Ordnance Corps, Chapter Sixteen
To keep the vehicles rolling, each infantry division had a Ordnance Light Maintenance Company (a Ordnance Maintenance Battalion was assigned to each armored division). Battlefield recovery of disabled equipment was a unit responsibility as were basic repairs and routine maintenance. Units were expected to carry out vehicle maintenance to the very limit of their tools and the skill of their mechanics. Many units were happy to do this, rather than lose their vehicles to another unit. Thus the divisional unit was deliberately designed to undertake only 60% of the third echelon repairs required during quiet periods and only 30% during combat. The infantry division company had 147 personnel assigned, while the armored division’s battalion had 762.
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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