Zombies are referred to as a “crypt”.
Along with the actual Cavalry organizations that Corry El points out the nomenclature is in use for some other units to maintain historical association with their Cavalry lineage. The 2nd and 3rd SCR (Stryker Cavalry Regiments) are really just organized and equipped as Stryker Brigades. They are motorized infantry with a reconnaissance squadron as the only cavalry part of the organization. Due to lineage they maintain the naming structure of Troop>Squadron>Regiment instead of Company>Battalion>Brigade. They also maintain cavalry traditions like the spur ride and wear of the completely unauthorized by regulation spurs and headgear.
Similarly the 1st Cavalry Division has long maintained the cavalry traditions despite being trained and organized for non-cavalry missions. After the original period as the first air assault division (long since handed over to infantry naming) they spent most of their existences as an Armor Division. The division currently uses the BCT naming structure but below that there are squadrons and troops that aren’t really cavalry in anything but name. They also like to put on their Stetson’s for special occasions.
Zombies are droopy troopers dripping goopy drops.
Back in the big war, WW Vietnam, I was in the Third Battalion/ Forty Seventh Infantry of the 9th Infantry Battalion. At that time, our Battalion consisted of five companies, A,B,C,D, and HHC, (headquarters company).
Each Company consisted of 4 Platoons of four Squads each. We considered a full Squad to be 10 men, including the squad leader. There was supposed to be a Platoon SGT and and a Platoon Leader for each, so each platoon was supposed to be 42 men, the company was supposed to be 168 men plus a First SGT, an Executive Officer and a Company Commander = 171 men. Add in a couple of clerks and cooks and a 2 or 3 medics so a typical company in our battalion was supposed to be about 180 men. @ 4 companies = about 720 men. I don’t know how many in HHC, guessing about 30 or 40. I keep saying “supposed to be” because we were never at full strength, ever.
Traditional [lets say pre-20th century] European army cavalry was organised in a hierarchy, and some of the terminology persists inconsistently to the present. Typical structure, with many exceptions and variants could be -
Regiments - originally geographically located or recruited by a specific nobleman, but later an operational unit of some hundreds to maybe a thousand men, often with responsibility for training and logistics. It was divided into …
Squadrons - often considered the basic unit of manoeuvre and battlefield tactical use. A few hundred men. Infantry equivalent is the infantry company. Divided into …
Troops - the smallest unit typically commanded by an officer, so equivalent to an infantry platoon. Maybe 1-2 dozen men plus an officer and sergeant. The common soldiers may be called troopers if cavalry [or their modern armoured unit equivalents] just as artillerists are called gunners and engineers are sappers.
A battalion is a subunit of a regiment, usually of infantry, and could be say 500-100ish men, divided into companies. Regiments could have multiple battalions, often having ones in different operational readiness, eg a few battle-hardened combat battalions, an under-strength field reserve, and a training battalion.
And wouldn’t you know it! Wikipedia has an articleon the thousand and one modern military uses of the word ‘troop’.
No, it’s in common use in the infantry, artillery, etc, or at least it was when I was in the RA a while back. (I was with an army missile regiment in HQ Troop; there were also Warhead Troop, A Troop, B Troop, etc).
You’re saying 19Ds aren’t part of the US military?
The cavalry and the artillery both use slightly different nomenclature than the infantry (and POG units, which I believe follow the infantry conventions you cited above.) Cav is broken down into troops and squadrons instead of companies and battalions, while artillery has sections and batteries instead of platoons and companies. I don’t know about the artillery, but Cav regiments are obsolete groupings of different squadrons that no longer have any connection with each other (e.g. the 1st Dragoons, with 6 squadrons in 6 different brigades), or are the equivalent of a brigade, not subordinate to one (such as the 3rd ACR; 7 squadrons in the regiment, which is directly under a single Division.)
