US Army

The United States Army, often written US Army, is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces and the largest of its military branches. It is part of the Department of the Army, one of three military departments within the Department of Defense, and is headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. Its lineage goes back to the Continental Army, created on 14 June 1775, and it took its current form on 3 June 1784. Its motto is “This We’ll Defend”, and its stated mission, according to army.mil, is “to fight and win our Nation’s wars”.

Official data as of 30 June 2025, as listed on Wikipedia, show 452,823 soldiers on active duty, 328,084 in the Army National Guard and 170,601 in the Army Reserve. The Secretary of the Army is Daniel P. Driscoll, who works under the Secretary of Defense.

The Army is in the news after a 41-year-old US Army soldier, who has not been named, was arrested near Gloucester, England, on 10 November 2026 on suspicion of helping Russian intelligence. According to the Associated Press, carried by PBS NewsHour, he is suspected of two offences under the National Security Act 2023: assisting a foreign intelligence service, and obtaining or disclosing protected information. He is held at a London police station. The reports seen do not say he has been charged.

Sources: Wikipedia, US Army, PBS NewsHour (AP)