Regular army

A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces) – contrasting with irregular forces such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually consists of:

A regular army may be:

In the United Kingdom and in the United States the term Regular Army means the professional standing active duty army, as different from the reserve component, e.g., the Army Reserve (formerly the Territorial Army) in the United Kingdom and the U.S. Army Reserve and the Army National Guard in the United States.

British Army

The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. The force was initially administered by the War Office from London, which in 1964 was subsumed into the Ministry of Defence. The professional head of the British Army is the Chief of the General Staff.

The full-time element of the British Army is referred to as the Regular Army and has been since the creation of the reservist Territorial Force in 1908. All members of the British Army swear (or affirm) allegiance to the monarch as commander-in-chief. However, the Bill of Rights of 1689 requires Parliamentary consent for The Crown to maintain a standing army in peacetime. Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years.

Throughout its history, the British Army has seen action in a number of major wars involving the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the First World War and Second World War. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Since the end of the Cold war, the British Army has been deployed to many conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force or a United Nations peacekeeping operation. Additionally, the British Army maintains several permanent overseas postings.

Regular Army (United States)

The Regular Army of the United States was and is the successor to the Continental Army as the country's permanent, professional military establishment. Even in modern times the professional core of the United States Army continues to be called the Regular Army. From the time of the American Revolution until after the Spanish–American War, the small Regular Army of the United States was supported by State militias and volunteer regiments organized by States but thereafter controlled by federal authorities and generals in time of war. These volunteer regiments came to be called United States Volunteers (USV) in contrast to the Regular United States Army (USA). During the American Civil War, about 97 percent of the Union Army was United States Volunteers. In contemporary use, the term Regular Army refers to the full-time active component of the United States Army, as distinguished from the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard.

The American military system which developed from the combination of the professional, national Continental Army, the State militias and volunteer regiments of the American Revolutionary War, and the similar post-Revolutionary War American military organization under the Militia Act of 1792, provided a basis for the United States Army's organizations, with only minor changes, until the creation of the modern National Guard in 1903. The Militia Act provided for the use of volunteers who could be used anywhere in time of war in addition to the State militias who were restricted to local use within their States for short periods of time. Even today's professional United States Army, which is augmented by the Army Reserve and Army National Guard has a similar system of organization with a permanent, professional core and additional units which can be called upon in time of war or emergency.