Facts About The US Armed Forces

June 5, 2017 | Josh Mendelssohn

Facts About The US Armed Forces


Composed of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, the U.S. Armed Forces is one of the world's largest and most powerful militaries. Under the direct command of the President of the United States (who serves as Commander-in-Chief), and controlled by the Department of Defense, the 2-million(ish) men and women of the United States Armed Forces serve to protect and advance the interests of Americans, at home and abroad.

Here are a few things you might not know about the U.S. military.


U.S. military Facts

44. Happy... June 14th?

The US Army is actually older than the United States itself.

At the outset of the Revolutionary War against the British, colonial rebels had no access to a standing army. Up until that point, individual colonies had protected their interests through the force of militias, which were little more than haphazard collections of part-time fighters.

So on April 23, 1775, in order to prepare for a full-blown military engagement with the British, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress called for an organized colonial army of 26 regiments. It was the first formalized authorization of a continental army. Later, this authorization would be further ratified by the 2nd Continental Congress, on June 14, 1775, which is celebrated as the birthdate of the US Armed Forces to this day.

US Armed Forces FactsWikipedia

43. You Got Served

America has a fairly long and consistent tradition of electing veterans to the highest office in the land. Of the 45 men to be elected as President of the United States, 32 of them had served in the military in some capacity.

15 presidents served in the Army/Army reserve, nine of them served in state militias, six served in the Navy/Naval reserve, two served in the Continental Army.

GettyImages-3364959 EisenhowerGetty Images

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States

42. They Helped Put America on the Map

In 2018, it might be hard for us to imagine a time when actually mapping the country was still a legitimately challenging proposition. Near-perfect maps at the touch of a finger are just something we take for granted as part of daily life.

But in the early days of the United States, not only was cartography an imperfect science... the lack of accurate maps of U.S. was also a serious threat to national security. Thus, the U.S. Army was actually in charge of exploring and mapping most of America. For example, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was composed of Army officers and non-commissioned officers.

 

Sacajawea Guiding the Lewis And Clark Expedition by Alfred RussellGetty Images

41. Let ‘Er Rip!

The military has a silent version of Velcro that reduces the ripping noise by 95%. However the military has started replacing Velcro with buttons as buttons are silents and are not affected by mud.

U.S. Armed Forces factsGetty Images

Advertisement

40. The Day of Days

Armed Forces Day was created in August of 1949 and first observed on May 20th, 1950.

It replaced the separate Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Days.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

39. May I?

Because the National Guard and Reserve units have unique training schedules, they are allowed to celebrate Armed Forces Day/Week at their own convenience, anytime during the month of May.

Employees should have been fired factsPixabay

38. That Includes the Cheese

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense... the organization responsible for maintaining and organizing the standing U.S. Army. It employs about 24,000 people in Arlington County, Virginia.

The current building was constructed during World War II. The size and scope of the military had expanded massively, in response to the ongoing conflict, and so the logistics and organizational efforts of the Department of Defense required a larger, more robust complex. It's for this reason that, unlike many other distinguished buildings (both military and civilian), the Pentagon contains no marble. Italy is the world's main source of marble... but their materials were pretty much off the table, as the country fought alongside Nazi Germany and the other Axis powers.

Obviously, it would hardly have been convenient to put the entire war on hold, just so the Pentagon could get some good marble for its foyer. So they had to go without. Then again, considering the Pentagon is the world's largest office building by a large amount, with about 6 million square-feet of space at its disposal, it's not like the building isn't already impressive enough as it is.

 

US Armed Forces FactsWikipedia

37. Makes Cents

As should be expected, the defacto-currency in U.S. military bases around the world is... the U.S. dollar. Of course.

But, although your greenbacks will no doubt be accepted, there is actually one form of American currency that simply won't work: the penny.

Shops at US military bases around the world have chosen not to take pennies in a transaction.  They reckon that the cost of shipping all those little Abe Lincoln's all around the world actually adds up to more than the value of the coins themselves.

