Veterans Day thoughts.

Veterans Day (yes, I am one - Army) inspired me to do some Googling, and I found out some very interesting things. In the US, we have 5 Armed Services (Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force; the "Military") and 7 Uniformed Services (the 5 Military plus 2 non-military services, that I'm sure 99.9% of Americans can't name without Google [me included]). The US Merchant Marines is sometimes included as a "sixth" service when honoring Veterans, although it is neither a Armed Service or a Uniformed Service, but none-the-less deserves recognition and honor just as much as the 5 Armed Services.

Of the 6 services, the Merchant Marines is historically the oldest, first recorded action was June 12, 1775 - 2 day before the Continental Army was formed on June 14, 1775, but is the second newest service officially formed by the US (March 15, 1938). In order of founding:
Merchant Marines - 12 Jun 1775 - 15 Mar 1938
Continental Army - 14 Jun 1775 - 3 Jun 1784
Continental Navy - 13 Oct 1775 - 27 Mar 1794
Continental Marines - 10 Nov 1775 - 11 Jul 1798
US Revenue Cutter Service (Coast Guard) - 4 Aug 1790 - 28 Jan 1915
US Army - 3 Jun 1784
US Navy - 27 Mar 1794
US Marines - 11 Jul 1798
US Coast Guard - 28 Jan 1915
Signal Corps Aeronautical Division (Air Force) - 1 Aug 1907 - 24 May 1918
US Army Air Service (later Army Air Corps, later Army Air Force) - 24 May 1918 - 18 Sep 1947
US Merchant Marines Service - 15 Mar 1938
US Air Force - 18 Sep 1947

Oh, and the 2 non-military Uniformed Services? The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps.

And NASA? Awesome job, but still not a service.

l-r: NOAACOC, Army, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard, Navy, USPHSCC

l-r: Army,Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, Air Force