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U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The United States Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, is made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military men and women. The Corps' mission is to provide engineering services to the United States, including:
- Planning, designing, building and operating dams and other civil engineering projects
- Designing and managing the construction of military facilities for the Army and Air Force
- Providing design and construction management support for other Defense and federal agencies The Corps' history began in 1775 when the Continental Congress authorized the first Chief Engineer whose first task was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill. The first Corps were mostly composed of French subjects, who had been hired by George Washington from the service of Louis XVI. In 1802 a corps of engineers was stationed at West Point and constituted the nation's first military academy. The Corps' authority over river works in the United States began with its fortification of New Orleans after the War of 1812. The United States Military Academy was under the direction of the Corps of Engineers until 1866. Another notable project of this era was the 555 ft 5 1/8 in (169 m) tall Washington Monument, completed under the direction and command of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey in 1888. In the Twentieth Century the Corps oversaw major hydroelectric projects as well as the Manhattan Project, which developed the nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Chief of Engineers has separate and distinct command and staff responsibilities. As a staff officer at the Pentagon, the Chief advises the Army on engineering matters and serves as the Army's topographer and the proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs. As commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Chief of Engineers leads a major Army command that is the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency. This office defines policy and guidance and plans direction for the organizations within the Corps. The current Chief of Engineers is LTG Carl Strock. The US Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters is made up of an Executive Office and 17 Staff Principals. The Headquarters, located in Washington, DC, creates policy and plans future direction of all the other Corps organizations. The Corps is organized geographically into nine divisions and 45 subordinate districts throughout the US, Asia and Europe. The districts oversee project offices throughout the world. Divisions and districts are defined by watershed boundaries for civil works projects, and by political boundaries for military projects. The eight U.S. divisions are:
- Great Lakes and Ohio River Division (LRD)
- Mississippi Valley Division (MVD)
- North Atlantic Division (NAD)
- Northwestern Division (NWD)
- Pacific Ocean Division (POD)
- South Atlantic Division (SAD)
- South Pacific Division (SPD)
- Southwestern Division (SWD) Since 11 September 2001, the Corps has responded with the creation of expeditionary elements in Iraq (the Gulf Region Division or GRD) and Afghanistan (the Afghanistan Engineer District or AED). One of the major responsibilities of the Corps of Engineers is administering the wetlands permitting program under Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. (AKA "The Clean Water Act"). This Act authorized the Secretary of the Army to issue permits for the discharge of dredged and fill material. Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (codified in Chapter 33, Section 403 of the United States Code) gave the Corps authority over navigable waters of the United States. As navigable waters are defined as "navigable waters of the United States are those waters that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide and/or are presently being used, or have been used in the past, or may be susceptible for use to transport interstate or foreign commerce", the Corps has broad authority to enforce this. There are three types of permits issued by the Corps: Nationwide, regional General, and individual. 80% of the permits issued are nationwide permits, which include several general types of activities, as published in the Federal Register. To get a nationwide permit, an applicant need only send a letter to the regional Corps office notifying them of your intent. Regional general permits are specific to each Corps division office. Individual permits are required for projects greater than 0.5 acres (2,000 m²) in size. The Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is the US Army Corps of Engineers research and development command. ERDC consists of eight unique laboratories. Research support includes:
- Mapping and terrain analysis
- Infrastructure design, construction, operations and maintenance
- Structural engineering
- Cold regions and ice engineering
- Coastal and hydraulic engineering
- Environmental quality
- Geotechnical engineering
- High performance computing and information technology There are several other major organizations within the Corps of Engineers:
- Huntsville, US Army Engineering and Support Center (CEHNC) - provides engineering and technical services, program and project management, construction management, and innovative contracting initiatives, for programs that are national or broad in scope or not normally provided by other Corps’ elements
- Transatlantic Programs Center (CETAC) - supports US government programs and policies overseas
- Finance Center, USACE (CEFC) - supports the operating finance and accounting functions throughout the US Army Corps of Engineers
- Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (CEHEC) - provides administrative and operational support for HQUSACE and Corps Field Offices
- Marine Design Center (CEMDC) - provides total project management including planning, engineering, and shipbuilding contract management in support of Corps, Army, and national water resource projects in peacetime, and augments the military construction capacity in time of national emergency or mobilization
- Institute for Water Resources (IWR) - supports the Civil Works Directorate and other USACE offices by developing and applying new planning evaluation methods, polices and data in anticipation of changing water resources management conditions.
- 249th Engineer Battalion - generates and distributes prime electrical power in support of fighting wars, disaster relief, stability and support operations as well as provides advice and technical assistance in all aspects of electrical power and distribution systems. It also maintains Army power generation and distribution war reserves.

