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The history of the United States Army began in 1775. From its formation, the United States Army has been the primary land based part of the United States Armed Forces. The Army's main responsibility has been in fighting land battles and military occupation. The Corps of Engineers also has a major role in controlling rivers inside the United States. The Continental Army was founded in response to a need for professional soldiers in the American Revolutionary War to fight the invading British Army. Until the 1940s, the Army was relatively small in peacetime. In 1947, the Air Force became completely independent of the Army Air Forces. The Army was under the control of the War Department until 1947, and since then the Defense Department. The U.S. Army fought the Indian Wars of the 1790s, the War of 1812 (1812 15), American Civil War (1861 65), Spanish American War (1898), World War I (1917 18), World War II (1941 45), Korean War (1950 53) and Vietnam War (1965 71). Following the Cold War's end in 1991, Army has focused primarily on Western Asia, and also took part in the 1991 Gulf War and war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan.
When the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. Previously, each colony had relied upon the militia, made up of part-time civilian-soldiers. The initial orders from Congress authorized ten companies of riflemen. The first full regiment of Regular Army infantry, the 3rd Infantry Regiment, was not formed until June 1784. After the war, the Continental Army was quickly disbanded because of the American distrust of standing armies, and irregular state militias became the new nation's sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal.
During the War of 1812, an invasion of Canada failed due to state militias being widely used, and U.S. troops were unable to stop the British from burning the new capital of Washington, D.C. However, the Regular Army, under Generals Winfield Scott and Jacob Brown, proved they were professional and capable of winning tactical victories in the Niagara campaign of 1814. Between 1815 and 1860, the main role of the U.S. Army was fighting Native Americans in the West in the American Indian Wars, and manning coast artillery stations at major ports. The U.S. used regular units and many volunteer units in the Mexican American War of 1846 48. At the outset of the American Civil War, the regular U.S. Army was small and generally assigned to defend the nation's frontiers from attacks by Indians. Following the Civil War, the U.S. Army fought more wars with Indians, who resisted U.S. expansion into the center of the continent.
A combined conscript and volunteer force, the National Army, was formed by the United States War Department in 1917 to fight in World War I. During World War II, the Army of the United States was formed as a successor to the National Army. The end of World War II set the stage for the ideological confrontation known as the Cold War. With the outbreak of the Korean War, concerns over the defense of Western Europe led to the establishment of NATO. During the Cold War, American troops and their allies fought communist forces in Korea and Vietnam (see containment). The 1980s was mostly a decade of reorganization. The Army converted to an all-volunteer force with greater emphasis on training and technology. By 1989, the Cold War was nearing its conclusion. The Army leadership reacted by starting to plan for a reduction in strength. After Desert Storm, the Army did not see major combat operations for the remainder of the 1990s. After the September 11 attacks, and as part of the War on Terror, U.S. and other NATO forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, replacing the Taliban government. The Army took part in the U.S. and allied 2003 invasion of Iraq...
Force Structure 1989 The Active Army Force Structure in 1989 at the end of the Cold War was:
I Corps, at Fort Lewis (WA) 7th Infantry Division (Light), at Fort Ord (CA) 9th Infantry Division (Motorized)Note 1, at Fort Lewis (WA) III Corps, at Fort Hood (TX); NATO Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) REFORGER corps 1st Cavalry Division (Armored)Note 1, at Fort Hood (TX); REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots at Grobbendonk and Zutendaal (Belgium), and Brunssum and Eygelshoven (Netherlands) 2nd Armored Division (-), at Fort Hood (TX); REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Mönchengladbach and Straelen (GER) 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)Note 1, at Fort Polk (LA); REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Ter Apel, Coevorden and Vriezenveen (Netherlands) 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Bliss (TX); REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Mönchengladbach (GER) XVIII Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg (NC) 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg (NC) 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at Fort Campbell (KY) 10th Mountain Division (Light)Note 1, at Fort Drum (NY) 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized)Note 1, at Fort Stewart (GA) 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) (-), at Fort Riley (KS); VII Corps REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Mannheim (GER) 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), at Fort Carson (CO); V Corps REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Kaiserslautern (GER) 6th Infantry Division (Light)Note 2, at Fort Richardson (AK); part of United States Army Alaska, which was assigned to WESTCOM in 1989 194th Armored Brigade, at Fort Knox (KY); V Corps REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Pirmasens (GER) 193rd Infantry Brigade, at Fort Clayton (Panama Canal Zone) 197th Infantry Brigade, at Fort Benning (GA); V Corps REFORGER unit with POMCUS depots in Pirmasens (GER) United States Army Europe (USAREUR), in Stuttgart (Germany (GER)) V Corps, in Frankfurt (GER) 3rd Armored Division, in Frankfurt 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized), in Bad Kreuznach 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in Fulda VII Corps, in Stuttgart (GER) 1st Armored Division, in Ansbach 1st Infantry Division (Forward) (3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division), in Göppingen 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), in Würzburg 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, in Nuremberg 2nd Armored Division (Forward) (3rd Brigade, 2nd Armored Division), in Garlstedt Berlin Brigade, in West Berlin United States Army Western Command (WESTCOM), at Fort Shafter (HI); part of US Pacific Command, added US Army Alaska in 1989 and US Army, Japan in 1990 25th Infantry Division (Light), at Schofield Barracks (HI) Eighth United States Army (EUSA), at Yongsan Garrison (South Korea) 2nd Infantry Division, at Camp Casey (South Korea) United States Army Japan/IX Corps, at Camp Zama (Japan)
Twenty-first century
Soldiers from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division patrolling Dora in Iraq during 2007 On 11 September 2001, 53 Army civilians (47 employees and six contractors) and 22 soldiers were among the 125 victims killed in the Pentagon in a terrorist attack when American Airlines Flight 77 commandeered by five Al-Qaeda hijackers slammed into the western side of the building as part of the September 11 attacks. Lieutenant General Timothy Maude was the highest-ranking military official killed at the Pentagon, and the most senior U.S. Army officer killed by foreign action since the death of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. on June 18, 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II.
In response to the September 11 attacks, and as part of the Global War on Terror, U.S. and NATO combined arms (i.e. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Special Operations) forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, replacing the Taliban government.
The Army took part in the combined U.S. and allied 2003 invasion of Iraq. Within months, the mission changed from conflict between regular militaries to counterinsurgency, with large numbers of suicide attacks resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 U.S. service members (as of March 2008) and injuries to thousands more.
Most of the units that carried out the ground campaign phase of the invasion of Iraq, and who bore the larger part of the conflict with the Iraqi military in 2003, were those of the Army. Since then, they have performed numerous operations against insurgents.
The Army has had to make several adjustments to address demands on its personnel and equipment. The US Army has utilized its stop-loss policy and has required more of its combat personnel to serve more tours of duty than before due to the need for experienced personnel. Unlike during the war in Vietnam, there was no involuntary draft of Americans into the Army. Instead, the service employed its Total Force model and mobilized/recalled to active duty numerous Army National Guard and Army Reserve combat arms, combat support, and combat service support units and personnel, often deploying them repeatedly to the Southwest Asia combat zone in a manner similar to their Regular Army counterparts.
As a result of this intense operational tempo, deep concerns arose in the U.S. about the effects of frequent combat deployment on the psychological health of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Suicides among US soldiers have been rising, and have reached their highest rate in 26 years. This increase has coincided with US deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.
During the insurgency, it was found that most Army and Marine Corps vehicles such as HMMWVs were insufficiently armored, leading to efforts to add greater armor to protect against improvised explosive devices. Some soldiers added armor by using modifications known as hillbilly armor. In the short term, HMMWVs in service in Iraq are being replaced by Category 1 MRAP vehicles, primarily the Force Protection Cougar H and the International MaxxPro. The US Marine Corps plans to replace all HMMWVs patrolling "outside the wire" with MRAP vehicles.
The lack of stability in Iraq has led to longer deployments for Regular Army as well as Army Reserve and Army National Guard troops. U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011, but fighting continues. 3,293 US Army personnel were killed in the conflict.
The Army's chief modernization plan was the Future Combat Systems program. Many systems were canceled and the remaining were swept into the BCT modernization program.
This is a list of U.S. Army forts and installations, organized by U.S. state or territory within the U.S. and by country if overseas. For consistency, major Army National Guard (ARNG) training facilities are included but armory locations are not.
