The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
that creates and manages
communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...
and
information systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...
for the
command and control
Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or e ...
of
combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of
Major Albert J. Myer, and had an important role in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
. Over its history, it had the initial responsibility for portfolios and new technologies that were eventually transferred to other U.S. government entities. Such responsibilities included
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from ...
,
weather forecasting, and
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...
.
Mission statement
Support for the command and control of combined arms forces. Signal support includes network operations (information assurance, information dissemination management, and network management) and management of the electromagnetic spectrum. Signal support encompasses all aspects of designing, installing, data communications networks that employ single and multi-channel satellite, tropospheric scatter, terrestrial microwave, switching, messaging, video-teleconferencing, visual information, and other related systems. They integrate tactical, strategic and sustaining base communications, information processing and management systems into a seamless global information network that supports knowledge dominance for Army, joint and coalition operations.
Early history

While serving as a medical officer in Texas in 1856,
Albert James Myer proposed that the Army use his visual communications system, called
aerial telegraphy (or "wig-wag"). When the Army adopted his system on 21 June 1860, the Signal Corps was born with Myer as the first and only Signal Officer.

Major Myer first used his visual signaling system on active service in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex
, Offi ...
during the
early 1860s Navajo expedition. Using flags for daytime signaling and a torch at night, wigwag was tested in
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
combat in June 1861 to direct the fire of a harbor battery at
Fort Wool against the
Confederate positions opposite
Fort Monroe. For nearly three years, Myer was forced to rely on detailed personnel, although he envisioned a separate, trained professional military signal service.
Myer's vision came true on 3 March 1863, when Congress authorized a regular Signal Corps for the duration of the war. Some 2,900 officers and enlisted men served, although not at any single time, in the Civil War Signal Corps.
Myer's Civil War innovations included an unsuccessful balloon experiment at
First Bull Run, and, in response to McClellan's desire for a Signal Corps field telegraph train, an
electric telegraph in the form of the
Beardslee magnetoelectric telegraph machine. Even in the Civil War, the wigwag system, restricted to line-of-sight communications, was waning in the face of the electric telegraph.
Initially, Myer used his office downtown in Washington, D.C. to house the Signal Corps School. When it was found to need additional space, he sought out other locations. First came
Fort Greble, one of the
Defenses of Washington
The Civil War Defenses of Washington were a group of Union Army fortifications that protected the federal capital city, Washington, D.C., from invasion by the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War (see Washington, D.C., in the ...
during the Civil War, and when that proved inadequate, Myer chose
Fort Whipple, on Arlington Heights overlooking the national capital. The size and location were outstanding. The school remained there for over 20 years and ultimately was renamed
Fort Myer
Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whippl ...
.

Signal Corps detachments participated in campaigns fighting Native Americans in the west, such as the
Powder River Expedition of 1865.
In July 1866, Congress decided that there should be a unit or at least a Cadre of Signal even in peace time. It thereupon provided: One Chief Signal Officer of the Army, with the rank of Colonel. To confuse things even more, the 6 officers and 100 men authorized for the Signal Corp were to be chosen from the Corps of Engineers. Thus the Signal Corps was officially born.
The electric telegraph, in addition to visual signaling, became a Signal Corps responsibility in 1867. Within 12 years, the Signal Corps had constructed, and was maintaining and operating, some 4,000 miles of telegraph lines along the country's western frontier.
In 1870, the Signal Corps established a congressionally mandated
national weather service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
. Within a decade, with the assistance of Lieutenant
Adolphus Greely, Myer commanded a weather service of international acclaim.
Myer died in 1880, having attained the rank of brigadier general and the title of Chief Signal Officer. In 1881, as a lasting memorial to General Myer, Fort Whipple was renamed
Fort Myer
Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whippl ...
.
The Weather Bureau became part of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1891, while the corps retained responsibility for military meteorology.
In 1881, the Signal Corps participated in the First
International Polar Year. One of the groups under the command of LT
Adolphus Greely was to write another grueling chapter of suffering and extinction in the history of the Arctic. Greely's Signal Corps volunteers became separated from their base camp and were marooned on a huge ice flow. They were decimated by starvation and drowning; of the original 25 volunteers, only 7 survived.
