Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
As a UK Infantryman, I have never understood, why the US Squad Leader is not part of a Fire team. Both the Army and Marines cling to this, for no good reason that I can see.
Wilf, I have definitely been wondering that myself (as someone who "grew up" in the US Army system of a squad leader, and two fire teams to a squad, each with a team leader).

One Fire-Team Leader? Absolutely, it is always useful for a squad leader, (heck, a leader at any level) to have a "second in charge", for a whole host of reasons. A second Team Leader? Hmmm... In combat, if the squad isn't operating as a single entity, then the squad leader is leading one fire team himself, anyway. It doesn't even provide any real "leadership depth", since (from what I saw) there weren't enough junior NCO's to fill all the slots, in any case.
Perhaps it is different in the USMC squads, with 3 fire teams.