Quote Originally Posted by Rifleman View Post
I've often wondered if something similar might be appropriate for Army light infantry units. Perhaps A, B, and C Companies foot mobile and D Company with vehicles, mounted weapons, and crews but no dismounts.

As you said, there would be advantages and disadvantages.
What I was really getting at was the separate Assault Amphibian Battalions. We typically "mech up" one rifle company for a MEU deployment. That company gets a platoon of AAVs and a platoon of tanks from the division's AA and Tank battalions, respectively. The AAVs and infantry train as completely separate entities before the MEU "locks on" and begins its workups. After the MEU, the AAVs and Tanks return to their parent battalion, and the rifle company trains as light infantry again. This was done on a divisional scale for OIF 1 - the AA Bn's were used to mech up all of the infantry battalions in 1st MarDiv. While there are advantages to dedicated mech infantry formations, this arrangement works pretty well for the USMC's missions.