What does a major command?

[Morte]

One for you military types...

If a charater from an army background mustered out as a major, after commanding a unit of light infantry (hostile environment troops) in the field, what size unit would he have commanded? I'm thinking batallion, but should it be company or regiment instead?

And, erm, how many men is that?

 

[Uncle Bob]

A major is an in-between rank, usually second in command of a battalion.

A Major could command a company if he was newly promoted and had not yet got a new assignment. Or a battalion if he was an experianced 2nd in command when the lieutenant colonel was transfered and a new one had not yet been appointed.

But also he might command a company of elite troops or a detatchment to troops more than a company but not as big as a battalion.

 

[Ranger]

Depends on the system. In the US, majors never command, except in very rare cases (aviation companies for example, but that is because of the very unique nature of the unit). A major could command a batallion if there were no LTCs around due to combat conditions. Captains command companies at around the 8 year mark, and LTCs command batallions around the 16 to 18 year mark.

In the British system, majors command companies (at around the 12 year mark).

In the old (Napoleonic) French system, majors were called Chef de Batallion, and commanded battalions.

Take your pick.

 

[Morte]

Thanks folks.

I guess this (newly minted, young, dice-beloved) major was commanding an independently deployed (counter insurgency and police actions) company of specialist (hostile environment) troops.

He'd have been looking at maybe a batallion staff job next, if he hadn't mustered out for personal reasons.

 

[Jame]

Don't Majors command Minors?

Yeah, yeah, bad joke, Shame on Jame!

 

[Spinward Scout]

Not sure if this is accurate, but this is what I go by in my universe. Excerpted from The Imperial Sourcebook (Star Wars West End Games)

Squad (9 people)
7 troops
1 Corporal
1 Sergeant

Platoon (38 people)
4 Squads
Lieutenant (Platoon Commander)
Sergeant Major (second-in-command)

Company (153 people)
4 Platoons
Captain (Company Commander)

Battalion (613 people)
4 Companies
Major (Battalion Commander)

Regiment (2453 people)
4 Battalions
Lieutenant Colonel (Regimental Commander)

Battlegroup (9813 people)
4 Regiments
Colonel (Battlegroup Commander)

Army (39253 people)
4 Battlegroups
General (Army Commander)

There's also a Systems Army, and a Sector Army, but it's also covered by Star Wars type characters and I'm changing it for My Traveller Universe. I'd probably say that a Systems Army is run by a Baron or Marquis and has 1 to 4 Armies in it (as much as they can muster). I'd throw in a Subsector Army run by a Count (4 Systems Armies), and a Sector Army run by a Duke (4 Subsector Armies). Plus a Domain Army run by an ArchDuke, added in (4 Sector Armies or as many as possible). The Armies can rotate at each quarter of the year. Example: Subsector Armies of Chronor, Jewell, Regina, and Aramis of the Spinward Marches would probably be on call for the Sector Army in the first three months of the year and rotate out for the other nine months on Sector Inactive (called if needed to Sector duty)

Later,

Scout

 

[Brigand]

You are pretty close on your numbers , but off a bit in relation to numbers of men in the larger units and the rank structure ( although this is mostly US Army and not Imperial Stormtrooper Order of Battle).
Please note that the following are mostly paper numbers or authorized strengths as most units rarely operate at 100% strength , esp. in combat zones .

Squad 10 men with Corp and Sgt as fire team leaders

Platoon 40 men with Platoon Sgt and 1st or 2nd LT as Platoon leader

Company = 3 Line Platoons + 1st Sgt and Capt.

Battalion = 3 Line Companies + Sgt Maj. and either Maj or Col as Batt. CO

Regiment = 3 Line Batt + Bird Col as CO w/ a regimental Sgt maj

Then it starts to get tricky with 2-3 Regiments forming a Brigade ( depending on available troop strengths and the need for larger troop formations ) commanded by a Brig Gen as CO and a Brigade Sgt Maj

The same is true with Divisions having either 2-3 brigades a Maj gen as CO and the Div Sgt Maj
You have to remember though that every unit larger then platoon has its own HHC or headquarters company with the clerks and mechanics , cooks and armorers plus battilions get their own miniturized version of Div . HQ with an S1 S2 S3 and S4 ( as opposed to the Divisional G1 G2 G3 and G4 ) . The larger strength units also have at their command various specialized units like Field Artillery , Military Police , Engineers , Finance ( gotta get paid) Aviation units and Air Defense Artillery as well.
It would be about right for a Major or Maj (P) {promotable} to hold an appointment to a G1-4 slot .
Hope this helps.

