Most important branch of the U.S. Armed Forces

[CLARENCE 2015!]

I'm going with the USN on this one. It can guard shipping lanes, enforce blockades, strike inland targets, wrest air superiority from the air forces of most other countries, engage in electronic warfare and surveillance, deploy SEALs, destroy inbound missiles, and - though to what rate of success I don't know - take out nuclear warheads descending toward coastal cities or military assets before they can detonate. The Navy arguably provides the most effective, most difficult-to-counter nuclear deterrent, and is essential to both projecting hard power around the world and preventing other countries from ever putting their troops' boots on our ground when it comes to conventional warfare. One might say we're much like the UK insofar as being an "island" power.

This is correct...excuse my bias but I see dead0man's towards the USAF ;-)

I respect all branches very much but he who controls the seas controls the world. The Navy is clearly the service most geared towards power projection and the Navy-Marine Corps team is the most effective of its kind...even though the USMC is essentially a smaller, better trained version of the Army nowadays. I've put the idea forward on this board of reorganizing the branches to have an air branch, a land branch, and a sea branch- with the Marines reverting back to a purely expeditionary force under the Navy. As it stands- I'd contend naval aviation is the finest in our military but the fact that all five branches have aviation corps shows the bloat.

With the amount of interservice cooperation that already exists, joint operations with Air Force attack helicopters supporting Army infantry and artillery which follows Marine riflemen into battle.... all of the above being brought there courtesy of the United States Navy would be no problem. You might ask yourself what is difference between that vision and what currently occurs...dead0man could tell you that the USAF doesn't have attack helicopters in its inventory! How does that make sense???

Sorry for the tangent... the answer as Redalgo said is the Navy. However- I am proud of every branch and each is critical for the security of the American people and preservation of freedom

[CLARENCE 2015!]

Back in my active duty days I recall thumbing through the "parts" catalog for the USAF.  We had/have trains.  TRAINS!  Engines, various cars, etc (no track though).  I suppose it makes sense in a way, but in another way, it doesn't make any sense at all.

The USAF doesn't have attack helos because they are designed for taking out tanks and other ground targets and supporting troops on the ground.  Of course the obvious question then arises, why is the A-10 Warthog a USAF bird and not Army?  I don't know the answer to that.

And the Navy doesn't have a better air force than the Air Force.  And I'm not sure why this myth persists.  Landing on a carrier is impressive, but it's not like USAF pilots couldn't do it if they were trained to do it.  Average fighter pilot to average fighter pilot, it's probably pretty close between the two branches, but the USAF has MUCH better birds and a lot more of them.

And to reiterate, the USAF owns space and cyber warfare.  Two very important battlefields going forward.

I agree the USAF owns space and cyber warfare and this is crucial- a young man asked my advice for which branch's intelligence corps to aim to join... I told him USAF for this very reason

My point about the attack helos relates to my theory that we ought to consider separating branches by domain... and perhaps having a "Logistics Corps" for everything from supply, to transportation, to finance, to Chaplain and Medical Corps

[CLARENCE 2015!]

We have MPs/Master-at-arms... however I agree with your point exactly. We shouldn't have our troops directing traffic, enforcing drug laws, and other local law enforcement capabilities that have become part o nationbuilding...even worse then in my war

Here is what I've been discussing with Averroes Nix...the War on Terror requires low intensity conflict- drone warfare of which is part of that and where the USAF will be involved more in combat operations

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[CLARENCE 2015!]

The Coast Guard protects the integrity of America's shorelines, which is probably a lot more important than "building peace" in some obscure Middle Eastern country. 

I'd argue the Navy serves that function more... the Coast Guard couldn't defend against an invasion. It certainly has critical functions but to say it is the most important branch is- I believe- a stretch