Armed Service

Armed Service 

or branch of the armed forces, a component part of the armed forces of a state, intended to conduct military operations in one of the defined spheres of application of armed forces (on land, on sea, or in the air). Each armed service includes in its composition various combat arms and special troops and is armed only with its own distinctive combat materiel, which is different from that of other services in its combat characteristics and in its possibilities for use. Each armed service has its own peculiar organization, recruitment, training, term of service, and supplies, as well as its own methods of conducting military operations.

In the USSR the armed services are the Strategic Rocket Forces, Ground Forces, the National Air Defense Forces, the Air Force, and the Navy.