The Army of the United States was one of the four major service components of the United States Army. Today, the Army consists of the Regular Army, federalized Army National Guard units, and the United States Army Reserve. Previously however the Army of the United States was a component.United States Code, Title 32, Subtitle A, Chapter V, Subchapter F, Part 571 Subpart A, Section 571.1(c/3) However, the Army of the United States has been inactive since the suspension of the draft in 1973 and the U.S. military's transition to an all-volunteer force.Bailey, Beth, "America's Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force", Belknap Press; (23 November 2009) Personnel serving in the United States Army during a major national emergency or armed conflict (either voluntarily or involuntarily) were enlisted or inducted into the Army of the United States without specifying service in a component. It also includes the "Retired Reserve". Those are retired soldiers who 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.U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1United States Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001, 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 the U.S. Volunteers, persons holding a brevetted rank, and the U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps.
History
Spanish–American War The Act To provide for temporarily increasing the military establishment of the United States in time of war, and for other purposes of April 22, 1898, provided for a presidential call for two-year volunteers.McKinney, William A. & Kemper, Jr., Peter (1905) The Federal Statutes Annotated. Edward Thompson Company, vol. 5, pp. 1017-1023. Shortly after the declaration of war, the President called for and promptly received 125,000 volunteers. Another call for 75,000 volunteers was soon filled. The organization of the Volunteer Army took place through mobilization of existing units of the organized state militias.Lerwell 1954op.cit., p. 146.
The states raised two regiments, two squadrons and nine troops of volunteer cavalry; one regiment, 17 batteries of volunteer artillery, and 119 regiments and 13 battalions of volunteer infantry. The federal government raised three regiments of United States volunteer engineers, three regiments of United States volunteer cavalry (among them the Rough Riders), and 10 regiments of United States volunteer infantry of men immune to tropical diseases.Kreidberg & Merton 1955, op.cit., p. 162.
The aforementioned act provided that the organized and active land forces of the United States would consist of the Army of the United States and of the militia of the several states when called into the service of the United States. In time of war, this army contained two branches designated as the Regular Army and the Volunteer Army of the United States. In August 1898, the strength of the Regular Army was 56,362 men; and of the Volunteer Army, 216,256 men.Lerwell 1954 op.cit., p. 149.
World War I The original concept of a non-Regular Army component, existing to augment the standing military, can trace its origins to the United States Volunteers. 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, states contributed men to the "Volunteer Army" (more commonly known as the National Army).* "The Draft Force of the United States Army", (Yarborough, William P., Lieutenant General, RA), Self Published, 1973 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, 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. 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. 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."Conscription Order #1", Office of the War Department, Records of the Personnel Division (G-1), U.S. National Archives Record Group 165 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. Enlistments in the Regular Army were suspended for the duration of the war, and 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.Public Law 338, 77th Congress, December 13, 1941
The first commissioned officers serving in the Army of the United States were appointed from the Regular Army. 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" since the officer was likely to revert to permanent rank if transferred home from the theater of operations.Bell, William G., "Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff", Center of Military History, United States Army, 1997
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, who served as General of the Army, rose from a colonel to five-star general in three years, holding one-star and two-star ranks for only four months each. 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.Haskew, Michael E., "West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On. Minneapolis", Quarto Publishing Group (2014)
Divisions of the Army of the United States
Division Date Activated Campaign Participation Credit 11th Airborne Division 25 February 1943 New Guinea, Southern Philippines, Luzon 13th Airborne Division 15 August 1943 No combat 17th Airborne Division 15 April 1943 Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, Central Europe 101st Airborne Division 15 August 1942 Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 5th Armored Division 10 October 1941 Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe 6th Armored Division 15 February 1942 Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 7th Armored Division 15 February 1942 Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 8th Armored Division 1 April 1942 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 9th Armored Division 15 July 1942 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 10th Armored Division 15 July 1942 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 11th Armored Division 15 August 1942 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 12th Armored Division 15 September 1942 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 13th Armored Division 15 October 1942 Rhineland, Central Europe 14th Armored Division 15 November 1942 Rhineland, Central Europe 16th Armored Division 15 July 1943 Central Europe 20th Armored Division 15 March 1943 Central Europe 25th Infantry Division 1 October 1941 Central Pacific, Guadalcanal, Northern Solomons, Luzon 42nd Infantry Division 14 July 1943 Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, Central Europe 63rd Infantry Division 15 June 1943 Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, Central Europe 65th Infantry Division 16 August 1943 Rhineland, Central Europe 66th Infantry Division 15 April 1943 Northern France 69th Infantry Division 15 May 1943 Rhineland, Central Europe 70th Infantry Division 15 June 1943 Rhineland, Central Europe 71st Infantry Division 15 July 1943 Rhineland, Central Europe 75th Infantry Division 15 April 1943 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 92nd Infantry Division 15 October 1942 North Apennines, Po Valley 93rd Infantry Division 15 May 1942 New Guinea, Northern Solomons, Bismarck Archipelago 106th Infantry Division 15 March 1943 Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe 10th Mountain Division 15 July 1943 North Apennines, Po Valley
In 1946, with postwar demobilization, the Army of the United States was suspended, along with the draft. 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, 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. It was disbanded in 1974.
Service equivalents
There is no equivalent to the Army of the United States in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard. During World War II, officers who joined one of these branches were typically commissioned into the "Naval Reserve," "Marine Corps Reserve," or "Coast Guard Reserve" 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 personnel, who held AUS ranks, into the newly created United States Air Force.United States National Archives, Archival service record of Curtis Lemay (Summary of Service), released Nov 2008
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