Editing Armed Forces of Liberia (section)

===World Wars===
{{see also|Liberia in World War I|Liberia in World War II}}
Liberia joined the Allies in both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. The only troops dispatched overseas were a few individuals to France during World War I,{{sfn|Nelson|1984|p=261}} and reported volunteers under U.S. command in World War II, but none served in combat in either war. A law of 20 February 1940 stipulated that the armed forces of the Republic "shall consist ..of the Frontier Force, of twelve companies ..the Militia, ..and the Militia Reserve."<ref>Chapter XIX, An Act Relating to the Military Service of the Republic, approved February 20, 1940, Chapter I, Section 2.</ref> During World War II, U.S. involvement in the country increased greatly. A steady supply of rubber from the world's largest rubber plantation, operated at Harbel by the Firestone Company since 1926 was vital. Thus the US government built roads, created an international airport (known as [[Robertsfield]]), and transformed the capital by building a deep water port (the [[Freeport of Monrovia]]). Black ("Colored") [[United States Army]] troops arrived from June 1942. During the war, funding provided by the United States allowed an increase in the Frontier Force's strength to around 1,500.{{sfn|Keegan|1979|page=435}}<ref>Harrison Akingbade's article in ''Phylon.''</ref> The armed forces came to rely almost exclusively on American assistance in terms of training, with non-US training "tend[ing] to be brief and uninspired [with little] accomplished other than some desultory close-order drill."{{sfn|Roberts|1964|p=392-3}}

As a result of American arms sales, by the 1920s Liberian forces were equipped with the American [[Krag rifle|Krag]] and [[Peabody rifle|Peabody]] rifles, as well as German [[Mauser rifle|Mausers]].<ref name="KappelKorte1986">{{cite book|author1=Robert Kappel|author2=Werner Korte|author3=R. Friedegund Mascher|title=Liberia: Underdevelopment and Political Rule in a Peripheral Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiKNAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Institut für Afrika-Kunde|isbn=978-3-923519-65-1|page=134|access-date=September 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512142118/https://books.google.com/books?id=xiKNAAAAMAAJ|archive-date=May 12, 2016|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

U.S. Army Forces in Liberia commanded by Brigadier General Percy Lee Sadler also established an [[officer candidate school]] during the later part of World War II, using instructors selected from the American troops in the country. The school conducted two courses and graduated nearly 300 new officers. Just under twenty years later in 1964, the group still made up over 50% of the officer corps of the AFL.{{sfn|Roberts|1964|p=392-3}}