The Signal Corps' role in the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cl ...
of 1898 and the subsequent
Philippine Insurrection was on a grander scale than it had been in the Civil War. In addition to visual signaling, including
heliograph, the corps supplied telephone and telegraph wire lines and cable communications, fostered the use of telephones in combat, employed
combat photography
War photography involves photographing armed conflict and its effects on people and places. Photographers who participate in this genre may find themselves placed in harm's way, and are sometimes killed trying to get their pictures out of the war ...
, and renewed the use of balloons. Shortly after the war, the Signal Corps constructed the
Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS), also known as the Alaska Communications System (ACS), introducing the first wireless telegraph in the
Western Hemisphere.
In October 1903,, Congress handed the then Chief Signal Officer Brigadier General Greely what may be considered the supreme challenge. Accompanied by an appropriation $25,000 it decreed that the military should "build a flying machine for war purposes". Needless to say, the first attempts at flying were failures, but BG Greely handed the contract to the Wright brothers who piloted the first aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
World War I
''For more details on this topic, see
Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps and
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps''

On 1 August 1907, an Aeronautical Division was established within the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (OCSO). In 1908, on
Fort Myer
Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whippl ...
, Virginia, the
Wright brothers made test flights of the Army's first airplane built to Signal Corps' specifications. Reflecting the need for an official pilot rating, War Department Bulletin No. 2, released on 24 February 1911, established a "Military Aviator" rating. Army aviation remained within the Signal Corps until 1918, when it became the
Army Air Service.
During World War I. Chief Signal Officer
George Owen Squier worked closely with private industry to perfect radio tubes while creating a major signal laboratory at Camp Alfred Vail (
Fort Monmouth). Early radiotelephones developed by the Signal Corps were introduced into the European theater in 1918. While the new American voice radios were superior to the radiotelegraph sets, telephone and telegraph remained the major technology of World War I.
A pioneer in
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, Colonel
William Blair, director of the Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth, patented the first Army radar demonstrated in May 1937. Even before the United States entered World War II, mass production of two radar sets, the
SCR-268 and the
SCR-270, had begun. Along with the Signal Corps' tactical
FM radio, also developed in the 1930s, radar was the most important communications development of World War II.
During World War I, women switchboard operators, known as the "
Hello Girls
Hello Girls was the colloquial name for American female switchboard operators in World War I, formally known as the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. During World War I, these switchboard operators were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal ...
", were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Despite the fact that they wore U.S. Army uniforms and were subject to Army regulations (Chief Operator
Grace Banker
Grace D. Banker (October 25, 1892 – December 17, 1960) was a telephone operator who served during World War I (1917–1918) as chief operator of mobile for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. She led thirty ...
received the
Distinguished Service Medal), they were not given
honorable discharges but were considered "civilians" employed by the military, because Army regulations specified the male gender. Not until 1978—the 60th anniversary of the end of World War I—did
Congress approve veteran status/honorable discharges for the remaining "Hello Girls".
World War II
When the
War Department was reorganized on 9 March 1942, the Signal Corps became one of the technical services in the Services of
Supply (later
Army Service Forces). Its organized components served both the
Army Ground Forces and the
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 ...
.
The Army Chief Signal Officer (CSO) was responsible for establishing and maintaining communications service schools for officers and enlisted soldiers, ranging in qualifications from those holding doctorates to functional illiterates. The single pre-war Signal training site was
Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. To keep up with the demand for more signallers, the CSO opened more training facilities:
Camp Crowder, Missouri;
Camp Kohler
Camp Kohler was located in the northeast corner of unincorporated Sacramento County, California, United States, until it was destroyed by a fire in 1947. Initially a camp for migrant farm workers, it became the Sacramento Assembly Center a tempo ...
, California; and
Camp Murphy, Florida.
The Eastern Signal Corps Training Center at Fort Monmouth consisted of an officers' school, an
officer candidate school, an enlisted school and a
basic training center at subpost Camp Wood. The officer candidate school operated from 1941 to 1946 and graduated 21,033 Signal Corps second lieutenants.
The term "
RADAR
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
" was coined by the Navy in 1940 and agreed to by the Army in 1941. The first Signal Corps Field Manual on Aircraft Warning Service defined RADAR as "a term used to designate radio sets SCR (
Signal Corps Radio
Signal Corps Radios were U.S. Army military communications components that comprised "sets". Under the Army Nomenclature System, the abbreviation SCR initially designated "Set, Complete Radio", but was later misinterpreted as "Signal Corps Radio." ...