External links

- [http://www.usace.army.mil/ United States Army Corps of Engineers]
- [http://texashistory.unt.edu/browse/collection/ACE/ Historic photos of Corps of Engineers lock and dam projects throughout Texas in 1910-20s from the Portal to Texas History] Corps of Engineers
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Civilian

A civilian is a person who is not a member of a military. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention it is a war crime to deliberately attack a non-combatant civilian or wantonly and unnecessarily destroy or take the property of a civilian. However, civilian property may be destroyed in pursuit of a military objective; civilian property may be seized for military use; and collateral damage is an accepted part of war. In practice, the neat division between combatants and non-combatants implicit in such treaties can be very unclear, particularly in guerilla warfare where the guerillas receive the support of the local population. It is sometimes argued that the division between civilian and military and the abhorrence towards attacks on civilians is a reflection of Western attitudes to war, and that other societies do not make such distinctions but find other aspects of Western-style warfare abhorrent (such as strategic bombing). The possible cultural perception notwithstanding, 188 states are party to the applicable Geneva Convention (as at 31 December 1996) including such non-Western countries that have been in conflict since the 12 August 1949 date of the Convention as Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Congo, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, both Koreas, Kuwait, Laos, Rwanda, Syria and Vietnam. See also: Laws of war, Law of land warfare, combatant. illegal combatant. ---- In legal contexts, a civilian is also the name given to a jurist or jurisdiction of the civil law as in civilian jurisdiction. In interactions between certain professions, especially such public service ones as police and fire protection, a civilian also describes a person not part of the profession. "Civilian" is also known to be used by models, federal bureaucrats, and historically, by vaudevillians to describe those outside of their respective professions. The term recently gained increased parlance through use by New York Theater Company, "The Civilians".

External links

- [http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList160/D89499AA0F2E88C0C1256B66005A784B Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims]
- [http://www.thecivilians.org 'The Civilians'] Category:War ja:文官

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Civil engineering

.]] In modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they are related to earth, water, or civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals with roads, structures, water supply, sewer, flood control and traffic. In essence civil engineering is the profession which makes the world a more habitable place to live. Engineering has developed from observations of the ways natural and constructed systems react and from the development of empirical equations that provide bases for design. Civil engineering is the broadest of the engineering fields. In fact engineering was once divided into only two fields--military and civil. All the engineering specialties have derived from civil engineering. Civil engineering is still an umbrella field comprised of many related specialities.

Sub-disciplines of civil engineering

General civil engineering

General civil engineering is concerned with the overall interface of fixed projects with the greater world. General civil engineers work closely with surveyors and specialized civil engineers to fit and serve fixed projects within their given site, community and terrain by designing grading, drainage (flood control), paving, water supply, sewer service, electric and communications supply and land (real property) divisions. General engineers spend much of their time visiting project sites, developing community/neighborhood consensus, and preparing construction plans.

Structural engineering

Main article: Structural engineering Structural engineering is concerned with the design of bridges, buildings, offshore oil platforms, dams etc. Structural design and structural analysis are components of structural engineering and a key component in the structural design process. This involves computing the stresses and forces at work within a structure. There are some structural engineers who work in non-typical areas, designing aircraft, spacecraft and even biomedical devices. Major design concerns are building seismic resistant structures and seismically retrofitting existing structures.

