The U.S. Armed Forces

Army

Mission: The U.S. Army is the largest of all the nation's armed services and the principal tool of American ground power. Even in peace, the Army typically has about 110,000 soldiers stationed overseas and 30,000 soldiers engaged in operations in more than 60 countries.

History: The United States Army is older than the United States. That's understandable, too, for without the army mustered by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, there would be no United States. From the beginning, Congress established the civilian control that has become the hallmark of democracies' armed forces. Yet Congress was wary of the power of standing armies and disbanded its troops in 1783, preferring to rely on state militias instead.

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