# How many men?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-men/241355>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 22, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-men/241355 "2004-04-22T03:26:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![xayoz306](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xayoz306](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xayoz306)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-men/241355/1 "2004-04-22T03:26:33Z")

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How many men are there in a brigade, division, so on and so forth. I know that the nhumbers can vary, but what would be the rough pattern, and so on.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-men/241355/2 "2004-04-22T04:18:14Z")

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Well, as guidelines you can look to this…

A fireteam is 4 to 6 guys with a light machine gun commanded by a corporal.  
A squad is about a dozen guys with two fireteams commanded by a sergeant.  
A platoon is three squads plus a headquarters element for a total of 30 to 40 commanded by a lieutenant.  
A company (or a troop or a battery) is three platoons plus headquarters for a total of 150 to 200 commanded by a captain.  
A battalion has three or four companies plus headquarters for a total of 300 to 800 or so, commanded by a lieutenant colonel.  
A Brigade (or a Regiment in the Marines, same thing in American usages) is three or more battalions plus headquarters we are looking at 600 to 2000 soldiers commanded by a colonel  
A Division has three or more Brigade/Regiments for a total of 10 to 20 thousand guys commanded by a major general.  
A Corps has to or more divisions plus various other units figure on 30 to 50 thousand guys commanded by a lieutenant general.  
An Army has a couple of Corps so we are in the 100 thousand range and a general at the top.  
An Army Group has a few Armies and needs a general at the front of the parade.

Your milage may vary. This stuff changes throughout history and geography wildly.

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**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-men/241355/3 "2004-04-22T04:24:00Z")

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With elite forces, the numbers go down, and the ranks go up.

Tris