What were the typical branches of the military?

Answer 1

Under the US Dept of Defense we had: 1. The US Army 2. The US Navy 3. The US Air Force 4. The US Marine Corps The US Coast Guard may have been under the US Dept of Transportation at the time, and assigned temporary duty being attached to the US Navy while in Vietnam. For the US Army, during the war it consisted of ONLY three combat arms: Armor (tanks), Artillery, and infantry. Armored Cavalry came under the Armor Branch. ALL other branches such as aviation, military police, engineers, medical corps, ordnance, K-9 corps, transportation, etc. were separte branches designed to SUPPORT the three above listed COMBAT ARMS. Of the three combat arms, "Armor" and "Artillery" are designed to SUPPORT the Infantry. In Vietnam the US Army fielded three types of mounted armor: Armor (M-48 Patton tanks), Armored Cavalry (M-551 Sheridan tanks), and Mechanized Infantry (M-113 Armored Personnel Carriers/ACAV's). The US Army fielded four types of Infantry; Airmobile (Air Assault-Helicopter), Airborne (Paratroopers), Mechanized Infantry (M-113 APC's/ACAV's), and Light Infantry (Straight Legs-Walking on foot the old fashioned way). Although, Mechanized and Straight Leggers went on helicopter air assaults too, practically everyone did, some cavalrymen went too.
The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard are full time, and the National Guard & Reserve are part time.