)-268 and
SCR-270 and similar equipment". The
SCR-268 and 270 were not radios at all, but were designated as such to keep their actual function
secret. Although important offensive applications have since been developed, radar emerged historically from the defensive need to counter the possibility of massive
aerial bombardment.
In 1941, the laboratories at Fort Monmouth developed the
SCR-300, the first FM backpack radio. Its pioneering
frequency modulation
Frequency modulation (FM) is the encoding of information in a carrier wave by varying the instantaneous frequency of the wave. The technology is used in telecommunications, radio broadcasting, signal processing, and Run-length limited#FM: .280. ...
circuits provided front-line troops with reliable, static-free communications. The labs also fielded multichannel FM radio relay sets (e.g., AN/TRC-1) in the
European Theater of Operations as early as 1943. Multichannel radio broadcasting allowed several channels of communications to be broadcast over a single radio signal, increasing security and range and relieving
frequency spectrum crowding.
In December 1942, the War Department directed the Signal Corps General Development Laboratories and the
Camp Evans Signal Lab to combine into the Signal Corps Ground Service (SCGS) with headquarters at
Bradley Beach, New Jersey (Hotel Grossman). The Department also directed the Signal Corps Ground Service to cut total military and civilian personnel from 14,518 military and civilian personnel to 8,879 by August 1943. In June 1944, "Signees", former Italian
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
, arrived at Fort Monmouth to perform housekeeping duties. A lieutenant colonel and 500 enlisted men became hospital, mess, and repair shop attendants, relieving American soldiers from these duties.

One of the more unusual units of the Signal Corps were the
Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCOs). These companies were Signal Corps units that were made up of several hundred
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
,
Air Corps, and
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
communications specialists specially trained to link land, sea and air operational elements. They saw combat throughout the Pacific and European theaters during
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in late 1943. JASCOs were much larger than normal signal companies. The joint assault signal companies were the predecessor to the
Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company that exists today. JASCOs represented but one of many unprecedented Signal Corps' activities in the Pacific theater. Shipboard fighting was a new kind of combat for Signal Corps soldiers. Army communicators sometimes plied their trade aboard Navy and civilian ships. Signal Corps personnel also served on Army communications ships.
In particular the
Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) formed a fleet, unofficially known as the "Catboat Flotilla" and formally as the CP fleet, that served as command and communication vessels during amphibious operations, starting with two Australian schooners ''Harold'' and
''Argosy Lemal'' acquired by the Army and converted during the first half of 1943 by Australian firms into communications ships with AWA radio sets built by Amalgamated Wireless of Australia installed.
These initial vessels were joined by ''
Geoanna'',
''Volador''[)] and later by a more capable fleet as described in ''The Signal Corps: The Outcome (Mid-1943 Through 1945)'':
The first task was to obtain ships more suitable than the ''Harold'' or the ''Argosy''. Such a ship was the freighterpassenger, FP-47, acquired by Signal Corps in March 1944, at Sydney. The Army had built her in the United States in 1942, a sturdy, wooden, diesel-driven vessel only 114 feet long, but broad, of 370 tons, intended for use in the Aleutians. Instead she had sailed to Australia as a tug. The Signal Corps fitted her with Australian transmitters and receivers, also with an SCR-300 walkietalkie, two SCR-808's, and an SCR-608, plus power equipment, antennas, and, finally, quarters for the Signal Corps operators. The Australian sets were intended for long-range CW signals operating in the high frequencies; the SCRs were short-range VHF FM radios for use in the fleet net and for ship-toshore channels. Armed with antiaircraft weapons and machine guns (served by 12 enlisted men of the Army ship and gun crews), navigated by a crew of 6 Army Transport Service officers and the 12 men already mentioned, the FP-47 was ready for service in June. Her Signal Corps complement consisted of one officer and 12 men.
The facilities of FP-47 were needed immediately at Hollandia to supplement the heavily loaded signal nets that could hardly carry the message burden imposed by the invasion and the subsequent build-up there of a great base. Arriving on 25 June, she anchored offshore and ran cables to the message centers on land. Her powerful transmitters opened new channels to SWPA headquarters in Brisbane and to the advance headquarters still at Port Moresby. At Hollandia, and at Biak, to which the FP-47 moved early in September, this one ship handled an average of 7,000 to 11,000 code groups a day.
