Does this Platoon make sense ?

[rust]

A question for the "military guys" on the board ...

I am designing a small military unit, the "Sea Rangers", that is sent to a newly
founded colony on a water world to protect and support the colonists there.

The platoon sized unit has 36 members, a Captain to command it (high rank
for a platoon leader because the unit operates independently and far from
any superiors), a lieutenant, a senior NCO and three sections of a NCO and
ten Sea Rangers each.

Section A concentrates on Security and is outfitted with riot gear and non le-
thal weapons in addition to the usual equipment.
Section B is a Cadre unit that trains colonists in the survival skills necessary
for the life on a mostly unexplored water world and also trains some colonists
as the core of a future security service of the colony, it has a wide array of
equipment for training purposes.
Section C is a Recon (more precisely: exploration) unit that supports the local
scouts, prospectors and scientists, and is outfitted with underwater gear and
weapons and a couple of water vehicles.

While this unit seems plausible to me, I am a former air force soldier, and may
well be wrong when it comes to ground (or underwater) forces.

So, any comments would be most welcome - Thank you.

 

[Spinward Scout]

It would depend on what you were expecting to run into on the water world, I'd think. Do the colonists live in the water? Or on islands? If there are lots of natural predators, someone that can deal with animals is a plus. Your sections are set up with 8 to 12 people each? If it's 12, then you can split each section into 2 'fire teams' of 6 - each with it's own specialization. Or three 'fire teams' of 4 each. How many colonists are there? A platoon seems small for a colony - unless it's a small colony.

The U.S. Navy doesn't do any real 'underwater' training except in specialized situations. See this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_seals

Otherwise, you get to learn how to float, put out a flare (signal for help in other ways if possible), and put out shark repellant. And sometimes you don't get shark repellant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

The basic premise is - you aren't supposed to be in the water to begin with. If you are wet, then something is wrong. And it used to be bad luck for sailors to even know how to swim.

Don't know how helpful that is, but it might give you more ideas.

 

[rust]

Don't know how helpful that is, but it might give you more ideas.

Thank you very much, it is and does.

The unit is a part of the initial colonization effort, which includes the first
1,000 colonists, who will mainly live in domed seafloor habitats.
The colonists do not know very well what they will find on their new home
world, mostly because exploring a water world is much more difficult than
exploring a normal planet's continents, and therefore the scouts may well
have missed something important - including dangerous predators.

Thank you for the idea with the Animal skill, I will give some members of the
Recon section at least Animal 0.

 

[Whipsnade]

Rust,

Isn't the platoon a bit too specialized? You've got a section apiece acting as either Cops, Cadre, or Critter Control. I think that's splitting the platoon's limited manpower far too much.

I'd have the entire force acting as Cadre/Critter Control. The colony can provide it's own Cops which the platoon can backup as necessary.

When a section isn't out patrolling, guarding explorers, or dealing with dangerous critters, they're back at the colony training colonists. The colonists could be rotated into the unit for training along lines similar to the USNG; one or two "weeks" per "year".

For example, if there are 52 weeks in the local year (very unlikely) and assuming a few colonists in certain occupations won't be involved, you could have ~18 colonists training with the platoon and assisting the platoon with everyday jobs.


Regards,
Bill

 

[rust]

I'd have the entire force acting as Cadre/Critter Control. The colony can provide it's own Cops which the platoon can backup as necessary.
When a section isn't out patrolling, guarding explorers, or dealing with dangerous critters, they're back at the colony training colonists.

Thinking about it, you are right.

I could add some civilian law enforcement specialists to the Colonial Office
supervisor's team and have them lead and train the colony's security per-
sonnel, freeing the soldiers from this task. Besides, law enforcement in ci-
vilian hands really seems a bit more logical in a democracy.

This would probably also enable me to give the soldiers a better mix of the
skills necessary for the cadre/recon/critter control mission.

Thank you very much.

 

[Sturn]

Nothing wrong with the organization that I can see (prior US Army). Structure can vary greatly even on modern Terra throughout different countries. So, use whatever structure you decide is appropriate. On that note:

The Lieutenant I'm assuming would be called the XO (Executive Officer) and in charge when the Captain is not available. Like you I see nothing wrong with a Captain being in charge of a platoon-sized unit that must act independent or is considered elite.

Your section leaders (I'm used to calling them squads) might need some help at their level leading 10 men. I would add a lower level NCO such as a Corporal to help lead the section when the Sergeant is unavailable or when the large section might need to break into two 5-man teams. Depending on how big you wanted the sections, they could be limited to 10 men (with Sergeant and Corporal as part of the 5-man teams) or 12 men (with Sergeant and Corporal in addition to the 5-man teams).

Like Whipsnade, I noted how specialized the sections were. For an "elite" unit I still think this would be fine. If you kept all of the specialties, I imagine each section would be crosstrained in the duties of the other sections. If you alter the unit to only critter/cadre, I think all would be trained for "security" anyhow since it's a military unit. Heavier weapons might be available at HQ when needed.

 

[rust]

If you alter the unit to only critter/cadre, I think all would be trained for "security" anyhow since it's a military unit. Heavier weapons might be available at HQ when needed.

Thank you very much.

I will use Whipsnade's proposal, leave law enforcement to the civilian autho-
rities (in this case the Colonial Office) and add the corporals you proposed.

After taking another close look at the planned colony, there would hardly
be enough to do for a Security section anyway, except perhaps standing
guard at some few vital installations - and this looks more like a job done
on a rotation scheme or given to soldiers who angered their superiors (and
delegated to some civilian security service as soon as someone has been
trained to do it).

