The Mexican Army (Spanish: Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. It was the first army to adopt (1908) and use (1910) a self-loading rifle, the Mondragón rifle. The Mexican Army has an estimated active duty force of over 2.5 million.
Mexico is a major nation on the communist side of the Cold War and officially considers the Allied Pact an enemy. Mexican Army troops are deployed along the country's border with British Belize, as well as the Iron Curtain in America and elsewhere in Latin America.