On this day, June 14th 1775, The United States created the United States army. It was originally formed as the Continental Army fight in the Revolutionary War…that is even before we were a country. That fact alone makes the Army as the oldest branch of our military.
As of today, the US Army has over 480,000 members. But that doesn’t include the 336,0000 National Guard members, It’s almost 189,000 Army Reservists, countless uniformed personnel, civilian workers and over 4600 manned aircraft.
For those who are not in the know, shortly after the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was disbanded. While this seems odd, before the Revolutionary War our country was occupied by the British military. So there was a fear of military occupation. Various States and Commonwealths had with their own militias at the time, But there was no standing army for the country.
It didn’t take long for our country to find a need for a standing army when it continued to run into issues with native Americans. While our standing army was small, at around 10,000 people, it was used in a number of smaller conflicts. It later took the name Regular Army, then as the Legion of the United States and finally in 1796 finally given the name United States Army.
The United States army has a very long and rich history of defending our nation against all threats domestic and foreign. I could list all the actions our Army has taken part in, but the list would be too many to list here. But click this link and you can get a much more deep dive into what the men and women of the US Army have done for us
Thank you for giving all for our country.. and Happy Birthday
Source: Army.mil