Armed Services is a collective term that refers to the major organisational entities of national armed forces, so named because they service a combat need in a specific combat environment. In most states Armed Services include the Army also known as Land Force or Ground Force, Navy also known as Marine Defence Force, and Air Force. Some countries have a separate service for the Space Forces or Military Space Forces, and the Russian Federation also has the Strategic Missile Troops and the Airborne Troops as independent Armed Services. The People's Liberation Army, despite the name, also comprises Armed Services consisting of the PLA Ground Force, PLA Navy (PLAN), PLA Air Force (PLAAF), Second Artillery Corps (strategic nuclear or missile force), and the PLA Reserved Force.
Some nations combine all Armed Services into one structure such as the Japan Self-Defense Forces, Óglaigh na hÉireann, and the Canadian Forces, and subdividing them into branches, or the Israeli Defense Forces with an even less pronounced separation of Armed Services due to its combined arms doctrine that is applied even at the highest echelons of command.
Famous quotes containing the words armed and/or services:
“There are lone figures armed only with ideas, sometimes with just one idea, who blast away whole epochs in which we are enwrapped like mummies. Some are powerful enough to resurrect the dead. Some steal on us unawares and put a spell over us which it takes centuries to throw off. Some put a curse on us, for our stupidity and inertia, and then it seems as if God himself were unable to lift it.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“A good marriage ... is a sweet association in life: full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)