Geotechnical engineering

Main article: Geotechnical engineering The main subject of the studies also known as soil mechanics is concerned with soil properties, mechanics of soil particles, compression and swelling of soils, seepage, slopes, retaining walls, foundations, footings, ground and rock anchors, use of synthetic tensile materials in soil structures, soil-structure interaction and soil dynamics. Geotechnical engineering covers this field of studies for application in engineering. The importance of geotechnical engineering can hardly be overstated: buildings must be supported by reliable foundations. Dam design and construction reducing flooding of lower drainage areas is an important subject of geotechnical engineering.

Transportation engineering

Main article: Transportation engineering Transportation engineering is primarily concerned with motorized road transportation, especially in North America. This includes areas such as queueing theory and traffic flow planning, roadway geometric design and driver behavior patterns. Simulation of traffic operation is performed through use of trip generation, traffic assignment algorithms which can be highly complex computational problems. Other, more specialized areas of transportation engineering are concerned with the designs of non-road transportation facilities, such as rail systems, airports, and ports.

Environmental engineering

Main article: Environmental engineering Environmental engineering deals with the treatment of chemical, biological, and/or thermal waste, the purification of water and air, and the remediation of contaminated sites, due to prior waste disposal or accidental contamination. Among the topics covered by environmental engineering are water purification, sewage treatment, and hazardous waste management. Environmental engineering is related to the fields of hydrology, geohydrology and meteorology insofar as knowledge of (ground)water and flows are required to understand pollutant transport. Environmental engineers are also involved in pollution reduction, "green engineering," and industrial ecology. Environmental engineering also deals with the gathering of information on the environmental consequences of proposed actions and the assessment of effects of proposed actions for the purpose of assisting society and policy makers in the decision making process. Environmental engineering is the contemporary term for sanitary engineering. Some other terms in use are public health engineering and environmental health engineering.

Hydraulic engineering

Main article: Hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water. This area of engineering is intimately related to the design of pipelines, water distribution systems, drainage facilities (including bridges, dams, channels, culverts, levees, and storm sewers), canals, and to both sanitary and environmental engineering. Hydraulic engineers design these facilities using the concepts of fluid pressure, fluid statics, fluid dynamics, and hydraulics, among others.

Construction engineering

Main article: Construction engineering Construction engineering involves planning and execution of the designs from transportation, site development, hydraulic, environmental, structural and geotechnical engineers.

Material science

Main article: Material science Civil engineering also includes material science. Engineering materials include concrete, steel and recently, polymers and ceramics with potential engineering application.

Surveying

Main article: Surveying Elements of a building or structure must be correctly sized and positioned in relation to each other and to site boundaries and adjacent structures. This is accomplished using surveying techniques.

Careers

A popular misconception is that civil engineering is far from the exciting frontiers in mathematics and computer science. In actuality, much of what is now computer science was driven by work in civil engineering, where structural and network analysis problems required parallel computations and development of advanced algorithms. There are also civil engineers who work in the area of safety engineering, applying probabilistic methods to structural design, safety analysis and even estimates of insurance losses due to natural and man-made hazards.

Education and Licensure

Prior to becoming a practicing engineer, civil engineers generally complete tertiary (college or higher) educational requirements, followed by several years of practical experience. Each country, state, or province individually regulates civil engineering practice: In the U.S., one must become a licensed Professional Engineer to do any civil engineering work affecting the public or to legally represent oneself as a civil engineer. Licensure requirements vary slightly by state, but in all cases entail passing two licensure exams, the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and the Principles and Practice exam (commonly called the PE), and completing a state-mandated number of years of work under the supervision of a licensed Professional Engineer. In addition, an educational requirement must often be met. All states accept a four year Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree in Civil Engineering, from an [http://www.abet.org ABET]-accredited program, for their educational requirement. The acceptability of degrees in other fields varies by state; some states allow a person to substitute additional years of supervised work experience for the degree requirement. Although the American Society of Civil Engineers encourages states to raise the educational requirement to a graduate degree, advanced degrees are currently optional for civil engineers in the United States. Graduate study may lead either to a Master of Engineering, which is a Professional Master's degree, or to a Master of Science degree followed by a PhD in civil engineering or a sub-discipline. In the United Kingdom current graduates require a MSc or MEng in order to become chartered through the Institution of Civil Engineers. This is relaxed to a BSc or BEng for those who entered University prior to the current rules coming into force. The Institution also allows entrants with substantial experience to apply without this level of formal academic achievement. In practice many, if not most, Civil Engineers in the UK work without chartered status. In Australia and New Zealand, this is typically a four year Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree which includes 12 weeks of work experience. In Denmark, a Civil Engineer takes 5 years to complete, whereof the first 3 years is aimed at completing a Bachelor degree, and the following two years, in follwing up with what is roughly the equivalent of a Master's degree, in Denmark called a candidate degree. The only two places in Denmark to complete the Civil Engineer education, is at DTU and University of Aalborg. "International Engineering Agreements" can be found at [http://www.ieagreements.com/ http://www.ieagreements.com/]. These agreements are designed to allow engineers to practice across international borders. In general, these agreements require both educational competencies and professional experiential competencies.

