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Military Organization
How the military is organized. Run by Department of Defense (Pentagon); Oversees Departments
of Army, Navy and Air Force; Marine Corp is branch of the Navy—a 'force in readiness';
often first branch to enter fight; Coast Guard is part of military only in wartime; otherwise
run by Homeland Security; Those in Army called soldiers, in Navy called sailors, in Air Force
called airmen and in Marines called marines
How the military is used to fight wars. President is Commander-in-Chief of U.S. military; He
gives orders to the Secretary of Defense (a civilian) who, in turn, gives orders to the
unified combatant commander responsible for the area where the war will be fought; Unified
Combatant Command, which commands troops in battle, is not organized by service branch.
Each unified commander is responsible for a large part of the world (Europe; South America)
or a broad area of expertise (transportation); Army, Navy and Air Force each have a civilian
secretary and a military chief of staff (highest officer in Marines is commandant); and Four
top military leaders make up Joint Chiefs of Staff with chairman and vice chairman.
These six officers advise the president
For perspective, consider General Martin E. Dempsey, (as of January, 2013) who is the
18th and current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Barak Obama. He is
a 1974 graduate of West Point and a remarkable three Masters degrees including an MA in English
from Duke University (1988), a Master of Military Art and Science from the U.S. Army Command
and General Staff College (1995), and an MS degree in national security and strategic
studies, National War College.