 

[Mysterion]

Originally posted by Ranger:
Depends on the system. In the US, majors never command, except in very rare cases (aviation companies for example, but that is because of the very unique nature of the unit).

Not that rare. True, majors tend to be in staff slots (like at te battalion lervel), but in the 80's at least there were many company-level units commanded by majors. Aviation is a good example. there were also a lot of separate company units in the ordnance corps (usually special weapons type units or EOD) commanded by majors. Also I saw some artillery detachments commanded by O-4's.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Now what would you call the Marines in Aliens? Was that a Squad? It was commanded by a Lieutenant. And how about Rico's Roughnecks in Starship Troopers (the movie - since I can't remember how many were in the book). That looked to me to be about the size of a Platoon or a large Squad. And also lead by a Lieutenant. Those stories were most likely written by people who didn't know much military.

Just wondering,

Scout

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Aliens: A reinforced sqaud. Ten Marines. A driver a gunner, a 'Chopper' a Pilot and a Loadmaster.

Since you can't get officer ranks any LOWER than Lt. a small detachment like that would probably Have to have one just so they are under command of an officer. Thanks to the extra resources. (space ship, Fighter/ground support/transport flying thingie, APC) it probably rates as a Platoon in the books.


ST: The actual Rough Necks were supposed to be company I believe. About a hundred Marines. (maybe half that during any given operation)

In the movie they did a credible job of being about 50 or 60 strong. (enough for two platoons, when they should have three)

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

Good discussion folks. A nice debate with solid numbers for those who didn't follow the flag.

My take on it is, like in other, similar discussions, that the Imperial Navy/Marines are built on the British Royal Navy ca 1880 model. It required that any independant unit be commanded (as opposed to led) by an officer. A detachment (a smaller unit temporarily separated from it's parent)could be led by a senior sargeant if no officer was available.

For example, the 5th Royal Marine Light Infantry Regiment might be assigned to the Royal Navy Indian Ocean Fleet. The Regmimental Colonel would then farm out company or platoon sized units of his regiment to the subordinate squadrons of the fleet. These would be commanded by Majors, Captains, and Leftenants. But say that the HMS Aclarity (a cruiser) had a platoon aboard and needed to detach a squad to serve for a short time aboard one of Aclarity's escorts. Due to unfilled slots, casualties of one kind or another, or officers doing other duties (like sitting courts martial or promotion boards), that company has only one officer: the Captain commanding the company. He can designate a senior experienced sargeant to lead the detachment temporarily deployed aboard the escort.

Because of the time lag in communications (a minimum of two weeks from request to receipt of orders/instructions) this would be the most efficient way to deploy Marine detachments.

 

[Ranger]

Originally posted by Mysterion:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Ranger:
Depends on the system. In the US, majors never command, except in very rare cases (aviation companies for example, but that is because of the very unique nature of the unit).

Not that rare. True, majors tend to be in staff slots (like at te battalion lervel), but in the 80's at least there were many company-level units commanded by majors. Aviation is a good example. there were also a lot of separate company units in the ordnance corps (usually special weapons type units or EOD) commanded by majors. Also I saw some artillery detachments commanded by O-4's. </font>[/QUOTE]Yes, that was true in the 80s, but there was a big push to standardize the branch specific organizations due to the post cold war draw down (when promotions stopped being essentially automatic and became highly competitive). Having to wait until Major to command became a death sentance to the careers of those branch officers (as company command is the thing that counts, for the Major's board, and all branches compete against all others). Almost all of the companies you are talking about were re-organized into smaller units and put into battalions so that the the officers in those branches could be given command early enough to get promoted.

Since then the only Major command slots I have seen are either 'second commands' for their branches (SF, for example, has made A-Teams a 'company command', but the old B-Teams are now formally called SF companies, and commanded by a Major). I also have seen 'provisional battalions' commanded by Majors (EOD does this a lot. They will group a few detachments together and call it a provisional detachment for organizational purposes and to give the unit enough pull to protect itself from poor eomployment by higher level echelons of command).