Re: [OT] A variety of terminology/history questions

--- Tomb <tomb@dreammechanics.com> wrote:

> 3) Do mobile (mechanized or armoured) infantry or
> cavalry scout> formations tend to orient their squad
breakdown> around vehicular> capacities? Or do they
tend to retain squad or> section breakdowns around
> some administrative or doctrinal vision and then
> just divide the squads> out between vehicles? 

It depends.  Cav Scout squads all fit in one vehicle
because scout squads are small.  Bradley dismounts are
theoretically organized into 2 squads of 9 each plus a
platoon HQ element.  Obviously they have to play
mix-and-match.

This latter situation seems > less ideal (having
> half of a squad potentially far from another half)

Platoons don't really tend to disperse a great deal.

> 4) (USMC) Marines are "Marines", not "Soldiers".
> Soldiers are Army. I> know Marines refer to the Army
(or have) as> "Doggies" (or <expletive>> Doggies). I
have heard Army soldiers called "Dog> Soldiers"
before. Where> did this term originate? Is there a
historical> antecedent? Is it still> true (that
Marines refer to Army this way)? 

Quite frankly, I don't give a rat's ass about what the
Marines think/say/do about us.	The only usage of
"doggie" that I'm familliar with in regards to troops
is the phrase "Line Dog" or "Line Doggie."  I've only
heard it in the Engineers and Infantry, and it's an
expression of pride in being a Line Dog.

> 5) What is the common ratio of mechanics/motor pool
> techs/vehicle repair > techs/etc. to vehicles in a
modern force? If I have > a tank platoon of 4
> tanks, or a tank company of 16 or 17, how many
> mechanics are likely > directly required in support
of independent > operations of this force? 

That depends on how reliable your vehicles are.  Tanks
take a lot of lovin'--more mechanics than tanks. 
M-113s can get by with less.

At> what level are such support services attached
> (Battalion or Brigade > level)? 

(Non-Force XXI Answer, because Force XXI's solution
sucks ass) All of them.  Batallion and up.  If your
attached mechanics in your batallion can't fix it,
then you call in "Third Shop" from your FSB (support
elements attached to your brigade) and if they can't
fix it it goes higher.	Alternately, your CRT can be
split off of the batallion HHC and attached to company
HQ.  I like that way better--more responsive and
better control over them from the company XO.  Then
batallion just coordinates supply issues and
maintinence management, plus hangs onto a few
specialists (the 1 generator repair guy, the welder
and welding truck) that the unit doesn't have
multiples of.

Is vehicle recovery part of the same support > unit?
Or is that a > separate organizational unit?

We (Engineers) have them in batallion as part of the
maintinence platoon.

John

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