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aviation branch of the United States armed forces. The USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947. Previously, the Army was responsible for non-naval military aviation under the US Army Air Forces. The USAF is the largest modern air force in the world, with over 7,000 aircraft in service, and air bases around the world. Since World War I, the USAF and its predecessors have taken part in military conflicts throughout the world. The USAF is widely considered to be the most technologically advanced in the world. The stated mission of the USAF is "deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests -- to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace".[http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123013440]

History

The USAF was first formed on September 18, 1947, following the passing of the National Security Act. The Act created the Department of Defense, which was composed of three branches, the Army, Navy and a newly created Air Force. Prior to 1947, military aviation was the responsibility of the Army, while the Navy maintained a fleet air arm on its fleet of aircraft carriers. The Army branch was known as the US Army Air Corps and later the US Army Air Force.

Formation

The US military first began to experiment with military aviation in December 1906, when ‘’Army Specification #486’’ was authorized, which looked the creation of aircraft for military usage. In 1908, the Wright Brothers signed a contract with the Army to bolster the operations. The first air divisions were created following the establishment of an Aviation Section of the US Army Signal Corps.

World War I

In 1917, upon the United States' entry into World War I, the U.S. Army Air Service was formed as part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Major General Mason Patrick commanded the AEF Air Forces; his deputy was Major General Billy Mitchell. The Air Service provided tactical support for the U.S. Army, especially during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne offensives. Among the aces of the Air Service were Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke. In 1926 the Air Service was reorganized as a branch of the Army and became the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). During this period, the USAAC began experimenting with new techniques, including air-to-air refueling and the development of the B-9 and the Martin B-10, the first all-metal monoplane bomber, and new fighters. In 1937, the B-17 Flying Fortress made its first appearance. In a spectacular feat of navigation, three B-17s intercepted the Italian passenger liner Rex at sea.

World War II

Italian passenger liner Rex.]] World War II led to further changes. In 1941, the Army Air Corps became the U.S. Army Air Force and the GHQ Air Force was redesignated the Air Force Combat Command. In the major military reorganization effective March 9, 1942, the newly designated United States Army Air Forces gained equal voice with the Army and Navy. In Europe, the USAAF began daylight bombing operations, over objections of the Royal Air Force planners on the Combined Chiefs of Staff. The US strategy involved flying bombers together, relying on the defensive firepower of a close formation. The tactic was only successful in part. American fliers took tremendous casualties during raids on the oil refineries of Ploiesti, Romania and the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt and Regensburg, Germany. When the P-51 Mustang, with its increased range, was introduced to combat, American combat losses dropped, and operations during Big Week in late winter of 1944 caused the Luftwaffe to lose experienced pilots. In the Pacific Theater of Operations, the USAAF used the B-29 Superfortress to launch attacks on the Japanese mainland from China. One of the major logistical efforts of the war, "flying the Hump" over the Himalayas, took place. To carry both a bomb load and fuel and to bomb at high altitude through the jet stream affected the B-29's range. As soon as airbases on Saipan were captured in 1944, General Curtis LeMay changed strategy from high-level precision bombings to low-level incendiary bombings, aimed at destroying the distributed network of Japanese industrial manufacturing. Many Japanese cities suffered extensive damage. Tokyo suffered a firestorm in which over 100,000 persons died. The B-29 was also used to drop one primitive nuclear weapon on each of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945.

