Army Of The United States
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The Army of the United States is one of the four major service components of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
(the others being the
Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregulars, irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenary, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the ...
, the
United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...
and the Army National Guard of the United States), but it has been inactive since the suspension of the draft in 1973 and the U.S. military's transition to a volunteer force. Personnel serving in the United States Army during a major national emergency or armed conflict (either voluntarily or involuntarily) were enlisted into the Army of the United States, without specifying service in a component. It also includes the "Retired Reserve". Those are retired soldiers that have reached the required years of creditable service, ''or'' creditable service and age; regardless of the component, or components they formerly served in. The term "Army of the United States" or "Armies of the United States" is also the legal name of the collective land forces of the United States, as prescribed by the United States Constitution. In this concept, the term "Army of the United States" has been in use since at least 1841, as in the title ''General Regulations for the Army of the United States''. Also included by Act of the 39th Congress (1866) were are the U.S. Volunteers, persons holding a brevetted rank, and the U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps.


History


World War I

The original concept of a non-
Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregulars, irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenary, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the ...
component, existing to augment the standing military, can trace its origins to the
United States Volunteers United States Volunteers also known as U.S. Volunteers, U.S. Volunteer Army, or other variations of these, were military volunteers called upon during wartime to assist the United States Army but who were separate from both the Regular Army and the ...
. State volunteer forces were used extensively to augment the Regular Army throughout the 19th and early 20th century. During World War I and dictated by the provisions of the
National Defense Act of 1916 The National Defense Act of 1916, , was a United States federal law that updated the Militia Act of 1903, which related to the organization of the military, particularly the National Guard. The principal change of the act was to supersede prov ...
, states contributed men to the "
Volunteer Army The Volunteer Army (russian: Добровольческая армия, translit=Dobrovolcheskaya armiya, abbreviated to russian: Добрармия, translit=Dobrarmiya) was a White Army active in South Russia during the Russian Civil War from ...
" (more commonly known as the National Army). During World War I, a standard practice developed for Regular Army officers to serve in higher positions within the National Army, and thus hold two ranks - a permanent rank and a temporary rank. This concept was related to the idea of the
brevet rank In many of the world's military establishments, a brevet ( or ) was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but may not confer the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. ...
, which had generally fallen into disuse by the time of the First World War. The National Army was suspended after World War I.


World War II

In September 1940, the United States reintroduced conscription in response to the increasing likelihood of entry into
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Personnel voluntarily enlisting into the United States Army could choose to voluntarily enlist into the Regular Army, National Guard of the United States, or
Organized Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020 ...
. On 14 May 1940, legislation provided that all voluntary enlistments in the United States Army during a time of national emergency or war were to be in the Army of the United States "without specification of any particular component or unit thereof." The "Army of the United States" as a service component was formally activated in February 1941. It was legally considered the successor to the National Army. The Army of the United States saw a major expansion following the 7 December 1941
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
. On 13 December 1941, legislation provided that personnel inducted into the United States Army under the terms of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 were, both retroactively and from that date on, considered to be serving in the Army of the United States. The first commissioned officers serving in the Army of the United States were appointed from the Regular Army, generally southerners. The standard practice was that these officers held a "permanent rank" within the Regular Army as well as a higher "temporary rank" while serving in the Army of the United States. A typical situation might be a colonel in the AUS holding the permanent rank of captain in the Regular Army. Another term for rank held in the Army of the United States was "theater rank." Promotions within the Army of the United States were sometimes very rapid, and some officers were promoted as many as four to five times in the space of just three to four years.
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
, who served as General of the Army, rose from a colonel to five-star general in three years. However, rank in the AUS could be revoked just as easily, with senior commanders who were relieved reverting to their permanent Regular Army rank. This was known as "loss of theater rank", with some instances of generals returning to the United States in disgrace or at least under a cloud, as only colonels or majors.


Divisions of the Army of the United States

In 1946, with postwar demobilization, the Army of the United States was suspended, along with the
draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
. Officers from that point reverted to Regular Army rank and all enlisted personnel either were discharged from the Army of the United States and returned to civilian life, or accepted the offer to reenlist in the Regular Army. Units raised in the Army of the United States were deactivated; if the Army chose to activate them again permanently, they were allotted to the Regular Army.


Korean War and Vietnam War

The Army of the United States was demobilized in 1946, but still maintained as a component of the Army. Upon the outbreak of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, the Army of the United States consisted of conscripts in the Regular Army, with the National Guard and Army of the United States existing simultaneously in the same theater. The system of prefixes before service numbers was as follows: *ER: Enlisted Reserve *OR: Officer Reserve *NG: National Guard *RA: Regular Army *US: Army of the United States The last use of the Army of the United States (AUS) was during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. It was disbanded in 1974.


Administrative usage

The Army Reserve (USAR) and
Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...
(ARNG) remained separate components during the modern era of conscription, and their members continued to use their unique identifiers, except in those cases in which officers were appointed or commissioned into a higher grade of rank while on active duty serving in a Regular Army unit. For example, during the war in Vietnam, a graduate of Army ROTC, commissioned as a USAR 2d lieutenant and serving his initial active duty tour, could be promoted to 1st lieutenant, or even captain, with a "temporary", active duty (i.e., AUS) commission, while still holding the permanent, USAR rank of 2nd lieutenant. Another example would be an ARNG officer serving on active duty, who might accept a commission in the Regular Army (RA), and then might be promoted one or two grades in the AUS above their RA grade. This possibility could result in situations in which an Army National Guard captain could be called to active duty and accept a commission as a Regular Army major, then be promoted in the AUS, holding a "temporary", active duty commission at a higher rank, and then could retire after 20 or more years of active duty as a lieutenant colonel or colonel, while actually only having met the time-in-grade requirements (and passed the promotion board selection screening process) for the "permanent", Regular Army rank of major.


Service equivalents

There is no equivalent to the Army of the United States in the U.S.
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
,
Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
, or
Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
. During World War II, officers who joined one of these branches were typically commissioned into the " Naval Reserve," "
Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned p ...
," or "
Coast Guard Reserve The United States Coast Guard Reserve is the reserve component of the United States Coast Guard. It is organized, trained, administered, and supplied under the direction of the Commandant of the Coast Guard through the Assistant Commandant for R ...
" respectively (the last of these being newly created in the run up to the war), with the understanding that their active service would be only for the duration of the hostilities. In 1948, for a very brief period, a component known as the "Air Forces of the United States" (AFUS) existed to augment
Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
personnel, who held AUS ranks, into the newly created
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
.United States National Archives, Archival service record of Curtis Lemay (Summary of Service), released Nov 2008


References

{{US Army navbox United States Army 1941 establishments in the United States