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Arthur B. Crean was a master sergeant in the United States Army during World War I. He was the first United States armed forces member to be issued a service number and thus holds service #1 in the United States Army.
When U.S. Army service numbers were discontinued in 1969, a report in the Des Moines Tribune noted that Master Sgt. Crean had been issued the number "ASN 1" on February 28, 1918. [1]
Crean enlisted the United States Army in 1899 and by the outbreak of the First World War was part of the enlisted cadre who formed the core of the National Army. In 1920, he became one of the most senior enlisted members of the peacetime Regular Army.
Crean's service record was destroyed in the 1973 National Archives Fire but a pay record survived, listing some of his service information. He is listed on it as a medical sergeant and the only confirmed military decoration he received was the World War I Victory Medal.
In June 1921, when John Pershing was listed as holding the first officer service number (O-1), Crean's service number was slightly modified. His new number became "R-1" to denote Regular Army #1.
Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies and other institutions organized along military lines. Responsibility for personnel, equipment and missions grows with each advancement. The military rank system defines dominance, authority and responsibility within a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command—the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command is an important component for organized collective action.
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who does not hold a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. In contrast, commissioned officers usually enter directly from a military academy, officer training corps (OTC) or reserve officer training corps (ROTC), or officer candidate school (OCS) or officer training school (OTS), after receiving a post-secondary degree.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces and the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the secretary of defense. While the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outranks all other commissioned officers, the chairman is prohibited by law from having operational command authority over the armed forces; however, the chairman assists the president and the secretary of defense in exercising their command functions.
The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Air Force.
A United States military occupation code, or a military occupational specialty code, is a nine-character code used in the United States Army and United States Marine Corps to identify a specific job. In the United States Air Force, a system of Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSC) is used. In the United States Navy, a system of naval ratings and designators are used along with the Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) system. A system of ratings is also used in the United States Coast Guard.
The Médaille militaire is a military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic, after the Legion of Honour, a civil and military order, and the Order of Liberation, a Second World War-only order. The Médaille militaire is therefore the most senior entirely military active French decoration.
Donald L. Harlow was a senior enlisted airman of the United States Air Force who served as the 2nd Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force from 1969 to 1971.
A service number or roll number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military; however, they also may be used in civilian organizations. National identification numbers may be seen as types of service numbers.
Specialist is a military rank in some countries' armed forces. Two branches of the United States Armed Forces use the rank. It is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the United States Army, above private (PVT), private (PV2), and private first class and is equivalent in pay grade to corporal; in the United States Space Force, four grades of specialist comprise the four junior enlisted ranks below the rank of sergeant.
The U.S. Army enlisted rank insignia that was used during World War II differs from the current system. The color scheme used for the insignia's chevron design was defined as golden olive drab chevrons on a dark blue-black wool background for wear on "winter" uniform dress coats and dress shirts or silvery-khaki chevrons on a dark blue-black cotton background for wear on the various types of field jackets and "winter" uniform fatigue shirts. An unauthorized variant that nevertheless saw wide use was olive drab chevrons on a khaki cotton background for wear on the "summer" uniform dress coats and dress shirts. This scheme of rank insignia was established by War Department Circular No. 303 on 5 August 1920 and would see two significant changes in 1942. The usage of this style of insignia was ended by Department of the Army Circular No. 202, dated 7 July 1948, which provided for significant changes in both rank and insignia design.
Native Americans have made up an integral part of U.S. military conflicts since America's beginning. Colonists recruited Indian allies during such instances as the Pequot War from 1634–1638, the Revolutionary War, as well as in War of 1812. Native Americans also fought on both sides during the American Civil War, as well as military missions abroad including the most notable, the Codetalkers who served in World War II. The Scouts were active in the American West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Including those who accompanied General John J. Pershing in 1916 on his expedition to Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa. Indian Scouts were officially deactivated in 1947 when their last member retired from the Army at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. For many Indians it was an important form of interaction with European-American culture and their first major encounter with the Whites' way of thinking and doing things.
The Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School was a military base and training facility on the south side of Des Moines, Iowa. Established in 1901, the base trained African American officers for the U.S. Army during World War I and was where women first began training for US Army service in 1942 as part of the Women's Army Corps. Surviving older portions of the base were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 in recognition of this history. The fort property was turned over to the city in the 1950s, and has since been put a number of public and private uses.
Leo J. Meyer was a soldier in the United States Army, one of only three hundred and twenty-four men who have been awarded three Combat Infantryman Badges out of more than the twenty-three million men who served in the US Army between December 1941 and December 2007. Colonel Meyer was inducted into the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame in 2009.
Service numbers were used by the United States Department of Defense as the primary means of service member identification from 1918 until 1974. Service numbers are public information available under the Freedom of Information Act, unlike social security numbers which are protected by the Privacy Act of 1974.
Service numbers were used by the United States Army from 1918 until 1969. Prior to this time, the Army relied on muster rolls as a means of indexing enlisted service members while officers were usually listed on yearly rolls maintained by the United States War Department. In the nineteenth century, the Army also used pay records as a primary means of identifying service members after discharge.
United States Air Force service numbers were created in the spring of 1948, approximately six months after the Air Force's creation as separate branch of the armed forces.
United States Navy service numbers were created in 1920, one year after the close of the First World War. The creation of Navy service numbers coincided with those of the Marine Corps, as the Marines were under the authority of the Department of the Navy.
United States Marine Corps service numbers were created in 1920, the same year as Navy service numbers, and were modeled after the same design.
United States Coast Guard service numbers were first created in the later half of 1921. In 2004 the Coast Guard began using Employee Identification Numbers, or EMPLIDs, to replace the Social Security Number on official forms.
The United States Army's enlisted rank insignia that was used during World War I differs from the current system. The color scheme used for the insignia's chevron was olive drab for field use uniforms or one of several colors depending on the corps on dress uniforms. The chevron system used by enlisted men during World War I came into being on July 17, 1902, and was changed to a different system in 1919. Specification 760, which was dated May 31, 1905, contained 45 different enlisted insignia that varied designs and titles by different corps of the Army. General Order Number 169, which was enacted on August 14, 1907, created an even larger variety of enlisted rank insignia. Pay grades similar to the current system were not yet in use by the U.S. Army, and instead, the pay system reflected the job assignment of the soldier rather than their rank. By the end of World War I, the system contained 128 different insignia designs.