I think just about everyone is going to come up with a platoon TO&E that makes use of their manpower, equipment, and ideas of tactics. My rifle company was mobilized for Iraq with three platoons and a headquarters section. The mortars were warehoused, and the soldiers put on the line. When we arrived in Baghdad, we were assigned to 4-64 AR, 4th BCT, 3rd ID. We swapped a platoon of rifles to D/4-64 in return for a platoon of tanks. The tankers and our remaining two platoons were then divided into four sections (Red, White, Blue, and Green), each with 20-22 soldiers (tankers and infantry). Blue Section was promptly sliced off for D/4-64, leaving us with just enough soldiers to man a checkpoint or man four trucks for a motorized patrol in each twelve-hour shift.
The Green Jackets of Vermont in 2000, however, have shifted to fewer and larger platoons in response to manpower and firepower issues. The Green Jackets use two six-man fire teams to build a rifle squad. Three rifle squads plus a platoon leader’s team (platoon leader, platoon sergeant, RTO, medic), a mortar crew (with 60mm mortar), a machine gun crew, and a support weapon crew make for an infantry platoon of about 50 soldiers. An additional machine gun and crew can be assigned. These big platoons are intended to operate as fairly independent entities.
By 2000, the Green Jacket Regiment, which is the primary combat formation of the State of Vermont, is more a conglomeration of small fighting units than a traditional US light infantry regiment/brigade. Most US Army formations by late 2000/early 2001 have gone down this path to one degree or another. Like the Black Watch of the UCSV (United Communities of Southern Vermont), the Green Jackets have taken decentralization to the point at which platoon-level actions predominate. The rifle company has been abolished; majors command small battalions with 4-5 platoons and some support personnel.
The Green Jackets stand in marked contrast to the Granite Brigade of the State of New Hampshire/Manchester cantonment. The Graniteers have become highly dependent upon the firepower of their gun trucks and improvised rocket launchers. The Graniteers use small platoons for short-range patrols. Larger actions are company-sized. Support weapons are all found at the company level. The force is more reaction and firepower-based when compared to the Green Jackets. The Jackets, along with the Black Watch, conduct frequent patrols well beyond their respective defense perimeters. The large platoons move into an area of interest many miles beyond the defense perimeter and establish a patrol/light fire base. Squad-sized patrols are conducted from the fire base over the course of 2-3 days. The large platoon has enough combat power to meet a variety of contingencies.
Webstral
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