Quote Originally Posted by Sabre View Post
No, I don't think that there is any danger of that - a battalion commander has a full staff, with two majors and several captains to help him handle all of the moving parts. Heh, I can't ever recall having read of/spoken to/seen a battalion commander that worried that he had too many troops or weapons for his assigned mission. Besides, many attachments are then tasked out to the line companies, so they don't really affect the battalion span-of-control - which in any case, I would argue is less and less applicable at the higher levels of organization.
Agreed. My BN in Tal Afar had six companies plus attachments without issue. RFCT in Ramadi had 9 battalions plus four IA BNs under its control, not to mention all the "eaches" in separate companies - everything from riverine units to postal.

Span of control never really seemed to hinder ops. Lack of proper resources could. Since COIN is relatively fixed, span of control is a lesser issue perhaps than in maneuver warfare.