US Army Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
100 free US Army trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
51 free US Army trivia questions with answers. The United States Army was born on June 14, 1775, a year before the country it serves, and it has spent two and a half centuries collecting nicknames, mottos, legends and lore. This US Army trivia quiz digs into all of it: the Continental Army and Washington's farewell, the storied divisions (the Big Red One, the All-Americans, the Screaming Eagles), elite units like the Rangers, Green Berets and Delta Force, and the enlisted and officer ranks from private to five-star general. You will also meet the heroes and oddities: Audie Murphy, Sergeant York, a WWI dog who caught a German spy, the surprising origin of 'G.I.', why the Army song is about caissons, and how the Purple Heart traces back to a scrap of purple cloth in 1782. Questions run from easy ones any recruit should know to expert ones that will test career soldiers and military-history buffs. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and official Army sources before publishing, and each question carries its citation. Use it for a veterans' event, a Memorial Day or Veterans Day quiz, a family history night, or just to find out how well you really know America's oldest service.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which date was the Continental Army created, a date now celebrated as the Army's birthday?
June 14, 1775
The Continental Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, a day before naming Washington its commander. That makes the Army older than the nation, and June 14 is also Flag Day.
Q 02In which city did Washington resign his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23, 1783?
Annapolis
Washington resigned in Annapolis, where Congress was sitting in the Maryland State House on December 23, 1783. Most of the Continental Army had already been disbanded after the Treaty of Paris.
Q 03What is the official motto of the United States Army?
This We'll Defend
'This We'll Defend' has been the Army motto since its 1778 seal, where a rattlesnake holds the scroll above a Roman cuirass and flags. Semper Fidelis belongs to the Marines.
Q 04The Army's official song grew out of a 1908 tune about which horse-drawn artillery wagons?
Caissons
The tune was 'The Caissons Go Rolling Along', written by Edmund L. Gruber in the Philippines in 1908; John Philip Sousa reworked it as the U.S. Field Artillery March in 1917 before it became the Army song.
Q 05What is the nickname of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?
The Old Guard
The 3rd Infantry Regiment is The Old Guard, tracing its origins to the First American Regiment of 1784. It escorts the President, conducts Arlington funerals and posts the Tomb sentinels.
Q 06The 1st Infantry Division is called 'The Big Red One' because of what?
Its red numeral shoulder patch
The 1st Infantry Division is The Big Red One for the red numeral 1 on its shoulder patch. Organized in 1917, it is the oldest continuously serving Regular Army division and landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Q 07Which nickname belongs to the 101st Airborne Division?
Screaming Eagles
The 101st Airborne Division is the Screaming Eagles, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and reorganized as an air assault division in 1974. HBO's Band of Brothers followed its Easy Company, 506th Regiment.
Q 08The 82nd Airborne earned its 'All American' nickname in World War I because its soldiers came from where?
Every one of the 48 states
Formed in 1917, the 82nd drew soldiers from every one of the 48 states, hence 'All American' and the AA patch. It made its fourth and final WWII combat jump in Operation Market Garden in 1944.
Q 09With which single word did the 101st's acting commander reply to the German surrender demand at Bastogne in 1944?
Nuts!
Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe answered 'Nuts!', a reply that baffled the German officers, who had to have it explained. Patton's Third Army broke the siege of Bastogne days later.
Q 10On D-Day the 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled 90-foot cliffs to destroy German guns at which point?
Pointe du Hoc
At Pointe du Hoc the guns had been moved inland, but the Rangers found and disabled them anyway. Ronald Reagan honoured the survivors there on the 40th anniversary in 1984.
Q 11Ranger School's final swamp phase is run from Camp Rudder in which state?
Florida
Ranger School ends with its Florida phase at Camp James E. Rudder on Eglin Air Force Base, where students patrol the swamps; the earlier phases are held in Georgia.
Q 12Which president authorized the green beret as the exclusive headgear of Army Special Forces in 1961?
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy authorized the green beret in 1961, calling it 'a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom.' The Special Forces motto De Oppresso Liber means 'to free the oppressed'.
Q 13A Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, the classic 'A-team', is made up of how many soldiers?
12
Q 21Who was the last officer promoted to five-star General of the Army, in 1950?
Omar Bradley
Omar Bradley received his fifth star in September 1950. The rank had been created in December 1944, when the other four holders were appointed within a week, and Bradley remained the last living five-star general until his death in 1981.
