[LurkedLongEnough]

Confusing - maybe to the enemy, too.

[ko_kyi]

OK but what is the difference between a regiment and a brigade?

[Grand Old Partisan]

The divisions were numbered in the order they were created. The last one created was the 106th. Most were disbanded after WWII. Incidentally, many never existed at all, but were part of Patton's fictitous diversion army in northern England prior to D-Day.

Cheers,

Grand Old Partisan
http://www.republicanbasics.com/

[mattdono]

Interesting. Does any FREEPER have a listing of the command structure for each branch of the service?

I am generally familiar with the rankings, but with all the talking heads on the tube, it is nice to know the relative experience differences between the commentators (i.e., a Captain in the Army isn't the same as a Captain in the Navy).

[ZULU]

Sounds like a Legion equals a brigade, a Century equals a company, and a squad equals a mess of Roman legionnaires.

[Rebelbase]

Bump for later read.

[holdmuhbeer]

bump

[KarlInOhio]

US Army Combat Arms Unit Histories.

Don't go there unless you want to spend an hour just browsing.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[vetvetdoug]

Before the Civil War there were two regiments of Dragoons, one mounted rifle regiment and two regiments of Cavalry. When the war broke out the first and second dragoons became the first and second cavalry, the mounted rifles became the third cavalry and the first and second cavalry became the fourth and fifth cavalry. A sixth cavalry was added during the Civil War. After the Civil War there were added more Cavalry Regiments to combat the Indians, the Tenth being that of the Blacks(this is from memory so I may be in error). It gets more confusing as the history of our Army continues. This is just the cavalry regiments and the Cavalry per se was disbanded in 1942. I even confused myself trying to regurgitate the history.

[Caesar Soze]

Bah. All the interesting units drop the brigade/division stuff and just call themselves operational detachments within groups ;)

[PhilipFreneau]

Divisions have 10,000-to-15,000 soldiers divided in three-to-five combat regiments and a number of support units. Regiments have 3,000-to-5,000 soldiers and include several combat and support battalions. Each battalion has three-to-five line companies of 100-to-150 soldiers apiece. Companies break down into three-to-five platoons of 20-to-40 people, which in turn break down into squads of eight-to-12.

... and squads can be broken down into teams.

[Charlie OK]

thanks! bookmarking for later read...

[wideminded]

Today's Army has eight infantry divisions: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, along with the 10th, 25th, 82nd, and 101st

I worked for a defense contractor in the 80's that did a lot of work for the 9th infantry division. They seemed liked a pretty large concern back then. I wonder what happened to them.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

This helps somewhat. My understanding is that a 1st Lt commands a Platoon, a Captain commands the Company, a Lt Col commands the Battalion, a full Col commands the Regiment, and a two-star commands the Division. I guess a three-star commands an Army? What does a 2nd Lt command? Or a Major??

[Little Bill]

At the time of WW1 the Divisions were numbered, 1-25 Regular Army, 26-50(?)National Guard, 51(?)-Top Number, National Divisions, this continued through WW2. the Regimental numbering it is not based on longivity as a military unit, Three regiments of the 26th Division are among the oldest military units in the world, 1680's, descended from the Essex, Middlesex, and Norfolk, Mass Militia Regiments, correct me if I am wrong.

[jackbill]

There are, of course, gaps in the sequence. Today's Army has eight infantry divisions: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, along with the 10th, 25th, 82nd, and 101st. What happened to the rest of them?

I believe that a lot of them still exist - as Army Reserve or National Guard divisions.

For instance, the 29th Infantry Division (Light)of the Army Reserves, has units in five different states: Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The 40th Infantry Division is the California National Guard.

In addition to disappearing, some have been changed. The 45th Infantry Division has been reconstituted as the 45th Infantry Brigade and is attached to the 7th Inf. Div..

[No Truce With Kings]

Originally there were three types of Army Divisions: Regular Army, National Guard, and War Emergency.

The Regular Army Divisions were allocated numbers 1-25.

National Guard Divisions started at 25 and ran to either 55 or 56.

Anything higher was a war emergency division.

These distictions were set up in WWI and maintained through WWII. So, the famous 42nd (Rainbow) Infantry Division was a National Guard unit made up from independent brigades of several states. The 45th was built from the OK, NM, and AZ National Guard units.

War Emergency Units also tended to be drawn regionally -- the 83rd Division came predominantly from Ohio, and has the letters O H I O in gold on a black background (the letters are stacked on each other). Some of these were retained as training divisions following WWII.

Changes occured during WWII. In WWI there was only one kind of division (Infantry) as cavalry was limited to regiments. In WWII specialized division began to appear. First Cavalry (1st and 2nd Cav Divisions) then Armor. Armor had its own numbering system using a triangular patch with the division number and a division name underneath. I WWII there were 16 Armor Division, numbered 1-20 with gaps after 12.

Following WWII some National Guard units became Armor, which is why the TX NG has the 49th Armor Division. This keeps the old NG numbering, but abandons the old 36th Div used for the TX NG during WWI and WWII.

Another phenomena of WWII was the mountain and airborne unit. Initially the Airborne Divisions were raised by converting two war emergency divisions -- the 82nd (Alvin York's outfit in WWI) and 101st. By the end of WWII there were three RA airborne units -- the 11th, 13th and 18th Airborne. Initially the 11th was retained as the peacetime airborne unit, but due to the war records of the 82nd and 101st, these were substituted, and converted to RA units.

The only mountain unit in WWII was the 10th Infantry, and it was reactivated in the 1990s as a light (Mountain) unit to maintain the tradition.

Other famous RA division include the 23rd (Americal), 24th, and 25th (Tropical Lightning). All three made their bones in the Pacific in WWII, and were activated for service there for the Japanese Occupation, Korean War or Vietnam War. The 24th sat out Vietnam. It was deactivated following Korea (in part because it lost most of a regiment and was viewed as "unlucky") but was reactivated during the Reagan buildup, and served with distinction in the Gulf War.

[TankerKC]

...which reminds me of the mnemonic we learned at Air Force basic training: "How many new airmen will get sore feet". That is how we remembered the hierarchal break down of Air Force units, which is as follows:
Headquarters AF
Major Command
Numbered Air Force
Air Division
Wing
Group
Squadron
Flight

[Kay Soze]

Bump