Post War

The United States Department of the Air Force was created when President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947. It became effective September 18, 1947, when Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson administered the oath of office to the first secretary of the Air Force, Stuart Symington. The Korean War saw the Far Eastern Air Force losing its main airbase in Kimpo, South Korea, and forced to provide close air support to the defenders of the Pusan pocket from bases in Japan. However, General Douglas B. MacArthur's landing at Inchon in September 1950 enabled the FEAF to return to Kimpo and other bases, from which they supported MacArthur's drive to the Korean-Chinese border. When the Chinese People's Liberation Army intervened in December, 1950, the USAF provided tactical air support. The introduction of the Soviet-made MiG-15 caused problems for the B-29s used to bomb North Korea, but the USAF countered the MiGs with the F-86 Sabre.

Vietnam War

The USAF were heavily deployed during the Vietnam War. The first bombing raids against North Vietnam occurred in 1965 following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964. Codenamed, Operation Rolling Thunder, the purpose was to destroy the will of the North Vietnamese to fight, to destroy industrial bases and air defences, and to stop the flow of men and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The USAF was to drop more bombs during this campaign than all the bombs dropped during World War II. The bombing campaign lasted until 1972. The bombing of villages using napalm, and the high civilian causalities in the North was controversial and led to massive anti-American protests throughout the world. Nevertheless, the operation was militarily effective, stopping a major North Vietnamese Army offensive in 1972.

Cold War

Following the end of World War II, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union began to sour, and the period in history known as the Cold War began. This period saw the United States enter a arms race with the Soviet Union, and competition to increase influence throughout the world. In response the United States expanded its military presence throughout the world. The USAF opened air bases throughout Europe, and later in Japan and South Korea. The United States also built air bases on the British overseas territories of British Indian Ocean Territory and Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. The first test for the USAF during the Cold War occurred in 1948 when Communist authorities in Eastern Germany cut off road and air transportation to West Berlin. The USAF, along with the Royal Air Force, supplied the city during the Berlin airlift, using C-121 Constellation and the C-54 Skymaster. The efforts of the USAF and RAF saved the city from starvation and forced the Soviets to back down in their blockade when they realised it wasn't working.

Bosnia and Kosovo

The USAF led NATO action in Bosnia in 1994 with air strikes against the Bosnian Serb. This was the first time that USAF aircraft took part in military action as part of a NATO mission. The USAF led the strike forces as the only NATO air force with the capability to launch significant air strikes over a long period of time. Later the USAF led NATO air strikes against Serbia during the Kosovo War. The forces were later criticised for attacking civilian targets in Belgrade, including a strike on the civilian television station, and a later attack which destroyed the Chinese Embassy.

Iraq and Afghanistan

Belgrade The USAF provided the bulk of the Allied air power during the first Gulf War in 1991. This was the first war that the F-117 Nighthawk was deployed. The Stealth fighter's capabilities were shown on the first night of the air war when they were able to bomb central Baghdad and avoid the Iraqi's sophisticated anti-aircraft defences. The USAF later patrolled the skies of Northern and Southern Iraq after the war to protect minorities persecuted by the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein. In 2001, the USAF was deployed against the Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Operating from Diego Garcia, B-52 Stratofortress attacked Taliban positions, and deploying daisy cutter bombs for the first time since the Vietnam War. During this conflict the USAF opened up bases in Central Asia for the first time. The USAF was more recently deployed in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Following the defeat of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the USAF took over Baghdad International Airport as a base. USAF aircraft are used to provide support to Coalition and Iraqi forces in major operations to eliminate insurgent centers of activity and supply in north and west Iraq.

Organization

The Department of the Air Force consists of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF), the Air Staff, and field units.

SECAF

The Office of the SECAF includes the Secretary, Under Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, General Counsel, The Inspector General, Air Reserve Forces Policy Committee, and other offices and positions established by law or the SECAF. The Office of the SECAF has responsibility for acquisition and auditing, comptroller issues (including financial management), inspector general matters, legislative affairs, and public affairs. In 2004 the Secretary of the Air Force was Dr. James G. Roche who stepped down as SECAF on January 20th, 2005. In 2005 the Secretary of the Air Force is Michael Wynne.

