Thursday, February 27, 2014

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.

















Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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..















Monday, February 24, 2014

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.  















Sunday, February 23, 2014

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Numbers, Part IX


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















 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

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.















Monday, February 17, 2014

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.














Saturday, February 15, 2014

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.














Friday, February 14, 2014

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.













Thursday, February 13, 2014

Numbers, Part IV


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

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














Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Friday, February 7, 2014