillery, and air forces. The motto of the service is Semper Fidelis, meaning "Always Faithful" in Latin.

Army

June 14, 1775 in History
Event:
U.S. Army founded

Major branch of the U.S. military forces, charged with preserving peace and security and defending the nation. The first regular U.S. fighting force, the Continental Army, was organized by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, to supplement local militias in the American Revolution. It was placed under the control of a five-member civilian board, and U.S. military forces have remained in civilian control ever since. The U.S. Constitution named the president as commander in chief, and in 1789 the civilian Department of War was established to administer the armed forces. The Continental Army was officially disbanded in 1783, and a small regular army was established. Thereafter, the army's size increased during times of crisis, swelled by conscription, and decreased during peacetime. The Department of the Army is organized as a military section of the Department of Defense and is headed by the Secretary of the Army. The Army Staff gives advice and assistance to the secretary and administers civil functions, including the civil-works program of the Corps of Engineers. The army also administers the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 2000 there were about 400,000 soldiers on active duty.

Army, United States, came into being on 14 June 1775 by an act of the Second Continental Congress. The new Continental army sustained the patriot cause in the American Revolution and established several important traditions, including subordination of the army to the civilian government, reliance on citizen-soldiers (militia, volunteers, draftees, and organized reserves) to bolster the regular army in wartime, and a quick return to a small core of professional soldiers during peacetime. The pattern of American war—a sudden and massive buildup of army manpower and material after years of neglect, quickly followed by an equally rapid and sweeping demobilization with the outbreak of peace—persisted for the next 175 years. Breaking with tradition, the U.S. Army after 1945 remained large and in a high state of readiness even in peacetime due to the Cold War. Even with the disintegration of the Communist bloc in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Army has remained the preeminent army in the world.

Navy

The U.S. Navy was founded on 13 October 1775, and the Department of the Navy was established on 30 April 1798. The Department of the Navy has three principal components: The Navy Department, consisting of executive offices mostly in Washington, D.C.; the operating forces, including the Marine Corps, the reserve components, and, in time of war, the U.S. Coast Guard (in peace, a component of the Department of Homeland Security); and the shore establishment.

Mission Statement

Air Force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army or historically an army air corps , is in the broadest sense, the national military or armed service that primarily conducts aerial warfare. The term "air force" may also refer to a tactical air force or numbered air force, which is an operational formation within a national air force. Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft. Many air forces are also responsible for operations of military space, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), and communications equipment. Some air forces may command and control other air-defense assets such as antiaircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, or anti-ballistic missile warning networks and defensive systems.

A common misconception people have of many air forces is that all military personnel within that branch only fly planes, which is obviously false. As on organization, the Air Forces have what one would call “ground support” to support the pilots and aircrew. Akin to any civilian organization, there are supporting employees who assist and/or support key employees. Pilots cannot exist on their own without the assistance of other key military personnel, such as civil engineers, loadmasters, fuels, and mechanics, etc.

On September 18, 1947. That is when the United States Air Force was founded.

Prior to that time it was a branch of the Army, first known as the Army Air Corps. The name became the Army Air Force (or Forces) during WWII.

Mission Statement

The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests -- to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace.

Coast Guard

The history of the United States Coast Guard goes back to the Revenue Cutter Service, which was founded on August 4, 1790 as part of the Department of the Treasury. The Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service were merged to become the Coast Guard per 14 U.S.C. § 1 which 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 1939, the United States Lighthouse Service was merged into the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard itself was moved to the Department of Transportation in 1967, and on February 25, 2003 it became part of the Department of Homeland Security. However, under 14 U.S.C. § 3 as amended by section 211 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, upon the declaration of war and when Congress so directs in the declaration, or when the President directs, the Coast Guard operates as a service in the Department of the Navy.

Mission Statement

The Coast Guard legal program delivers high-quality legal advice and support to the people who carry out the varied functions of the Coast Guard to ensure their missions, operations and activities can be achieved within the spirit, as well as the letter, of the law.