The US Army Structure Made Simple, Part 3

The U.S Army is the largest armed forces branch that has the primary responsibility of taking on land based military operations. The U.S Army today has it roots within the Continental Army which was formed on June 14, 1775 celebrated in America as Flag Day. The Continental Army was led by future President George Washington (1732-1799) who was appointed by the Continental Congress.

Appointed by the President, the United States Secretary of the Army is a civilian who reports to the Secretary of Defense, another civilian who is appointed to a cabinet position in Washington D.C by the President. The U.S Army Chief of Staff is usually a four star General who reports to them and the President on military concerns. The Army also has a non commissioned post which is the highest of any known as the Command Sergeant Major of the Army who also reports to the Defense and Army Secretaries about military personnel concerns.

In the U.S Army, the Division is a large military unit that has around 10,000-20,000 soldiers and is commanded by a Major General. It is a composite of 2-4 regiments or brigades. A Corps is commanded by a Lieutenant General which is has around 30,000-50,000 soldiers and is made of 2-3 divisions. The Corps usually is known by Roman numerals XXX. The XX is for division, while X is for Brigade. The number of a corps by tradition is indicated with Roman numerals (e.g. XXX Corps). The number of a Division is typically written with Arabic numerals (e.g. 5th Infantry Division), while with speaking of an army, it is written in words (e.g. Eighth Army).

An Army is an extremely huge military formation which consists of one or more corps. It is numbered and named to make it distinguishable from other land forces accordingly. An example would be the U.S Fifth Army which has the Roman numerals of XXXX which consists of 2-3 corps. The numbers of soldiers are 50,000-60,000 and are commanded by a General of the Army. This person is the highest ranking General which is equal to a Field Marshal or a Grand Admiral.