1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
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Armoured warfare
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Armoured warfare, mechanised warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a component of modern methods of war. The premise of armoured warfare rests on the ability of troops to penetrate defensive lines through use of manoeuvre by armoured units. Under these conditions, any sort of advance was very slow. Tanks were first developed in Britain and France in 1915, as a way of navigating the barbed wire, British Mark I tanks first went to action at the Somme, on 15 September 1916, but did not manage to break the deadlock of trench warfare. The first French employment on 16 April 1917, of the Schneider CA, was also a failure, in the Battle of Cambrai British tanks were more successful, and broke a German trenchline system, the Hindenburg Line. Despite the generally unpromising beginnings, the military and political leadership in both Britain and France during 1917 backed large investments into armoured vehicle production and this led to a sharp increase in the number of available tanks for 1918. The German Empire to the contrary, produced only a few tanks, twenty German A7V tanks were produced during the entire conflict, compared to over 4,400 French and over 2,500 British tanks of various kinds. Tactically, the deployment of armour during the war was typified by an emphasis on direct infantry support. The tanks main tasks were seen as crushing barbed wire and destroying machine-gun nests, theoretical debate largely focussed on the question whether a swarm of light tanks should be used for this or a limited number of potent heavy vehicles. Though in the Battle of Cambrai a large concentration of British heavy tanks effected a breakthrough, the manoeuvrability of the tank should at least in theory regain armies the ability to flank enemy lines. Following the First World War, the technical and doctrinal aspects of armoured warfare became more sophisticated and diverged into multiple schools of doctrinal thought, during the 1920s, only very few tanks were produced. There were however, important theoretical and technical developments, various British and French commanders who had contributed to the origin of the tank, such as Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, B. H. Liddell Hart and J. F. C. Fuller, theorised about a future use of independent armoured forces, containing a large concentration of tanks. Especially Liddell Hart wrote many books about the subject, partly propagating Fullers theories, such doctrines were faced with the reality that during the 1920s the armoured vehicles, as early road transport in general, were extremely unreliable, and could not be used in sustained operations. Mainstream thought on the subject was more conservative and tried to integrate armoured vehicles into the infantry and cavalry organisation. To save weight, such designs had thin armour plating and this inspired fitting small-calibre high-velocity guns in turrets, J. Collins, after Fuller refused the function. The unit carried out operations on Salisbury Plain and was observed by the major nations, the United States, Germany
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Division (military)
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A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength, in most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In the West, the first general to think of organising an army into smaller units was Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France. He died at the age of 54, without having implemented his idea, victor-François de Broglie put the ideas into practice. He conducted successful practical experiments of the system in the Seven Years War. The first war in which the system was used systematically was the French Revolutionary War. It made the more flexible and easy to manoeuvre. Under Napoleon, the divisions were grouped together into corps, because of their increasing size, napoleons military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, all armies in Europe had adopted it. In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures, the peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II, when the belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions. With technological advances since then, the power of each division has increased. Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with support units to allow independent operations. In more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms, in this case, the division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization. For the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II, in general, two new types of cavalry were developed, air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry, based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division, formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning, on 29 June 1965 the division was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division, before its departure for the Vietnam War. After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks, the development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs. This proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks, instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. A panzer division was a division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II