Many film industry personalities served in the Signal Corps, including
Stan Lee, an American comic book writer,
Tony Randall, the actor, and
Jean Shepherd, radio storyteller, author and narrator of ''
A Christmas Story''.
In 1942 General
George C. Marshall ordered the creation of the Army Pictorial Service (APS) to produce motion pictures for the training, indoctrination, and entertainment of the American forces and their
Allies. The APS took over
Kaufman Astoria Studios in 1942 and produced over 2,500 films during the war with over 1,000 redubbed in other languages. The Army left Astoria studios and film production in 1971.
Julius Rosenberg worked for the Signal Corps Labs from 1940 to 1945. He was dismissed early in 1945 when it was learned he had been a member of the
Communist Party USA secret apparatus, and had passed to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
the secret of the
proximity fuze.
Cold War

The Signal Corps'
Project Diana, in 1946, successfully bounced radar signals off the moon, paving the way for space communications.
In 1948 researchers at Fort Monmouth grew the first synthetically produced large
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
crystals. The crystals were able to be used in the manufacture of electronic components, and made the United States largely independent of foreign imports for this critical mineral. In 1949 the first auto-assembly of
printed circuits
A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in Electrical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a L ...
was invented. A technique for assembling electronic parts on a printed circuit board, developed by Fort Monmouth engineers, pioneered the development and fabrication of miniature circuits for both military and civilian use. Although they did not invent the
transistor
upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink).
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
, Fort Monmouth scientists were among the first to recognize its importance, particularly in military applications, and did pioneer significant improvements in its composition and production.
Everything was to change as world tensions increased with the
Cold War and the
Berlin Airlift. To sustain the Army's worldwide commitments, it again became necessary to enlarge the capacity of every activity on-post.
In June 1950, with the onset of the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top: ...
, President
Harry S. Truman quickly received the necessary authorization to call the
National Guard and
Organized Reserves to 21 months of active duty. He also signed a bill extending the
Selective Service Act until 9 July 1951. The Officer Candidate School was reestablished.
The fighting in Korea brought to light the need for new techniques in the conduct of modern warfare. The use of mortars by the enemy, and the resultant need to quickly
locate and destroy the mortar sites resulted in development of the Mortar-Radar Locator AN/MPQ-3 and AN/MPQ-10 at the Communications Electronics Research and Development Engineering Center, better known as the
Albert J. Myer Center, or simply, the Hexagon. Korea's terrain and road nets, along with the distance and speed with which communications were forced to travel, limited the use of wire. The Signal Corps'
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
radio became the "backbone" of tactical communications throughout the war.
The development of new equipment, however, placed requirements on the Signal Corps to provide increased numbers of trained electronics personnel to work in the
fire control and
guided missiles firing battery systems. To meet this need, Signal Corps Training Units—the 9614th and 9615th—were established at
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...
, Maryland and
Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. These units provided instruction on electronics equipment used in the
anti-aircraft artillery and guided missile firing systems.
Following the arrest of the
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1950, two former Fort Monmouth scientists,
Joel Barr and
Alfred Sarant, defected to the Soviet Union. On 31 August 1953, having received word of possible
subversive activities
Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...
from Fort Monmouth's commanding general, Kirke B. Lawton, the Chairman of the
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), stood up in March 1941 as the "Truman Committee," is the oldest subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (formerly the Committee on Governme ...
(PSI),
Senator Joseph McCarthy, suspected a spy ring still existed in the Signal Corps labs. At first, McCarthy conducted his hearings behind closed doors, but opened them to the public on 24 November 1953. Extensive
Congressional hearings were continued in 1955 under the chairmanship of Senator
John McClellan of Arkansas.
In the 1950s the Army Pictorial Service produced a series of television programs called ''
The Big Picture'' that were often aired on American television. The last episode was produced in 1971.
On 18 December 1958, with
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ar ...
assistance, the Signal Corps launched its first
communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Ear ...
,
Project SCORE, demonstrating the feasibility of worldwide communications in delayed and real-time mode by means of relatively simple active satellite relays.
