View source for United States Army

[[Image:US Army 31st Infantry.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A U.S. Army infantryman on duty in Iraq]]
The '''United States Army''' is the branch of the [[United States]] armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. As of 2007, it consisted of 523,000 soldiers on active duty, 347,000 in the Army National Guard (ARNG) and 190,000 in the United States Army Reserve (USAR).

== History ==
The Army was created by order of the [[Second Continental Congress]] on June 14, 1775. It is the oldest branch of the Armed Forces.

On July 26, 1948, President [[Harry S. Truman]] signed Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the armed forces. 

== Organization ==
The Army comprises two components, the Active Component and the Reserve Component. The Active Component is the Regular Army; soldiers serve full-time. The Reserve Component comprises the Army National Guard and the US Army Reserve. Soldiers in the Army National Guard are simultaneously members of their state forces (e.g. the Michigan Army National Guard) and the Army National Guard of the United States. Reserve Component soldiers may serve full-time, attend monthly assemblies and annual training exercises, or be inactive.

{| style="border:1px solid #8888aa; background-color:#f7f8ff; padding:5px; font-size:95%; margin: 0px 12px 12px 0px;"
!colspan=11| '''Commissioned Officers'''
|- align=center
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
!'''Pay grade'''||O-11||O-10||0-9||O-8||O-7||O-6||O-5||O-4||O-3||O-2||O-1

|- align=center
||Insignia
|| [[Image:DODOfficer11.JPG|100px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer10.JPG|120px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer9.JPG|100px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer8.JPG|80px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer7.JPG|60px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer6.JPG|90px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer5.JPG|60px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer4.JPG|60px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer3.JPG|60px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer2.JPG|30px]]
|| [[Image:DODOfficer1.JPG|30px]]

|- align=center
||Title
||General of the Army
||General
||Lieutenant General
||Major General
||Brigadier General
||Colonel
||Lieutenant Colonel
||Major
||Captain
||1st Lieutenant
||2nd Lieutenant

|- align=center

|-
|colspan=5|

|}

==Public relations==

Rod Powers wrote,

*On Oct. 17 2001, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki announced that the black beret would become standard Army headgear the following year. Shinseki said he wants to use the sense of pride that the beret has long represented to the Rangers to foster an attitude of excellence among the entire Army as it moves forward with its sweeping transformation effort to a lighter, more deployable, more agile force. His decision set off a firestorm in both the active-duty and veteran Ranger community as well as in the Army’s other two special operations camps, the Special Forces and the airborne. In 2002, the Army made the tan-color beret the official beret of the U.S. Army Rangers, and all Army soldiers began wearing the black beret. [http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/berethistory_2.htm]

From 2003 onwards, a member of the US Army is officially called a "Soldier". This was the result of General Peter Schoomaker, then Army Chief of Staff, ordering all official Army publications to capitalize the word "Soldier."
*The change gives soldiers the respect and importance they've always deserved, especially now in their fight against global terrorism. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004573.html#more]

==Bibliography==

*[http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_10.shtml 10 USC]
*[http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/AMH-V1/index.htm American Military History Volume I]
*[http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/AMH-V2/index.htm American Military History Volume II]

==External links==
* [http://www.army.mil/ Official US Army website]
* [http://www.goarmy.com/ Official US Army Recruiting site]

[[Category:United States Armed Forces]]
[[Category:Military]]