Bradleys

[thatguy96]

Originally Posted by Imp

Cheers wish more sites were laid out as nice & clear as that guys.

Unfortunately, the US Army method of designating units is confusing and obtuse. There is a lot on that website that is incorrect (emphasis added where useful):

For instance, the soldier who was in that unit could say, 'I served in the mortar platoon, 1/5 Infantry when I was in Korea,' which conveys almost as much information.

With the elimination of the Regiment as a tactical unit under the Combat Arms Regimental System, the written format was modified to indicate instances where units were organic to the larger entity, or were simply an element of a parent regiment. Organic connections were noted by a "/," while simply being a member of a parent regiment was indicated by a "-." The correct format would be 1-5 Infantry.

In 1984, the Army implemented the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS).

The US Army adopted the CARS in 1957. It adopted the US Army Regimental System (USARS) in 1983. The most important change was the reintroduction of the Regiment as a physical entity in certain cases, most notably for training regiments.

These regiments are not usually units that are deployed in the field.

The regiment has not been a tactical unit in the US Army since 1957, with the sole exception of the Armored Cavalry Regiment. Those regiments that regained their physical property under the USARS are not combat units.

For convenience sake, Regiment is often dropped from the name of a unit...

Until 2005, the term "Regiment" was not technically part of the units designation.

From time to time, units are redesignated. They retire the colors of an old unit, and take on the colors of a new one. This is called reflagging.

Redesignating and reflagging are not the same. A unit can be redesignated within a certain set of rules. Any unit's personnel can be reflagged as another.

Reflagging is not an unusual event. It's done for a variety of units. It's often done to keep the unit alive, and perpetuate the history of distinguished units. Sometimes it's done when force structure changes. In 1995, the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) field was restrucured. It had been made up detachments. Adminsited by regional control teams, who were overseen by an office at Forces Command (FORSCOM). The detachments were transformed into companies, the control teams were made battalions, and the office at FORSCOM was turned into the 52nd Ordnance Group (EOD).

Again, confusion between reflagging and redesignating. Reflagging is done almost entirely for purposes of keeping historically relevant units around. During the draw-down in the 1990s, the US Army Center for Military History was tasked with drawing out a hierarchy of units to be used to determine the order of precedence when activating or inactivating units.

Units have been reflagged recently, however, more recently for the purposes of activating the right type of unit. This was required by the organizational changes under the new modular force structure.

The EOD note is irrelevant. EOD units are not combat arms and therefore they have no regimental lineage. Each numbered unit has a lineage and can be reorganized to a unit of whatever size is required without having to reflag. This is simply redesignation. In some cases non-combat units can even change their numerical designation while maintaining the lineage of previous units, further complicating matters. A good example of how confusing it can get can be seen in the history of what is now the 6th Signal Center.

There are several different brigade level organizations. There are regiments, like the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment; and groups, like the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

While Armored Cavalry Regiments under the modular force structure are organized essentially as separate brigades, this has not always been the case. When regiments went out of style under the CARS, they were replaced by the brigade as the intermediate level entity between maneuver battalions and the divisions to which they were assigned. Groups were generally used to control independant collections of non-maneuver entities (ranging from artillery to various non-combat units). There were no infantry or armored groups. These are also better described as brigade-sized, as these units are generally not assigned at the levels of brigades. Armored Cavalry Regiments and the various Groups are generally assigned at Corps or Army level.

They usually consist of three maneuver brigades, one aviation brigade, division artillery (which in turn consists of three artillery battalions), division support command, and several other support units.

While accurate as of 2003 for some Divisions, this has completely changed. The US Army now has "square" divisions, with four maneuver brigades, a combat aviation brigade, a Sustainment Brigade, and a Division Special Troops Battalion.

Divisions may be Airborne, Infantry, Armor, or Cavalry Divisions.

By 1990, Divisions were essentially Armored, Mechanized, Light, Airborne, or Air Assault. The 1st Cavalry Division was reorganized as an Infantry Division during the Second World War and has never returned to anything that could be called "cavalry" in nature at the division level. This goes for the 10th Mountain as well. The Armored and Mechanized Divisions have been folded into unified combined arms Heavy Divisions, while a new type, based around the Stryker, has come into being. In addition, individual brigades under the new modular force structure can basically be any type. Many divisions currently cannot be classified as unified in structure. The 25th Infantry Division for instance has two Stryker BCTs, one Infantry BCT, and an Airborne BCT.

There are some generic divisions, like the 78th Division (Training Support), in the reserves that are used for training activities like basic training.

There is no such thing as a "generic" division. These are Training Divisions.

The 3rd Army is the Army component of Central Command.

Numbered Armies are also written out. It is Third Army not 3rd Army.

[DRG]

The ONLY reason I quoted that BBC website was because it seemed to indicate a US Bradley cavalry section consisted of two Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicles and that there were three sections in a Cavalry platoon.

Therefore 6 vehicles in a cav platoon

What I get back is ( I THINK....... ) A Cavalry Platoon = 3 M3 CFVs and a Scout Platoon has 3 Scout Sections each with 3 M3 CFVs

This implies a Bradley Cav platoon is half the size of Bradley Scout Platoon

??


Don

[thatguy96]

The FKSM is a bit confusing. I re-read it after you pointed that out and it appears that for some reason the (x3) note is mentioned twice for the M3 CFVs in the Battalion Scout Platoon. The Scout Platoon should have three sections, each with one M3 CFV and one HMMWV (or some other combination of the 6 vehicles). This would make more sense and make the number of M3 CFVs in the Scout Platoon equal to that in a Cavalry Platoon.

You can read it yourself here and make your own determination. What is also clear is that on page A-15 it says above the graphics "(X3) SCOUT SECTION," while it also shows another "X3" under the M3 CFV graphic. Looking at other entries, however, it appears that the number under the vehicle is supposed to be a total for all the formations of the type indicated.