It was one of those thing such as in the 82nd and 101st Divisions for example one or more Infantry Battalions were flagged to Cavalry Squadron (RSTA)... When this happen the Scout Platoons of the Infantry were slowly replace the 19 series troops with 11 series troops and the 19 moved to the Cavalry Squadron. Conversely the 11 series troops from the former Infantry Battalion turn Cavalry Squadron were move Infantry units either as regular rifle man or one who had on the job training as scout for the Infantry Battalion Scout Platoon.
One has to remember when the US Army went from Pre-2003 organization to one of Unit of Action and then update Brigade Combat Team concept. The Cavalry Squadron for each Brigade was mix bag of Infantry and Armor Battalion that had been re-flagged and newly activated Squadrons. While in some units like the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and other Separate Brigades the Cavalry Troop either expanded (173rd) or a unit was re-flagged. In many cases at times there were more 11 series filling slot that were 19 series slots or units were short of the 19 series personnel to fill slots.
One of the reasons why it took almost 5 years that on paper the Army said had been done in 3 years. It part of the reason why reading the Order of Battle for some of the CBTs seem more cobbled together than the Divisions that fought in Desert Storm....
Then one has to remember that there have been Armor and other units who have be re-tasked to operate as Motorized Infantry or Foot Infantry while over too. I remember Armor units going over to perform road patrol in HMMWV and Artillery units that would during the day give fire support and at night the same unit would be conducting foot infantry patrols.
With the units in Iraq many of the units have equipment over the TO&E due to the broad range of missions the unit maybe called upon to perform. One of the nice things is that at Platoon and Company level the units have more men, vehicle and equipment than they would before 2003. On the down-side there steep learning curve...
|