CT Only: Military unit structure

[aramis]

US tradition is, due to historical reasons...

Regiments are numbered within type or state - IE, 1st Cavalry, 1st Infantry, 11th Maine (Infantry), 7th Virginia (infantry). Many gaps exist, and at some periods, excepting units with historical honors, renumbered to be straight numbered

Companies are lettered within the regiment or battalion.
Platoons numbered within the company
Squads numbered within the platoon.

Battalions are numbered within the regiment or brigade; the regiment was unused for some time.

High commands (brigade and up) from about 1870 on were numbered within level, but if disbanded, often not reused. Prior, named for commanding general or forming state.

Armies were assigned names by theater, as were theater commands of Corps size.

Note that if you see a number and type without size, EG, 39th Infantry, it's usually a regiment. if a specific battalion, it prepends with a hyphen: 3-39 Inf is 3rd Battalion 39th Infantry Regiment.
Company letters prepend this: C-3-39 Inf is Company Charlie, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment. (Was my BT company) 1-3-C-3-39 Inf would be 1st squad, 3rd plt...

Higher commands don't use this shorthand; The level is almost always present in the descriptor.

UK 19th C use was to Number the Regiment - the numbers being UK wide, and the Battalion within the regiment, and the companies within the Battalion, but some companies were named by type (and limited to one company in the battalion)... such as dragoons in an infantry battalion. Note that a regiment did not field as such (usually) but the few times the RA did, it was formed as a brigade with a Brigadier (colonel or general) appointed.

 

[Selandia]

As with the british regimental system until WWII, you may use the regiment as a "sociological" unit, the Bataillons from various regiments (ex: 1st Sherwood Forester, 3rd Irish Guard, 2nd Highlander, 4th/2 Sussex - fot the 4th btn, 2nd Sussex) were assembled into Brigades within the Division. (WWI TOE give about 12 Btn per division for every major belligerent with various intermediate combination) Lets say the 3 Btn from Lakakiki could bear the Honor/tradition name of "the Praetorian Regiment". Your TOE may become quite colorfull.

There is also tradition, of course the British (and Commonwealth) system used Regiment for armor and artillery where US would use BTN (I served in the 1st RCHA Regiment in 1976 and we were designated with the Btn ii symbol )

Have fun

Selandia

 

[Condottiere]

The beauty of having regiments as purely administrative units, is that in theory you can raise any number of battalions from it, so that post bellum the military starts to demobilize, the regiment can contract without needing to be disbanded, maintaining continuity.

 

[aramis]

As with the british regimental system until WWII, you may use the regiment as a "sociological" unit, the Bataillons from various regiments (ex: 1st Sherwood Forester, 3rd Irish Guard, 2nd Highlander, 4th/2 Sussex - fot the 4th btn, 2nd Sussex) were assembled into Brigades within the Division. (WWI TOE give about 12 Btn per division for every major belligerent with various intermediate combination) Lets say the 3 Btn from Lakakiki could bear the Honor/tradition name of "the Praetorian Regiment". Your TOE may become quite colorfull.

There is also tradition, of course the British (and Commonwealth) system used Regiment for armor and artillery where US would use BTN (I served in the 1st RCHA Regiment in 1976 and we were designated with the Btn ii symbol )

Have fun

Selandia

Bn is the || symbol in US nomenclature, as well.
Rgt is |||

US standard symbols for top of box graphics:

Size	Symbol
Army Group	XXXXX
Army	XXXX
Corps	XXX
Division, Wing	XX
Brigade	X
(no US equivalent, used by french	IIII	Regiment/Group	III
Battalion/Squadron	II
Company/Troop/Battery	I
(no current equivalent)	••••
Section	••
Squad	•
Fireteam	Ø

[/tr [tr] [td]Platoon[/td][td]•••[/td][/tr]

Note that a task force of disparate elements organized temporarily uses the next size up from its largest component, with a box around the symbol.
I've seen the IIII and •••• symbols used by DA History texts for certain odd units in WW I... the french brigade divided into two demi-brigades..
Likewise, the french divided the the company of 4 platoons into 2 half-companies operationally. The US occasionally also divided companies.

 

[Condottiere]

The theory goes, X commands require general rank, while dots would be junior officers and NCOs, while everything in the middle is fielded.

You can borrow heavily from existing militaries, or make up your own, closer in line with the classic Roman Legion archetype, or any other culture.

I suspect only Elves or robots can make a pentomic plus system work flawlessly, with typical humans comfortable with triangles, and a professional force squares.

 

[McPerth]

In WWII, the Japanese had two kinds of división, one triangular (constituted by 3 regiments plus support) and one square (formed by 2 brigades of 2 regiments each one).

In most armies, regiment and brigade are more or less equivalent, being the unit among battalion and división (several battalions plus support elements constitute either a brigada or a regiment, and several regiments or brigades costitute a Division.

