markley@grad1.cis.upenn.edu (James Markley) (11/17/90)
From: markley@grad1.cis.upenn.edu (James Markley)
What follows is a brief summary of the differences in units by size:
This "build-up" is based on infantry organizations and will vary from
unit type to unit type (i.e. based on TOE/MTOE).
SQUAD -- Nine men in an infantry squad
PLATOON -- Normally three squads plus a small headquarters section
COMPANY -- Normally three platoons plus a hq section - sometimes a
weapons section/platoon
BATTALION -- Three companies (Light Inf) /Four companies (Mech Inf)
plus an Anti-tank Company (except "pure" light inf) and
a HQ Company(HHC) (Light Inf has at AT platoon in the HHC
Airborne and Air Assault have AT Companies)
REGIMENT -- In most organizations this is an administrative collection
of units associated by lineage. Ex 6th Inf Reg't has four
battalions assigned to the 1st AD in Germany (1st, 2nd,
6th, and 7th Bns) and two or three(I dont remember)
assigned to the 5th Inf (Mech) in La.
Some Regt's are separate stand alone functional units
(Armored Cavarly Regt's/some Aviation Regt's). In this
case they are normally composed of three or more Squadron/
Battalion sized units with their own support units being
an integral part of the Reg't.
BRIGADE -- Two to five battalions - Typically three in all types of
Light Inf -- three or four in a Mech Bde -- depending on
the mission.
DIVISION -- Composed of two to five combat Bde's. (Peace time
configuration is three Bde's - one of which may be in the
Guard/Reserve). Divisions additioanlly have a support Bde,
aviation Bde (most are now combat aviation), Div Artillery
(normally three bns some have a battery(read company
sized) of Multiple Rocket Launchers (MLRS)), a Cavalry
Squadron(read battalion size), and an assortment of other
support units of battalion and smaller size.
CORPS -- Composed of two to five divisions plus zero or more
separate Bde's (Inf/Armor/Aviation/ACR). Corps also have
a Corps Arty - one or more Bde's of Arty-- and an
assortment of support units of all sizes.
ARMY -- Composed of (you guessed it) two to five Corps. Normally
no independent combat units but lots of unusual sopport
units can be found at Army level.
This is a rough summary of the organization of the "Army in the
field." If there are more specific questions I'll take them on an
individual basis.
The other question posed was to differentiate between different
"titled" units.
Airborne vs Airborne (AASLT) - The Abn unit in question is the 82dn AB
and the Air Assualt unit is the 101st AB (AASLT). The 101st is not an
Airborne unit; the name is retained for historical reasons. Air
Assault units by definition are capable of conducting air assault
operations with organic aviation assets. Almost any unit can conduct
air assault operations if they are augmented with aviation support.
(for those of you familiar with airmobile operations of Viet-Nam
vintage air assault ops are essentailly the same -- today an air
mobile operation is considered an admin movement while an air assault
is a combat operation). I assume the readers know what an Airbone unit
is capable of.
Cavalry vs Armored Cav - There is no "Cavalry" anymore it is all
either Armored or Air Cav now. Exception-- 1st Cav Div -- it is
organized as an armored division name retained for lineage reasons.
Armored Cav vs Armor -- Armored Cav units are either divisional
cavalry in Mech/Armor Div's or Armored Cav Reg'ts. The equipment in
these units are basicly the same(a somewhat gross generallity) the
equipment available in differnet numbers and the number of tanks for
example will differ in a tank campany vs a cav troop. The major
difference is in the routine missions assigned to the units. Both
armor and armor cav are supposed to be able to do basicly the same
mission the likelyhood of executing a certain mission varies greatly
however.
This answers the questions asked by a couple of readers.
For more info contact me at:
markley@grad1.cis.upenn.edu
Jim Markley
CPT IN
Going to grad school on Uncle Sam, what a deal!