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Army National Guard
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The Army National Guard, in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is a militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations, the National Guard of the states, territories and the District of Columbia. The Army National Guard is divided into units stationed in each of the 50 states. Members or units of the Army National Guard may be ordered, temporarily or indefinitely, if mobilized for federal service, the member or unit becomes part of the Army National Guard of the United States, which is a reserve component of the United States Army. Individuals volunteering for active service may do so subject to the consent of their governors. Governors generally cannot veto involuntary activations of individuals or units for federal service, the President may also call up members and units of the Army National Guard, in its status as the militia of the several states, to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, or enforce federal laws. The Army National Guard of the United States is one of two organizations administered by the National Guard Bureau, the other being the Air National Guard of the United States. The Director of the Army National Guard is the head of the organization, Militia members were required to equip themselves, take part in regular training, and report to their units when called. This war resulted in hundreds of deaths, hundreds of Native Americans sold into slavery or scattered throughout North America, the militias of the Southern New England colonies fought Native Americans again in King Philips War from 1675 to 1676. This conflict led to the defeat of the Narragansets, further straining relationships between Native Americans and white Europeans, but enabling continued white settlement of New England. In addition, the colonists had little interest in paying the taxes to maintain permanent garrisons of British troops, the militias were also an early experiment in democracy, with company grade officers often elected by their men, and the higher officers appointed by colonial governors or legislatures. The colonies did not exert centralized control over the militias or coordinate their efforts, Training typically took place during musters each summer, with militia members reporting for inspection and undergoing several days of training in drill and ceremony. Militia members served throughout the Revolution, often near their homes, Militia units served in combat, as well as carrying out guard duty for prisoners, garrisoning of forts, and local patrols. On some occasions, militia members performed ineffectively, as at the Battle of Camden in North Carolina, on other occasions they performed capably, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, Battle of Bennington, Battles of Saratoga, and Battle of Cowpens. Perhaps the most important role played by the militia was off the battlefield, during the period of the Articles of Confederation, the weak federal government reduced the Continental Army to a handful of officers and soldiers. The Articles of Confederation required each state to maintain a militia, such consent was not forthcoming in an era when the population still harbored a distrust of a standing army, so Congress largely left the defense of the new nation to the state militias. During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Federalist delegates argued for a federal government. Federalists anticipated using the military to defend the country if it were attacked, anti-Federalists advocated limited federal government, and wanted continued state control over the militias
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Florida Army National Guard
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The Florida Army National Guard is Floridas component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. In the United States, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the federal armys available combat forces, federal coordination of various state Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau. The Florida Army National Guard is composed of approximately 12,000 soldiers, the main state training grounds is Camp Blanding. Florida Army National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Army, the same enlisted ranks and officer ranks and insignia used by the United States Army are used by Army National Guardsmen and the latter are eligible to receive all United States military awards. The Florida National Guard also bestows a number of awards for local services rendered in or to the state of Florida. The predecessor of the Florida Army National Guard was a Spanish militia that was formed in 1565. The subsequent militia served under the Spanish crown for 236 years, Great Britain for a 20 years, and the Confederate States of America for 5 years. In 1702-1704 an inter Indian Native American conflict started as part of Queen Annes War, involving the English armies on one side, the conflict later also escalated into the Yamasee War. After the end of the First Seminole War in 1821, the Florida provinces joined the United States, from 1835 to 1842 the Second Seminole War resulted in the elimination by force of most of the Native Americans from the territory. Florida was incorporated into the United States as a state in 1845, after Floridas incorporation