The Military and Veterans' Room
Marine Corps to change squad size
I didn't realize the Marine rifle squad was structured with 13 men and 3 teams (12 men after this change. In the army an infantry squad would have 11 men at full strength with two fire teams. (A platoon has 4 squads, the 4th squad being a heavy weapons squad).
The Marine Corps is setting in motion plans to shrink the size of the traditional rifle squad, cutting manpower for the Corps’ most basic building block of combat power from 13 Marines down to 12 — a risky move that the Corps admits could fail.
To compensate for the reduced size, Marine Corps officials say the rifle squads will get more lethal weaponry, more responsibilities, better intel and enhanced support from the company and battalion level.
Yet the decision to remove a man from the squad adds a level of risk: At the end of the day there will be one less Marine to help carry gear, to return fire, to stand watch or to divide up work.
“If someone goes down as a casualty, there will be fewer people who can evacuate the casualty,” one former Marine infantry officer told Marine Corps Times.
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The new squad will be divided into three fireteams of three Marines with one squad leader, assistant squad leader and squad systems operator.
There will be a grenadier *brandishing an M320 grenade launcher and *automatic rifleman in each fireteam.
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