The armed services are the military forces of a country or nation Highly skilled and well-trained men and women defend their country using machines such as tanks ships and aircraft Fighting Forces (cid:55)he ar(cid:80)ed ser(cid:89)ices o(cid:83)erate on land at sea and in the air and can be sent any(cid:90)here around the (cid:90)orld (cid:55)hey fight in (cid:90)ars but they can also kee(cid:83) the (cid:83)eace in other countries by sto(cid:83)(cid:83)ing ri(cid:89)al grou(cid:83)s (cid:73)ro(cid:80) attacking one another 4 A job in the armed services is exciting but can also be very dangerous People can learn new skills and push themselves to the limit In the year 2008 there were 20 6 million full-time troops worldwide These U S soldiers from 4th Infantry Regiment are on patrol in Afghanistan FACTS AF
5 (cid:44)n the (cid:83)ast ar(cid:80)ies relied on ha(cid:89)ing (cid:80)illions o(cid:73) soldiers to (cid:90)in battles (cid:55)oday (cid:80)ost ar(cid:80)ed ser(cid:89)ices are (cid:80)uch s(cid:80)aller but the troo(cid:83)s are (cid:80)ore highly trained and better e(cid:84)ui(cid:83)(cid:83)ed (cid:55)he (cid:54)(cid:90)edish (cid:49)a(cid:89)y (cid:73)or exa(cid:80)(cid:83)le uses (cid:80)odern technical syste(cid:80)s on its stealth shi(cid:83) (cid:43)M(cid:54) Helsingborg that allo(cid:90) it to share in(cid:73)or(cid:80)ation easily (cid:90)ith the (cid:54)(cid:90)edish (cid:36)r(cid:80)y and (cid:36)ir (cid:41)orce HMS Helsingborg is a Visby class corvette Its unusual shape makes it hard for enemies to detect it using radar Fighter aircraft are an important part of any armed service China has the largest armed services in the world with more than 2 25 million troops The U S Army has the most equipment with over 7,500 tanks and more than 3,500 aircraft ACTION STATS