In the Spanish army there are some sustitutive names too. A Regiment can be called Agrupación (mostly for support units) or Tercio (Spanish Legion); and a battalion may be called Grupo (again, mostly in support units), Bandera (literally translates as Flag, again for the Legion) or Tabor (in the Regulares (North African troops)).

As for the US army, while sure there are people here who have more knowledge than myself abot it, I remember having read they reorganized their divisions with 3 Combat Commands (more or less equivalent to brigade HQs), assigning them the División assets (mostly battalions) as needed, with no permanent brigade structure.

 

[Stevie-the-Gamer]

In relation to the naming of units, don't forget that some of your units may have a very lng and glorious history. The British Indian Army of ww2 had lots of evocative names and I list some for your information

10th Duke of Cambridge's Own Lancers (Hodson's Horse)
21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force)
2nd (Queen's Own) Regiment of Rajput Light Infantry
16th Rajputs (The Lucknow Regiment)
Chota Nagpur Mounted Rifles
4/4th Bombay Grenadiers
The Bombay Sappers and Miners

So instead of the 1st Cavalry Regiment, how about

15/29th Dowager Empresses Own Heavy Dragoons
5th Duke of Regina's Own Infantry
95th Volunteer Light Infantry (Norris's Regiment)
10th Belters and Miners

In relation to company naming, Napoleonic units had Centre, Light, Flank, Grenadier and Line companies. So your 5th Duke of Regina's Own Infantry might consist of the Grenadier Company (Supports Weapons) 1st to 3rd Flank companies (Infantry) and a Light Company (Scouts, Drop capable, and elite unit)

 

[mike wightman]

It wasn't until researching for this thread I found out that the US dabbled with a legion structure for a very brief period:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_the_United_States

You live and learn.

 

[Condottiere]

There's usually a logical reason armies are organized a certain way, tend to be driven by technology, doctrine and geography; then politics and budget; and finally culture and society.

 

[aramis]

It's worth noting that the structure usually involves "Hand or less" subunits. When it doesn't, ad hoc units evolve to fill the "missing" subunits.

EG: 1880's US Regiments
The regiment was 10-16 companies.
CO: Colonel.
CV: Lt. Colonel
CoS/XO: Major

The company commander was usually a captain, but up to 1/3 could be majors (either brevet or commissioned substantiative rank).

In operation, 2-3 of the companies would be sent out under a major - either the major commanding one of the companies, or the Chief of Staff. If more than 6 companies detached, usually the LtCol took command over them, while the Colonel and CoS kept the larger remnant and/or HQ.

The WWI Battalion was simply a codification of this into standing formations of Bn Strength, creating addiitonal LtCol slots...
as the Regiment still had a Col, LtC and Major, but the odd numbered Battalions often had LtC's while the even had majors in command; in both cases, the CV/CoS were merged into a second major slot, and majors at the company level almost disappeared.

Also note that that same time frame saw platoons go from 2 per company to 3-5 per company, the squad drop from 12 to 8 men (including the Cpl)... and the section become used mostly in support units.

1880 Company: 2 Plt of 2 sect of 2 squads of 11 men + NCO's at each= 8 squads + 15 NCOs (8 Cpl, 6 sgt, 1 1Sgt) in troop work for 88+15 = 103 men. 3 officers round out: Capt/Maj, 1Lt, 2Lt. And 3 specialist privates: Bugler, Drummer, Wagoner. 106 men, 3 officers. 4 civil hires (washerwomen) round it out.

The WWI company (based upon multiple incongruent sources)
Captain, 1st Lt, 1Sgt, 0-2 staff officers, Admin Sgt, 2 clerks, bugler, Supply sgt, Armorer
3-5 plt of 2Lt, PltSgt(SFC), and 3-4 squads of nominally 8 men+(Cpl or Sgt).
Sections sometimes present; if so, Section Sgt usually also a squad leader, but not always...

So 28 to 37 men + 1 officer per platoon
91-191 men + 5-10 officers, per company

Note that some units had squads as large as 16 men (counting the Corporal)... pushing the upper limit to platoons of 16x4+2 (ScNCO)+1(PSgt)=59 men and 1 officer, and thus companies of 300 men and 9 officers...
But in practice, larger squad companies had fewer total squads (typically 3 Plt of 3 squads, no section sgts).

And WWI era Sections existed in some companies but not others. Sometimes sections had a section NCO as a squad leader, sometimes separate.
Which, for minis gaming, means the Plt Command stand could be
Lt, SFC, Radioman
Lt, SFC, 2xSSGT, Radioman
LT, SFC, Radioman, Medic
LT, SFC, 2xSSGT, Medic
And the squads 2-4 fireteams in size, with Squad Leaders embedded... and 3-5 of them in a platoon. (5 squad platoons are not usually infantry... an Armor platoon of 5 squads is 5 tanks... and 15 to 21 men.)

 

[kilemall]

It wasn't until researching for this thread I found out that the US dabbled with a legion structure for a very brief period:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_the_United_States

You live and learn.

Oh ya, I REALLY REALLY hate Wilkinson for scotching. Damn perfidious agents of Spain!

