MILITARY MIGHT

ARMY
GEORGE
MEDAL OF HONOR
MICKEY MOUSE
JOHN PAUL JONES
BERETTA
HMMWV
NAVY
AIR CRAFT CARRIERS
BLACKHAWK
AIR FORCE
X-1
MARINES
APACHE
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER


ARMY

The Army is the oldest and largest of the military arms in America, dating back to the revolutionary war before there even was a place called The United States of America. In fact, the army won its first accolades at The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga on May 10th 1775. A month later, the infantry branch was established and the US Army was officially created by the Second Continental Congress. At that point, the Army consisted of six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland and two in Virginia.


GEORGE

George Washington became the first Commander in Chief of the Continental Army on July 3rd, 1775. The Army received it’s first official training from former Prussian Officer Baron Friedrich Von Steuben at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778.


MEDAL OF HONOR

The Army’s Medal of Honor dates back to the Civil War, it was established by a Congressional Act on July 12th, 1862.


MICKEY MOUSE

When Allied Forces landed on Normandy Beach to liberate France on D-Day in June of 1944. The operation’s name was “Operation Overlord” and the password was, “Mickey Mouse”.


JOHN PAUL JONES

John Paul Jones was one of the founding fathers of the US Navy. His vessel, a sloop named, “War Ranger” was the very first ship to ever fly the “Stars and Stripes”.


BERETTA

Mussel-loading powder rifles might have been the weapon of choice during the revolution, but today’s soldier has a few better options for protecting themselves. The 9mm Beretta officially replaced the old issue .45 semi-auto pistol in 1990. It has less firepower per round, but has nearly twice as many shots, 15 versus 8 in the Colt 45. One thing that hasn’t been completely replaced is the M-16 machine gun. This standard in firearms has been in service since 1964.


HMMWV

The HMMWV (High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) otherwise known as The Hummer has become the standard “jeep” for the US military ever since it went into service in 1985. Aside from its amazing all-terrain abilities, the most interesting aspect of the Hummer is that it was designed and exclusively built to only have an automatic transmission. Military officials were keen to realize that today’s soldiers didn’t grow up having to drive standard transmissions in America and the freedom of movement of not having to bother with shifting gears makes the driver better at multi-tasking, which could mean the difference between surviving and perishing.


NAVY

Today’s US Navy is one of the most advanced armaments on the face of the planet with 378, 469 active duty service personnel. The US Naval fleet is comprised of 295 vessels of various size, shape and form. Currently 138 ships are underway, with 95 ships deployed. 21 submarines are underway with 7 deployed. The Atlantic Command Ship is the USS LaSalle and the Pacific Command Ship is the USS Coronado.


AIR CRAFT CARRIERS

The US Navy has more than 4000 operational aircraft. The exact locations of aircraft carriers tend to be highly classified as they are the most formidable mobile force in United States military defense. Three of the carriers are currently underway with the USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan, the USS John F. Kennedy in Pensacola, Florida and the USS George Washington in the Arabian Sea.


BLACKHAWK

The proverbial “black helicopter”, the UH 60 Blackhawk is the US military’s workhorse utility tactical transport helicopter that replaced the UH-1 “Huey” of the Vietnam era. It might seem relatively new, but the Blackhawk has been in service since 1979. An entire 11-person, fully-equipped infantry squad can be lifted in a single Blackhawk and can get to a chosen destination faster than any of its predecessors. It can also transport a 105mm Howitzer and its crew of six with 30 rounds of ammunition.


AIR FORCE

The Air Force was once known as the Army Air Corp, they parted ways in September 1947 and the Air Force was officially born. The Air Force officially transferred its traditional olive drab to the Air Force blue (not to be confused with Navy blue) in 1949. The transformation was gradual among the service men, with some of them still donning olive threads all the way up into 1952.


X-1

Less than a month after the official birth of the Air Force, Capt. Charles E. Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. Chuck Yeager rang in the new modern jet and rocket era and the plane now resides in the Milestones of Flight Gallery in the National Space and Air Museum.


M-249 SQUAD AUTOMATIC WEAPON

An Army of One might be the slogan for this monster, requiring only a single soldier to port and operate, this rifle can deliver fire at ranges of 800 meters. It weighs 16.5 lbs and fires 750 rounds a minute. Ouch.


MARINES

The Marines are nearly as old as the Army. Two battalions of marines were commissioned by the Continental Congress in 1775 and the Marine Corps was born. Major Samuel Nicholas who served throughout the American Revolution is considered the first Marine Officer Commandant. The marines were disbanded following the Treaty of Paris in 1793, but were later reestablished when fighting broke out with Barbary pirates along the Shores of Tripoli. From that point on the Marines were a
standard of American defense and by the peak of World War 2, there numbers had grown to 485,113.


APACHE

The AH-64 Apache helicopter is the Army’s deep precision attack strike fighter. Highly lethal and extremely mobile it is armed to the teeth with a 30mm chain gun, rockets and fire-and-forget radar-guided HELLFIRE missiles. With a two-man crew, it is basically fighter jet that can conduct low flying short range attacks.


THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

There was no official flag of the United States of America until an Executive Order laid out the rules on June 24, 1912. Flags prior to this date often have unusual arrangements of the given stars and stripes and tend to have odd proportions. Up until then, basically flag makers had a loose guideline to go on, the flag had to have thirteen stripes of alternate red and white and that the necessary number of stars (depending on the year of current number of states) would be on a blue field to represent a new Constellation.