RE: Cheese factor

At 08:35  2/04/01 -0700, John Atkinson wrote:
>Hack, spit!  A platoon has to (by definition) have
>multiple squads.  And 4 men isn't a squad, it's a fire
>team (now, if these are SAS, then this is different
>story--but it always is with elite forces).  By my
>count you've 34 bodies.  That's a goddamn platoon in
>any army in the world.  Rename your platoons to
>squads.  Rename your squads to fireteams.  And call
>the goddamn thing a platoon.

<snip>

>That's still not a goddamn company.  It's now a
>reinforced platoon.

<snip>

>Further investigation?  If you'd just look the bloody
>term up in a dictionary you wouldn't have this
>problem.

<snip>

>YES.  That's what you've got.
>
>"Platoon" has a specific meaning to wargamers and to
>soldiers.  If I say "platoon" then what I mean is
>"unit between 20 and 50 men, composed of 3-5 squads
>and led by junior officer or senior NCO".  If you
>define platoon as "whatever I feel like putting on the
>board and getting extra activations for" you are going
>to piss people off and look ignorant[1].
>
>John
>[1]Or stupid.	Hard to tell from one instance.

A platoon 1.a military sub-unit consisting to two or more sections being

part of a company. 2. a company or group of persons.

Perhaps John should go stand in the corner ;) when he's calmed down he
can 
come back and play with the grownups.

Derek

Derek Fulton
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