The bulk of the US military’s work is devoted to keeping the peace, in activities ranging from deterring adversaries to keeping our GPS online and fighting wildfires or helping with hurricane recovery here in America.
Many of these missions don’t often make headlines, but they touch our lives every day, no matter where we live in the United States. Below is a collection of highlights from our series on the US military’s contribution to everyday life.
Click on these links to read more about the Air Force, Army, and Navy/Marine Corps.
1. The Army Corps of Engineers helps maintain a massive portion of critical infrastructure
An aerial of Bluestone Dam taken before the construction of the work platform on the face of the dam. US Army Corps of Engineers | Flickr
The Army Corps of Engineers builds and maintains the nation’s system of 2,500 levees, which in one year alone can prevent over $100 billion of damage and provide peace of mind to the 10 million Americans who live or work behind the most critical ones.
These highly-skilled soldiers also maintain over 25,000 miles of inland waterways, including the associated locks and ports — and another 700 dams, with an estimated $500 billion saved over a decade due to Corps’ flood prevention efforts.
2. American naval power in Persian Gulf waters provides stability for global oil prices.
The vast majority of Middle Eastern oil is exported on tankers through the Strait of Hormuz—a geopolitical chokepoint that Iran frequently threatens to close off. A full 20 percent of the world’s oil transits through this narrow waterway passage, most of which fuels the rapidly growing Asian economies.
One reason we are all enjoying lower prices at the pump gas this year is thanks to our sea services. Without America’s naval combat power stationed in the Persian Gulf to stabilize rising competition between hostile nations, Saudi Arabia could not have put pressure on Iran by increasing production despite flat demand, thereby decreasing global oil prices.
3. Army medical research protects America from epidemics – like the Ebola outbreak in 2014
The US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases is the nation’s front line of defense against epidemics such as smallpox, Ebola, and anthrax. These cutting-edge research efforts are done quietly until there is a crisis.
But they give Americans the peace of mind to go about our daily lives, often in major cities or urban centers, without fear of infectious diseases arriving, or if they do, from spreading.
4. The Air Force protects American airspace — including above all major US cities
Thunderbirds pilots approach the University of Phoenix Stadium Feb. 1, 2015, to perform a flyover during Super Bowl XLIX, in Phoenix, Ariz. US Air Force | Flickr
Whenever the threat of danger or terrorism arises on passenger jets, the Air Force stands ready to escort these planes and, if necessary, disable them to protect Americans here at home. Since the day of 9/11, when F-15 and F-16 fighter jets were launched to shadow suspicious airliners after the initial attacks, the Air Force has flown 87,000 of these missions.
In addition to the Air Force’s protection against potentially hijacked aircraft, the Air Force conducts intercepts against foreign aircraft that stray too close to US airspace. As the Russian Air Force became more aggressive following the invasion of Crimea in 2014, the US Air Force maintained its routine tracking and intercepts of Russian aircraft. A lot of this aerial signaling occurs off the coast of Alaska—most recently on Independence Day, when Air Force F-15s were forced to intercept a Soviet-era nuclear-capable Tu-95 Bear.
5. Army soldiers are often support local fire departments, domestic law enforcement agencies, or border control agents when they are overwhelmed
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Christopher Hanson takes a break with three US Customs and Border Protection agents near bales of seized drugs on the Arizona border. Flickr
Increasingly, the Army National Guard has been called upon to improve physical border security here in the US, provide intelligence support, and train law enforcement officers dealing with militarily-advanced drug cartels.
From 2006 to 2008, President George Bush deployed over 30,000 National Guard personnel to all four states on America’s southern border for Operation Jump Start. This operation, renewed on a smaller scale by President Obama in 2010, was meant to provide a bridge for law enforcement agencies until they could develop the capacity and skills to perform aerial surveillance and deal with unforeseen influxes of immigrants.
6. The Air Force owns and operates our entire GPS constellation
The US-led global positioning system consists of 31 satellites in mid-earth orbit that provide unique global coverage. The Air Force launches and operates all of these satellites to ensure that military and civilian users alike have uninterrupted access to precision positioning and timing information.
Nearly everything we take for granted to move around and keep track of time relies upon Air Force satellite data. A big chunk of the US financial sector — and many pensions and college funds — rest upon assured access to millisecond-accurate timing to conduct its $24 quadrillion in yearly trading.
7. The Air Force flies critical firefighting missions against wildfires here in America
Here at home, the Air Force Reserve and National Guard fly critical firefighting missions that help the US Forest Service take on the worst of the wildfires. Just one wildfire can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, leaving thousands of families without homes. Flying out of Peterson Air Base in Colorado, the 302nd Airlift Wing operates modified C-130 cargo planes full of fire retardant.
Just last month, the Air Force announced that two Air National Guard firefighting C-130s will join two Colorado-based Reserve fighting planes that have already dropped 250,000 gallons of fire retardant in California in the past few weeks.
8. By being abroad, the Army helps keep markets stable and imports of items like cars, TVs, and medical devices uninterrupted
Hyundai Motor Co vehicles await shipment to foreign countries at a port in Ulsan, about 410 km (256 miles) south of Seoul. Reuters
When Iran threatens to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, oil market analysts notice and global financial markets often react quickly, and negatively. Instability in other parts of the world can affect the health of America’s economy in short order.
