Article: Military

Statue of a Praetorian guardsman

A military or military force (n., from Latin militarius, miles "soldier") has seen many different incarnations throughout time. Early armies were most likely men with sharpened sticks and rocks; through time they have included advancements such as men mounting horses, men wielding swords and other metallic weapons, the bow and arrow, siege weapons, the stirrup, to the advance of the musket which form the roots of the armed forces of most nations we know today. In modern times people use motorized vehicles and firearms.

While military can refer to any armed force, it generally refers to a permanent, professional force of soldiers or guerrillas—trained exclusively for the purpose of warfare and should be distinguished from a sanctioned militia or a levy, which are temporary forces— citizen soldiers with less training, who may be "called up" as a reserve force, when a nation mobilizes for total war, or to defend against invasion. The term military is often used to mean an army.

The doctrine that asserts the primacy of a military within a society is called militarism.

Meaning of the word

Also see: Armed forces

As an adjective, "military" is a descriptive property of things related to soldiers and warfare. It also refers to such context dependent terms such as military reserves which may indicate an actual unit deployable on command or the general sense, of a Nation States reserve troops available to or eligible for duty in its armed forces.

In formal British English, "military" as an adjective refers more particularly to matters relating to an army (land forces), as opposed to the naval and air force matters of the other two services.

In American English, "military" as an adjective is more widely used for regulations pertaining to and between military procurement, military transport, military justice, military strength, and military force.

Military procurement

Military procurement refers to common regulations and requirements for a ship or a detached unit to requisistion and draw on a base's facilies (housing, pay, and rations for detached personnel), supplies (most commonly food stocks or materials, and vehicles) by the service running a primary base; e.g. Army units detached to or staging through an air base, a vessel calling at a port near an army or air base, an army unit drawing supplies from a naval base.

Military transport

Military transport would pertain to an equipment trans-shipped via a sister service, or an individual detached for a technical school operated by a sister service, or the travel orders and authorization of such an individual to proceed via a sister services vehicles, as well as the drawing (loan of) transportation assets (staff cars, Hum-Vees, military trucks) operating from the primary base command.

Military Justice

Military Justice, as in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Most nations have a separate code of law which regulates both certain activities allowed only in war, as well as provides a code of law applicable only to a soldier in war (or 'in uniform' during peacetime).

The statutory laws set down by the United States Congress to apply to the individual conduct within any military force of the United States— these are the specific articles under which a soldier or sailor would be tried for infractions ranging from minor (Late Return, petty theft) to severe (Rape, Murder); this code is usually referred to by the acronym UCMJ.

Military strength

Military strength is a term that describes a quantification or reference to a nation's standing military forces or the capacity for fulfillment of that military's role. For example, the military strength of a given country could be interpreted as the number of individuals in its armed forces, the destructive potential of its arsenal, or both. For example, while China and India maintain the largest armed forces in the world, the U.S. Military is considered to be the world's strongest, although the certainty of such a claim cannot be ascertained without a detailed analysis of opposing military forces in relation to one another as well as taking into account the field(s) of battle and tactics used in such a conflict.

Military Force

Military Force is a term that might refer to a particular unit, a regiment or gunboat deployed in a particular locale, or as an aggregate of such forces (e.g. "In the Gulf War the United States Central Command controlled military forces (units) of each of the five military services of the United States.").

Military history

An elephant from mathura, northern India used in wars

Main article: Military history

Military history is often considered to be the history of all conflicts, not just the history of proper militaries. It differs somewhat from the history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography.

Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively.

Military reserve

Main article: Military reserve

Military reserve refers to specific trained pre-organized forces operating as an on call basis from the main military force.

In the United States, the Reserves forces such as the qunit mission profile (e.g. Many 'Military Police' trained regular reserve units and 'National Guard units' were mobilized during the Iraq war, as were units specializing in supply, transport, engineering, et al.) These various volunteer manned units are always 'on call' and referred to as the ready reserves but might be augmented by the Inactive Reserves in time of dire emergency or total war under the United States model— the inactive reserve is composed of all former serving members of any of the U.S. Armed Forces of military age. Individuals in this class are former members of the regular and ready reserve forces, that have opted to discontinue service in any of those organized bodys; in general, the inactive reserves are not an organized force, but a resource of trained manpower that can be mobilized similar to calling up a levy but in theory with the training of a militia. Individuals in the inactive reserves with specialized talents are from time to time also recalled into service, albeit rarely.