So there you have it: in the eyes of the American military, the U.S. literally isn't worth its own weight.

US Armed Forces FactsPx Here

36. A Small Nation

As of 2017, there are 1.4 million personnel on active duty for the U.S. Armed Forces. That goes along with another 800,000 on reserve, for a grand total of 2.2 million.

The U.S. military has a population larger than some small countries. So when you hear about the absolutely gargantuan costs of clothing, feeding, and housing our troops, you begin to understand why.

US Armed Forces FactsFlickr

Factinate

Sign up to our newsletter.

History’s most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Making distraction rewarding since 2017.

Thank you!
Error, please try again.

35. A Deployer Employer

The Army is America’s second largest employer. The largest employer? Walmart. But they don’t have those super awesome tanks. We don’t think.

Niccolo Machiavelli FactsShutterstock

Advertisement

34. Well Isn’t That Special?

The most common rank among U.S. Army soldiers is, by far, Specialist. Across active duty and reserve ranks, specialists make up over a quarter of the U.S. Army.

Formally, the rank of Specialist makes up one of the four classes of junior enlisted ranks in the Armed Forces. It is considered to be above Private, First Class.

Interestingly, while a Specialist is equal in terms of paygrade to a Corporal, they are not considered to be Non-Commissioned-Officers, whereas Corporals are. This positions a Corporal higher on the hierarchical totem-pole than a Specialist, despite their being paid a similar amount. All of this has led to the insignia of the U.S. Army Specialist to be referred to among other members of the service as the "Sham Shield"... the idea being that any person who has risen to the rank of Specialist without earning the distinction of Corporal, is most likely incapable of leadership. The "Sham Shield" is said (unfairly, we should add) to be the mark of a potentially incompetent person.

US Armed Forces FactsNavy Live

33. This Land is Our Land

The Army owns 24, 000 square miles of land.

That means if the U.S. Army were a state, it would be the 42nd largest in America

US Armed Forces FactsPicryl

32. The Forecast was...

In 1942, the US military responded to a suspected Japanese air raid over Los Angeles by firing 1,400 anti-air artillery shells and thousands of .50 caliber rounds. It turned out to be a weather balloon, but they sure showed that weather balloon what’s what.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

LA harbor lit up with searchlights 

31. Gassy

One interesting and under-

During World War II, supporting a single soldier on the battlefield took about one gallon of fuel per day.

Today, though, our fuel consumption. an individual soldier requires more than 22 gallons of fuel per day.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

30. Really Gassy

The US Army burns through nearly a billion gallons of fuel every year. However, the Department of Defense is been trying to bring down its energy usage citing a dependence on fossil fuels as a major national-security risk and logistical problem for troops in the field.

Anne Frank FactsPixabay

29. Defense! Defense! Defense!

After World War II, the Department of War was renamed the Department of Defense.

US Armed Forces FactsPicryl

Advertisement

28. The Bigliest Military

The US military budget is largest in the world and currently spends around US $600 billion per year, which is more than the next seven nations combined. They have proposed increasing military spending by another $54 billion in 2017.

Spider-Man Movies FactsPixabay

27. Say It, Don’t Spray It!

In the 60s, the US military secretly sprayed zinc cadmium sulfide on thousands of people in "a densely populated slum district." in St. Louis. They said it was a smoke screen test in case the Russians attacked but in 1994 the government revealed it was a part of a biological weapons program known as Operation LAC (Large Area Coverage).

Soubor:Fairchild C-119B of the 314th Troop Carrier Group in flight, 1952Wikipedia

A C-119 Flying Boxcar, the type of plane used to release the chemicals 

26. What Happens in Niš

The only direct military confrontation between the US and the USSR happened in October of 1944 over the Serbian town of Niš. Officially, each country mistook the other for Germans but the fine details are still top secret.