into the United States problems with Seminoles continued until almost 1860. Some of the origins of the Florida ARNG today can be traced to the Florida State Troops. Todays 124th Infantry Regiment was reorganized and established in the Florida State Troops as five battalions between 1888-1892, the Militia Act of 1903 organized the various state militias into the present National Guard system. The Florida ARNG included elements of the 51st Infantry Division from 11 September 1946 to 1963 and it was originally headquartered at Tampa, Florida. The Florida ARNG also included the 48th Armored Division from 1954 to 1968, in 1986 the 1st Battalion, 111th Aviation Regiment, was organized from pre-existing Florida ARNG aviation units at Jacksonville and Lakeland, the Lakeland unit relocating to Brooksville in 1999. The Florida Army National Guard was composed of approximately 9,950 soldiers in January 2001, unlike Army Reserve members, National Guard members cannot be mobilized individually, but only as part of their respective units. National Guard personnel typically serve One weekend a month, two weeks a year, with a portion working for the Guard in a full-time capacity. More specifically, current Department of Defense policy is that no Guardsman will be activated for a total of more than 24 months in one six-year enlistment period. The largest mobilization in history began in mid-2009
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Operation Fortitude
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Operation Fortitude was the code name for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two sub-plans, North and South, with the aim of misleading the German high command as to the location of the imminent invasion, both Fortitude plans involved the creation of phantom field armies which threatened Norway and Pas de Calais. Fortitude was one of the elements of Operation Bodyguard, the overall Allied deception stratagem for the Normandy landings. Bodyguards principal objective was to ensure the Germans would not increase troop presence in Normandy by promoting the appearance that the Allied forces would attack in other locations, after the invasion the plan was to delay movement of German reserves to the Normandy beachhead and prevent a potentially disastrous counter-attack. Fortitudes objectives were to promote alternative targets of Norway and Calais, the planning of Operation Fortitude came under the auspices of the London Controlling Section, a secret body set up to manage Allied deception strategy during the war. However, the execution of each fell to the various theatre commanders. A special section, Ops, was established at SHAEF to handle the operation, the LCS retained responsibility for what was called Special Means, the use of diplomatic channels and double-agents. Fortitude was split into two parts, North and South, both with similar aims, Fortitude North was intended to convince the German high command that the Allies, staging out of Scotland, would attempt an invasion of occupied Norway. Fortitude South employed the tactic, with the apparent objective being Pas de Calais. Fortitude planning was ostensibly the responsibility of Noel Wild and his Ops staff, however, in practice the work was shared between Wild and the heads of the LCS and B1a. Work began in December 1943, at first under the codename Mespot, prime Minister Winston Churchill judged this unsuitable and so the Fortitude name was adopted on February 18. Wilds first version of the Fortitude South plan was produced in early January 1943, the Fortitude South plan would be implemented, at an operational level, by the invasion force—the 21st Army Group under the command of General Bernard Montgomery. This presented a problem, in the form of Colonel David Strangeways, Strangeways had, in the opinion of Opss Christopher Harmer, the same arrogance as his commanding officer. More important, he held a low opinion of the London establishment of the old clubs of Ops. Dissatisfied with the Fortitude South outline he, in the words of Harmer, Strangeways criticisms highlighted that the plan aimed to cover the Allies real intentions, rather than create a realistic threat to Calais. This was not the issue, and Strangeways was not the only one to notice them. On January 25, Montgomerys Chief of Staff Francis de Guingand sent a letter to the deception planners asking them, amongst other things and it was almost certainly sent at the behest of Strangeways. With these criticisms in hand, Wild produced his final draft for Fortitude South, in this revised plan, issued on January 30 and approved by the Allied chiefs on 18 February, fifty divisions would be positioned in Southern England to attack Pas de Calais
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Governor's Guards (Florida)
