Numbers: Old Joke

You know that old joke? What's dumber than a Gate of tractor operators from the 2ist Battalion's FCI Road Building Detail?

Nothing. 

That's the punchline.

Numbers, Part XV

Troops that are assigned to vehicles, on the other hand, are counted in threes: so a Crew is three, a Troop in nine, a Gate is twenty-seven, etc..

Numbers, Gun Crews

Well the four guys who make up the gun crew plus the two guys who run the wire for the field telephone anyway, so technically it's six.

But you still count it as four. It's just traditional.  

Numbers, Fours

Weapon crews are counted by four, and

multiples of four.

Numbers: Integers

Different integers.

Numbers, Part XI

Crews are counted differently.

 

Numbers, Part X

Minus the crews.

 

Numbers, Part IX

A Team of vehicles is two, a Squadron is three: a Picket is fifteen, a Column is twenty-two, plus four.

 

Numbers: Vehicles

There's also what's called an Old Company, which is different than the New Company that we're talking about. More details.

There are different numbers for vehicles too.

A Squadron, for example, is three.

Numbers, Part VII

And then there's the Company, which is five Groups plus or minus five Sections of Heavy Weapons. Don't get confused though, because a Section of Heavy Weapons isn't six men, like an Infantry Section, it's seven. That's because they have an ammo bearer, which is traditional.

So a Company is 359. The nine extra guys are message runners.

Numbers: How It Is

But the main organizational unit, at least as far as infantry is concerned, is a Group.

A Group is three Squads, a Command Squad, and four Sections. That's 63 personnel. You can also call it an Ag, which is short for Aggregation, but nobody ever says the whole word.

That's just how it is.

Numbers, Part V

Make sense?

A Plug is two squads, or twelve; while 

a Command Troop is a Squad, a Plug,

and a Command Section, or 26 men.

But that's sort of old-fashioned.

Numbers, Part IV

A Command Squad is five; a Command Section is eight.

A Troop is three Sections and a Command Squad, or 35.

Numbers, Part III

Three Squads are a Team: 18.

Numbers, Part II

A Squad is six guys, and a Section is ten.

Numbers

These are the details. . .

Forest/Here

Red Tank

Gravity wells, magnetic 

boot clamps.

Mistake, Part II

My mistake? Everybody has 

the same dream.