21st Century
After the September 11 attacks, and as part of the Global War on Terror, U.S. and NATO combined arms (i.e. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Special Operations) forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, replacing the Taliban government.
The Army took part in the combined U.S. and allied 2003 invasion of Iraq. Within months the mission changed from conflict between regular militaries to counterinsurgency, with large numbers of suicide attacks resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 U.S. service members (as of March 2008) and injuries to thousands more.
Most of the units that carried out the ground campaign phase of the invasion of Iraq, and who bore the larger part of the conflict with the Iraqi military in 2003 were those of the Army. Since then, they have performed numerous operations against insurgents.
The Army has had to make several adjustments to address demands on its personnel and equipment. The US Army has utilized its stop-loss policy and has required more of its combat personnel to serve more tours of duty than before, due to the need for experienced personnel. There are deep concerns about effects on the psychological health of US soldiers in Iraq. Suicides among US soldiers have been rising, and have reached their highest rate in 26 years. This increase has coincided with US deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.
During the insurgency, it was found that most army vehicles such as HMMWVs were insufficiently armored, leading to efforts to add greater armor to protect against improvised explosive devices. Some soldiers added armor by using modifications known as hillbilly armor. In the short term, HMMWVs in service in Iraq are being replaced by Category 1 MRAP vehicles, primarily the Force Protection Cougar H and the International MaxxPro. The US Marine Corps plans to replace all HMMWVs patrolling "outside the wire" with MRAP vehicles.
The lack of stability in Iraq has led to longer deployments for Regular Army as well as Reserve and Guard troops. U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011, but fighting continues. 3,293 US Army personnel were killed in the conflict.
The Army's chief modernization plan was the Future Combat Systems program. Many systems were canceled and the remaining were swept into the BCT modernization program.
Read more about this topic: History Of The United States Army
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“man’s life is thought,
And he, despite his terror, cannot cease
Ravening through century after century,
Ravening, raging, and uprooting that he may come
Into the desolation of reality....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)