difference b/w regiment and combat team

[rich4421972]

Dear Sirs: I noticed that other tactical wargames such as BCT use the term regiment to refer to the basic group that TacOps calls a Combat Team. Are they the same? What is the real-life equivalent of a task force, then? Does the US Army use the game in recreational training? Any comments would be appreciated.

Richard

[WendellM]

Ignore - double post.

[This message has been edited by WendellM (edited 08-16-2000).]

[WendellM]

I'm not certain if this answers your question, but here's a quote from the TacOps User Guide:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Most scenario titles begin with the words "Task Force", "Team", "Battle Group", or "Combat Team" followed by a play tester's name. "Task Force" scenarios usually feature US forces of battalion size or larger. "Team"

scenarios usually have US forces of less than battalion size. "Battle Group" scenarios usually feature Canadian forces of battalion size or larger. "Combat Team" scenarios usually have Canadian forces of less than battalion size.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wendell

[rich4421972]

thank you. I guess I should have read the documentation (It must be in the library file of the CD). Cheers

Richard

[WendellM]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>thank you. I guess I should have read the documentation (It must be in the library file of the CD).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're quite welcome. It's on page 9 in the "Guide - User.pdf" file. I would have replied sooner, but your question initially stumped me. I checked "real world" sources for "Combat Team" but had no luck (which didn't surprise me - my military library is mostly 18th century and WW II ). Only once I thought "maybe it's mentioned in the manual" did I find it myself...

As for whether the US Army uses it for training, my understanding is that Canada, New Zealand, and the US Marines use it at least semi-officially. That's all I "know" and I could well be off-base at that.

While wandering around, I found http://www.battlefront.com/resources/tacops/ ("found" might be too strong: it's mentioned and hosted right here on Battlefront.com ). Just in case you haven't seen it yourself, it's a nifty resource.

[Guest jaja]

Task forces and teams are probably groups of units under the same commander. For example, in some scenarios there is an infantry battalion and a tank company in one force. Instead of listing them sepratly, they are together refered to as a task force.

[Mike Robel]

The difference between Regiments and Brigades in the US Army is fairly easy. There are only three ground combat regiments in the Army and they are the Armored Cavalry Regmients. They have a fixed organization of a headquarters, three ground squadrons (hq, three cav troops, a tank company, and a how battery) an air squadron, a support squadron, and several seperate troops/companies/batteris such as ADA, engineer, NBC, etc. Cav Regiments are commanded by Colonels.

There are two kinds of Brigades in the Army: divisional and seperate.

divisional brigades in theory have no assigned units beyond their headquartes and now their recon troops. They can control from 2 to 5 battalions. They are frequently semi-permanently configures with three manuever battalions. When they go to the field, they also receive an FA battalion, a support battalion, Engineer Battalion or company, signal company, etc. Most of these extra units are not assigned to the brigade but are placed in direct support, meaning that the brigade does not have to provide any support to them (in fact it can't) but gets to tell them what to do. A divisional brigade is commanded by a colonel. When they are configured with all their support units, they are usually referred to as a Brigade Combat Team or BCT.

US Army seperate brigades are organized much like their divisional brigades, except that the support structure is organic. They can control from two to five manuever battalions and can be attached to a division or directlry to a corps. They are commanded by Brigadier general. The only active duty seperate brigade is the 172 SIB (Light) in Alaska.

Most of the combat units in the National Guard are seperate Brigades, except for the 6 or so Divisions. The seperates are generally aligned with an active duty division and are in war plans. Selected units are to be able to deploy in 90 days. The divisions are in no war plans and have a much longer deployment time. They may be considered a sort of strategic reserve.

Interestingly enough, the 49th Armored Divison (TXARNG) is now the controlling HQ in Bosnia.

Prior to World War I, the Regiment, then a fixed organization, was the primary combat unit of the army, consisting of 3 or 4 battalions. In World War I, divisions were square, and had two brigades, each with two regiments, in order to survive the slaughter of the Western Front.

Just prior to WWII, the Army reorganized its divisions into triangular units, with three regiments, each with three battalions. These were fixed units and also included a cannon company, a recon troop, a hq, and some other units. They could also receive supporting arms, and then were called Regimental Combat Teams.

Armor divisions in WWII were more like divisions today. They had three Combat Command HQ (A, B, and ®eserve). The divisiion had 6 battalions assigned - 3 tank, 3 armored infantry, and 3 armored artillery. These were grouped into the three combat commands. CCR was supposed to be a rest and refit hq and a reserve hq, but was sometimes pressed into service, as was CCR/4th AD, when it broke into Bastogne, to link up with the beleaguered 101st Airborn during the battle of the Bulge.

