when did the us have a standing army
History of the United States Army When the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. Previously, each colony had relied upon the militia, made up of part-time civilian-soldiers. The initial orders from Congress authorized ten companies of riflemen. The first full regiment of Regular Army infantry, the 3rd Infantry Regiment, was not formed until June 1784.[1] After the war, the Continental Army was quickly disbanded because of the American distrust of standing armies, and irregular state militias became the new nation's sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal.
American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was the expeditionary force of the United States Army during World War I. It was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing. During the United States campaigns in World War I it fought, alongside French and British troops, against the German Empire. Some of the troops fought alongside Italian forces in that same year, against the Austro-Hungarian Army. It helped the French Army on the Western Front during the Aisne Offensive (at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood) in June 1918, and fought its major actions in the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives in late 1918.