The Western IslesBoard

To build units the normal way, you would determine how many people you want in your squads. They can be anywhere from 8-14 men. The typical Miklanian arrangement is a 12 man squad, composed of 3 fire teams. Each fireteam is composed of 4 members, and breaks down further into 2 buddy pairs. The first two fireteams are identical, a Team Leader/Grenadier, a Rifleman, an Automatic Rifleman, and an Assistant Automatic Rifleman. The third fireteam is the command team, composed of the Squad Leader/Grenadier, a Designated Marksman, an Automatic Rifleman (belt-fed LMG), and an Assistant Automatic Rifleman. A Weapons Squad is composed of 2 machine gun sections, each with 2 Machine Gun Teams: a Machine Gunner and an Assistant Machine Gunner, plus an Assault Section, with 2 teams of 2 Assaultmen (rocket launcher dudes) each, plus a Squad Leader. Thus, a Weapons Squad has a total of of 13 men. Squad Leaders are supposed to be Sergeants or Staff Sergeants (Sergeant 3rd Class or Sergeant 2nd Class in the Marines), but are often led by a Corporal, if enough Sergeants are not available.

A Platoon is composed of 2 rifle squads, plus a weapons squad, plus a small headquarters section. The headquarters is composed of the Platoon Leader (2nd Lt. or Ensign), a Platoon Sergeant (Sergeant 1st Class in both Army and Marines), a Radioman, a Forward Observer, and a Medic/Corpsman. The grand total for a platoon ends up being 42, which fits nicely into a range of vehicles. For heavy mechanized infantry, riding in IFVs, a Platoon needs 7 vehicles (6 passengers each) to carry all the personnel. Light mechanized infantry, with wheeled APCs that can carry 9 men, a Platoon needs 5 vehicles, with a few seats left over for additional personnel. Motorized units using jeep things that can fit 4-5 men each usually need 3 per squad, with 1 normal one and a two-door cargo one for the HQ. Army Air Assault units ride in medium helicopters that carry 14 men, 3 evenly are required to move the Platoon. In the Marines, 2 V-22s can carry a Platoon with room to spare. Their new-fangled wheeled amphibians can carry 14 men, or a full squad's worth each. Often with the vehicles that carry one full squad worth of people, they will be loaded with elements of two or three squads. This ensures that a whole maneuver element is not wiped out if a single vehicle gets hit. In other vehicles this happens naturally as squads have to be divided up. With 6 man IFVs, 2 neatly carry one squad, enabling them to be split up without being mixed in with other squads. With aircraft that carry more than one squad, such as a Chinook or Osprey, the Platoon usually splits it's squads in half, one half in each aircraft. The Platoon Leader and the Platoon Sergeant should not be in the same vehicle if it can be helped. Likewise all the SLs should not be in the same vehicle if it can be helped.

2-3 rifle platoons, a weapons platoon, and a headquarters usually form a Rifle Company. A company level Weapons Platoon is usually composed of a Mortar Section (3x 4 man 60mm mortar squads), an Assault Section (3x 4 man light AT/Assault Sqauds), and a Medium Machine Gun Section with 6x 2 man teams organized into 3 MMG Squads. The Weapons Platoon then has an identical HQ to a rifle platoon, with the exception of the PL usually being an O-2 (1st Lt. in Army, 2nd Lt. in Marines) rather than an O-1. The Company Headquarters is composed of the CO (an O-3, Captain or 1st Lt. in Army/Marines), an XO (O-2), a Company Sergeant (E-8, First Sergeant in the Army, Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines), A Property NCO, a Radioman, and a Driver/Messenger. Those six should fit into their own vehicles, in mechanized units, that's usually an IFV and a jeep, in motorized units usually 3 jeeps, and in air assault they either fill extra seats in the platoon's aircraft or ride in their own. In the cavalry, Companies are called Troops.

A Regiment has 8-12 Companies/Troops (A-H or A-L) divided into Battalions, with 3 Rifle Companies and 1 Heavy Weapons Company per Battalion, plus a Headquarters & Headquarters Company. 1st Battalion has A,B,C, and D (Weapons) Companies, 2nd Battalion has E,F,G, and I (Weapons) Companies, and so on. Battalion Weapons Companies are usually composed of a Mortar Platoon with 8x 81mm Mortars and 37 men; an Anti-Armor Platoon with a 3 man HQ, a 22 man Lancea (Heavy wire-guided ATGM) Section, and a 25 man Javelin Section; and finally a Heavy Machine Gun Platoon with 2x .50 caliber Machine Gun Sections totaling 16 men and 4 guns, and an Automatic Grenade Launcher Section with 8 men and 3 guns. The Marines really get complicated here with their different MEU and RCT command formations, so I'm going to stop talking about them, and just focus on the Army structure. Battalion H&H Company is the smallest real headquarters unit on the battlefield. They have a command section (CO- a Lt. Colonel, XO- a Major, Command Sergeant Major, and some drivers/clerks), plus command staffs including an S-1 Section (Personnel, ~8 men), an S-2 Section (Intelligence, 6-10 men), an S-3 Section (Operations, ~15 men), an S-4 Section (Logistics, ~6 men), and an S-6 Section (Signals, ~9 men). Also attached to H&H Co. is the Support Platoon, with a 24 man Transportation Section (with various trucks for moving various things, giving the Battalion some organic logistics capabilities independent of the main Regiment-level support assets), and a Field Feeding Section or two (4-7 men each). A Medical Platoon is then added, with 2 ambulance squads and a treatment section, including a surgeon, to establish a Battalion Aid Station. This Platoon usually has 19 men. There is then a Maintenance Platoon, with 23 men plus the equipment to maintain the unit's vehicles. A Fire Support Element for directing artillery and close air (~6 men), a Unit Ministry Team (Chaplain (usually Catholic priest) and his assistant), and a Sniper Platoon (~5 men) round out the Company. In the cavalry, a Battalion is called a Squadron.

I'm really too lazy to break down a Regiment, so I'll just say in Regimental Combat Team guise, it usually has it's 2-3 Battalions/Squadrons, plus an Engineer Company, Cavalry Company, Artillery Battalion, and a Support Battalion. With the notable exception of Armored Cavalry Regiments, which are special, no Regiment/Brigade sized unit has organic Air Defense Artillery, except their own guns and a few scrounged Stingers. ADA is usually a Corps level independent asset, broken up and attached to Divisions and RCTs as necessary. ACRs are also special in having their own organic Aviation Squadron. Aviation assets are mostly organized in Wings at the Division level.

If you feel like hurting your brain further I can share one of my WIP spreadsheets with you.