While I agree that the core military area would be small, the area controlled by a catonment would have to be fairly large. One of the key reasons for the catonment system was to allow the military unit access to local food supplies and growing areas. The military would need to excercise control over a large enough area of farms to feed both themselves and the civilians working the farms.
I have always pictured a central military compound which was heavily dug in, walled, sandbagged, fields of fire cleared, etc. containing the essentials:
Base housing
Motorpool
Repair facilities
Armory and ammo storage
Food storage areas
Artillery positions
Mess area
Field hospital to the extent there was one
Command post
Animal pens / horse stables
Small parade ground
Some sort of recreation facility
This could be a village that was taken over and converted or something constructed in a relatively open area.
There would likely be either a civilian village or shantytown nearby providing local services not provided internally (simple handcrafts and "leisure activities", whatever that means to you, being the ones that come to mind).
From this base the unit would need to exert effective control over an area at least several miles around. The goal is to provide enough security to the remaining population that they could produce enough food to supply themselves and the military unit. This means preventing marauder raids, other military units moving into the area and local uprisings. Most basically you have a system of taxation in exchange for security. This can be mutually amenable or just a protection racket depending on the situation.
I expect that the unit would have roving patrols in the area and on roads potentially combined with smaller garrisons at key points. This depends on the size of the unit and the territory, but posting platoon sized units in key population centers and infrastructure adds additional security and provides for faster reaction to problems that crop up.
Depending on the friendliness of the situation, I would expect that local ORMOs or militia would also play a role. Modestly trained locals could provide rudimentary security, act as a sort of police force and attempt to hold marauders until a reaction force arrived. These could be largely independent or have assigned trainers/monitors from the catonment unit.
That's the wasy I've always seen it anyway. Of course local conditions will vary widely depending on any number of factors.
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