14 June 2006

Happy Birthday, US Army!



The US Army was founded on June 14, 1775 as the Continental Army to fight the British. Later, the Continental Army was replaced by the United States Army under the newly-established War Department. The US Army was a volunteer army until the first conscriptions took place during the Civil War. After the Vietnam War the US Army once again became an all-volunteer force.

Many units active today can trace their roots to the orginal colonial army, such as parts of the 5th Field Artillery, the 112th Field Artillery ("NJ Guns"), Pennsylvania's 111th Infantry (Stryker), and Rhode Island's 705th AAA Gun Battalion, as well as the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Quartermaster Corps.

Read the riveting first-hand accounts of today's Heroes of all service branches in Heroes - A Nation Honors Valor in the War on Terror, a special section of today's Stars & Stripes.

Staff Sgt. Matt Blaskowski and Staff Sgt. Christopher Choay
1st Lt. Stephen Boada
Sgt. Keith Camardo
Sgt. 1st Class Makonen Campbell
Col. James Coffman Jr.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Alan Dementer
Capt. Steven Victor Engberg
Petty Officer 3rd Class Clayton Garcia
Lance Cpl. Ben Gonzalez
Sgt. Justin Hormann
Lt. Cmdr. Richard Jadick
Capt. Marlon James
Spc. Kurt-Alexander Kaahui
Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Maldonado
Capt. Chad T. Martin
Maj. Lauralee McGunagle and Maj. Kathryn Van Auken
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brian Mucci
Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and Spc. Jason Mike Staff Sgt. Jason Pepper
Petty Officer 2nd Class Juan Rubio
Master Sgt. Suran Sar
Staff Sgt. Anthony Viggiani

Thank you for your courage and for your service. You represent us all with courage and dignity, and show the world that we will never waiver in our belief that every human being, no matter what race or religious belief, has the right to live in freedom, without fear.

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