rab%ginger.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Robert A. Bruce) (11/16/90)
From: rab%ginger.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Robert A. Bruce) In article <1990Nov13.010839.4911@cbnews.att.com> scw@ollie.SEAS.UCLA.EDU (Stephen C. Woods) writes: > >From: scw@ollie.SEAS.UCLA.EDU (Stephen C. Woods) >}From: Allan Bourdius <ab3o+@andrew.cmu.edu> >}With apologies, I made one slight ommission from the structure of a >}Marine Division: >}Marine Division: >} >}3 Infantry Regiments >} 3 Infantry Battalions >} 3 Rifle Companies, 1 Weapons Company, 1 Headquarters Company > >Uhm... As far as I can remember there have ALWAYS been 4 rifle companies >in a Marine Rifle Battalion. This is the main reason that a Marine Bn. is >larger than anyone else's. > Nope. There are only three rifle companies in a Marine battalion. There was a fourth company during the Vietnam war, but it was eliminated when peace broke out. General Gray wants to reinstate the fourth company, and he assigned some reserve companies to active duty battalions as their fourth rifle company, but only for training purposes. When the active battalions left for S.A., none of the reserve companies went with them. >ABCD = 1st Bn Nth Marines >EFGH = 2nd Bn Nth Marines >IKLM = 3rd Bn Nth Marines There are no D, H, or M companies in the infantry regiments (except in the reserve division). The designations are: ABC = 1st Bn Nth Marines EFG = 2nd Bn Nth Marines IKL = 3rd Bn Nth Marines >BTW: If someone refers to the Nth Marines they mean the Nth Marine Regiment, > if you want to reference the various Divisions use Division. [EG 1st Bn > 5th Marines is the First Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment of the > (WWI: Marine Brigade, WWI and later: 1st Marine Division 1MARDIV) The > 5th Division is the 5th Marine Division (The reserve division, 26th, > 27th, and 28th Marines ]. The 5th MARDIV was deactivated at the end of the Vietnam War. The 4th MARDIV is the reserve division. > Marine units are typicaly only referenced to > the Regiment level as Regiments are NOT moved around between Divisions > (well hardly ever) So that E company of the 5th Marine regiment 1st > Marine Division is invariably refered to as E/2/5 (pronounced: echo two > five). (The hardly ever is the 4th Marines.) Not quite. Before the Mideast crisis, both the 4th and the 9th Marines were located in Okinawa. Every six months the battalions were replaced by stateside units. So battalions are moved around between regiments, but regiments are never moved between divisions. For instance 1/2 (First Battalion, 2nd Marines) is currently part of the 4th Marines, and 2/4 is part of the 2nd Marines. It can get pretty confusing. The regimental assignments are: 1st MARDIV: Camp Pendelton, CA 1st Marines 5th Marines 7th Marines 11th Marines (artillery) 2nd MARDIV: Camp Lejeune, NC 2nd Marines 6th Marines 8th Marines 10th Marines (artillery) 3rd MARDIV: 3rd Marines, Camp Smith, Hawaii 4th Marines, Camp Schwab, Okinawa 9th Marines, Camp Hansen, Okinawa 12th Marines (artillery) Camp Foster, Okinawa 4th MARDIV: (Reserve) 23rd Marines, Western U.S. 24th Marines, MidWestern U.S. 25th Marines, Eastern U.S. 14th Marines (artillery) -bob