Quote:
Originally Posted by Targan
The Australian Army has Assault Pioneers that sound the same.
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Having actually been an Assault Pioneer back in the day, I feel somewhat qualified to comment.
A pioneer is essentially a senior infantryman trained in mine and flame warfare, booby traps, demolitions, watercraft (boats), and construction. The heaviest equipment used is a "cobra" - petrol driven, man portable (barely), hand held jackhammer. Virtually all tasks are done by hand, up to and including bridge building and bunker construction using locally sourced materials (trees, rocks, knocked down buildings, telegraph poles, roofing iron, whatever).
Exact organisation may have changed since the mid 90's, but back then there was one plattoon (roughly 30 men) of Assault Pioneers in an infantry battalion (approx 750 men) and attached to the Support company (mortars, SFMG, anti armour + pioneers).
It's a VERY tough job especially when you consider they also act as infantrymen!
Fortunately for the bigger jobs, the pioneers usually act as the skilled tradesmen, supervising and advising the infantry plattoons.
Obviously the US army does things a little differently, but I'd think this organisation would suit T2K better than seperate battalions, etc.