Domestic
Alabama Anniston Army Depot Fort Rucker Redstone Arsenal Fort McClellan (ARNG)[citation needed] American Samoa Pele US Army Reserve Center & Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Samoa[citation needed]
Alaska Fort Greely Fort Wainwright Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson
Arizona Camp Navajo (ARNG) Davis-Monthan AFB Fort Huachuca Luke AFB Yuma Proving Ground
Arkansas Robinson Maneuver Training Center (ARNG) Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center (ARNG) Pine Bluff Arsenal
California Beale Air Force Base Camp Cooke Camp Haan Camp Roberts (ARNG) Camp San Luis Obispo (ARNG) Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento Fort Hunter Liggett Fort Irwin Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base Los Angeles AFB Military Ocean Terminal Concord Naval Air Station North Island Parks Reserve Forces Training Area Presidio of Monterey San Joaquin Depot Sharpe Facility Stockton's Rough & Ready Island Tracy Facility Sierra Army Depot
Colorado Buckley AFB Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station Fort Carson Fort Logan National Cemetery Peterson AFB Pueblo Chemical Depot Rocky Mountain Arsenal Schriever AFB US Air Force Academy
Connecticut Camp Nett (ARNG)[citation needed]
Delaware Bethany Beach Training Site (ARNG)[28]
District of Columbia Fort Lesley J. McNair Joint Base Anacostia Bolling
Florida Camp Blanding (ARNG) Eglin Air Force Base Hurlburt Field MacDill Air Force Base Patrick Space Force Base Tyndall Air Force Base Naval Air Station Jacksonville Naval Station Mayport Shades of Green (Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Resort)
Georgia Camp Frank D. Merrill[citation needed] Fort Benning Fort Gordon Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield
Hawaii Fort DeRussy (MWR Resort) Hale Koa Hotel Fort Shafter Kunia Field Station[citation needed] Pohakuloa Training Area Schofield Barracks Tripler Army Medical Center Wheeler Army Airfield
Idaho MTA Gowen Field Boise (ARNG) Orchard Range TS Boise (ARNG)[citation needed] TS Edgemeade Mountain Home (ARNG)[citation needed]
Illinois Camp Lincoln (ARNG) Charles M. Price Support Center Rock Island Arsenal
Indiana Camp Atterbury (ARNG) Fort Benjamin Harrison Muscatatuck Urban Training Center
Iowa Camp Dodge Fort Des Moines (ARNG) Iowa Army Ammunition Plant
Kansas Fort Leavenworth Fort Riley Great Plains Joint Training Center (ARNG)
Kentucky Blue Grass Army Depot Fort Campbell Fort Knox
Louisiana Barksdale Air Force Base Camp Beauregard Fort Polk
Maine MTA Deepwoods (ARNG) MTA Riley-Bog Brook (ARNG) TS Caswell (ARNG) TS Hollis Plains (ARNG)
Maryland Aberdeen Proving Ground Camp Fretterd Military Reservation (ARNG) Fort Detrick Fort George G. Meade Joint Base Andrews
Massachusetts Camp Curtis Guild (ARNG) Camp Edwards (ARNG) Fort Devens Natick Army Soldiers Systems Center
Michigan Camp Grayling (ARNG) Detroit Arsenal Fort Custer (ARNG)
Missouri Camp Clark, Missouri (ARNG) Fort Leonard Wood
Montana Fort William Henry Harrison (ARNG)
Nebraska Camp Ashland (ARNG)
Nevada Hawthorne Army Ammunition Depot
New Hampshire Center Strafford Training Site (ARNG)
New Jersey Fort Dix, part of Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst Picatinny Arsenal
New Mexico Kirtland AFB Los Alamos Demolition Range White Sands Missile Range
New York Camp Smith (New York) (ARNG) Fort Drum Fort Hamilton United States Military Academy Watervliet Arsenal
North Carolina Camp Butner (ARNG) Camp Davis Camp Mackall Fort Bragg Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base
North Dakota Camp Grafton (ARNG)
Ohio Camp Perry (ARNG) Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center (ARNG) Camp Sherman (ARNG) Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Oklahoma Camp Gruber (ARNG) Fort Sill McAlester Army Ammunition Plant Tinker AFB
Oregon Camp Rilea (ARNG)
Pennsylvania Carlisle Barracks Fort Indiantown Gap (ARNG) Harrisburg Military Post (ARNG) Letterkenny Army Depot New Cumberland Army Depot Tobyhanna Army Depot
Puerto Rico Army National Guard Aviation Support Facility (ARNG) Camp Santiago (ARNG) Fort Allen (ARNG) Fort Buchanan Roosevelt Roads Army Reserve Base