The Vietnam War's requirement for high-quality telephone and message circuits led to the Signal Corps' deployment of
tropospheric-scatter radio links that could provide many circuits between locations more than 200 miles apart. Other developments included the
SYNCOM satellite communications service, and a commercial fixed-station system known as the Integrated Wideband Communications System, the Southeast Asia link in the
Defense Communications System
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA pr ...
.
Korean War and Vietnam War
During the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top: ...
and
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 ...
the Signal Corps operated officer candidate schools initially at Fort Monmouth in 1950–1953, graduating 1,234 officers, and at
Fort Gordon
Fort Gordon, formerly known as Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cyber Command, and the Cyber Center of Excellence. ...
in 1965–1968, which produced 2,213 signal officers. (The World War II Signal OCS program at Fort Monmouth, from 1941–1946 graduated 21,033 Signal Corps officers.)
Modern warfare utilizes three main sorts of signal soldiers. Some are assigned to specific military bases ("Base Ops"), and they are charged with installation, operation and maintenance of the base communications infrastructure along with hired civilian contracted companies. Others are members of non-signal Army units, providing communications capability for those with other jobs to accomplish (e.g. infantry, medical, armor, etc.) in much the same way as, say, the unit supply sections, unit clerks, or chemical specialists. The third major sort of signaleer is one assigned to a signal unit. That is to say, a unit whose only mission is to provide communications links between the Army units in their area of operations and other signal nodes in further areas served by other signal units.
Sending radio signals across the vast Pacific Ocean had always been unreliable. In August 1964, radio communications across the sea were given a huge boost in quality: The first satellite terminal ever installed in a combat zone was installed in Ba Queo, near
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, led by Warrant Officer Jack Inman. This enabled trustworthy communications to Hawaii, and thereby to Washington, D.C.
From north to south, communicating across the varied landscapes of Vietnam presented a variety of challenges, from mountains to jungle. The answer came by utilizing the technology of "troposcatter". A radio signal beamed up into the atmosphere is "bounced" back down to Earth with astonishingly good results, bypassing debilitating terrain. The Army had little experience with this technology, so they contracted the development of the systems to Page Engineering. In January 1962,
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the ...
approved the system of troposcatter units under the operational name of BACKPORCH.
The escalation of the number of troops in the Vietnam War caused an increasing need for more communications infrastructure. In the spring of 1966 the assorted Signal units were reassigned to the newly formed
1st Signal Brigade. By the close of 1968 this brigade consisted of six signal groups, and 22 signal battalions—roughly 23,000 soldiers.
The first
Vietnam War death on the battlefield was a Signal Corps radio operator,
SP4 SP4 may refer to:
* SP4, an album by Sneaker Pimps
* Sp4 transcription factor, a human gene
* Savoia-Pomilio SP.4, a reconnaissance and bomber aircraft built in Italy during the First World War
* The Saint Patrick's Day Four
* Service pack 4 in c ...
James Thomas Davis of the 3rd Radio Research Unit of the
United States Army Security Agency.
Post Vietnam and Gulf War
A major program in 1988 was the initial production and deployment phase of the mobile-subscriber equipment (MSE) system. The MSE system called for setting up the equivalent of a
mobile telephone network on a battlefield, allowing a commander or
Tactical Operations Center (TOC) to connect mobile telephones and fax machines in vehicles with each other, sending and receiving secure information. Talking through signal nodes, MSE established a seamless connection from the battlefield even back to commercial telephone lines. Significant to the Signal soldiers, MSE was fielded on the backs of
Humvee, rather than on the larger, less-mobile
M35 2-1/2 ton cargo trucks—the "deuce and a half".
By 1990, most Army units had replaced their older
VRC-12 series FM radios for the new
SINCGARS ("SINgle-Channel Ground-Air Radio Systems") family of equipment. Rather than sending a signal along one signal frequency, the SINCGARS radios sent its signals across many frequencies,
"hopping" from one frequency to another at high speed. This allowed many nets to share an already-crowded frequency spectrum. Later generations of these radios combined the
communications security (COMSEC) encryption devices with the receiver/transmitter, making a single easier-to-program unit. Most significant, the SINCGARS radios could send and receive digital traffic with great fidelity. By the advent of
Operation Desert Shield
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
, all Army units were deployed using the most secure FM communications in the world. The SINCGARS radios have a failure rate in extreme heat of once every 7,000 hours compared to the VRC-12 series' failure rate of 2–300 hours.
