Quote Originally Posted by Uboat509 View Post
I just don't think that three maneuver elements are needed at the squad level. The squad leader for the squad in contact is going to be in the fight. He needs to be thinking about firing element and his maneuvering element (if he has one). He doesn't need to be worrying about a reserve or whatever the third maneuver element would be doing. The platoon leader should be more removed from the immediate fight and can therefore initiate more complex tactics which is why three maneuver elements is a good thing at the platoon level and not so good at the squad level. In my opinion anyway.

SFC W
I find it interesting that those who put the focus on the platoon-level are less concerned with there being three fire-teams in a squad. I happen to agree that the fight is at the platoon level (unless you are SF...) and that two fire teams is fine for a squad - as long as there are at least FOUR squads in a platoon - that gives the organization the depth it needs to sustain casualties, and still more tactical options for the platoon leader, beyond flipping a coin to decide when to go from "one up two back" to "two up one back"... (so you end up with four squad leaders instead of three, and 8 team leaders instead of 9, so (very) slightly more leadership depth, in theory...)

I don't see the advantage to specializing the squad and platoon weapons too much - others here have more experience than I, but I can't seem to recall one single plan that went sufficiently smoothly that some squad that was supposed to "just" be assault didn't end up being support, and vice-versa. So I will have to agree with Uboat on that point as well (and I strongly agree with the "if you start with two, you will have one when you need it, and if you only start with one, you will have none when you need it" adage).

I also wonder at least a little bit at the focus on ensuring that the squad can take casualties and still not be reduced to functioning as one big fire team - why wait for that inevitable moment? After all, the three-fire team Marine squad was born of Pacific island battles where casualties were sometimes well past the 50% mark that would reduce even the mighty three-team USMC squad down to the strength of a single large fire-team.

I guess that I will have to go on record as being in basic agreement with Wilf and SFC W.