RE: Cheese factor

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
> [mailto:owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU]On Behalf Of Laserlight
> Sent: 04 April 2001 04:17
> To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
> Subject: Re: Cheese factor
>
>
> Well, kind of.  However, there are going to be some basics  which make
> some versions more efficient and others less.
> a.   Guys bond, i.e. form teams, best with a relatively small
> number--three to eight if I recall correctly.  The military ("of one
> nation or another", he weasels) has done studies on this kind of
> thing.
IIRC the post psychological phrase is "primary groups"
> b.   You need enough guys in a fire team to look after each other and
> cover all directions.
> c.   You need to have enough subunits that your unit commander has
> some maneuver choices--this is why most units have 3-5 subunits
> instead of 2.
> d.   On the other hand, you need few enough units that your commander
> can keep track of them--this is why most units have 3-5 subunits
> instead of 8-10, most people can't keep track of more than 4-5 things
> at a time,
>
> Therefore you will have 3-4 soldiers to a team, two or three teams to
> a squad, three to five squads in a platoon, etc.  Higher units are
> usually triangular or square, ie three or four major subunits, plus
> attached support.
>
At home I have a book called "changing orders" which surveys the TOE's
of
several nations (USA, West/East Germany, UK, Japan, Russia, France,
India,
Israel at a couple others) from 1945 to 1995 mainly at the battalion and
brigade
levels and goes into things like "command span" and tries to tackle
questions
like "why did anyone think that the pentatomic division was a good
idea?" or
"just how is a Russian regimental commander supposed to keep track of
all
the
units that were supposed to report to him?" IIRC 4 battalions, a recon
company,
some artillery, some engineers ... about 7 - 8 units with a very small
staff.
There is a reason that nearly every nation on the planet has 4 tanks in
a
platoon.

Oh and just to confuse things - in British usage some units which other
people would
call Battalions get called regiments such as Armour or Recon.