Global War on Terror
Since 11 September 2001, the Signal Corps has been supporting the
Global War on Terror in both
Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Signal Corps is currently fielding the
Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (WIN-T). It will eventually provide "On-The-Move" down to the company level for maneuver, fires and aviation brigades, and will fully support the
Future Combat Systems
Future Combat Systems (FCS) was the United States Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009. Formally launched in 2003, FCS was envisioned to create new brigades equipped with new manned and unmanned vehicles linked by an unp ...
(FCS) program; and also provide protected satellite communications "On-The-Move" capability against jamming, detection and intercept and will be aligned with the Telecommunications Satellite (TSAT) program.
Military occupational specialties
Signal Corps
military occupational specialties are:
Enlisted
* 25B: Information Technology Specialist
* 25D: Cyber Network Defender
* 25E: Electromagnetic Spectrum Manager
* 25H: Network Communications Systems Specialist
* 25M: Multimedia Illustrator
* 25P: Microwave Systems Operator / Maintainer
* 25R: Visual Information Equipment Operator / Maintainer
* 25S: Satellite Communication Systems Operator / Maintainer
* 25T: Satellite / Microwave Systems Chief
*
25U: Signal Support Systems Specialist
* 25V: Combat Documentation / Production Specialist
* 25Z: Visual Information Operations Chief
* 26L: Microwave Radio Operator / Repairman
* 36C: Telephone Lineman / Field Wireman
* 68X: Armament and Electrical Systems Repairer AH-64 A and D models
* 94F: Computer/Detection Systems Repairer
* 74F: Computer Programmer Analyst
Warrant officer

* 255A Information Services Technician
*
255N Network Management Technician
* 255S Information Protection Technician
* 255Z Senior Signal Systems Technician
:Note 1: 250N has been changed to 255N.
:Note 2: 251A and 254A have been merged into 255A.
:Note 3: 255S is new.
Commissioned officer areas of concentration (AOC)
* 25A Signal Officer
Commissioned officer functional areas (FA)
* FA26A Telecommunications Systems Engineer
* FA26B Information Systems Engineer
Heraldic items
Coat of arms
* Shield: Argent, within a bordure tenne a baton fesswise or and suspended therefrom a signal flag gules charged at center with a square of the first, in chief a mullet bronze.
* Crest: On a wreath of the colors
argent
In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions t ...
and tenne a dexter hand couped at the wrist, clenched, palm affronte, grasping three forked lightning flashes, all proper, flashes argent.
* Motto: ''Pro Patria Vigilans'' (Watchful for the Country).
* The U.S. Army Signal Corps March: "From flag and torch in the Civil War, to signal satellites afar, we give our Army the voice to give command on battlefield or global span, in combat, we're always in the fight we speed the message day or night, technicians too, ever skillful, ever watchful, we're the Army Signal Corps."
* Symbolism:
# Orange and white are the colors traditionally associated with the Signal Corps.
# The signal flag suspended from a baton is adopted from a badge that originated in 1865 and was called the Order of the Signal Corps.
# The bronze battle star represents formal recognition for participation in combat. It adorned a signal flag and was first awarded to Signal Corps soldiers in 1862.
Branch insignia
* The Signal Corps branch insignia is represented by two signal flags crossed, dexter flag white with a red center, the sinister flag red with a white center, staffs gold, with a flaming torch of gold color metal upright at center of crossed flags.
# "Crossed flags" have been used by the Signal Corps since 1868, when they were prescribed for wear on the uniform coat by enlisted men of the Signal Corps.
# In 1884, a burning torch was added to the insignia and the present design adopted on 1 July 1884.
# The flags and torch are symbolic of signaling or communication.
Regimental Distinctive Insignia
* Description: A gold color metal and enamel device that consists of a gold eagle grasping a horizontal baton from which is suspended a red signal flag with a white center, enclosing the flag from a star at the bottom, a wreath of laurel all gold and at top left and right a white scroll inscribed PRO PATRIA at left and VIGILANS at right in gold.
* Symbolism:
# The gold eagle holds in his talons a golden baton, from which descends a signal flag.
# The design originated in 1865 from a meeting of Signal Corps officers, led by Major
Albert J. Myer, the chief signal officer, in Washington, D.C.
