Re: [DS and SG] Regiments of the Crown

Adrian spake thusly upon matters weighty: 
 Canada presently uses a modified version of the British system.
> Australia does too.  In Canada, a Regiment of infantry is three
battalions
> (Regular force, the reserve regiments are only one nominal battalion,
most
> are actually a reinforced company in size),

If that. I've been with Regiments that had 40 people (armoured recce) 
and others that had about 100 effectives (infantry). Reinforced 
company is hopeful in many cases. 

 and a regiment of Armour,
> Engineers, Artillery, etc. is one battalion.	The British have a
number of
> one battalion infantry regiments, but have been going through a long
> process of consolidating, creating "super-regiments" with multiple
> battalions.  "The Parachute Regiment" has three battalions, for
example.
> British armoured regiments are all one battalion in size.  

This does jibe. It makes sense as to why some units don't use 
Battalion naming... (If you've only one Battallion in you unit, why 
refer to it as 1st Battalion? Just call yourself the Brockville 
Rifles).  

> I would suggest a system something like this:
> 
> Armoured Regiments:  would be 1 battalion size, numbered (with name)
> ie:  347th Armour (The Fort Garry Horse)

Yeah, but in the future, whats a Battalion? For cost and mobility 
reasons, probably smaller than that of today.  

> Infantry Regiments:  would be 1 or 3 battalions in size, numbered
(with name)
> ie:  123rd Battalion, RNALI (The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada)

I like the Royal North American Light Infantry.... :)
 
> And so on.  Brigades and Divisions would be numbered formations, drawn
from
> the available Regiments.  In Canada, we do not have any normally
formed
> Divisions (though there is a HQ unit for 1 Canadian Division - it has
no
> assigned forces, or perhaps I should say it has ALL the forces, 'cause
the
> regular Canadian army all together makes up about one modern
mechanized
> division).

I quibble with the word Modern.....

>  Brigades are the largest formation we keep fully staffed, etc.

Okay, pardon my ignorance....

			Canadian	    Guys	 
Section 				about 10 guys		10	
			       
Platoon 		4 sections	    45 
Company 				3-4 Pltns	    180
Battalion				3 Companies	    575 
Regiment				1-4 Battalions	    575-2000
Brigade 				????
Division				????

I know I read somewhere that a US Division was way bigger (unless 
I've got it backwards) than a PACT division. (Was it 10,000 to 
4-6,000 or something like that?) Maybe I've got it backwards. I 
know the Russians liked numbers.		   

How does that compare to British and American formations? 

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. 
Except in full out, hot war, planetary assaults, you'd rarely see 
more than a battalion of hi-tech troops deployed, more likely 
companies and platoons. They'd be stiffened by colonials, who may 
have unit sizes more like today (and tech more akin to today.... it 
takes a while for hi-tech to reach the frontier), since they don't 
get shipped around and air dropped. 

With modern communications,
> tactical mobility and the availability of accurate supporting fire, a
> single squad of infantiers can put out the firepower of a WWII platoon
or
> company.

Of course, in WWII, it was 50,000 rounds per KIA. In Vietnam, 
200,000. Volume of fire isn't necessarily an improvement, but not 
everyone knows that. It helps if that fire hits something. But 
trained expensive troops that have high logistic overhead will force 
formation size cuts. 

> To get a bit more specific:
> 
> Mechanized Brigade
> 
> 2 or 3 Battalions Infantry (from one Regiment)
> 1 Regiment Armour (one battalion)
> 1 Regiment Artillery (this might include air defense, or the AD troops
> could be a separate unit)
> 1 Service Battalion (the logistics support)
> 1 Signals Squadron (company size unit providing EW, Comms, etc)
> 1 HQ, with attached police, intelligence, operations staff, etc etc
> 1 reinforced squadron of Engineers (maybe 2 companies worth)
> 1 Field Ambulance (hey, not quite a MASH, but close in size)

And 1 Company of Snipers, if anyone learned anything from the 20th 
century... probably deployed 1 Pltn per Inf Battalion with maybe 1 
Pltn for independent ops. 

Nice work, BTW. 
 
/************************************************
Thomas Barclay		     
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Fax: (613) 831-8255

 "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.  C++ makes
 it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg."
 -Bjarne Stroustrup
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