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C Troop, 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry of the Florida Army National Guard was reorganized in 2006-07 from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 124th Infantry. The Tallahassee-based company claims its roots back to the establishment of Tallahassee, for nearly all of the century and a half of the companys existence it has been an infantry unit. Today, Charlie Troop, is an infantry reconnaissance troop. With the realization that the Seminoles were refusing to relocate to Indian Territory after the Treaty of Paynes Landing of 1832, Call mobilized five hundred volunteers throughout the state. The first known volunteer company raised in Tallahassee was formed under Captain A. A. Fisher and his company of 51 officers and soldiers mustered into service on May 10,1836 into the 7th Regiment, 1st Brigade of Florida Militia, and stationed at Fort Heilman. Captain Fishers company mustered out on November 10,1836, throughout the Second Seminole War several more companies were raised in Tallahassee, one after the other, to defend against the Seminoles. Fisher’s former First Lieutenant, Joseph B. Johnson later raised his own company of Mounted Florida Militia and they mustered into federal service for three months’ obligation, serving from February 5 to May 5,1837. The company consisted of three officers, three sergeants, three corporals, and 30 privates. Captain J. B. Johnson raised reformed a company of Mounted Florida Militia, under command of Governor Richard K. Call and his company consisted of four officers, four sergeants, four corporals, one bugler, and 84 privates. In addition, each officer had one servant, the company was stationed at “Camp Johnson, Middle Florida”. The company mustered out on November 21,1839 in Tallahassee, Captain George R. McElvy raised a company in the 1st Regiment of Mounted Florida Militia, commanded by Colonel William J. Bailey, on December 10,1840 for a period of three months. They were extended until March 14 and then mustered in again on March 14,1841 at Charles Ferry on the Suwannee River with many of the volunteers from the first enlistment. The second tour of three months was cut short and his company was discharged in Tallahassee on April 21,1841, Captain John Parkhill, a 34 year old prominent citizen of Tallahassee, raised a company of Florida Mounted Volunteers, called the “Leon Volunteers” in July,1857. The vast majority of his militia were farmers from the area with a couple of “labourers”. Most were born in Florida and Georgia, although at least three of his soldiers were born in Germany, and one was from France, each volunteer provided his own horse. They were called into service by the President on July 29 for a term of six months. Captain Parkhills company of three officers and 76 soldiers moved to Fort Myers where they searched for Seminoles hiding in the Everglades, on November 26 Captain Parkhill led a force to burn Seminole crops near Royal Palm Hammock. The next day he led a six-man patrol searching for Indian trails and his patrol was ambushed and he and five soldiers were killed
9.
Lakeland, Florida
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Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, east of Tampa. According to the 2013 U. S. Census Bureau estimate and it is twinned with Richmond Hill, Ontario, Imabari, Ehime, Japan, Balti, Moldova, Portmore, Jamaica, and Chongming County, Shanghai, China through the Lakeland chapter of Sister Cities International. Native Americans began to live in the area 12,000 years ago, White settlers arrived in Lakeland in the 1870s and the city expanded in the 1880s with the arrival of rail service. Lakeland is home to the 1, 267-acre Circle B Bar Reserve, the first Paleo-Indians reached the central Florida area near the end of the last ice age, as they followed big game south. As the ice melted and sea levels rose, these Native Americans ended up staying, by the time the first Spanish conquistadors arrived, more than 250,000 Native Americans were living on the peninsula. Some of these first early tribes were the Tocobago, Timucua, in 1527, a Spanish map showed a settlement near the Rio de la Paz. The arrival of the Spanish turned out to be disastrous to these Native American tribes, within 150 years, the majority of the pre-Columbian Native American peoples of Florida had been wiped out. Those who had not succumbed to such as smallpox or yellow fever were either killed or enslaved. Little is left of these first Native Americans cultures in Polk County except for scant archaeological records, including a few personal artifacts, eventually, the remnants of these tribes merged with the Creek Indians who had arrived from the north and became the Seminole Indian tribe. Florida became a state in 1845, and Polk County was established in 1861, after the American Civil War, the county seat was established southeast of Lakeland in Bartow. Lakeland was first settled in the 1870s and began to develop as the lines reached the area in 1884. It was incorporated January 1,1885, the town was founded by Abraham Munn, who purchased 80 acres of land in what is now downtown Lakeland in 1882 and platted the land for the town in 1884. Lakeland was named for the lakes near the town site. In April 1898, the Spanish–American War began and started a crucial point in Lakelands development. While the war ended quickly and had little impact on most of the nation, the Florida peninsula was used as a point for the war. The Florida boom resulted in the construction of significant structures in Lakeland. This list includes the Terrace Hotel, New Florida Hotel, Polk Theatre, Frances Langford Promenade, Polk Museum of Art, Park Trammell Building, the city also has several historic districts with many large buildings built during the 1920s and 1940s. The Cleveland Indians held spring training there from 1923 to 1927 at Henley Field Ball Park, parks were developed surrounding Lake Mirror including Barnett Childrens Park, Hollis Gardens, and the newest, Allen Kryger Park
United States
United States Army