Basically, land military organization goes something like this (from smallest to largest):
Fire team: 3-5 men. Commanded by a corporal or PFC
Squad: 2-3 fire teams Commanded by a sergeant
Platoon: 3-4 squads. Commanded by a lieutenant or high ranking NCO
Company: 3-4 platoons. Commanded by a Captain or lieutenant
Battalion: 3-5 companies, along with some support platoons. Commanded by a Lt. Col or Major
Brigade: 3-5 Battalions along with support units. Commanded by Brig. Gen or Colonel
Division: 2-3 brigades, along with support units. Commanded by Major Gen or Brig Gen.
Corps: 2-5 divisions along with support units. Commanded by Lt. Gen or Major Gen.
Army: several corps (no set number). Commanded by full General or Lt. Gen
Army Group: Several Armies- commanded by full General or General of the Army
It used to be, as recently as WWII that numbered regiments more or less filled that unit gap below division and above battalion, and that the regiments of a division were contiguous. For example, the 18th Infantry regiment was part of the 1st Infantry Division, but as an entire regiment of several battalions.
Today, regiments in the US Army are more of a tradition-continuance concept; an battalion may be named the 1-18 Infantry, meaning that it’s the 1st battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment, and that unit honors and carries forward the heraldry, historical traditions and lineage of that battalion. So its flag has campaign streamers dating from the Civil War forward.
However, the battalion is part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and is the only battalion of the 18th Infantry that is active. There is no 18th Infantry regiment commander or command structure; the 1-18 Inf is commanded by the 2nd BCT and 1st ID.
When “troop” is used as a plural (“10,000 troops in Iraq”, for instance) it is just another word for soldier. But some tank units in the Army call their company-sized units a “troop”. Like that show in the 60s, “F Troop”.
But 99% of the time you hear it (like on the news) it’s just another word for “soldier”.
Damn, I miss David.
Dead horse beating time. It’s not “some tank units.” It’s units that are designated as cavalry. They can be heavy cavalry units containing tanks. Or they can have Bradleys or Strykers. Or some mixture. They may also contain light recon units in Humvees. Or they may be in helicopters. It’s not the type of equipment that is important, it’s the stated mission of the unit. For a good chunk of my career I was in armor and I never stepped foot in a cavalry unit.
David was a good man. Damn but these zombie revivals sometimes bring up the strangest feelings.
A PFC? You’re joking, right?
Typically it’s a corporal, but it could be a PFC in case of casualties, etc…
Typically it’s an E-5, or a high speed specialist. You don’t see too many corporals running around any more. A PFC either is so jacked up he’s had rank taken away, or hasn’t been in more than 18 months (when promotion to specialist is automatic.) I’ve never seen one in charge of anything more complicated than a MRE-hauling detail.
“high speed specialist”?
A specialist is the rank above PFC, belw sergeant, and is a lateral rank with a corporal. Importantly, a specialist is not a non-commissioned officer, but a corporal is. Ten to fifteen years ago, specialists who were competent enough to be in charge of things but not yet promotable to sergeant would be made corporals. The practice has faded, and you don’t see many corporals around, because it’s easier to promote someone to sergeant than it was in the late 90’s. Generally, if you have someone good enough to put in charge of things, you give them the rank reflecting that responsibility, and if someone isn’t going to remain an E-4 (the paygrade for specialists and corporals) for very long, it’s not worth the bother to go through the paperwork.
“High speed” is an army expression meaning particularly competent or efficient.
Makes sense… some of what I was looking up had USMC ranks, and the fire team leader is actually a E-3 (Lance Corporal) billet for them, so I just translated that across to Army ranks. Apparently the USMC NCO billets for fire team/squad leader and platoon sergeant are one rank lower than the Army’s equivalent for some reason, so that didn’t work so well at the fire-team level of my hierarchical description
This stuff also changes over time.
My with-but-not-in the Army era was 30 years ago now. :eek:
What **Boozahol **just wrote was not the way it was then. But I bet he’s correctly describing things as of when he was writing about. Which has changed again between than and now.
They correspond at higher levels, but an Army platoon is never lead (officially) by an NCO, but usually by a 1LT. It seems the Marines put a lot more trust in their enlisted men than the Army does.
I got out three years ago, and keep up with my buddies who are still in. I’m fairly confident my information is still pretty good. Things do change, and rapidly, so what I said may be completely incorrect six months from now.