 

[Condottiere]

It's always unexpected.

 

[kilemall]

It's always unexpected.

 

[aramis]

It wasn't until researching for this thread I found out that the US dabbled with a legion structure for a very brief period:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_the_United_States

You live and learn.

I found a better source than Wikipedia for the organization of the US Legion...
http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/792UXXB.pdf

Total companies: 14 per sub-legion, 56 per legion.

Comparing to the nominal 16 company regiments... it's 4.5 regiments. Biggest diffference? Combined arms.

it's 4 regiments of infantry, 1/4 regiment of dragoon (mounted riflemen who fought dismounted - motor rifles in the modern equivalent) 1/4 regiment of artillery.

 

[Condottiere]

My take on the Solomani Confederation has that any mercenary formation, or private military contractors, that have three hundred troops and more or less permanent support personnel, get attached an official Solomani Security Liaison Officer.

Three hundred being considered about the line between a reinforced company and a weak battalion.

Naturally, anything below that may expect they have an infiltrated SolSec sleeper agent and/or informant in their ranks.

I would guess that the Imperium would be nervous about any Legion sized permanent military formation, that has access to high tech weaponry and equipment, that isn't in their direct chain of command.

Legions have been known to topple empires, especially if a whole bunch of like minded individuals who are their paymasters decide they like their autonomy or want a regime change.

The classic Legion numbers a tad below five thousand heavy infantry, not counting attached auxiliaries which could match them in number. Five thousand is about the size of a well equipped modern brigade combat team.

The other issue is that for shock and awe, military commanders will want to deploy their forces concentrated, which means that you need quite a lot of troop transports available at the same time. That's gotta cost, and you might not be able to gather suitable ships to accomplish that for a regimental combat team, or not want to add that on the tab.

 

[Timerover51]

Then you had the US Army Pentomic Division of the 1950s, with five Infantry Battlegroups a bit larger than a battalion, and reinforced with their own armor and artillery. A bit of an odd structure.

 

[aramis]

Then you had the US Army Pentomic Division of the 1950s, with five Infantry Battlegroups a bit larger than a battalion, and reinforced with their own armor and artillery. A bit of an odd structure.

Finding some info on the Pentomic organization

Battlegroup: 4 Rifle Companies, HQ Co, Combat Support Co.
Deployed support added a tank Company, Engineer Company, and mobile artillery company.
Rifle Co, Pentomic: 4 Plt Rifle, 1 Plt Weapons (Man-portable arty),
CS Co: 1 Plt Radar (in 2 sec of 1 mobile radar), 1 Assault Plt, 1 heavy arty platoon.
It also raised the rifle squad to 11 men, and organized it as a two fire-team + NCO

So nominally, the BG was 9 companies - 4 rifle, 1 Engineer, 1 armor, 1 artillery, 1 HQ, and 1 Combat Support. Pretty much a combined arms regiment.

 

[kilemall]

I believe the Pentomic division was enshrined in the first modern commercial wargame with CRTs and the like, Tactics II. As I recall there was a lot of talk about nuclear war and having a structure that could keep fighting after 3/5 of the force was gone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactics_(game)

 

[gregcaires]

I am trying to create some military unit structure and give a great detailed feeling for me units; however, I do not understand the naming convention and how the units are referred to.

I understand the higharched model is the following:

Brigade
Regiment
Battalion
Company
Platoon
Squad
Section

For example: On the planet, I am creating I have a unit that is:

4th Mechanized Drop Infantry Battalion

As a ballpark figure - I think Battalions have 4 companies, and each company has 2 platoons. In addition, each platoon has 2 squads with 2 sections per squad.

How would I label each subunit or part? Do I just give an alpha letter to the companies? And what about platoon and squad?

Thank you.

I do not have any other traveler books besides the 3 basic ones, so I am looking for ideas to name military units.

Also, why when I look on Wikipedia at military unit structure, the number/name of subunits never make any sense or stays in order?

Squads and Platoons are #'d 1 to X, Companies are lettered A-Z, Battalions/Regiments are #'d using historic unit designations without regard to quantity. Brigades are #'d 1 to X as components of the the division they comprise. Like battalions/regiments, divisions are similarly #'d.

So you could have 1st squad, 1st platoon, Echo Company, 529th Lift Inf battalion, 2nd brigade, 11th Drop Inf division (XXX Corps, 3rd Army, 2nd Army Group) - 1/1/E/529/2/11/XXX/3rd/2nd

 

[Condottiere]

A slight Latin twist.

I like to think Propraetor would be a Colonel, while a Praetor would be a lieutenant colonel.

Consul - Commander in Chief

Proconsul - Theatre commander; field marshal/general

Dux - Army/corps commander; lieutenant general

Legate - Legio commander; major general

Tribune - Vexillatio commander; brigadier

Senior centurion - Cohors commander; major

Centurion - centuria commander; captain

Optio - centuria second in command; first lieutenant

Signifer - ensign; second lieutenant; pilottonus commander (I made that up)