United States Army

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The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense.

Components

Regular Army (RA)

Army National Guard (ARNG)

Organized Reserve Corps (ORC)

The Organized Reserve Corps is a federal reserve component of the United States Army, called Component 3 in official documentation. Its current form was constituted in 1963 with the merger of the Organized Reserve Corps and Army of the United States. Its purpose during peacetime is to provide part-time service and support units to U.S. Army formations, manage the Army's 20 cadre Organized Reserve Divisions and 5 Corps, and manage the biannual induction and career of Selective Service conscripts. In the lead up to a general war, those 20 cadre divisions are filled with conscripts (officially "inductees") to effectively double the size of the Army. As well, new conscripts drafted under Selective Service during a national emergency are inducted into the Organized Reserve as opposed to the Regular Army or Army National Guard with the understanding that their service would only last for the duration of the emergency plus 6 months. They may be assigned to any component of the U.S. Army depending on need, but post war are placed in the inactive reserve (or Class B roll).

The Organized Reserve Corps itself consists of four distinct classes of personnel:

  • Class A: Part-time soldiers in Organized Reserve units under active-duty commands (support/services) or Class A Organized Reserve Divisions (combat arms/support/services). This also includes officers in Class B and C Organized Reserve Divisions (cadre).
  • Class B: Inactive soldiers who have completed their minimum service commitment. They do not drill, but report in by mail yearly and may be recalled into federal service during wartime. The minimum service requirements before transfer to the inactive reserve are:
    • Officers: 12 years
    • Enlisted Inductees (peacetime induction): 2 years
    • Enlisted Inductees (wartime induction): Period of national emergency plus 6 months
    • Enlisted Volunteers: 4 years
  • Class I: Soldiers inducted into the U.S. Army under the Selective Service Act and assigned as needed. This includes soldiers drafted during peacetime and assigned to Regular Army formations. After completing their 2 year conscription term, Class I personnel will by default become Class B ORC personnel, but can also volunteer for Class A ORC duty or a competitive transfer to the Regular Army or Army National Guard.
  • Class V: Full- or part-time soldiers who would otherwise be medically retired from the Regular Army or Army National Guard for service-related disability, but volunteer to defer retirement in favor of a transfer to the Organized Reserve. These soldiers fill non-deployable administrative and teaching assistant roles in the Continental United States with minimal change of station. This class is also called the Veteran Reserve Corps in public communications.

Army officers in combat support and service roles commissioned via the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) have the option of branching into the Organized Reserve, after which they are usually placed in a part-time unit under an active duty division-, corps- or army-level command. However, officers who branch into the combat arms must compete for slots in one of the Organized Reserves three Class A divisions (divisions authorized at effective TO&E strength) or complete at least 2 years in the Regular Army before requesting a transfer to the Organized Reserve to fulfil the remainder of the 12 year service commitment. Officers are generally not permitted to commission directly into a Class B and C divisions, which only had a full manning of officers. Class B divisions are only authorized a minimal cadre strength of enlisted personnel, who are mostly retired or in the inactive reserve and don't have a drill commitment. Class C divisions have almost no enlisted personnel and are simply holding units for reserve officers who attend monthly meetings. By contrast, Class A divisions drill on the same rhythm as the Army National Guard making it viable as a first duty station.

Organization

Operational Force

The U.S. Army's Earth-based operational force before the theater service component-level consists of 5 active corps (I Corps, III Corps, V Corps, VII Airmobile Corps, XIV Corps) controlling 15 active duty divisions, 9 Army National Guard divisions, and many separate combat commands, brigades, and regiments. During peacetime, forces forward deployed or rotated to China, Japan, and Southeast Asia come under the command of the Sixth Army as the theater-level service component command. Corps stationed in the United States remain under the administration of the Eighth Army. During wartime, corps designated as "Reforc Corps A and B" (I Corps and III Corps) and the forward deployed corps in China (IX Corps) would come under the Sixth Army while any other follow-on forces would come under the Eighth Army and any other mobilized commands depending on the scale of conflict. Alternatively, if a large-scale conflict occurs outside of the Pacific area, Eighth Army can deploy as the Army's service component command to that theater.

In addition, the Army bases the 12th Infantry Division on Luna (including two lunar Army National Guard regiments) directly under the Second Army. The Second Army commands all exoatmospheric army units, including space elevator terminal battalions, separate battalions and companies stationed on the lunar surface, and units conducting space station and asteroid operations.

  • I Corps (Reforc Corps A)
    I Corps
    (Reforc Corps A)
  • IX Corps (Forward Deployed to China)
    IX Corps
    (Forward Deployed to China)
  • First Army (Cislunar Army Forces)
    First Army
    (Cislunar Army Forces)

Army Generating Force (AGF)

The Army Generating Force (AGF) consists primarily of training, mobilization, and deployment support capabilities within the United States. This includes all units designated for the initial training of units, national training centers, doctrine developers, and domestic installation commands. In addition to the 5 corps of the Operational Force, there are 4 corps part of the Army Organized Reserve with oversight of 20 cadre divisions to be expanded with draftees upon mobilization. These corps exist under the Generating Force and are aligned to geographically close groupings of states from which they draw draftees during mobilization.

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