United States Armed Forces

The United States Armed Forces are the military of the United States. It has six branches: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard.

The current President of the United States is Donald J Trump. He is the current Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. All branches except the Coast Guard are part of the Department of Defense, which is controlled by the Secretary of Defense.  The Coast Guard is located within the Department of Homeland Security. The Marine Corps located within the Department Of The Navy.

About 1.4 million people are currently on active duty in the military with another 1,259,000 people on reserve (with 456,000 people in the Army and Air National Guard). There is currently no conscription. Women can serve in most combat positions, and in all non-combat military jobs. Because of war, some of these non-combat jobs actually see combat regularly.

 Ranks 
All branches of the United States military have Commissioned Officers and Non Commissioned/Enlisted Personnel. Most Enlisted members with a rank of E-4 and above are called Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs); the exception is the Air Force where E-5 is considered the first Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) rank. Their usual duties are to supervise or make sure that common jobs are done properly every day. Most branches of the United States Military include Warrant Officers (Chief Warrant Officers in the Navy.) They are considered experts in their field, they are higher rank than other enlisted troops, but below Commissioned Officer. There are four or five ranks of Warrant Officers in most of the branches: WO-1 through WO-4 or WO-5(CWO-1 to CWO-4 or CWO-5)

Here are some common ranks for the US Army,Air Force and Marines. These branches of the military use different names for the enlisted ranks, but they all use the same for officers. The Navy and the Coast Guard have different ranks; for those see United States Navy. There are no five star general Ranks. The General of the Army,General of the Air Force and Fleet Admiral are only used in wartime situations. The United States Army,Marine Corps,Air Force and Space Force have Commissioned Officer and Non-Commissioned/Enlisted Personnel Ranks with the Navy and Coast Guard also having Officer Ranks. These Titles are seen below.

RankArmy MarinesAir ForceE-1PrivatePrivateAirman BasicE-2PrivatePrivate First ClassAirman E-3Private First ClassLance CorporalAirman First ClassE-4CorporalSpecialist 4CorporalSenior AirmanE-5SergeantSergeantStaff SergeantE-6Staff SergeantStaff SergeantTechnical SergeantE-7Sergeant First ClassGunnery SergeantMaster SergeantE-8Master Sergeant  First SergeantMaster Sergeant  First SergeantSenior Master SergeantE-9Sergeant MajorSergeant MajorMaster Gunnery SergeantChief Master SergeantE-9*Sergeant MajorOf the Army*Sergeant Major Of theMarine Corps*Chief Master SergeantOf the Air Force*
*Each branch of the military has only one of these specific E-9 grade enlisted personnel and are considered the senior enlisted person of their branch. The Sergeant Major of the Army,Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps,and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force are the spokespersons of the enlisted force at the highest levels of their services. RankTitleO-1Second LieutenantEnsignO-2First LieutenantLieutenant Junior GradeO-3CaptainLieutenantO-4MajorLieutenant Commander O-5Lieutenant ColonelCommanderO-6ColonelCaptainO-7Brigadier GeneralRear Admiral (Lower Half)O-8Major GeneralRear AdmiralO-9Lieutenant GeneralVice AdmiralO-10GeneralAdmiral

Other information
The number of generals and admirals, is over 800.https://www.kyivpost.com/post/61110. Retrieved 2025-09-30

 References 

 Notes 

 Other websites 
 Official U.S. DOD site
 Global Security on U.S. Military Operations
 Today's Military website
 Largest Military Personnel Locator 
 US Military ranks and rank insignia
 US Military Mottos

 Branch links 
 U.S. Army
 U.S. Navy
 U.S. Air Force
 U.S. Marine Corps 
 U.S. Coast Guard