The Department of the Army

The Army predates the country. The Continental Congress created it on June 14, 1775, a year before independence, and named George Washington to command it the next day. The War Department, established in 1789, ran the Army for 158 years as a full cabinet department whose secretary sat beside the Secretaries of State and Treasury. The National Security Act of 1947 demoted it to the Department of the Army, one of three military departments inside the new defense establishment, and stripped away the air arm to form the Air Force. The Secretary of the Army has not held cabinet rank since.

The department's job is to provide trained and ready land forces to the combatant commanders. It does not fight wars itself. The Secretary of the Army, a civilian confirmed by the Senate, oversees recruiting, training, equipment, bases, and personnel policy, assisted by the Chief of Staff of the Army, the service's senior general and a member of the Joint Chiefs. The force divides into the Regular Army of about 450,000 active soldiers, the Army National Guard of roughly 325,000 who serve their states until mobilized, and the Army Reserve of about 175,000. Taken together it is the largest of the services.

The Army also runs institutions that reach beyond warfighting. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages the nation's inland waterways, ports, flood control, and dams, and is the country's largest provider of outdoor recreation. The Military Academy at West Point has trained officers since 1802. Army Materiel Command runs the arsenals and depots. Army research laboratories developed everything from the internet's precursors to night vision. The department's budget runs to roughly 185 billion dollars a year, the largest share going to personnel.

The Army has struggled since 2022 to meet recruiting goals, shrinking the active force below what planners wanted before a rebound in 2024 and 2025. Debates over its future turn on whether the next war will look like the land campaign in Ukraine, demanding tanks and artillery, or the Pacific contest with China, where the Navy and Air Force lead. The service has also absorbed repeated changes in leadership and policy from Washington, and the dismissal of senior generals in 2025 drew attention to the line between civilian control and political interference.