page_title: United States Armed Forces
section_title: Personnel
hierarchical_section_title: United States Armed Forces / Personnel
caption_attribution_description: English: Graph of US military levels 1950-2003.
context_page_description: The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. It consists of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and forms military policy with the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, both federal executive departments, acting as the principal organs by which military policy is carried out. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of the United States.
  From the time of its inception, the U.S. Armed Forces played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of national unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War. It played a critical role in the American Civil War, continuing to serve as the armed forces of the United States, although a number of its officers resigned to join the separatist military of the Confederate States. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II, created the modern U.S. military framework.
context_section_description: Total active duty strength as of February 28, 2019, was 1,359,685 servicemembers, with an additional 799,845 people in the seven reserve components. Civilian Department of Defense Employees numbered at 744,005 in December 2018. The Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world
  It is an all-volunteer military, but conscription through the Selective Service System can be enacted at the president's request and Congress' approval. All males ages 18 through 25 who are living in the United States are required to register with the Selective Service for a potential future draft.
  The U.S. Armed Forces is the world's third largest military by active personnel, after the Chinese's People's Liberation Army and the Indian Armed Forces, and has troops deployed around the globe.
  As in most militaries, members of the U.S. Armed Forces hold a rank, either that of officer, warrant officer or enlisted, to determine seniority and eligibility for promotion. Those who have served are known as veterans. Rank names may be different between services, but they are matched to each other by their corresponding paygrade. Officers who hold the same rank or paygrade are distinguished by their date of rank to determine seniority, while officers who serve in certain positions of office of importance set by law, outrank all other officers in active duty of the same rank and paygrade, regardless of their date of rank. In 2012, it was reported that only one in four persons in the United States of the proper age meet the moral, academic and physical standards for military service.
caption: Active duty U.S. military personnel from 1950 to 2003; the two peaks correspond to the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
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