Flying fortress destroyed over nis yardsWikimedia Commons

B-17 hit by flak over Nis

25. And That’s the Depleted Version

The US and Russian military use extremely dense depleted uranium bullets that can pierce vehicle armor. Once the bullet pierces the armor, it gets sharper and catches fire, hopefully igniting fuel and causing the vehicle to explode.

JFK Assassination factsShutterstock

 

24. The Nerve!

The US Army secretly dumped millions of pounds of nerve agents into the ocean in at least 26 locations off both coasts. Ships were loaded with containers of the gasses, towed to deep water dump sites and were sunk. They can’t say exactly where they were dumped because the records are either sketchy, missing, or destroyed.

US Armed Forces FactsWikipedia

23. Highway to the Danger Zone

Navy recruiters staked out movie theaters after the release of Top Gun in 1986 and, according to the US Navy, the number of men who wanted to become Naval Aviators went up by 500 percent.

US Armed Forces FactsFlickr

Advertisement

22. Multipurpose

Part of the standard US military standard Parachute Park Survival Kit (SRU-16) is a non-lubricated condom. Apart from its originally intended function, it can also serve as an emergency canteen capable of holding up to 1 litre of water.

How Cheaters Got Caught FactsPixabay

21. All Hail Great Leader

The US Navy has only ever had one ship captured. In 1968, North Korea captured the USS Pueblo, a spy ship. The ship is currently a tourist attraction in Pyongyang.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

20. These Trucks Were Made For Walking

Also in 1968, the US Army developed a four legged robot called the Walking Truck that was powerful enough to lift a car. It never made it into service because operating it was apparently exhausting, thus defeating the purpose of having a robot in the first place.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

19. Whatever Floats Your Boat

The US Navy still operates ships with hulls made of wood. These ships, known as avenger-class ships, are designed to clear mines from important waterways.

US Armed Forces FactsWikipedia

18. That’s Super

The USS John C. Stennis, a 1,092 foot long nuclear-powered super-carrier has a more powerful air force than 70% of all countries.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

17. Portraits vs. Landscape

The US Navy has a special research vessel called the FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) that can operate both vertically and horizontally. Each room has two doors for each configuration and the toilet seats even flip 90 degrees. It also very often confuses other ships, who think it’s a capsized vessel. You could say it… flips people out.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

16. The Coast with the Most

Every day, the Coast Guard seizes 169 pounds of marijuana and 306 pounds of cocaine, worth about $9,589,000.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

15. More of a Casual Declaration

US Congress has only officially declared war eleven times. Instead of formally declaring war, the US has instead been using the term “authorization to use military force,” which is really just a euphemism for “opening a can of whoop-ass.”

Edward IV FactsGetty Images

14. Just a Wee Bit Excessive

Since 1945, the United States has produced more than 70,000 nuclear warheads, which is more than all the other nuclear weapon states combined. It would only take a fraction of those warheads to render the earth uninhabitable. The budget for nuclear weaponry actually does not fall under the Department of Defense, but the Department of Energy, which… makes sense.

Quiz: Sounds Fake But TrueGettyImages

13. Seeing Stars

The United States has not had a 5-Star General since Sept. 22nd, 1950. Only nine people have ever held that distinction.

US Armed Forces FactsWikipedia

US President Harry Truman pinning the five-star general insignia onto Omar Bradley's uniform

12. Trash Talk

In Afghanistan, the US military’s psychological warfare department (PSYOPS) used loudspeakers to try to taunt enemy fighters into unwinnable battles by calling them “lady men” and “cowardly dogs.”

Internet factsPxHere

11. Penta-Gone

A single day in Afghanistan costs the government more than it did to build the entire Pentagon, which means that if it weren’t for the Taliban, we could have SO many Pentagons right now.

US Armed Forces FactsWikipedia

10. Iraq-ing up a Bill

In 2008, the Pentagon spent more money in five seconds in Iraq than the average American earned in a year.