Yet the US Army, acting as the mortar in the bricks of the international system, has provided geopolitical stability underpinning incredible economic growth here at home for decades. In some ways, the Army has done its job so well that we often forget how important it is.
If you drive a Kia or Hyundai, you’re driving a South Korean car. If you watch a Samsung, that’s a Korean TV. And if you use an iPhone, about a quarter of the most critical parts come from South Korea.
Army research labs provide critical breakthroughs for military and civilian purposes—from sports concussions to world-class prosthetics after the Boston Marathon bombing.
9. The Army has spearheaded medical research on treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
The shoes of 2013 Boston Marathon bombing survivor J.P. Norden read “Boston Strong” as he stands at the finish line on the one-year anniversary of the bombings in Boston, Massachusetts April 15, 2014. Reuters
Additionally, the Army has led research on traumatic brain injuries, increasingly caused by improvised explosive devices, that will have application for children and adults who suffer similar injuries from repeated exposure to contact sports like football and hockey.
Similarly, the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio is the Pentagon’s only burn center — though it also has treated 3,800 US citizens and neighbors who were also burn victims — and has made significant advances in treating others scarred by injury during the Iraq and Afghan wars.
Inventions such as the one-handed tourniquet, blood-cooling container, and newly responsive prosthetics promise to better the lives of thousands of Americans.
10. The US military leads global anti-piracy efforts, which keeps the cost of goods down
Cast member Tom Hanks (L) poses with co-stars Barkhad Abdi (C) and Mahat M. Ali at the premiere of “Captain Phillips” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California September 30, 2013. Reuters
The World Bank estimated in 2013 that East African piracy cost the world economy $18 billion—mostly through lost fishing and tourism revenue in the region to higher insurance premiums for shipping companies. These higher costs, of course, are passed on to consumers.
While the threat of piracy has been around since America was founded, and concerned our forefathers enough to reference it in the US Constitution, most citizens did not realize just how serious a problem it remained until Hollywood made Captain Phillips’ experience on the MAERSK Alabama a box office hit. Whether off the coast of Somalia, in the Gulf of Guinea, or around the Indian Ocean, the US Navy and Marine Corps lead a truly global fight against piracy to keep the cost of goods we buy at local stores lower.
11. The Air Force conducts cutting-edge drone research that can be used for commercial purposes and to ease the tasks of daily life
Just as Air Force research once led to a revolution in lasers — which now show up in our DVD players, printers, and Lasik eye surgery — the Air Force is leading innovation in unmanned aerial technology.
Drones are not just for the military anymore. Remote-controlled aircraft are now helping across the US with border security, storm prediction, and farming. Advances in unmanned flight and miniaturization by the Air Force have been rapidly adopted for civilian usage in a market expected to reach $8.2 billion in yearly sales by 2020.
12. As a part of its mission, the Army deploys thousands of soldiers here at home to help Americans after hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters
No matter the crisis, soldiers are regularly deployed right here at home to provide the muscle behind major disaster relief efforts. Most Americans will most famously remember the Army’s role in deploying over 70,000 soldiers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when the professionalism and logistic proficiency of the Army was called upon to reverse a situation spiraling out of control.
The Army National Guard constantly holds division-level exercises to help prepare for disasters like hurricanes, regional power outages, and chemical or nuclear incidents. And the Guard deploys en masse when disaster strikes: 7,000 soldiers were on the ground following Hurricane Sandy, and 4,500 two years prior for Hurricane Irene.
13. The Air Force Reserve conducts critical aerial spray missions against mosquitoes, flies, and oil spills
A protective boom is seen as oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill recedes back into the Gulf of Mexico after washing into a drainage canal in Waveland, Mississippi July 7, 2010. Reuters
Less well-known, the Air Force Reserve’s 757th Airlift Squadron flies all of the Air Force’s aerial spray missions using six modified C-130 cargo planes out of Youngstown, Ohio.
These airmen conduct missions such as large-area spray against mosquitoes after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav, and the oil repellant spray missions such as the one that contained the damage after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
14. The US Navy-Marine Corps-Coast Guard team keeps the seas open and free
While the taxpayer investment in America’s Navy of global reach is significant at $150 billion last year, the presence of grey-hulled, US-flagged ships steaming the high seas in every corner of the globe underpins $4.6 trillion dollars of waterborne commerce.
That is roughly a quarter of our entire GDP, and supports 23 million jobs. Viewed in this way, each dollar spent on the US Navy returns $30 for the economic well-being of the United States.
15. The Air Force responds with unique assets to disasters here at home
US Air Force | Flickr
While you might remember Air Force helicopters saving over 8,000 people after Hurricane Katrina or air-delivering electrical utility work trucks after Hurricane Sandy, the Air Force also does the same abroad.
The Air Force is often the first institution on scene, here or overseas, with its sister services, delivering emergency aid in great quantities and, more importantly, setting up air traffic control so that the international community can access disaster-struck areas, as in Haiti in 2010.
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