Does an airborne/light infantry company have more infantry than a mechanized one?

2018-09-21T21:19:58-04:00

Just curious because I see the Army has been converting a lot of infantry brigades to mechanized which seems like a good idea.

Response by SPC Erich Guenther made Sep 21 at 2018 9:24 PM

2018-09-21T21:24:46-04:00

Actually, they are converting them to mechanized because the pendulum swung too far the other direction in favor of light infantry because it was cheaper in the Pentagon budget year to year. It's not necessarily an issue of manpower in the unit as much as it is available equipment and firepower. Mech units are far more lethal than are light units because they can deliver more of a firepower punch. Additionally, this shift has to do with the United States seeing it's two main adversaries as China and the Soviet Union and the next conflict as likely conventional vs light insurgency.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 21 at 2018 9:25 PM

2018-09-21T21:25:47-04:00

Infantry is infantry!

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Sep 21 at 2018 10:58 PM

2018-09-21T22:58:51-04:00

Mech? Never served in 1, and I never saw one be wheels up in 14-18hrs tho either. They do pack more punch- once they get where they are going- if you have the logistics train to support them. Abn BN 730 troops- not counting their attached arty, ADA, etc.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 22 at 2018 12:00 AM

2018-09-22T00:00:15-04:00

Yes, a light infantry company has more Soldiers than a mech infantry company

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 22 at 2018 12:26 AM

2018-09-22T00:26:28-04:00

I was never an 11-series (but I'm sure one will happen along shortly and correct my mistakes here), but when the Army was division-based, I was in 3d ID, which was Mechanized Infantry back then, then 3d ACR (Armored Cavalry Regiment), and then in 25th ID which was Light Infantry. Without looking at a table, my memory and intuition are that there were more Infantry Soldiers available to move dismounted in a light unit than a mech unit. Seems to me that about 6 Soldiers could be carried in back, available to dismount while leaving the BFV crewed. So number of personnel in each company might have been comparable, but number of dismounts was smaller I think. Also, in the light world, I think I remember a weapons squad in each platoon which had a couple of M-240Bs and maybe some anti-tank (but these could also be consolidated into a platoon of their own). Not sure if the mechanized world had that, as they had the BFVs to deliver a lot of direct fire.

The Army used to mix-and-match between Armor and Mechanized Infantry to create "company teams" so, you might have 2 platoons of Mechanized Infantry from 1-30 Infantry Bn, and then 1 platoon of M1 tanks from 270 Armor Bn, for an Infantry-heavy team, or 1 platoon of Mechanized Infantry and 2 platoons of tanks for a tank-heavy team. This would then (even for an Infantry-heavy team) reduce the number of dismounts available in comparison to Light Infantry.

When I was in 25th ID, I very much liked not having to spend much time in the motor pool. (As Combat Engineers in a LID, we had HMMWVs and an LMTV, but the Infantry rifle companies didn't have any vehicles that I'm aware of - so no vehicle maintenance at all for those guys. In the mech world, we Engineers had M113s to maintain and the Infantry had their Bradleys). However, I was always skeptical about the idea of using large numbers of dismounted troops on a high-tech, peer or near-peer battlefield (I didn't know those terms at the time), mostly because of the threat of enemy indirect fire (in particular, big artillery). Mechanized units have protection against blast and fragmentation, and they get out from under such fire. But dismounts, especially if they are on the move and not therefore not dug-in, are in a fix. Also, something that can matter is that a track can carry lots of water and ammunition. That's not just important for reducing Soldier loads (weight of your rucksack and assault pack) but also to increase the quantities available overall - in particular for the link-fed weapons (SAWs and the 240s).

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Sep 22 at 2018 2:03 AM

2018-09-22T02:03:01-04:00

SPC Anthony Schepis I'll answer your question with a question. Has anyone ever showed you how to use FMS Web before? Google FMS Web Login and it will be the first hit. You can look up in the US Army Force Management Agency's data base the MTOE for each of the company types and FMS web has a comparison tool. if you have a CAC card you can use it.

You can get a "recap" for personnel only and dump it into excel. You can then filter it by 11 series personnel.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Sep 22 at 2018 9:25 AM

2018-09-22T09:25:51-04:00

I believe it depends on how many platoons a company has.