Quote Originally Posted by Uboat509 View Post
No matter how many men you have in your team/squad/section/gaggle or whatever, one thing remains constant somebody is shooting (base of fire element) and somebody is moving (maneuver element). At least that is my take and I am wondering what the alternative that is that Reeb seemed to be alluding to.
The most significant advantages of a third fire team are a little more redundancy in combat (always a good thing) and flexibility in personnel assignments. The additional Team Leader gives you some training flexibility as well.

Having worked with both the 13 man Marine Squad and the 50-70s era Army Squad with 11 men, both work well, the Marine version gives you an added AR / SAW and two more people to cover combat losses which can easily reach 40-50% in MCO. Maneuvering the Marine Squad is not difficult, most usually, you just use two Fire Teams as the base of fire and you can swap (more correctly, allow the Team Leaders to swap out as they see fit) base and maneuver elements easily. It is also possible to add the third AR / SAW to the base of fire and use rifles only for the movement / assault element.

I agree with you that there's no real alternative to fire and movement -- the only issue is the level at which that takes place. Generally, it will be at Company level, less frequently at Platoon and rarely at Squad -- but Squads will be forced to do it more often than not in the process of operating within a Platoon or Company effort. I'll flat guarantee you that Miles does not replicate MCO at the Platoon and Squad level; it's better than nothing but it can give you a false sense of your ability to move under fire.