Quiz: MonarchiesShutterstock

9. The Excess

The Department of Defense Excess Property Program hands out over a half-a-billion dollars in free surplus military-grade weaponry to state and local law enforcement every year.

The resulting "militarization" of local-level law enforcement has thus been a contentious issue in U.S. politics. Some argue that the increasingly well-equipped officers of the law are a necessary response to the changing dangers of the 21st Century. Old-school tactics, they argue, just wouldn't suffice today. Meanwhile, others see the build-up of hardware as a growing danger to the fundamental principles of liberty. After all, what can common citizenry do against such formidable displays of strength? The Revolutionary War would have been a whole lot shorter if the British loyalists were fighting muskets with 10-foot-tall "Fortified Vehicles"...

US Armed Forces FactsFlickr

8. It Only Does Everything

In 2010, the US government used 1,760 PlayStation 3s to build a supercomputer for the Department of Defense because it was both cost and environmentally efficient.

Molly Brown factsShutterstock

7. This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Anymore

Until WWII, the shoulder insignia of the US Army’s 45th Infantry Division contained the swastika, which was a common Native American symbol at the time. And then some guy with a stupid moustache ruined it for everyone.

Close-Up Of Hand Giving Thumbs Down.Getty Images

6. Poppycock

In 2007, the US Defense Security Service issued a warning that Canadians were planting spy coins on US army contractors. The coins turned out to be quarters with the colored Remembrance Day poppy.

Star Trek factsPixabay

5. Up Up and Away

The US Air Force honors their dead with a fly-by salute known as “The Missing Man” in which the formation flies low and the leader’s wingman performs a rapid climb, representing an ascent to heaven.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

4. All About Optics

In 1929, US Army Air Corps Colonel John Macready asked Bausch & Lomb, then an optical lens company, to invent sunglasses that would ban the sun’s rays and prevent his pilots from getting headaches. This is how Ray Bans were born.

US Armed Forces FactsWikimedia Commons

3. Get to Da Choppa!

The reason why many US Army helicopters (Apache, Lakota, Cheyenne) are named after Native American tribes is because the first US Air Force bases were located on native reserves.

Apache extraction exerciseWikimedia Commons

2. PETA Is Not Impressed

The US Navy has a program that trains sea lions and dolphins to perform tasks such as ship and harbor protection, mine detection and clearance, and equipment recovery. But if there’s anything we’ve learned from Finding Nemo, it’s that seagulls are the ones who are really good at detecting mines.

Adam Levine quizShutterstock

1. Unidentified Jolly Object

On Christmas Eve in 1955, a newspaper ad told kids they could call Santa and published his number. Unfortunately, they published the wrong number and the calls went to US Air Defense Command. The colonel on duty told his team to give kids Santa’s “current location.” This has since become a tradition and they take calls from over 200 countries.

People Share Their Most Interesting Mall Santa ExperiencesShutterstock

Sources:  1 2 3 4 5 6


More from Factinate

Featured Article

My mom never told me how her best friend died. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery.

Dark Family Secrets

Dark Family Secrets Exposed

Nothing stays hidden forever—and these dark family secrets are proof that when the truth comes out, it can range from devastating to utterly chilling.
April 8, 2020 Samantha Henman

Featured Article

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.

Madame de Pompadour Facts

Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.
December 7, 2018 Kyle Climans

More from Factinate

Featured Article

I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life.

These People Got Genius Revenges

When someone really pushes our buttons, we'd like to think that we'd hold our head high and turn the other cheek, but revenge is so, so sweet.
April 22, 2020 Scott Mazza

Featured Article

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history.

Catherine of Aragon Facts

Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but very few people know her even darker history.
June 7, 2018 Christine Tran



Dear reader,


Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? We’re always looking for your input! Please reach out to us to let us know what you’re interested in reading. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your time!


Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. We want our readers to trust us. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your help!


Warmest regards,



The Factinate team




Want to learn something new every day?

Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter.

Thank you!

Error, please try again.