RE: Infanty TO&E was[DS and SG] Regt's of the Crown

Hmm,

Well Los, seems that you have an Australian Battalion organisation
almost
exactly here! Add a fourth Rifle company and it is just about picture
perfect!

Three 3 man teams(Groups) is doctrine for Oz; Section Commander (Oz
Cpl/US
Sgt) and two scouts make the Command Group, then with teh doctrine being
implemented for the Minimi you have two groups of a Minimi and two
rifles;
one of these is designated the Gun Group and contains the section 2IC
LCpl.
The philosophy of the 'buddy' system is imperative in a team framework.
The
the three groups provide a 'Seco' the flexibility to respond to any
situation. He will always have 'One foot on the ground' and depending on
the
threat level can have one element moving and two providing cover or two
moving and one covering. 

The fourth Rifle Company gives the CO greater flexibility in
establishing a
cut off or providing a Brigade Reserve, although with a fixed nuber of
troops given to a Division manning you obvisouly end up with less
Manouver
Units (Battalion being the basic MU).

Now how do we see the ESU or other 'human wave' types unfolding??

Cheers,

Owen

-----Original Message-----
From: Los [mailto:los@cris.com]
Sent: Saturday, 24 October 1998 12:34 PM
To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject: Infanty TO&E was[DS and SG] Regt's of the Crown

BTW TO&E tables of organization and equipment

Thomas Barclay wrote:

> I'm thinking in 2183, we can get some idea of formation sizes:
> Section (Inf): 6-8 guys
> Section (PA): 4-6 guys
> Platoon (Inf): 25-35 guys
> Platoon (PA) 20-24 guys
> Company (Inf): 110-150 guys
> Company (PA): 65-85 guys
> Battalion (Inf): 350-550 guys
> Battalion (PA): 275-305 guys
> etc.

<Note: my comments are directed at infantry not PA.>
IMO an ideal section (BTW we call them SQUADS here in the US, in some
conrers a
section is two squads or half a platoon) I believe that 8 or 9 is a good
number for
a rifle squad. A squad should have two manuever elements (We call them
teams). This
way, in trouble,  you have one firing, one manuevering. I'm not a fan of
threes. I
think it should be an even number so you have buddy teams, so that
leaves
two 4 man
buddy teams or 4 guys in a fire team. Tacked  together with another
team,
that
leaves you 8 men. (2 w/ SAWs) A corporal running each team and one sgt
squad
leader. When you put three squads (and or a weapon squad togetehr in a
platoon, it
leaves you with a pretty articualte little unit. Our mech units were
(they
still
may be) 9 man squads but they had a 6 man dismount team and 3 guys in
the
vehicle.
They monkeyed with one 6 man manuever element and also two three man
manuever
elements, but IMO it's never been as stable as a regular light infanrty
squad,
(Which used to have 2  5-man teams and a SL)

Now if you have a lower quality army or one with fewer leaders, then the
first
thing to dispsense with is the fire team concept and centralize on the
squad
leader
and one manuever unit.
SO I guess I see infantry organization as: (let's make this simple and
call
it a
parachute or airmobile air assault unit, no IFVs)
Rifle squad (section, whatever) 9 men
Rifle Platoon (3 squad, PL, PSG, <RTO/ECM>? and weapons squad <2 hvy
autos
or PPGs
or GMS) 38 men
Rifle company (3 plts. weapons plt (mortars/GMS) HQ section 140 men

Battalion (3 rifle companies, 1 support company (AT <GMS> plt, ADA
section,
ENG
section, scout section, Mrtar plt=100 men). 1 HHC company (bn staff
planning
and
ops, maintenance plt, medical plt, commo platoon, supply platoon, intel
section,
ECM section, other stuff=140 men)= 660-700 men

Note this battalion would be augmented with additional engineer platoon,
armor
platoon, artillery battery, FAC/FDC section, intelligence collection
(sensor
section,radar section, ADA, etc etc) so you are looking at a battalion
task
force
ready for deployment anyhwere with all of its support at 1000 men or 
bit
more.
This thing has all the tail it needs. It can also farm out it's assetts
so
that it
can mrph into 3 seperate company task forces for seperate actions.

Just IMO...

Los