Years ago, I read that in the American Civil War, there were almost 10 front-line combat troops for every support person in the rear. In WWI, this ratio had changed-there were now about 3 support troops for every 10 front-line soldiers. In WWII, there were more than 3 support/10 front-line. By the time of Vietnam, there were nearly 5 rear area support personnel for every 10 soldiers.
My question: the current Gulf War-the US has sent around 300,000 men/women, the UK about 50,000. What are the ratios today? I assume that there have to be a lot of support people in a modern army-after all you have doctors and nurses, food service, burial details etc. Anybody know how many actual frontline soldiers are in this?
I heard just the opposite on CBS radio this morning (KNX 1070 in LA)- that by Viet Nam, there were 10 support troops for every 1 combat soldier.
I don’t have a cite, but I believe I read a news story recently that said the current Gulf War had 100,000 front line troops. Thus a ratio of 3 support troops for every 1 front line soldier.
Sorry… seems like I can’t add. Depending on if the UK troops were counted, the ratio should have been 2 to 2.5 support troops for each front line soldier.
I can’t remember my source, but IIRC, the ratio of support to combat troops is about 20:1.
There are a great deal more support troops than trigger pullers.
The combat arms are: Infantry, Armor, Artillery, and Air Defense.
Support troops include, but are not limited to: maintenance, medical, supply, admin, military police, intelligence, training, cooks, etc.
Some numbers that seem to stand out from university came from a prof. who was convinced that Germany lost WWII because of a lack of support troops. He said the Americans had 7 support troops for every combat soldier, while the Nazi ratio was 1:1.
I believe the fourth combat arms branch is Combat Aviation not Air Defense Artillery.
Opps, I missed a couple of combat arms branches.
According to PERSCOM (US Army Personnel comand) there are seven combat arms branches:
Air Defense Artillery, Armor/Cavalry, Aviation, Field Artillery, Infantry, Engineers and Special Forces.