The official birthday of the United States Army is June 14, 1775. It’s easy to assume that this date implies the creation of a fully realized standing army, but the truth is that when the first shots were fired in the American Revolution, the troops involved in fighting the British could be compared to a guerrilla force; colonists from a variety of militias in the area banded together to fight the “Redcoats.”

The U.S. Army operates with close to half a million active-duty soldiers. The service has come a long way since it was created approximately a year prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.