U.S. Army Units Explained: From Squads to Brigades to Corps

Christina Knight | August 9, 2018

Military terms like platoon, company, battalion, brigade may sound familiar, but do you know how many soldiers make up these units, and how they comprise one another? As America revisits the Vietnam era through narratives in the 18-hour PBS series The Vietnam War (PBS Passport members can stream through March 5, 2019), it’s useful to understand just how many forces were involved in that war’s battles, down to the number of men. How many U.S. soldiers are in a squad? What groupings do major generals, lieutenant colonels, and captains lead? If you don’t have a connection to the U.S. Army, the size of Army units can be difficult to grasp and therefore, the human scale of war. While figures are flexible and can vary by war and assignment (armored, artillery, cavalry, ranger), here are some explanations about the U.S. Army structure.




https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/u...ades-to-corps/