Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
I posted this in the platoon weapons thread. I think it is relevant here:

I see there as being two things that the platoon needs to do as concerns weapons. First you need Teams (3-5 men?) to conduct reconnaissance so that weapons teams – again 3-5 men – can get weapons into places where they can do the most damage to the enemy. This is as old as the hills and has been around for years. Wigram detailed this in his 1941 “Battlecraft” pamphlet, and then added to it in his post Sicily battle notes.
The USMC squad seems to have been doing this well since 1945. Their squad design allows you to use one team as a scouting fire team.


The “Recce” Teams should be lightly loaded so as they can best do their task. The weapons teams would then be optimised to support the weapons they are equipped with.
The USMC teams have always been balanced - at least on paper - instead of light and heavy, but that's not carved in stone. Ken White wrote of a USMC squad leader in Korea who would sometimes consolidate his BARs into one team.


As a straw man and in the absence of any other ideas, I’d have 3-5 “Recce” teams under the platoon commander, and 2-4 weapons teams under the Platoon Sergeant.
I'll have to think about that.

...so why not emphasise F&M at the Platoon level instead of at the Squad/Section?
I'm not in a position, or experienced enough, to say that the platoon should or shouldn't be the focal point for fire and maneuver. In fact, I think with the U.S. Army it really has to be that way, since their squads are not really big enough to fire and maneuver.

Fire and maneuver usually became a platoon function for the Army in Vietnam anyway. Their squads - two fire team squads on paper, of course - always ended up as a machine gunner, grenadier, and a handfull of riflemen. More or less the German Gruppe. You can see this portrayed in the film Hamburger Hill and the novel The 13th Valley.

I will point out though that some people, people with more experience than me, think independently operating squads are necessary for some of the fights we're facing in Iraq. I think independently operating squads really need to be big squads.

Wilf, keep writing please. I'm not always in agreement but it's always a pleasure to read.....so far.

Oh, how do you like my avatar and signature?