Air Staff

Michael Wynne The Air Staff primarily consists of military advisors to the CSAF and the SECAF. This includes the Chief of Staff, Vice Chief of Staff, and Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (CMSAF), four deputy chiefs of staff (DCS), the US Air Force Surgeon General, The Judge Advocate General, the Chief of the Air Force Reserve, and additional military and civilian personnel as the SECAF deems necessary. In 2005 the Chief of Staff of the Air Force was General (Gen) T. Michael Moseley. The Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force is the senior enlisted person in the Air Force. In 2004 the position was held by Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt) Gerald R. Murray.

Field Units

The Department of the Air Force field units are MAJCOMs, field operating agencies (FOA), and direct reporting units (DRU).

Major commands (MAJCOMs)

The USAF is organized on a functional basis in the United States and a geographical basis overseas. A major command (MAJCOM) represents a major Air Force subdivision having a specific portion of the Air Force mission. Each MAJCOM is directly subordinate to HQ USAF. MAJCOMs are interrelated and complementary, providing offensive, defensive, and support elements. An operational command consists (in whole or in part) of strategic, tactical, space, or defense forces; or of flying forces that directly support such forces. A support command may provide supplies, weapon systems, support systems, operational support equipment, combat material, maintenance, surface transportation, education and training, or special services and other supported organizations. The USAF is organized into nine MAJCOMS, 7 Functional and 2 Geographic, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HQ USAF):

Numbered Air Forces (NAF)

See main article: List of Numbered Air Forces The NAF is a level of command directly under a MAJCOM (Major Command). NAFs are tactical echelons that provide operational leadership and supervision. They are not management headquarters and do not have complete functional staffs. Many NAFs are responsible for MAJCOM operations in a specific geographic region or theater of operations. A NAF is assigned subordinate units, such as wings, groups, and squadrons.

Wings

See main article: List of Wings. The wing is a level of command below the NAF. A wing has approximately 1,000 to 5,000 personnel and a distinct mission with significant scope. It is responsible for maintaining the installation and may have several squadrons in more than one dependent group. A wing may be an operational wing, an air base wing, or a specialized mission wing.

Operational Wing

An operational wing is one that has an operations group and related operational mission activity assigned to it. When an operational wing performs the primary mission of the base, it usually maintains and operates the base. In addition, an operational wing is capable of self-support in functional areas like maintenance, supply, and munitions, as needed. When an operational wing is a tenant organization, the host command provides it with varying degrees of base and logistics support.

Air Base Wing

Some bases which do not have operational wings or are too large or diverse for one wing will have an Air Base Wing (ABW). The ABW performs a support function rather than an operational mission. It maintains and operates a base. An air base wing often provides functional support to a MAJCOM headquarters. Wings are composed of several groups with different functional responsibilities. Groups are composed of several squadrons, each of which has one major responsibility or flying one type of aircraft. Squadrons are composed of two or more flights.

Operational Organization

Air Base Wing The above organizational structure is responsible for the peacetime Organization, Equipping, and Training of aerospace units for operational missions. When required to support operational missions, the National Command Authority directs a Change in Operational Control (CHOP) of these units from their peacetime alignment to a Combatant Commander (COCOM).

Aerospace Expeditionary Task Force (ASETF)

CHOPPED units are referred to as "forces". The top-level structure of these forces is the Aerospace Expeditionary Task Force (ASETF). The ASETF is the Air Force presentation of forces to a COCOM for the employment of Air Power. Each COCOM is supported by a standing Warfighting Headquarters (WFHQ) to provide planning and execution of aerospace forces in support of COCOM requirements. Each WFHQ consists of a Commander, Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR), and AFFOR staff, and an Air Operations Center (AOC). As needed to support multiple Joint Force Commanders (JFC) in the COCOM's Area of Responsibility (AOR), the WFHQ may deploy Air Component Coordinate Elements (ACCE) to liaise with the JFC.

Commander, Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR)

The COMAFFOR is the senior Air Force officer responsible for the employment of Air Power is support of JFC objectives. The COMAFFOR has a special staff and an A-Staff to ensure assigned or attached forces are properly organized, equipped, and trained to support the operational mission.