Rhode Island Camp Fogarty (East Greenwich, RI) (ARNG) Camp Varnum (ARNG) Fort Greene (USAR)
South Carolina Fort Jackson (Army Basic Training Center) Charleston Air Force Base (part of Joint Base Charleston - AF/USN) McEntire Joint National Guard Base (ARNG/ANG) South Carolina National Guard Training Center at Rock Hill Clarks Hill Training Center (ARNG)
South Dakota Fort Meade (ARNG)
Tennessee Holston Army Ammunition Plant Kingston Demolition Range Milan Army Ammunition Plant
Texas Camp Bowie Camp Bullis Camp Mabry Camp Maxey Camp Stanley Camp Swift Corpus Christi Army Depot Fort Bliss Fort Hood Fort Sam Houston, part of Joint Base San Antonio Fort Wolters (ARNG) Martindale Army Airfield Red River Army Depot
Utah Camp W. G. Williams (ARNG) Dugway Proving Ground Fort Douglas (USAR) Tooele Army Depot Hill AFB
Vermont Camp Ethan Allen Training Site (ARNG)
Virginia Camp Pendleton State Military Reservation (ARNG) Fort A.P. Hill Fort Belvoir Fort Eustis, part of Joint Base Langley-Eustis Fort Lee Fort McNair (part of Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall) Fort Myer (part of Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall) Fort Pickett (ARNG) The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School Quantico Military Reservation National Ground Intelligence Center Radford Army Ammunition Plant Warrenton Training Center
Washington Camp Murray (ANG/ARNG) Fort Lewis, part of Joint Base Lewis-McChord Yakima Training Center
West Virginia Camp Dawson West Virginia Training Area (ARNG)
Wisconsin Fort McCoy Camp Williams (ARNG)
Wyoming Guernsey Maneuver Area (ARNG) F. E. Warren AFB
Overseas
Belgium List of United States Army installations in Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina NATO Headquarters Sarajevo Bulgaria List of joint US-Bulgarian military bases Aitos Logistics Center, Burgas Province Bezmer Air Base, Yambol Province Graf Ignatievo Air Base, Plovdiv Province Novo Selo Range, Sliven Province Cameroon Contingency Location Garoua, Garoua Germany Main article: List of United States Army installations in Germany Bleidorn Housing Area, Ansbach Dagger Complex, Darmstadt Training Center Griesheim Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, Garmisch-Partenkirchen Lucius D. Clay Kaserne (formerly Wiesbaden Army Airfield), Wiesbaden-Erbenheim Germersheim Army Depot, Germersheim Grafenwöhr Training Area, Grafenwöhr/Vilseck Hohenfels Training Area/Joint Multinational Readiness Center, Hohenfels (Upper Palatinate) Husterhoeh Kaserne, Pirmasens Kaiserslautern Military Community Katterbach Kaserne, Ansbach Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart Kleber Kaserne, Kaiserslautern Military Community Lampertheim Training Area,[citation needed] Lampertheim Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl McCully Barracks, Wackernheim Miesau Army Depot, Miesau Oberdachstetten Storage Area, Ansbach Panzer Kaserne, Böblingen Patch Barracks, Stuttgart Pulaski Barracks, Kaiserslautern Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Kaiserslautern Robinson Barracks, Stuttgart Rose Barracks, Vilseck Sembach Kaserne, Kaiserslautern Sheridan Barracks, Garmisch-Partenkirchen Shipton Kaserne, Ansbach Smith Barracks, Baumholder Storck Barracks, Illesheim Stuttgart Army Airfield, Filderstadt Mainz-Kastel USAG Wiesbaden Military Training Area, Mainz, Gonsenheim/Mombach USAG Wiesbaden Training Area, Mainz Finthen Airport USAG Wiesbaden Radar Station, Mainz Finthen Airport Urlas Housing and Shopping Complex, Ansbach Israel Dimona Radar Facility Italy Camp Darby, Pisa-Livorno Caserma Ederle, Vicenza Caserma Renato Del Din, Vicenza Iraq List of United States Army installations in Iraq Japan List of United States Army installations in Japan Kosovo Camp Bondsteel Camp Film City Kuwait Main article: List of United States Army installations in Kuwait Camp Arifjan Camp Buehring (formerly Camp Udairi) Camp Patriot (shared with Kuwait Naval Base) Camp Spearhead shared with port of Ash Shuaiba) Lithuania Camp Herkus, Pabrad South Korea List of United States Army installations in South Korea
