The US Military has a long history in using motorcycles, which dates at least as far back as the Pershing Expedition in 1916 and perhaps even earlier. Motorcycles saw action on the battlefields of Europe, rode across the African deserts and even made their way through the jungles of Korea and Vietnam. These war time exploits are often highlighted in historic accounts of motorcycle use by the military, leaving out one of their longest standing uses of the motorcycle.
In times of war or in times of peace, US Military installations across the globe have been patrolled by MP's (Military Police) astride motorcycles. Various models of Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles were used prior to WWII, until the large scale production of the WLA made it the standard machine. Even after WWII, WLA's continued to be used as the US Military had tens of thousands of machines left from the war, along with the parts to keep them running. These motorcycles endured through the Vietnam War and for some time after. Harley only produced one other military specific motorcycle during all those years, which was the XLA model Sportster built in 1963.
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