Q 22The M1 Abrams tank is unusual among tanks for being powered by what kind of engine?
A gas turbine
The Abrams runs on a gas turbine, the Honeywell AGT1500, which puts out 1,500 horsepower and can burn several fuels. The tank is named for General Creighton Abrams and first fought in the 1991 Gulf War.
Q 23The UH-60 Black Hawk continues an Army tradition of naming its helicopters after what?
An ODA has 12 soldiers, each with a specific job, and can split into two six-man elements. Their core mission is training and leading guerrilla forces in occupied countries.
Q 14Delta Force founder Charles Beckwith modelled the unit on which foreign special forces regiment he had served with?
The British SAS
Beckwith had served on exchange with the British SAS in the early 1960s and built Delta on its model; the unit was established on November 19, 1977. Its first major mission, Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, failed after helicopter breakdowns.
Q 15Which president signed the 1802 act establishing the United States Military Academy at West Point?
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson signed the Military Peace Establishment Act on March 16, 1802, founding the academy. West Point is the oldest continuously operating Army post in the country, and its graduates are known as the Long Gray Line.
Q 16What is the three-word motto of West Point?
Duty, Honor, Country
West Point's motto is Duty, Honor, Country, and Douglas MacArthur built his famous 1962 farewell speech to the cadets around those three words. Women were first admitted to the academy in 1976.
Q 17Which animal has been the mascot of West Point's sports teams since 1899?
Mule
Army adopted the mule in 1899 to honour the animal that hauled its supplies and guns for a century. Navy counters with a goat at the annual Army-Navy Game.
Q 18Who was the first Black graduate of West Point, in 1877?
Henry O. Flipper
Henry O. Flipper, born into slavery in Georgia, graduated in 1877 and served with the 10th Cavalry. He was court-martialed on disputed charges in 1881 and received a posthumous pardon in 1999.
Q 19Who is the only officer to have held the Army's highest rank, General of the Armies, during his own lifetime?
John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing was promoted to General of the Armies in 1919 after leading the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI. Washington and Grant hold the rank only posthumously.
Q 20Which Civil War general was posthumously promoted to General of the Armies by a 2020s defense act?
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was posthumously promoted to General of the Armies by the defense act signed in December 2022. George Washington received the same honour in 1976, effective July 4 of that year, ranking above every officer past or present.
Native American tribes
Its namesake is the Sauk leader Black Hawk. It replaced the Vietnam-era Huey in 1979, and stealth-modified versions carried the SEALs on the 2011 bin Laden raid.
Q 24In which year was the position of Sergeant Major of the Army created?
1966
The Sergeant Major of the Army post was created in July 1966; its first holder, William O. Wooldridge, was serving with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam when chosen. The Marine Corps had created the equivalent post in 1957.
Q 25What is the lowest non-commissioned officer rank in the US Army?
Corporal
Corporal is the lowest NCO rank. It and Specialist both sit at pay grade E-4, but only the corporal carries NCO authority, while a private E-1 wears no insignia at all.
Q 26The rank insignia of an Army Specialist (E-4) features which symbol instead of chevrons?
An eagle
The Specialist insignia is an eagle on a shield-shaped patch rather than chevrons, which soldiers nickname the 'sham shield'. Specialist is the Army's largest single rank by headcount.
Q 27Which Army post is the largest basic training center, handling about half of all new soldiers?
Fort Jackson
Fort Jackson, South Carolina, founded as Camp Jackson in 1917 and named for Andrew Jackson, puts roughly 35,000 recruits a year through ten weeks of basic combat training.
Q 28Which Kentucky Army post sits beside the US Bullion Depository holding much of the nation's gold?
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is named for Henry Knox, Washington's artillery chief and the first Secretary of War. It hosted the Armor School from 1940 until the school moved to Georgia in 2011.
Q 29What was Fort Bragg renamed in 2023, before the old name returned in 2025?
Liberty
Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty in June 2023. The Bragg name came back in 2025, this time honouring WWII paratrooper Private First Class Roland L. Bragg rather than the Confederate general Braxton Bragg.
Q 30Which 1827 Kansas post houses the Command and General Staff College and the DoD's only maximum-security prison?
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth, founded in 1827, houses the Command and General Staff College and the United States Disciplinary Barracks. Eisenhower graduated first in his staff college class there in 1926.