Infantry Unit Tactics, Tasks, Weapons, and Organization

[Sabre]

[QUOTE=William F. Owen;43838]

Well if that were the case then all organisation concepts are moot and irrelevant because you have to man vehicles and be panzer grenadiers or Motor Rifle troops, and thus not as effective when dismounted.

I think that the point of saying that "these days you can't do an organization that is not compatible with transportation assets" is not to say that the rifle company needs to man the vehicles, or even train with them all of the time, but that it will, very often, find itself deployed in troop carriers, be it trucks, APCs, MRAPs, helicopters, etc, whether it likes it or not. For better or worse, many troop-carriers these days are designed to hold rather less than a 13-man squad (notably, the USMC has troop-carriers that can hold more, but that seems to be the exception). It doesn't even take the chaos of combat, but a vehicle that breaks down just before SP, or a patrol "plan" that becomes more convoluted over the course of a months-long deployment. One way or another, the natural tendency will be for the organization to breakdown along the lines of the vehicle load whenever mounted - again, whether we like it or not.
If one of the primary considerations in the design of a company or platoon is the cohesion of the troopers, then where will one be spending many of those critical moments just before going into action, or while in action, when the support of your mates is most important? Probably with whoever else happens to be in the same troop-carrier. Again, whether we like it or not. May as well formalize the arrangment, to the extent practical.
(That said, I am quite conviced that troop-carriers, even a cannon-armed MICV or HAPC can, and indeed do need to be designed to hold more than 6 or 7 dismounts.)