New United States Armed Forces

Despite major losses during the post-Collapse period, the United States Armed Forces, led by the Department of Defense, is still a potent fighting force and as of 2020 strong enough to outmatch any corporate security force despite being outnumbered by them. The DoD consists of four branches: the Army, Aerospace Force, Navy, and Marines. Reorganized into Combined Operational Groups in 1992-93, the military patrols the nation from both internal and external threats. The United States Navy is considered the most powerful navy in the world. The USAF maintains a large force of killer satellites, concealed drones, work habitats and massive battle stations in Low Earth Orbit. While the EEC is considered America's largest threat, the U.S. nuclear arsenal ensures that any EEC mass-driver attack from Luna will result in the complete destruction of the European mainland.

With the end of the Cold War, the large peacetime military that was maintained since WWII was reduced in size and scope owing to its large cost to the economy. The U.S. military disposed of the large units that used to dominate the battlefields of the world and opted for sets of small, fast, rapid deployment units that could act independently. These units were to incorporate their own organic support and, wherever possible, transport.

The U.S. Army
The Army is directly responsible for the internal and external land defense of the nation, and for fighting wars abroad. It is the largest branch of the armed forces of the United States of America. The United States army is the most powerful military force on the planet. However the government is unwilling to wield them to their advantage due to conflicts that could escalate into full wars that would damage the country more than it already has been. Because of this the US Army is rarely used for anything beyond its immediate sphere of influence within its borders, and or defense proposes.

Of special interest to military buffs and historians is the fairly recent addition of the Army Air Corps, the air wing of the Army. Like the Navy and Marine Corps, the Army now possesses its own air support and air force, no longer relying on the USAF for such things. The advantage of this is that the Army can build aircraft for multi-role purposes and specialize in ground attack, the real mission of air support, without having to rely on a reluctant Air Force for this. Many have compared the new Army Air Corps to the old Luftwaffe in function and design. For more on the history of this, see the United States Aerospace Force.

Organization
Administrative unit organization in the Army has not changed much since over a century ago: Units are still mostly divisions, around 10,000-15,000 men, split into three regiments. With the advent of the COG discipline, units are dispersed in regiments and battalions, as necessary. The practice is to assign units in battalions and not to split them any smaller. The actual unit sizes are as follows:
 * Division: Consisting of three regiments and a command battalion, this unit has around 5,000 fighting men and 5,000-7,500 support personnel. Armored divisions have around 2,300 fighting men, 450-500 armored fighting vehicles, and 5,000 support personnel. Led by a General.

The independent COG philosophy has caused the evolution of the seemingly command-heavy HQ battalion. In actuality, the HQ battalion of a regiment becomes the central command of an entire COG, and has to handle more weighty and more diverse command responsibilities than a regimental HQ of last century. In addition, extra "support" units (units added for special functions, like placing an engineer company with a motorized recon unit) are usually assigned with the HQ, to be used as needed. Once upon a time, battalions were entirely homogeneous, composed of like companies-an infantry battalion would have three infantry companies, an armor battalion, three armor companies, etc. This practice began to change during WWII, when armored infantry was included in armored formations-the importance of an infantry screen with armor was soon discovered. When the Army was reorganized, battalions were equipped with two homogeneous companies and an "organic" (that is, a natural part of the unit, not part of another unit that is attached) support company. Infantry battalions acquired a pair of artillery platoons and a heavy weapons support platoon. Armor battalions acquired a mobile artillery platoon and two armored infantry platoons. Tac-air groups retained the same formation, since they had almost always mixed different aircraft squadrons in the same group (air combat required, and still requires, too many specialist aircraft to make up homogeneous groups). The reasoning behind the fire team is that in close or urban combat, a squad can split up to cover more territory. Since the fire teams usually operate in close order to each other, they can, in essence, increase their effectiveness by 50%. Special forces units almost always split into fire teams, as their greater fire· power/training makes one of their fire teams more effective than a regular Army squad.
 * Regiment: A regiment is three battalions and a command battalion, adding up to 1,500 fighting men and around 2,000 support personnel. Armored regiments are 650 soldiers, 150 tanks, and 1,300-1,500 support personnel. Army Air Corps wings are two or three groups (the equivalent of a battalion), and have 300-450 fighting men, 145-220 aircraft, and 1,000-2,000 support personnel. Led by a Colonel.
 * Battalion: The main unit of battlefield combat, a battalion is three companies and a command platoon; 450 fighting men and 800-900 support personnel. Armored battalions are 200 fighting men, 47 armored fighting vehicles, and 200300 support personnel. Tac-air groups consist of two to three squadrons ( 100150 fighting men, 48· 72 aircraft, and 300500 support personnel). Led by a Major.
 * Company: The company is the smallest battlefield unit, aside from special forces units. It is exceedingly rare for a battlefield unit to be assigned in platoons or squads; instead, a company is usually assigned if the unit's specialty is desired in limited quantity (if you need tanks, for instance, you get 14 in a company instead of 4 in a platoon). A company is three platoons and a command section (a section is an archaic unit formed of two squads; the designation is now only used for special forces and command units)-140 men and 14 vehicles for an infantry unit, 55 men and 14 vehicles for an armored or artillery unit, and 35-50 pilots, 16-24 aircraft, and 100-150 support personnel for an AAC squadron. Please note that only the squadron has integral support personnel; the other companies usually provide their own basic support and receive more complex support from battalion level. Led by a Captain.
 * Platoon: A platoon is a basic fighting formation. While a company may have its component platoons spread out in separate order, usually the squads that make a platoon stick in close proximity, to provide mutual support. A platoon is three squads and a command squad, which means 40 infantry and four vehicles, or 16-20 men and four AFV's/aircraft (AAC "platoons" are called flights). The command squad of an infantry platoon usually contains communications, technical support (i.e., a Techie or two), and limited quantity of heavy weapons. Led by a Lieutenant (usually, the actual leadership comes from the Platoon Sergeant-the officer's there to give the orders).
 * Squad: 10 men and a vehicle, or 2-3 men and an AFV/aircraft. This is the lowest unit of an armored or AAC formation. Led by a Sergeant or Corporal. Special forces units, such as the Powered Armor Commandos, are trained, assigned, and operate in this size. Infantry squads in 2020 are almost always mobile infantry, equipped with a transport-regular infantry has a truck or APC, armored infantry has an IFV, and airmobile infantry has a helicopter or aerodyne.
 * Fire Team: The infantry split their squads into even smaller groups, consisting of a fire team leader (who may or may not have rank higher than Private; fire team leaders are frequently the squad leader and the next most competent leader in the squad), three riflemen, and a special weapons gunner.

