The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consist of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of the United States.
Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. A military doctrine outlines what military means should be used, how forces should be structured, where forces should be deployed, and the modes of cooperation between types of forces. "Joint doctrine" refers to the doctrines shared and aligned by multinational forces or joint service operations.
A fireteam or fire team is a small modern military subordinated element of infantry designed to optimize "NCO initiative", "combined arms", "bounding overwatch" and "fire and movement" tactical doctrine in combat. Depending on mission requirements, a typical "standard" fireteam consists of four or fewer members: an automatic rifleman, a grenadier, a rifleman, and a designated fireteam leader. The role of each fireteam leader is to ensure that the fireteam operates as a cohesive unit. Two or three fireteams are organized into a section or squad in co-ordinated operations, which is led by a squad leader.
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The 1st Cavalry Division is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army. It is based at Fort Cavazos, Texas. It was formed in 1921 and served during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, with the Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the Iraq War, in the War in Afghanistan as well as Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Operation Inherent Resolve. As of July 2023, the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to III Armored Corps and is commanded by Major General Kevin D. Admiral.
The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade is normally commanded by a colonel (O-6) although in some cases a brigadier general (O-7) may assume command. A brigade combat team contains combat support and combat service support units necessary to sustain its operations. BCTs contain organic artillery training and support, received from the parent division artillery (DIVARTY). There are three types of brigade combat teams: infantry, Stryker, and armored.
The US Army Field Manual on Interrogation, sometimes known by the military nomenclature FM 34-52, is a 177-page manual describing to military interrogators how to conduct effective interrogations while conforming with US and international law. It has been replaced by FM 2-22.3 Human Intelligence Collector Operations.
The TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions Handbook is a 256 page United States Army technical manual intended for the United States Army Special Forces. It was first published in 1969 by the Department of the Army.
Command and control is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... [that] employs human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or enterprise, according to a 2015 definition by military scientists Marius Vassiliou, David S. Alberts, and Jonathan R. Agre. The term often refers to a military system.
A military helicopter is a helicopter that is either specifically built or converted for use by military forces. A military helicopter's mission is a function of its design or conversion. The most common use of military helicopters is transport of troops, but transport helicopters can be modified or converted to perform other missions such as combat search and rescue (CSAR), medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), airborne command post, or even armed with weapons for attacking ground targets. Specialized military helicopters are intended to conduct specific missions. Examples of specialized military helicopters are attack helicopters, observation helicopters and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters.
An armed helicopter is a military helicopter equipped with aircraft ordnance. Most commonly, it is used for attacking targets on the ground. Such a helicopter could be either purposely designed for a ground-attack mission—in which case it would be more specifically categorized as an attack helicopter—or may have been previously designed for other uses, such as utility, air cargo, aerial reconnaissance, etc., with the weapons mounts being modifications, rather than part of the design of the helicopter. The purpose of the modification to an armed helicopter configuration can be field expediency during combat, the lack of military funding to develop or purchase attack helicopters, or the need to maintain the helicopter for missions that do not require the weapons.
A logical line of operation (LLO) is an obsolete American military doctrinal concept. It was originally used along with the separate term line of operation which described a geographic line from a base of operations to a military objective. The qualifier "logical" indicated the pursuit of military objectives that did not necessarily require a physical or geographic description, such as governance capacity-building and development activities.
Maxie L. McFarland, was one of thirteen tier-3 US Government Defense Senior Executives, serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G–2) for the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command located at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Starting in June 2011, he worked as the Executive Vice President for Strategic Planning for the Sierra Nevada Corporation. Maxie McFarland died on 8 November 2013 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Maneuver Captain's Career Course is a military training and education course primarily for U.S. Army infantry and armor officers. Organized under the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) at Fort Moore, Georgia, the course is 22 weeks long. While the course's students consist mostly of U.S. Army maneuver-branch captains and senior first lieutenants, several U.S. Marine Corps captains and officers from allied nations also attend. MCCC's mission is to prepare students for the leadership, training, and administrative requirements of a successful company commander and for the execution of the tactical planning responsibilities of Battalion S3s.
For military strategy, intent is the desired outcome of a military operation. It is a key concept in 21st century military operations and is a vital element to facilitate subordinates' initiative and collaboration and cooperation amongst team members in joint operations.
A maneuver enhancement brigade (MEB) is a self-contained, modular, and multifunctional support brigade of the United States Army customized to meet whatever mission it receives. A MEB's primary purpose is to plug into operational formations commanded by corps or division commanders, to support brigade combat teams once deployed, and to conduct tactical level tasks and support. MEBs can provide command and control for up to seven battalions that are capable of owning battlespace in combat.
16-line message format, or Basic Message Format, is the standard military radiogram format for the manner in which a paper message form is transcribed through voice, Morse code, or TTY transmission formats. The overall structure of the message has three parts: HEADING, TEXT, and ENDING. This heading is further divided into procedure, preamble, address, and prefix. Each format line contains pre-defined content. An actual message may have fewer than 16 actual lines, or far more than 16, because some lines are skipped in some delivery methods, and a long message may have a TEXT portion that is longer than 16 lines by itself.
The United States Space Force is organized by different units: the Space Staff, the field commands, and the space deltas.
Security Force Assistance (SFA) a term originating in the United States Armed Forces for military adviser assistance with "training, equipping and advising allied or 'partner' militaries to enable them to defend themselves without 100,000 Americans on the ground to do it for them." SFA is used when improving the security of the host country aligns with the national interests of the donor country. It may be used alongside or instead of larger commitments of the donor country's military personnel and matériel. This means SFA can provide an alternative to large-scale operations if a war becomes controversial or politically difficult.
