Even though the Marine Corps is the smallest branch of the U.S. military, the Marines often under-take the most difficult tasks faced by the Armed Forces. The Marines lead military attack missions, de-ploying highly trained troops into dangerous areas to secure holdings for the Army and other branches. They are often closely linked with the Navy, but the two branches re-main seperate entities.

Senior Carlos Passuni is eager to face the challenges posed by the Marine Corps. “I want to defend my country and make a differ-ence,” he said. “Seeing most of my friends who were in JROTC become Ma-rines made me look up to them.”

The Air Force has grown quick-ly over its 63-year history. Leading air strikes, transport missions, and reconnaissance tasks, the U.S. Air Force is responsible for a wide ar-ray of operations, including trans-portation of the President and man-agement of space technologies in addition to combat. With hundreds of different types of the most ad-vanced aircraft in the world, the Air Force has always been at the fore-front of technological advances.

Sophomore Josh Gonzalez is considering becoming an Air Force pilot. Inspired by his fam-ily members who have served in the Air Force, Gonzalez believes that “piloting a jet or any air-craft would be a great ex-perience.”

The Coast Guard is a unique branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, as it is used mostly for domestic pro-tection and border patrol. As part of the Department of Homeland Secu-rity, the Coast Guard is responsible for maintaining order and safety on the U.S. coasts, inspecting commer-cial vessels, and answering distress calls from ships in American waters. Other operations include enforc-ing environmental regulations and escorting military ships. According to uscg.mil, the Coast Guard saved over 4,000 lives in 2008 in response to more than 24,000 search and res-cue missions. The Coast Guard is also used to aid the Navy in wartime as the President sees fit.

No JROTC students are plan-ning on joining the Coast Guard next year. “[The Coast Guard] doesn’t get much advertisement. Many students don’t know what they do or what it is about,” Ser-geant Major Finick said.

SUPPLEMENT December 2010www.thewestwordonline.com26

Coast Guard

The Army is the largest branch of the five that compose the U.S. Armed Forces. Established in 1775 to defend the nation, promote peace, and advance national policies, the Army carries out land missions all over the world. According to army.mil, there are around 480,000 active soldiers stationed on six continents.

However, not every soldier is on active duty. Thousands of sol-diers in the Army Reserve train at home and are prepared to be called upon to serve their nation at any given moment.

Senior Jasennia Palma said, “I want to join the Army next year because I think it would be a good learning experience for me, and it would make me a betterperson.”

The U.S. has the largest naval force in the world, with 288 deploy-able ships and over 300,000 sailors on active duty, according to navy.mil. The mission of the U.S. Navy is to keep the seas safe for America and the rest of the world. The Navy is led by Admiral Gary Rougehead, Chief of Naval Operations.

In recent years, the Navy has taken on other roles, includ-ing participation in special mis-sions in the place of full-scale combat operations. Naval aircraft have become more prevalent, as there are over 3,700 aircraft in operation.

Senior Eric Estrada said, “I want to be a Navy Seal to do missions no one else does.”

Dressing the part: Decoding a military uniformUnit Crest

ranks

Honor UnitJROTC has a battalion

inspection every three years, in which they are able to win one of three awards: merit unit, honor unit, or honor unit with distinction. This year’s JROTC

won honor unit.

name taG

taGsTags represent activities JROTC members have participated in, such as drill

team or summer camp.

CorDsRed cords represent the Drill team; red and black cords represent the Facsimile team; black cords rep-resent the Raiders team; white cords represent the Color Guard.

ribbonsRibbons show awards the students have received from various things like community service, walking in a parade, or academic

achievement.

Illustrations by sydney olshan / IllustratorPhotos by michelle Delmazio / Copy Editor.

marines navyair Force

breaking it down

army

Briefs by Zach eisen / Photo Editor

meDals

Explaining the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces