I am looking for an outline of what constitutes a battalion, division, etc.
That is, how many people typically in each?
What is the heirarchy?
What are the different entities in the Army, Navy, Air Force, etc.?
I’m pretty sure it’s been answered, and the search isn’t workin for me right now.
It probably has been answered before, but here’s the breakdown for the Air Force:
The largest operational unit is the “Numbered Air Force”, equivalent to an Army Corps, I believe. The numbered Air Forces are divided up by missions; ie 9th Air Force is all training airplanes and operations; 21st Air Force is Air Mobility (airlift and aerial refueling) operations. The numbers are not sequential; several numbers have been removed since WWII (against which all measurements are small).
The next lowest unit would be the Air Division, but these were phased out in the early 90s. A numbered Air Force would have two or three Air Divisions under it; each Air Division comprised at least two Air Wings. The Divisions were eliminated as the force was drawn down and the three Major Commands were realigned in 1992.
Next in line is the Air Wing, or simply Wing. A wing is (mostly) completely contained at one Base, and may or may not contain multiple types of aircraft. The wing name is descriptive of its mission, ie 1st Fighter Wing, 305th Air Mobility Wing, 8th Bomb Wing, etc. Once again the numbers are historical and thus are not necessarily sequential or realistic (ie the fact that there is a 305th Air Mobility Wing does NOT mean that there are 304 other Wings out there).
Operating under a Wing are the Groups. The groups are divided by task again - in one typical Wing you will have an Operations Group (flying), Maintenance Group (obvious), and Support Group (all the logistical and admin stuff).
Each group will have squadrons - sometimes only one or two, sometimes as many as five. The squadron is the “Guts” of the Air Force - almost always it flies one type of airplane, and it is what most people cite when asked “What unit are you with?”
Each squadron is divided into Flights (usually four or five) which is basically an administrative way to divide up paperwork.
So, to recap, from bottom to top:
Flight Anywhere from 5-50 fliers
Squadron 2-5 Flights
Group 1-5 Squadrons
Wing 1-5 Groups
Air Division no longer used
Numbered Air Force 1-5 Wings
I was just going to as this the other day, and it seemed I had seen it here somewhere before. A quick search, andhere it is