Development
As a largely land-bound force, the Army is usually assigned to land patrols and duties. Armor regiments and battalions are deployed in the nation's interior and on the borders, as heavy reinforcements for lighter units and guards against foreign incursion. Infantry units are deployed everywhere, the unit orientation dependent on the terrain and duties-deploying a normal surface infantry unit in the western Rockies would be inadvisable, considering the mountainous terrain; an airmobile unit would be a much better choice. AAC air units are always deployed with regular surface Army units unless the COG has a Navy or Marine Corps air element included in it.

Tactics
Army tactics depend on the situation, like all tactics. Typical infantry tactics come in two varieties: urban and non-urban. Urban tactical infantry doctrine calls for each platoon to cover an area of two to three city blocks (or the equivalent), splitting up into fire teams to cover the area more completely. Each squad's two fire teams are to work in close coordination with each other, remaining in close proximity for mutual support. The command squad is usually held in reserve. Non-urban doctrine calls for each squad's fire teams to act as two halves of a coordinated whole, one fire team providing cover fire while the other fire team advances, then vice versa. This tactic is called "bounding overwatch." On the defensive, each fire team sets up to defend each other as well as the squad's position.

Armor tactics involve steering clear of urban situations as much as possible, since the close terrain of a city is a perfect lurking ground for well-armed infantry. In the open (which is where armor prefers to maneuver}, the "bounding overwatch" tactic is again used, but this time with entire platoons- as Platoon A advances, Platoon B provides covering fire, etc.

Support from artillery or aircraft is limited to destroying or pinning down enemy concentrations or strongholds. Since this support is less accurate and certainly less available than organic fire support (to a ground-pounder, "less accurate" means "it might miss and hit ME," and "less available" means "it ain't here right now when I need it", it is less a tool of short-ranged tactical goals (i.e., immediate objectives or when things go really wrong) and has to be planned, at least in order to h ave air support or artillery standing by and ready to help. Still, it's impressively handy when available.

Army Equipment
As noted in the Military Equipment section, the Army uses the Mk IV Assault Weapon as its standard rifle. An infantry soldier in the field is equipped with standard field armor, a pack, an IR poncho, a canteen, a first aid kit, two spare uniforms, a bedroll, a small tent, a flashlight, a small survival kit (matches, water purification pills, vitamins, fishhooks, line, etc.}, a bayonet-knife, five ammunition mags, four grenades (of varying types, depending upon assignment), and a small weapon-cleaning kit. Two riflemen and the fire team leader carry M-205 grenade launchers and five grenades of varying types; the other two carry Army LAWs or other portable anti vehicle weapons. The fifth man in a fire team carries a special weapon (e.g., M-12 CAW, M-60D machinegun, M-232 Squad Assault Weapon, M-212 grenade launcher). The two special weapons men in each squad carry different types of special weapons. Vehicle soldiers are equipped as regular soldiers, but use Militech Dragon assault rifles instead of the Mk IV Assault Weapon, and carry their field kits in their vehicles.

Army officers are equipped with a pistol and may have a rifle or submachinegun. They also have standard combat armor, binoculars, communications or artillery direction devices, and usually have their field kit carried by someone else.

The most common field vehicle is the Hummer, the all-purpose truck/jeep. The second most common field vehicle is the 2 l/2-ron truck. Army combat vehicles consist of the Darkwarrior motorcycle for recon troops, the M-11 IFV for armored infantry, the M-50 Hellfire Vehicle for anti-tank action, the M-11 MBT for heavy armor, the M-75 LBT for light armor, the AV-6 and UH-9 for airmobile transport, the A V -8 and AH-99 as gunship support, and the AV-9 for command, ECM, and special operations. The Army Air Corps makes extensive use of the Wasp fighter, the Overlord Airship for EW control, the Falcon-B for recon and courier transport, the Osprey for standard VTOL transport, the A-01 Blitz for ground attack, and the C-200 Universe for mass transport.