We Love Our Country
"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."
United States Army Charter
The
Army's fundamental purpose is to fight and win the Nation's wars by
establishing conditions for lasting peace through land force dominance.
This dominance is established through integration of the complementary
capabilities of all the services. With this fundamental purpose in mind,
the framers of the Constitution intended that armies were to be raised
to "provide for the common defense" and, together with the Navy, to
"repel invasion."
Throughout the formative years of the Nation, the Army responded on
the frontiers, in the War of 1812, in the War with Mexico in fulfillment
of this role. During the Civil War, the Army was called upon to support
another clause of the Constitution, to "suppress insurrection." As the
Nation became a colonial power following the Spanish-American War, the
Army was called upon to secure and administer new territories.
United States Army Values
Values.
In the mid- to late 1990s, the Army officially adopted what have
come to be known as "The 7 Army Values." The Army began to instill
the values into soldiers. The seven army values are as follows:
1. Loyalty - Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S.
Constitution, the Army, your unit, and other Soldiers.
2. Duty - Fulfill your obligations, even if it calls for sacrifice.
3. Respect - Treat people as you would like to be treated.
4. Selfless Service - Sacrifice your welfare, and your life if need
be, for that of the Republic, the Army, and your subordinates.
5. Honor - Live up to the code of a U.S. Army Soldier.
6. Integrity - Do what's right, legally and morally.
7. Personal Courage - Face danger, adversity or death with steadfast
bravery.
The values were arranged to form the acronym LDRSHIP (leadership).
Army Special Forces
The
United States Army Special Forces —Special Forces or SF — is an elite
Special Operations Force of the United States Army trained for
unconventional warfare and special operations. The SF was founded in
1952 by Colonel Aaron Bank, and its members are popularly known as the
"Green Berets", because of the unit's distinctive green beret headgear.
Their official motto is De Oppresso Liber (Latin: "To free from
oppression"), a reference to one of their primary missions to train and
assist foreign indigenous forces.
Special Forces units are tasked with seven specific missions:
unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special
reconnaissance, direct action, combating terrorism,
counter-proliferation, and information operations. Other duties include
coalition warfare and support, combat search and rescue (CSAR), security
assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian
de-mining and counter-drug operations.
Edson Raff, one of the first Special Forces officers, is credited with
introducing the green beret, which was originally unauthorized for
wear by the U.S. Army. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy authorized
them for use exclusively by the Special Forces. Preparing for an October
12 visit to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
the President sent word to the Center's commander, Brigadier General
William P. Yarborough, for all Special Forces soldiers to wear the beret
as part of the event. The President felt that since they had a special
mission, Special Forces should have something to set them apart from the
rest. In 1962, he called the green beret "a symbol of excellence, a
badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."
United States Army
The
American Army was created on June 14, 1775, when the Continental Congress
first authorized the muster of troops to serve under its own authority.
Those soldiers came from the provincial forces of the colonies, which were
at that time laying siege to Boston. From its birth, the American Army has
relied on the citizen soldier, exemplified by the militia and the Minutemen
who fought the British at Lexington and Concord. Commanded by General George
Washington and supported by our French allies, the Continental Army defeated
the British at Yorktown and secured the freedoms so eloquently stated in
the Declaration of Independence. Thus, the birth of the Army preceded and
guaranteed the birth of the Nation.
US Army Organization & Recruiting
Currently, the Army is divided into the
Regular Army, the
Army Reserve, and the
United States National Guard. Prior to
1903 members
of the National Guard were considered state soldiers unless federalized
by the President. Since the
Militia Act of 1903 all National Guard soldiers have held dual status:
as National Guardsmen under the authority of the governor of their state
and as a reserve of the U.S. Army under the authority of 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.
Various
State Defense Forces also exist, sometimes known as State Militias,
which are sponsored by individual state governments and serve as an
auxiliary to the National Guard. Except in times of extreme national
emergency, such as a mainland
invasion
of the United States, State Militias are operated independently from
the U.S. Army and are seen as state government agencies rather than
a component of the military.