Here is a concise summary of the provided text, highlighting the 50 surprising facts about the US military:
**Summary:**
The US military, established before the country's independence, has evolved over hundreds of years, accumulating secrets and interesting facts. Here are the key takeaways from 50 surprising facts:
* **History & Structure**:
+ The US Army is older than the United States.
+ The military controls ~30 million acres of land worldwide.
+ Two-thirds of US Presidents were military veterans.
* **Presence & Operations**:
+ The US military is present in over two-thirds of the world's countries (195 recognized countries).
+ ~450,000 soldiers are deployed abroad.
+ The military uses ~22 gallons of fuel per day per soldier.
* **Diversity & Inclusion**:
+ Women were first allowed to join in 1948 and now serve in all combat roles.
+ ~5% of US forces are naturalized immigrants or non-citizens.
* **Unique Facts**:
+ The US has a "Red Team" for devil's advocacy in policy debates.
+ The military developed silent Velcro and uses PlayStation 3 consoles as supercomputers.
+ DARPA has invented groundbreaking technologies, including the internet and GPS.
* **Controversies & Surprising Actions**:
+ The US has conducted over 1,000 nuclear tests, more than half of the global total.
+ The military has dumped large amounts of military hardware, including chemical weapons, into the ocean.
+ The US has evicted entire island populations to build military bases.
**Note:** This summary focuses on the most interesting and diverse set of facts from the original list, condensing 50 points into key categories for easier digestion.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text, each given a number and kept as short sentences, excluding opinions:
1. **The US Military's Age**: The US Military is older than the United States, established about thirteen months before the US declared independence.
2. **Land Ownership**: The US Military controls around thirty million acres of land worldwide, larger than all but 99 countries.
3. **Presidential Veterans**: Approximately two-thirds of US Presidents were US military veterans, starting with George Washington.
4. **Military Presence**: The US Military is present in over two-thirds of the world's 195 recognized countries.
5. **Employee Base**: The US Department of Defense is the top employer in the US, with a total staff of three million people.
6. **Annual Recruits**: The US Military takes in around 79,000 new recruits each year.
7. **Volunteer Force**: Since the 1970s, the US Military has been an all-volunteer force, with all males between 18 and 25 required to register for selective service.
8. **Women in the Military**: Women have been eligible to serve in the US Military since 1948 and are now eligible for all combat roles.
9. **Military Working Dogs**: There are approximately 2,700 military working dogs in the US Military, trained for detecting narcotics and explosive devices.
10. **Robots in the Military**: The US Military has used robots since the 1960s, including for handling nuclear materials and, currently, for various missions including disarming explosives.
11. **Fuel Consumption**: The US Army alone burns through around a billion gallons of fuel each year, not including times of major war.
12. **Last Formal War**: The last time the US was formally at war was against Japan and Nazi Germany during World War II.
13. **NATO's Role**: The US is part of NATO, which has a mutual defense pact; if one member is attacked, it's considered an attack on all.
14. **Minimum Age to Join**: Normally, one must be 18 to join the US Military, but there have been exceptions, including John Lincoln Clem, who joined at 9.
15. **Oldest Active-Duty Member**: The oldest active-duty member ever recorded was Anthony Christy, who served in the Coast Guard until his death at 105.
16. **Largest Office Building**: The Pentagon is one of the largest office buildings in the world, housing the US Military's highest-ranking officials.
17. **Commander-in-Chief**: The President of the United States serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the US Military.
18. **Five-Star General**: The rank of five-star General was retired after General Omar Bradley's death, with only ten officers ever having achieved this rank.
19. **General of the Armies**: George Washington was posthumously promoted to General of the Armies in 1976, holding permanent seniority over all US Generals and Admirals.
20. **Arlington National Cemetery**: Holds the remains of close to half a million US veterans and is the final resting place for two US Presidents, John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft.
21. **Tomb of the Unknown Soldier**: A memorial for unidentified soldiers, with tombs for World War I, World War II, and the Korean War; the Vietnam tomb was emptied after a soldier was identified through DNA.
22. **The Old Guard**: The 3rd US Infantry Regiment, established in 1784, is the oldest active-duty unit, serving ceremonial duties and guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
23. **Immigrant Contribution**: During the Civil War, the Union army was one-third composed of immigrants, and today, around 5% of US forces are either naturalized immigrants or non-citizens.
24. **Coast Guard's Exception**: The Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security, except in times of war, when it can be taken over by the US Navy.
25. **Silent Velcro**: The military developed a silent version of velcro to reduce noise in combat situations.
26. **Military Influence on Hollywood**: The Department of Defense has an entertainment unit that approves scripts and provides equipment for movies, in exchange for portrayal approval.
27. **Coca-Cola in WWII**: Coca-Cola was made available to WWII soldiers worldwide for a nickel, with the company setting up wartime plants.
28. **Psychological Warfare**: The US Military uses tactics like loudspeakers to goad enemy fighters, as seen in Afghanistan.
29. **Submarine History**: The earliest submersible weapon, "The Turtle," was used during the Revolutionary War.
30. **Environmental Impact**: The US Military's activities have led to significant environmental impacts, including the eviction of the population of Diego Garcia for a military base.
31. **Chemical and Biological Testing**: The military has conducted tests, including spraying zinc cadmium sulfide in cities to simulate chemical or biological weapon dispersal.
32. **Nuclear Testing**: The US has conducted over a thousand nuclear tests, more than half of all such tests worldwide, with 800 being underground and 200 atmospheric.
33. **DARPA's Innovations**: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has developed innovative technologies, including a potential brain-computer chip for soldiers.
34. **Public Contributions**: DARPA's research has also led to public technologies like the internet and GPS systems.
35. **Nuclear Bomb Use**: The US is the only country to have used nuclear bombs in combat, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and has since conducted numerous nuclear tests.