Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I am feeling like Alpo at the moment There are many army units of which I was never a part and always wondered where they belonged in the chain of command or the other guys in green We have CIC the Pres. DOD ( I stood one of their inspections, DASA) DOA (Missed their inspection in 1965) then there was SHAPE USAREUR I have a letter from the CG but I think he forgot my name, I know I forgot his, I think I still have the letter) then the armies 7th Army (Yeay, Patton), got a letter from all the commanders below USAREUR too but somebody after Patton then 7th Corps 7th Corps Arty 35th Arty Group Battalion (1/36 for me, 1st battalion, 36th Arty Regiment) LIke a Squadron, at least in the USArmy) battery (like Company) Platoon Squad Soldier (An Army of One, ME) I know the cavalry definition of squadron has changed and is different in other countries, but in the USArmy, it is the same as what ? Battalion? and what is Trrop? I know Battalions fall under Brigades which fall under Divisions, how does that relate to Corps and Armies? I know that when I put the answers together I will still be a little comfused, but I just had to ask an Alpo-ish question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 From lowest to highest: Led / commanded by: Team Sergeant Squad Staff Sergeant Platoon 2LT Company / Troop Captain Battalion / Squadron Lieutenant Colonel Brigade / Regiment Colonel (a few commanded by Brigadier Generals) Division Major General Corps Lieutenant General Army General Department of the Army Secretary of the Army Department of Defense Secretary of Defense POTUS Under the principle regarding "span of control," each commander should have 3-5 of the next lower subordinate units under him. In other words, a division has 3-5 brigades, a brigade has 3-5 battalions, etc. However, in today's modern operations, we don't fight with more than a corps of US Army personnel assigned to the fight. Iraq and Afghanistan combined both comprised a corps. However, those level of operations are inherently strategic and joint, meaning the headquarters above corps level has allied nations and sister services. Rather than having an army headquarters, we have a Joint Forces Headquarters. The JF Commander is a 4 star, and he commands all allied and joint forces in the theater of operations. The theater is divided into domains -- a land component, air component, and maritime component, with 3-star commanders for each. In other words, the Combined Forces Land Component Commander, or CFLCC, will be in charge of *all* ground units in theater regardless of the nation or service that provided them. So the Marines and I find ourselves under the same flag, alongside the Moldovan EOD team, etc (yeah, met them once). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 OMG. I forgot that a platoon is commanded by a 2Lt. It was the Vietnam years, there was a time when we had 6 commissioned officers in the battalion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Plasters, SASS#60943 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I don't get why a Lt. General is higher than a Major General when a major is higher than a Lt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I don't get why a Lt. General is higher than a Major General when a major is higher than a Lt. Goes back to the 18th century and the differences in definitions between then and now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I don't get why a Lt. General is higher than a Major General when a major is higher than a Lt. Way be when, a Brigadier was a cavalry Corporal. Generals were ranked, Brigadier General, Sergeant Major General, Lieutenant General, General, Captain General, Colonel General, Marshal. Now a Brigadier is generally a Brigadier General. The Sergeant was dropped and now just Major General. Very few modern armies have Captain Generals or Colonel Generals which are generally ranked between General and Marshal or (Field Marshal). Interesting note: We didn't name our five-star generals Marshal was because nobody wanted General Marshall to be called Marshal Marshall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elk Creek LeMieux Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 From lowest to highest: Led / commanded by: Team Sergeant Squad Staff Sergeant Platoon 2LT Company / Troop Captain Battalion / Squadron Lieutenant Colonel Brigade / Regiment Colonel (a few commanded by Brigadier Generals) Division Major General Corps Lieutenant General Army General Department of the Army Secretary of the Army Department of Defense Secretary of Defense POTUS Under the principle regarding "span of control," each commander should have 3-5 of the next lower subordinate units under him. In other words, a division has 3-5 brigades, a brigade has 3-5 battalions, etc. However, in today's modern operations, we don't fight with more than a corps of US Army personnel assigned to the fight. Iraq and Afghanistan combined both comprised a corps. However, those level of operations are inherently strategic and joint, meaning the headquarters above corps level has allied nations and sister services. Rather than having an army headquarters, we have a Joint Forces Headquarters. The JF Commander is a 4 star, and he commands all allied and joint forces in the theater of operations. The theater is divided into domains -- a land component, air component, and maritime component, with 3-star commanders for each. In other words, the Combined Forces Land Component Commander, or CFLCC, will be in charge of *all* ground units in theater regardless of the nation or service that provided them. So the Marines and I find ourselves under the same flag, alongside the Moldovan EOD team, etc (yeah, met them once). Seems like there should be MACOM's somewhere in there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 Way be when, a Brigadier was a cavalry Corporal. Generals were ranked, Brigadier General, Sergeant Major General, Lieutenant General, General, Captain General, Colonel General, Marshal. Now a Brigadier is generally a Brigadier General. The Sergeant was dropped and now just Major General. Very few modern armies have Captain Generals or Colonel Generals which are generally ranked between General and Marshal or (Field Marshal). Interesting note: We didn't name our five-star generals Marshal was because nobody wanted General Marshall to be called Marshal Marshall. HAR!! Like Major Major Major Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Colonels were the same way. The Sergeant Major Colonel, then the Lt. Colonel, then the Colonel. The Sergeant Major Colonel, over time, just became Major. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 And tgen there was Major Major Major in Catch 22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I don't get why a Lt. General is higher than a Major General when a major is higher than a Lt. The explanation above is less confusing than mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Seems like there should be MACOM's somewhere in there... A MACOM is not a unit designation. It's an administrative designation that could symbolize a brigade or division sized element. The MACOM to which a soldier is assigned depends on the biggest flag on the installation, not a designated chain of command. There is no such thing as a "MACOM Commander;" it's an ad hoc term used to describe the largest command in a given location. Where you, perhaps, thinking of a COCOM? Because that's a different animal altogether. To make things more complicated, the National Guard is structured just like the active duty, but the Army Reserves are not. They have a "Command" which is the size of a division, but is not structured like one. It is an entire division-sized element of one type of unit. In other words, the Army Reserves has two "Commands" of engineer units, a command of Military Police, two medical commands, two logistics commands, a training command, etc. Take the Military Police command, known as the 200th MP Command. They are commanded by a Major General, and have three MP brigades, each of which has a number of MP battalions. They will never deploy anything bigger than a battalion or a brigade headquarters, though. The reason for the structure difference is roles. The NG has both a domestic and overseas role, so they are structured just like their active counterparts. The Reserves exist to fill gaps in the active duty and, by law, can ONLY perform operations in support of Title 10 of the United States code (in other words, they can only fight the enemy or support the fight against the enemy; they can NOT perform Title 32, or domestic, missions). As such, the MP command, as with all the others, exists to "man, train, and equip" their specific type of unit so they can plug and play that unit into the active duty when there is a shortage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrus Cassidy #45437 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Oh, I also forgot "battery." Battery can be on the same line as company / troop. The difference is: Company is the standard name, but if it's a cavalry unit they call it a troop, and if it's an artillery unit they call it a battery. Everything else is a company, commanded by a Captain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 The business of a lieutenant general being just below a general goes back to Roman times. A legatus was the next in command to the general or imperator. There is a book, "Lee's Lieutenants", which refers to his next in command (Jackson, Longstreet, et al), not to some shavetail or 1LT. A brigadeer (general, in our army) commanded(s) a brigade. Somewhere, a general officer was needed between a brigadeer and a lieutenant general. As was posted, they probably got "major general" from sergeant major general. Similarly, between a captain and a lieutenant colonel. BTW, the term "lieutenant" comes from "lieu" meaning in place of, the "tenant" or holder of a command. We pronounce it like the French. The Germans, "loit-nent", and the Brits "lef-tenant". Where that came from, I can't say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noz Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 and then the evil dark world of the WOPA raises it's ugly head. WOPA? The Warrant Officers Protective Association. I was never sure but I think the W-4 Administrative Warrants rank just a little below God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 I poking around he and then the evil dark world of the WOPA raises it's ugly head. WOPA? The Warrant Officers Protective Association. I was never sure but I think the W-4 Administrative Warrants rank just a little below God. and the W-5s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I poking around he and the W-5s? I have no experience with them. Thank goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Organization/USA_CW_Modern_Art_Org.htm I was looking for some info and found this great resource. about artillery TO&E. poking around and looking at index pages that are usually protected I found a lot of nice Alpo type info. Even info about WWW III http://www.alternatewars.com/WW3/WW3.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 If they think Jade Helm is bad, I hope the tinfoil hat crowd doesn't get hold of the Circle Trigon manuals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubious Don #56333 Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 HAR!! Like Major Major Major Is that like Captain Over??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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