Understanding US task org

[Sabre21]

I figured I would write this up so those of you wanting to create your own scenarios could make the write-ups as realistic as possible using the terms and jargon used by the US Army of the 80's.

To begin with, most of you know the terms used to depict various sizes of an organization. But just to be sure I added these here just in case since some may seem confusing.

Platoons consist of as few as 10 to as many as 50+ soldiers broken down into teams, squads, and/or sections;
Companies consist of 2 to 5 or more platoons along with an Hq section;
Batteries are the same as companies, but this term is used in air defense and artillery type units;
Troops are the same as companies, but this term is used for Cavalry organizations (in the British Army a troop is a platoon sized unit);
Battalions consist of 3 to 9 companies, one of which will be the Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), this designation is used for all but cavalry organizations;
Squadrons are solely used by the Cavalry and is of the same structure type as a battalion (in the British Army, a squadron is a company sized unit);
Regiments only existed in actuality for the Cavalry and Rangers, where as for all others it was for heraldic purposes;
Brigades consist of an HHC and anywhere from 2 to 7+ battalions;
Divisions consist of 3 to 7 brigades and a host of separate battalions and companies.

Now to add to the confusion, platoons, companies, batteries, and battalions of that time were typically pure. Meaning their primary weapon system was of a single type. So if it was a tank battalion, it had 4 tank companies totaling 58 tanks. Same holds true if it was an infantry or artillery battalion.

Cavalry troops and squadrons had a mix of vehicles and/or aircraft types as a standard part of their TO&E as did the armored cavalry regiments of the time.

Typically though, when an armored or mech infantry battalion went to war, the brigade commander would reorganize them by mix-matching companies between the two types. These were then called Task Forces or TF's.

This holds true for when a brigade goes to war, there would be several divisional assets attached to them such as an artillery battalion, engineer, air-defense, and whatever other asset the division commander deemed necessary for the mission. These were then called Brigade Task Forces.

A company that had its platoons cross attached was labeled a Team.


Let's look at how you would write these labels down:

A/2-32 Arm means Alpha company, 2nd Battalion of the 32nd Armor Regiment. There is a reason for when you use a dash vs. a slash. If the higher Hq actually exists, you use a slash, if it does not, you use a dash.

The 32nd Armor Regiment doesn't actually exist for other than heraldic purposes, something the army started back in the 60's so as to maintain regimental histories.
So since that Hq doesn't really exist, a dash would be used between the battalion and regimental numbers. But since the battalion Hq does exist, a slash would be used between the company and battalion designations.

We could go further by looking at 3/A/2-32 Armor. This would be 3rd Platoon, A company, 2nd Battalion of the 32nd Armored Regiment.

Now what happens when we cross attach companies say between 2-32 Armor and 2-15 Infantry. You would only have to add the letters "TF" in front of it. So TF 2-32nd Arm indicates that this unit has a mixture of attached companies.

Sometimes brigades will assume the name of their commander when made into a task force, such as "Task Force Smith" from the Korean War days, or some brigade nickname like "Task Force Eagle". Personally I have never seen the last name used, but have seen brigade nicknames used quite often.


I can't say for certain how the Army task organizes today, although I do know they rely a lot on brigade sized task forces. I do know this is how we did it back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's.

[MikeAP]

I've just created a US modern task org User file. It features the standard three US Brigade types and new units (with new icons)

I need to flesh it out, then I will release.

[Sabre21]

ORIGINAL: MikeAP

I've just created a US modern task org User file. It features the standard three US Brigade types and new units (with new icons)

I need to flesh it out, then I will release.

When you say modern, are you referring to the time frame of the game?

[MikeAP]

ORIGINAL: Sabre21

ORIGINAL: MikeAP

I've just created a US modern task org User file. It features the standard three US Brigade types and new units (with new icons)

I need to flesh it out, then I will release.

When you say modern, are you referring to the time frame of the game?

Nope. Current US Army TOE

[hazmaxed]

Thanks for posting this, Sabre21.

ORIGINAL: Sabre21

Now to add to the confusion, platoons, companies, batteries, and battalions of that time were typically pure.

There were 3 exceptions to battalions being pure organizations that I know of. From 1989 to 1991, I served with 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment ( TF 1-8 CAV), part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood, Texas. The 3 combat arms battalions of this brigade were permanently task-organized during this time period, and possibly before and after. TF 1-8 CAV and TF 1-32 Armor were tank-heavy task forces, each with 3 tank companies and 1 mechanized infantry company. TF 1-5 CAV was a balanced task force, with 2 tank companies and 2 mechanized infantry companies, as well as E/1-5 CAV, an anti-tank company equipped with M901 ITVs. The cavalry regiment designation for TF 1-8 CAV and TF 1-5 CAV was purely heraldric, as you mentioned in your original post. The battalions maintained this organization for our deployment to Saudi Arabia in October 1990.