|
Edited on Fri Jun-23-06 12:12 PM by onager
There are former Marines and dead Marines, but there are NO ex-Marines."
From a former Drill Instructor at MCRD San Diego...which gives away my age!
:hi:
And a bit of a military history buff myself.
Adding to your excellent comments, with some unnecessary but fun smart-assery:
Until fairly recently in the U.S. military, "brigades" were ad hoc units the U.S. Army put together for specific missions. The Marine Corps equivalents were things like the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) or Marine Amphibious Brigade.
"Ad hoc units" simply means necessary units, like tanks, artillery, helicopters, etc. can be "mixed and matched" to fit the mission.
It also means units are being sent hither and yon and mixed up with other units--a nightmare to any respectable military bureaucracy.
Also a nightmare for the troops, since they must be administratively assigned to a unit to get their paychecks and have some permanent place for their medical records, etc.
Until the last 40 years or so, traditional U.S. military organization was based on the "triad," or Three Of Everything. The specifics varied a little, but in general it was pretty easy to remember: three Fire Teams made up a Squad, three Squads made up a Company, three Companies equalled a Battalion, three Battalions made a Regiment, and three Regiments made a Division.
The active-duty Marine Corps only had 3 Divisions (and 3 Air Wings, the aviation equivalent of a Division).
Being much larger, the Army continued on with the Corps (3 Divisions) and the Army, made up of 3 Corps. The Army junked the "triad" concept years ago in favor of the "pentanomic" organization (Five Of Almost Everything).
Unfortunately, this situation created a lot of jobless Brigadier Generals (they wear 1 star) with nobody to command. Poor babies.
Regiments were commanded by Colonels. Divisions were commanded by Major Generals (2 stars), a Corps by a Lieutenant-General (3 stars) and an Army was commanded by a guy wearing 4 stars, who is only called "General."
You'll notice there's no job slot for a 1-star, or "Brigadier" General. That's because Brigades were only put together, usually, during wartime or on an as-needed basis.
But since Brigadier General is a career stepping-stone between Colonel and Major General, the military had to put them someplace. One-star Generals usually served as staff officers at the higher command levels. In that job, they were designated as G-1 (administration), G-2 (intelligence), G-3 (operations) and G-4 (supply).
Then the "permanent brigade" concept came along and gave the Brigadier Generals full employment with their own command slots, which no doubt makes them a lot happier.
The Navy had a similar problem with its 1-star Admirals. It was a sort of orphan rank.
Navy policy said they could only be called "Commodore" in wartime, when they commanded the naval equivalent of a brigade--a flotilla or small fleet assembled for a specific mission.
In peacetime they were called "Rear Admiral, Lower Half," which caused a lot of really bad jokes about their sexual proclivities and pissed them off. So I believe the Navy finally resurrected the official title "Commodore" for them.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