Military science

Main article: Military science

Military science concerns itself with the study and of the diverse technical, psychological, and practical phenomena that encompass the events that make up warfare, especially armed combat. It strives to be an all-encompassing scientific system that if properly employed, will greatly enhance the practitioner's ability to prevail in an armed conflict with any adversary.

Military ideology

Main article: Militarism

Specific militaries

• Australian Defence Force
  • Royal Australian Air Force
  • Royal Australian Army
  • Royal Australian Navy
• Armed forces of the Crown
  • Royal Navy
  • British Army
  • Royal Air Force
  • Royal Marines
  • Special Air Service
  • Special Boat Service
  • Special Reconnaissance Regiment
• Canadian Armed Forces
  • Canadian Army
  • Royal Canadian Air Force
  • Royal Canadian Navy
• Military of Germany
• Military of Greece
  • Hellenic Army
  • Hellenic Air Force
  • Hellenic Coast Guard
  • Greek Navy
• Military of India
  • Indian Army
  • Indian Air Force
  • Indian Navy
  • Indian Coast Guard
  • Indian Paramilitary Forces
  • Strategic Nuclear Command
• Military of New Zealand
  • Royal New Zealand Navy
  • New Zealand Army
  • Royal New Zealand Air Force
  • Special Air Service of New Zealand
• Military of North Korea
• Military of the People's Republic of China
  • Army
  • Airforce
  • Navy
  • People's Armed Police
• Military of Singapore
• Military of South Korea
• Military of Sri Lanka
• Military of Switzerland
• Military of Syria
• Turkish Armed Forces
  • Army
  • Air Force
  • Navy
  • Gendarmerie
  • Coast Guard
• Military of the United States
  • Army
  • Air Force
  • Marine Corps
  • Navy
  • Coast Guard

See also Category:Military by country.

Military Alliances

• NATO
• ANZUS
• Warsaw Pact (Now defunct)

See also

• Comparative military ranks
• Military unit
• Jane's Information Group provides contemporary info on Trade in Military Equipment.
• Martial art
• Militaria
• Military rule
• Special Air Service
• Stratfor provides analysis of geopolitics.
• Army
• List of countries by military expenditures
• List of countries by number of active troops
• List of countries by size of armed forces
• List of countries without an army

Reference

Major books for understanding the role of the military, and the civilian leadership of the military.

1. Why the Allies Won (WWII) by Richard Overy ISBN 0-393-03925-0
   1. Many books about WWII, and other wars, focus on the military battles and campaigns. This one focuses on support roles that gave the Allies the edge when the Axis seemed to be ahead in so many senses.
   2. Russia relocated their industry far from the front.
   3. There was a structure of Scientific Management in the U.S.A., unheard of in the Axis Powers.
   4. Axis nations military, particularly in Japan, had an adversarial relationship that was more important to them than the best interests of their nations.
   5. Allied interception of coded radio signals, and strict secrecy of what they learned from this.
   6. Allied sophisticated deception.
      1. Misleading Germany about the Normandy invasion.
      2. Commando raids were exceptionally successful, such as in figuring out how German Radar functioned, so as to get the correct dimensions for Chaff to Spoof it, but they were trumpeted as failures so as not to tip off German Military Intelligence about the purpose of the raids.
   7. In Nazi Germany no reputable Aryan wanted to have anything to do with science that had been invented by a Jew. This is one reason why Hitler never developed the Atomic Bomb.
2. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Pentagon by "Jeff Cateau" and Michael Levin. An entertaining explanation of the U.S. military and how it is run.
3. Get Yamamoto by Burke Davis, Published by Random House in 1969. During WW II, the U.S.A. intercepted top secret communications about a tour of forward bases to be conducted by Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Navy. This led to a successful mission to intercept his flight and kill him, the theory being that the Japanese would be handicapped without his leadership.

Periodicals

• Aviation Week and Space Technology
• Defense News
• Jane's Defense Weekly

External links

• China Defence Today forum
• Military News - Dod Blog releasing casualties in Iraq and current military contracts.
• isayeret.com - The Israeli Special Forces Database
• U.S. Army Ranger Association United States Army Ranger Association

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