 

[Spinward Scout]

The unit is a part of the initial colonization effort, which includes the first 1,000 colonists, who will mainly live in domed seafloor habitats.

You need submersibles, then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersible

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/subs/subs.html

http://www.uboatworx.com/flash/index.html

I'd say that other than 'fishing' or exploration expeditions, you're looking at a time limit on life support and power, so travel wouldn't be too far from the domes to start.

Throwing an underwater rescue crew in your platoon could work, then, too.

This might help, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platoon

Light drives away creatures with sensitive eyesight, unless they're enraged, very hungry, or protecting young. Could be something to include with your critter crew.

Have you ever looked at the Blue Planet rpg?

 

[rust]

Thank you very much for the interesting links.

Since the members of the platoon will begin their careers as Wet Navy Sub-
mariners (as in MGT Mercenary), they will have the right skills for a rescue
crew, but I have to add the necessary equipment to their gear.

Have you ever looked at the Blue Planet rpg?

Yep, the Blue Planet RPG and the Transhuman Space supplement Under Pres-
sure are my main sources for this part of my setting, together with some old
CT material (Undersea Environment, Drenslaar Quest, etc.) and a German un-
derwater science fiction RPG named Lodland.

 

[aramis]

The only reason it would need a Captain commanding is if social pressures required a captain. As in, only at the rank of captain does one gain indepent action authority.

It's still SMALL for a platoon by many standards. You have 3 sections, I'd guess of 11 each... that means two 5 man squads and a section sergeant. Each squad is probably a buck sergeant, and 4 men, most of whom will be corporals and lance corporals.

Workable, but odds are, insufficiently large pool of manpower for the task.

 

[rust]

Workable, but odds are, insufficiently large pool of manpower for the task.

This is true, but it is intended.

The "interesting" missions are the player characters' jobs, the platoon is the
"cavalry" the characters are supposed to call if something goes badly wrong.
However, I want this "cavalry" to be neither very strong nor always availab-
le, to prevent the characters from relying on it too much - they are there to
provide additional skills and, if necessary, the firepower of some heavy wea-
pons, but they should not be able to solve the characters' problems for them.

 

[Sturn]

It's still SMALL for a platoon by many standards. You have 3 sections, I'd guess of 11 each... that means two 5 man squads and a section sergeant. Each squad is probably a buck sergeant, and 4 men, most of whom will be corporals and lance corporals.

Organization of troops at this level varies greatly even in non-fictional modern militaries from nation to nation. Heck, even the US Marine Corps and US Army varies along these lines. Since this is a mythical, future platoon, things may have changed greatly. Rust's Sea Rangers may even be considered a large platoon in a future setting because troops per squad/section may have dropped due to technological changes such as firepower (a.i. Starship Troopers, book not movie).

For example, Aramis's background is calling a Squad what I from the US military would call a Team or Fire-Team. Section is also being by most for what I would call a Squad (two teams, just below Platoon in hierarchy). A Team can vary in leadership also from a Lance Corporal, to Corporal, to Sergeant. Even within a single nation's military, different branches use different typical ranks at various levels in their organizational hierarchy. Aramis from his background is saying most members of a team/squad/section at the bottom would be Corporal and Lance Corporals. My background says Privates and Specialists - Lance Corporals being non-existant and Corporals only in some Infantry units in the US Army.

Take a look at Wiki for some details to see how vastly all of this can vary.

So in a future, fictional setting I would say use ranks and squad/section squads that are most fitting for you. Modern Earth already varies substantially, it may just get worse.

 

[rust]

Aramis from his background is saying most members of a team/squad/section at the bottom would be Corporal and Lance Corporals. My background says Privates and Specialists - Lance Corporals being non-existant and Corporals only in some Infantry units in the US Army.

I think in the end it will depend on the character generation rules. I have a
rough idea what skills the members of the unit will need, and I will try to cre-
ate the individual members of the unit as close to the rules for player charac-
ters as possible. If they can get the required skills with few terms, they will
have low ranks, if I need more terms to give them the skills, they will have
higher ranks.

 

[tbeard1999]

I'm wondering if a 36 man platoon isn't way too large for a 1000 person colony (especially if there's no defined threat)?

Currently, the US military numbers about 2.9 million (half reservists and half active duty personnel). This is 1/2% of the population for active duty personnel. And note that the US has worldwide committments, which require a great deal more logistical and support personnel than a local defense force would.

I think that a more plausible setup would be a cadre of 5-6 personnel, tasked with building at least a platoon-sized local reservist force in (say) six months. Essentially, this cadre would be the platoon leader, four squad leaders and a technical expert.

They might start by training their subordinates. So, each squad leader would train the 3 team leaders. The technical expert might train the maintenance/technology leaders. This might take 3-4 months.

 

[rust]

I think that a more plausible setup would be a cadre of 5-6 personnel, tasked with building at least a platoon-sized local reservist force in (say) six months. Essentially, this cadre would be the platoon leader, four squad leaders and a technical expert.

I considered such an approach, too, but the risk seemed too high.

There is a probability that the first few months on the planet will be the most
dangerous ones, because the colonists do not yet know the new environment
and especially its native wildlife good enough and are likely to make a lot of
mistakes and get into a lot of trouble they will later learn to avoid.
This means that they will need someone able to protect them both at the ha-
bitat construction site and with the exploration teams, and soon afterwards
at one or two mining sites, too.

This would most probably be too much for a small unit that itself does not
yet "know the ropes", especially if it would also have to train some of the co-
lonists in addition to its other duties. Besides, if the planet turns out to be
more dangerous than expected, there will be temporary or permanent losses,
so a "safety margin" seems prudent.