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The United States Armed Forces are some of the main antagonists/protagonists of the Call of Duty franchise.
They're one of the most prevalent factions (if not the most) in the franchise, having appeared in nearly every Call of Duty game, with their recurrence rivaled only by the dreaded Nazi Party.
They're the armed forces of the United States, consisting of six branches: the U.S. Army, the United States Marine Corps (USMC), the United States Navy (USN), the United States Air Force (USAF), the United States Space Force (USSF), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG). The only branch of the armed forces that doesn't have a presence in the games is the USCG.
While many of their members that appear in the games are playable characters who serve as protagonists (especially in the games set during WWII), some members of the armed forces are less than savory people, being jingoistic traitors, brainwashed fanatics, and manipulative agents that are obsessed with eliminating foreign threats. There are games in the franchise where they've indirectly put both the protagonists and innocents in danger by angering and/or driving a number of dangerous individuals to target them, the U.S., or the Western world as a whole, some examples of these dangerous individuals include Raul Menendez in Call of Duty: Black Ops II or Hassan Zyani in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.
The U.S. Armed Forces are in a complicated position, being more often the protagonists than the antagonists, even in games where they've committed (arguably) villainous actions. They started out as protagonists in the original 2003 Call of Duty game, but as the series (later franchise) progressed, their role would expand, and so they would have their first villainous presence in the franchise through the form of General Hershel Von Shepherd III from the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, released in 2009.
History[]
WWII era Games[]
The armed forces fighting Japanese troops on Peleliu Island in the Call of Duty: World at War mission, Little Resistance.
The U.S. Armed Forces are undoubtedly protagonists in the WWII games. In this category, there's one game that noticeably puts a heavier emphasis on its American protagonists than any other: Call of Duty: WWII. While the name of the game implies that it'd explore more than one front of the war, it actually explores, as you probably guessed or knew by now, only one front of WWII, the Western Front. The only parts of the Western Front shown in the game are the Allied liberation of France (the Normandy Invasion), the Battle of the Bulge, and the crossing of the Rhine.
A common trend in WWII-era American CoD campaigns is having the Germans serve as its primary antagonists. There are a few campaigns that don't follow this trend, though, with the most famous cases being 2008's Call of Duty: World at War and 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard, both of which have American forces fighting the Japanese in the Pacific.
Black Ops Games[]
Trivia[]
- Soldiers of American descent or nationality have appeared in every Call of Duty game.
- The United States Armed Forces are similar to the Red Army in the fact that, even though they're villainous in some instances, many of the franchise's main protagonists are affiliated with them or are in it.
Things to Take Note of[]
- The Department of Defense seal was used as this page's image because the United States Armed Forces doesn't have its own logo or seal and also because the DoD's official website states that: "[Their] mission is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure [the U.S.'] security.".