THe marines are somewhat simlar to the Army, but their regiments are usually assigned to a Marine Expeditionary Brigade and don't, (I think, but would certainly defer to any soliders of the sea in the auidence) normally deploy them as brigades.

The Soviets organized into Regiments, each with three motorized rifle battalions, a tank battalion, and an SP FA battalion, plus some other supporting units. There were three Motorized Rifle Regiments per Divison, and then a tank regiment as well, organized as the mirror image of the MRBs. Some divisions also included an Independent Tank Battalion of 4 - 7 companies.

Hope this helps.

[minmax]

Marine regiments and brigades don't have as many mechainized forces. Since there are only 5 Light Armored Infantry Battalions (LAI) in the whole Corps. Tank and AAV units are likewise organized the same (mostly) as the Army the difference is the number of battalions.

Marines deploy in two seperate but equal forces the ACE (Air-Combat Element) and the GCE (Ground-Combat Element). Both are squished together into three distinct packages depending on the mission. MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) Fighter, Attack, and Helo Sqaudrons and Companies of Infantry, Armor, and Support. Small jobs are the MEUs work; clearing embassies, first contact. Next is the MEB (Marine Expeditionary Brigade) more units bigger jobs. Finally, the all out were going to war MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) now you are talking Regiments, Brigades, and Divisions. Basically Gulf War type stuff. One bit of trivia Al Gray decided to drop the Amphibious in favor of Expeditionary back when he took over as Commandant. He felt Amphibious made the Marine Corps' seem antiquated. Well hope that clears up your question from a Marine point of view.

------------------

M. L. Johnson

TAOC DAWG

[rich4421972]

As always, I appreciate all of your thoughts and comments, kind sirs. You can probably tell that I am not a soldier. Years ago, I wanted to be a sailor, but they wouldn't accept a person of my particular handicap (a stroke 13 years ago). TacOps and other programs of its ilk are such an outlet for my desire to serve my country.

Thank You

[Dragon]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by rich4421972:

Dear Sirs: I noticed that other tactical wargames such as BCT use the term regiment to refer to the basic group that TacOps calls a Combat Team. Are they the same? What is the real-life equivalent of a task force, then? Does the US Army use the game in recreational training? Any comments would be appreciated.

Richard<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Regiment is an administrative uint of the army and has no tactical usage.

------------------

Dragon

[rich4421972]

As has been stated by Capt. P. Proctor of Prosim Games, the Armored CAV of today IS the Regimental-sized unit and serves the analog of the old US Army Cavalry. In TacOps, the germaine question is: Did Major H. intend the Combat team or the Task Force to represent the Armored CAV of today. Thank you for your comments

Keep on Rockin'in the Free World -Neil Young

[rich4421972]

ignore

[This message has been edited by rich4421972 (edited 08-25-2000).]

[rich4421972]

See Mr. Robel's comments asbove for an excellent break down of this regimental concept---It is quite fascinating the way he delineates it!

[Mike Robel]

In TACOPS, there are Task Force size scenarios using an Armored Cavalry Squadron. Squadron, of course, is the cavalry term for battalion. Task Force in the army indicates a battalion or brigade size unit that has been task organized. In the case of a battalion, it would give away 1 or 2 tank or infantry companies and recieve 1 or 2 of the other to make it a combined arms unit. A cav squadron is by its nature, already a combined arms unit.

Dragon, in general you are correct, except insofar as the cavalry regiments (2nd, 3rd, and 11th are concerned, as well as an ACR in the TN National Guard. Some aviation units are also organized as regiments.)

[Guest MajorH]

In TacOps ...

US scenarios that start with 'Team', have a blue force that is company size or smaller.

US scenarios that start with 'Task Force', have a blue force that is battalion size or larger.

Canadian scenarios that start with 'Combat Team', have a blue force that is company size or smaller.

Canadian scenarios that start with 'Battle Group', have a blue force that is battalion size or larger.

------------------

Best regards, Major H

majorh@mac.com

[This message has been edited by MajorH (edited 08-25-2000).]

[rich4421972]

The resources section of this web site has a detailed listing of sites that cover the structure and function of large combined arms teams from around the world. The US Army military history website provides an excellent article concerning the history of the US Cavalry and how it became what it is today. I assume that the Canadian site gives a similar run-down of military structure. I sincerely hope that I did not step on any toes out there.

Richard Crowley