# The badge was a symbol of faithful service and good fellowship for those who served together in war and was called the Order of the Signal Corps.
# The motto ''Pro Patria Vigilans'' (Watchful for the Country) was adopted from the Signal School insignia and serves to portray the cohesiveness of Signal soldiers and their affiliation with their regimental home.
# The laurel wreath depicts the myriad achievements through strength made by the corps since its inception.
# The battle star centered on the wreath represents formal recognition for participation in combat. It adorned a signal flag and was first awarded to Signal Corps soldiers in 1862. The battle star typifies the close operational relationship between the combined arms and the Signal Corps.
Inception
The Signal Corps was authorized as a separate branch of the Army by
Act of Congress on 3 March 1863 (Public Law No. 58 Article VIII, Section 17 and 18). However, the Signal Corps dates its existence from 21 June 1860, when Congress authorized the appointment of one signal officer in the Army, and a War Department order carried the following assignment: "Signal Department—Assistant Surgeon Albert J. Myer to be Signal Officer, with the rank of Major, 17 June 1860, to fill an original vacancy."
Branch color
Orange with white piping. Orange was selected in 1872 as the Signal Corps branch color. In 1902, the white piping was added to conform to the custom that prevailed of having piping of a different color for all branches except the line branches.
Notable members
Notable members of the Signal Corps include General of the Army (later General of the Air Force)
Henry H. Arnold,
Frank Capra,
John Cheever,
Frank Lautenberg
Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (; January 23, 1924 June 3, 2013) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was or ...
,
Stan Lee,
Russ Meyer
Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fe ...
,
Tony Randall,
Jean Shepherd,
John C. Holmes,
Julius Rosenberg,
Darryl Zanuck,
Samuel Alito, and
Carl Foreman.
Five members of the Signal Corps have been awarded the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
:
* Pfc.
Will C. Barnes
Will Croft Barnes (June 21, 1858 – December 17, 1936), a private in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, was distinguished for his action in the battle at Fort Apache, Arizona Territory on September 11, 1881. When Fort Apache was besieged by warriors o ...
, for actions during the
Indian Wars
* 1Lt.
Gordon Johnston, for actions during the
Philippine–American War
The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...
* 1Lt.
Charles E. Kilbourne, for actions during the Philippine–American War
* Pvt.
Morgan D. Lane, for actions during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
* BG
Adolphus Greely, for life service to the Signal Corps and Army Service from the American Civil War until 1908
See also
*
List of U.S. Signal Corps Vehicles
*
Ghost Army (''Operation Quicksilver'')
*
Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Signal Command (Army)
*
Joint Electronics Type Designation System
The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System (AN System. JAN) and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Depa ...
*
Russian Signal Troops
Notes
References
The definitive website on all things historical for the Signal Corps; names of officers that served, enlisted, stories, families and friends, their lives, and moreList of all Signal Corps Officers that graduated from Army Signal Corps Officer Candidate School during WWII, Korea and Vietnam eras. Includes key enlisted support personnel, graduates of Australian Signal Corps OCS program, et al. Also includes an archive of min-biographies for many of the over 27,000 Officers involved.Signal Corps in the Civil WarSignal Corps History
External links
*
ttp://www.history.army.mil/banner_images/focus/150th_signal_corps.html 150th Anniversary Portalat the
United States Army Center of Military History
The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the A ...
Army Lineage Series – Signal CorpsU.S. Army Signal Center, Fort GordonU.S. Army Signal Officer Candidate School AssociationSignal Corps Regimental Association (SCRA)Signal Corps MOS CommunitySCRA, Adolphus Greely ChapterSCRA, Greater Atlanta ChapterSCRA, Liberty ChapterSignal Corps in the Civil War and Military TelegraphsSignal Corps MuseumVoice of Iron: The 143rd Signal Battalion, 3rd Armor DivisionUnited States Army Signal Corps Officer Candidate School AssociationFeb 1919 Popular Science article about a method to replace semaphore flags with a swinging dot signal: ''Wigwagging is Now Done by Machine'' Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
monthly, February 1919, page 82
*
Service: Story of the Signal Corps'
*
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Signal Corps
Signals intelligence
Electronic warfare
Military units and formations established in 1860
1860 establishments in the United States
Articles containing video clips
Military communications corps