Yes, 39 men sounds big for a platoon. But then, maybe not?
Answers?
Four squads (~10 men) form a platoon. The platoon is usually led by a second lieutenant. Three platoons and a headquarters platoon form a company. The company is commanded by a captain.
I think that Obama gets all his military knowledge from Hollywood.
” I spoke with an Air Force Sgt. who flies and FB-1170 and he was dropping clusterbombs on underground bunkers and he doesn’t even have body armor for his plane. he had to weld it on himself right before George Bush ordered him to strafe innocent orphans that were picking flowers in a soccer field.”
Platoons can vary in size, but are led by a lieutenant. Captains lead companies. 39 would be the number of junior enlisted men typically 3 squads of 12 and their corporals or seargents. There is usually a platoon seargeant and a commanding Lieutenant.
3 x 9 = 27 ± 4
Lieutenants command platoons, captains command companies
Maybe the captain in question was Jesse Macbeth.
Platoon - 16 to 44 soldiers. A platoon is led by a lieutenant with an NCO as second in command, and consists of two to four squads or sections.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blchancommand.htm
Since they describe it as an Infantry platoon around 40 would be a reasonable number. An Armor platoon would be around 16 (4 tanks x 4 crew per tank. Not sure how many in an Arty platoon.