Human-cost band
not one war -- an institution; human cost sits in the wars this atlas already files
Civil War, WW2, Korea, and Vietnam ranges live on those war pages. This page's cost is also fiscal (a permanent large establishment after 1950) and social (draft, then volunteer inequality debates).
VA policy is a domestic ledger of the institution.
Bands
Dated span (1775 origins; 1861-65 mass army; 1941-45 global peak; 1947 National Security Act as the modern department hinge)
United States military is taught as 1775 origins; 1861-65 mass army; 1941-45 global peak; 1947 National Security Act as the modern department hinge. 1775 and 1973 / 1986 are the usual poles.
Theatre (A continental republic that became a gl.)
A continental republic that became a global basing and alliance system after 1941 is the geography of the ledger -- cities, seas, plants, or ministries as the file requires.
AEF in France
1917-18: A late mass expedition.
MacArthur relieved
1951-04-11: Civilian control as a crisis.
Regions
A continental republic that became a global basing and alliance system after 1941
Core theatre of United States military (1775 origins; 1861-65 mass army; 1941-45 global peak; 1947 National Security Act as the modern department hinge). The first industrial-scale US force.
Republic to mass war
1775-1865: Militia politics then Grant's war.
Department and Korea
1947-53: A legal hinge and a hot war.
Volunteer and joint
After 1973: AVF; Goldwater-Nichols; long wars as public file -- not a tracker.
US / UK / AU / CA classrooms
Where United States military (1775 origins; 1861-65 mass army; 1941-45 global peak; 1947 National Security Act as the modern department hinge) is taught -- or skipped -- in US/UK/AU/CA surveys, often beside 1939-45 rather than beside United States military's own calendar.
Korean comparative reader
A Korean audience may read United States military (1775 origins; 1861-65 mass army; 1941-45 global peak; 1947 National Security Act as the modern department hinge) beside 1950-53, Inchon, and the ROK alliance story even when the campaign was in A continental republic that became a global basing and alliance system after 1941.
Key numbers
Span1775 origins; 1861-65 mass army; 1941-4.
Cost bandnot one war -- an institution; human co.
TheatreA continental republic that became a gl.
Hero articleUnited States Armed Forces
Makers
George Washington
George Washington (Commander / president) is a named maker of the United States military story. The civic origin name -- a small force and a large precedent about stepping down.
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (General / president) is a named maker of the United States military story. The Civil War closer -- a mass-army name. Cost lives on that war's page.
George C. Marshall
George C. Marshall (General / secretary) is a named maker of the United States military story. The 1939-45 institutional builder and a later Korea-era statesman -- the anti-star-system star.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower (General / president) is a named maker of the United States military story. Europe's named Supreme Commander and a 1950s president of the alliance age -- including a Korea endgame in 1953 politics.
Chester W. Nimitz
Chester W. Nimitz (Admiral) is a named maker of the United States military story. The Pacific naval face of 1941-45 -- Midway belongs on its battle page.
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (General) is a named maker of the United States military story. Inchon's public author and the April 1951 relief -- both sentences required.
"Forgotten war" is a US memory cost, not a small war.
ROK dead are not a US footnote -- see the Korean War page.