The United States is one of the few nations where voluntary recruitment (which is regional for all regular army and auxiliary weapons and services) still remains in force for American citizens only, with the obligation of one at three years, at will (the stalls are all three-year). In the National Guard and in the organized reserves, volunteering involves a three-year obligation, renewable, with the obligation to serve 64 and 15 days respectively. Volunteers can choose the unit in which to perform the service; they are discharged without further service obligations.
Land military forces include: a) the regular army b) the national guard; c) the Officers’ Reserve Corps; d) organized reserves; e) the Enlisted Reserve Corps.
The regular army has the task of guaranteeing the integrity of the state in peace and providing for the education of the auxiliary forces (national guard and organized reserves).
The National Guard represents the first reserve of the army, to be mobilized immediately in case of emergency. It includes the same weapons as the active army, and receives uniforms, weapons and equipment from the federal government, but is maintained by the various states, with the help of federal government subsidies; it can reach a force equivalent to 800 men for each senator and each representative in Congress; but for the District of Columbia and the territories of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska and the Panamá Canal Zone its numbers are set by the president.
The reserve corps of officers is made up of officers of all ranks (mostly World War veterans). They can be recalled, with their consent, for no more than 15 days a year; in case of national need, they can be called back into effective service at any time and for any period of time.
The organized reserves are established only in case of war and are actually the second Army Reserve.
The Enlisted Reserve Corps includes men capable of military service, enrolled voluntarily, recallable for periods of education of 15 days and, with their consent, in case of national necessity, transferable to active service.
It is characteristic of the United States that there is a single military governing body, the War Department, which exercises both the functions generally attributed to the Ministry and those more specific to the General Staff. The work of this body is supported by the Superior War Council, which includes the secretary, the undersecretary for war, the commander-in-chief of the army, the chief of staff.
Officers are recruited from the West Point Single All Arms Military Academy, by NCOs or civilian students. Each weapon and each specialty has its own specialization school where courses are also held for the officers of the National Guard and of the organized reserves. The War College in Washington completes the education of general staff officers.
The state territory is divided into an autonomous district (Washington) and 9 army corps regions; and in each of these there are the cores of an infantry division of the regular army, of 2 infantry divisions of the National Guard, and of 3 divisions of the organized reserve.
The numbers of the army are small and in fact as of June 30, 1934 there were 12,278 officers and 126,169 troops, but today we tend to reach 15,000 officers and 150,000 troops. The National Guard, which has a staff (1934) of 13,309 officers and 171,482 troops, should reach the maximum formation of 18 divisions, with a total of 470,000 men, while the organized reserves (1934, 111,356 officers and 4,646,000 men) should constitute 30 divisions.
The same policy of the United States requires that the Confederation, while keeping a small army permanently in arms, have the possibility of rapidly mobilizing a considerable military force. In fact, it seems that the United States can field a first army of at least 5 million men in total; consisting of 4 armies, 19 corps and 54 divisions.
A vast industrial mobilization will have to accompany the military one and for this reason the president FD Roosevelt has created a special commission of industrialists and members of the government who have been entrusted with the task of drafting specific legislation. Furthermore, the mobilization would be allowed by vast reserves of trained officers and by citizens educated by special institutions, which however do not yet have the completeness of European pre- and post-military organizations.
