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:
“He could pause in his cross-examination, look at a man, projecting his face forward by degrees as he did so, in a manner which would crush any false witness who was not armed with triple courage at his breast,—and, alas! not unfrequently a witness who was not false.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“O, the difference of man and man!
To thee a woman’s services are due.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)