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Recording History - Part IIIA - More on Unit Symbols
By Richard S. Lowry
To those of you who have just surfed in, you have arrived nearly at the beginning of a great internet adventure. (Catch up on previous posts here.) I have recently started blogging my way through my newest book project. It will tell the story of the battle for Fallujah. Return frequently and follow along as my work grows into the next military history book to hit the shelves in your local book store. Please contribute suggestions and comments. I am looking forward to your feedback.
I have received a couple requests to expand on my explanation of military unit symbology so here is a little more detail.
Richard S. Lowry is the author of The Gulf War Chronicles and Marines in the Garden of Eden.
Let’s talk about the individual unit symbols.
Inside every box is a symbol which indicates the type of unit. visit globalsecurity.com for a detailed breakdown. Next, the unit’s identifying number is located directly to the left of the rectangle. The unit size is specified at the top of the box:
X – Brigade
III – Regiment
II – Battalion
I – Company
… - Platoon
Some of the unit size indicators are enclosed in a box, like both Regimental Combat Teams (RCTs), 2-2 Infantry and 1-5 Cav. The box indicates that these units are Task Forces. A Task Force is a “hybrid” unit. The army uses Task Force organization often. They will take an armor battalion, which in its pure form will be comprised of three tank companies and swap companies with a mechanized infantry battalion, which is typically comprised of three mechanized infantry companies in Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The end result would be two battalion task forces, one having two tank companies and a single mechanized infantry company and the other task force having two mech companies and a single tank company.
A Marine RCT typically has three infantry battalions attached. RCT-1 and RCT-7 became Task Forces by adding the army mechanized infantry battalions.
To continue, just to the right of the unit symbol is the identifying number of the parent unit.
Look at the unit symbols at the top of the Fallujah columns on the left of the diagram. At the top are the symbols for RCT-1 and RCT-7. They are “amphibious infantry” or “Marines.” Under RCT-1 we have the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment (infantry). Their symbol does not indicate that they are amphibious because they lacked amphibious vehicles. If you look under RCT-7, you will notice that the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment is indicated as having Assault Amphibious Vehicle support.
If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment, but I am ready to move on to an entirely new subject. Stay tuned for “Starting at the Top.”
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Comments
minor quibble, but the cav symbols should be "red over white", not "white over red".
Those who regularly play military simulations (boardgames) are quite familiar with the symbols.
I would recommend picking up a simple game of this type (if you've never played one before, it can be an interesting exercise), or any of the Osprey "Campaign" series books.
The Osprey books have the symbols defined at the beginning of each volume.
GregS
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Thanks for the explanation re Task Forces. I didn't find that one on globalsecurity.com, although it is probably there somewhere, as that site seems very comprehensive.
Ready to move on :-)