Air Operations Center (AOC)

The AOC is the COMAFFOR's Command and Control (C²) center. This center is responsible for planning and executing air power missions in support of JFC objectives.

Air Expeditionary Wings/Groups/Squadrons

The ASETF generates air power to support COCOM objectives from Air Expeditionary Wings (AEW) or Air Expeditionary Groups (AEG). These units are responsible for receiving combat forces from Air Force MAJCOMs, preparing these forces for operational missions, launching and recovering these forces, and eventually returning forces to the MAJCOMs. Theater Air Control Systems control employment of forces during these missions.

Aircraft

Main article: List of military aircraft of the United States The United States Air Force has roughly over 7,500 Aircraft commissioned as of 2004.[http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force#sources (1)] It currently employs a designation and naming system to identify all aircraft type with distinct names. Until 1962, both the Army and Air Force maintained one system, while the US Navy maintained a separate system. In 1962, these were unified into a single system heavily reflecting the Army/Air Force method. For more complete information on the workings of this system, refer to United States Department of Defense Aerospace Vehicle Designations.

Gallery of images

This is a gallery of the most well known USAF aircraft Image:Usaf.b52.750pix.jpg|B-52 Stratofortress Image:B1s.jpg|B-1 Lancer Image:Usaf.b2.spirit.750pix.jpg|B-2 Spirit ("Stealth Bomber") Image:Thunderbolt.a10.fairford.arp.jpg|A-10 Thunderbolt II ("Warthog") Image:F-16 CJ Fighting Falcon.jpg|F-16 Fighting Falcon Image:F-117 Nighthawk flight.jpg|F-117 Nighthawk ("Stealth Fighter") Image:F-15 takeoff.jpg|F-15 Eagle Image:Usaf.c130.750pix.jpg|C-130 Hercules

Uniform

The current U.S. Air Force uniform, adopted in 1993 and standardized in 1995, consists of a three-button, pocketless coat, similar to that of a men's "sport jacket" (with silver "U.S." pins on the lapels), matching trousers, and either a service cap or garrison cap, all in "Air Force Blue." This is worn with a light blue shirt and necktie in the same color as the coat and trousers. Enlisted members wear sleeve insignia on both the jacket and shirt, while officers wear metal rank insignia pinned onto the coat, and Air Force Blue slide-on loops on the shirt. Air Force personnel assigned to honor guard duties wear, for dress occasions, a modified version of the standard service dress uniform, but with silver trim on the sleeves and trousers, with the addition of medals, sword belt, and a silver shoulder cord. Between 1993 and 1995, officers had Navy/Coast Guard-style rank rings on the coat, but this was replaced with sewn-on epaulets with the rank insignia, with "welts" in the same color as the coat being worn on the sleeves, a distinctive item adopted from the U.S. Army. Prior to 1993, all Air Force personnel wore Air Force Blue uniforms nearly identical in appearance to that of the U.S. Army, which in fact, influence the current uniform regulations of the Army when it replaced its WWII/Korean-era olive drab uniforms with the modern-day "Army Green" uniforms of the Cold War era. For combat and work duty, ground crews wear standard battle dress uniform, which are currently being phased out in favor of an Air Force version of the Marine's MARPAT uniform, while pilots and air crews wear olive green or tan one-piece flight suits made of nomex for fire protection. Women's uniforms, which has changed little since its introduction in the late 1950's, generally is identical in appearance to that of the uniforms worn by women officers in the U.S. Army.

Common badges

:See also: Military badges of the United States
- Pilot Badge
- Navigator Badge
- Aircrew Badge
- Flight Surgeon Badge
- Occupational Badge
- Medical Badge
- Religious Pin
- Security Police badge

Rank Structure

Trivia

The US Air Force conducted the Project Blue Book investigation into UFOs and alien encounters.See UFO for data on the US Air Force Project Blue Book. Recently, given the USAF's attention to space exploration, rumors have stirred of a possible name change for the entire service, to United States Aerospace Force. However, this has yet to receive serious attention.

Sources

[http://www.britannica.com 2004 Encyclopædia Britannica]