Squad


In military terminology, a squad is a sub-subunit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition, this organization is referred to as a section. In most armies, a squad consists of eight to fourteen soldiers, and may be further subdivided into fireteams.

Presentation

Standard NATO symbol – squad – in NATO armed forces:
EnglishFrenchGermanRussianPolishItalianPortugueseBrazilian Portuguese
SquadGroupe de combatGruppe
Отделе́ние DrużynaSquadraEsquadraGrupo de Combate

The equivalent to squad is the :de:Gruppe |Gruppe, a sub-unit of 8 to 12 soldiers, in the German Bundeswehr, Austrian Bundesheer and Swiss Army.

Organization

Germany

Wehrmacht's Heer

During World War 2 the German Wehrmacht infantry squad or Gruppe was mainly a general purpose machine gun based unit. The advantage of the general purpose machine gun concept was that it added greatly to the overall volume of fire that could be put out by a squad-sized unit. The MG 34 or MG 42 GPMGs were normally used in the light machine gun role. An infantry Gruppe consisted of nine men; a non-commissioned officer or Unteroffizier squad leader, deputy squad leader, a three-man machine gun team and four riflemen. As personal small arms the squad leader was issued a rifle or as of around 1941 a submachine gun, the machine gunner and his assistant were issued pistols and the deputy squad leader, ammunition carrier and the riflemen were issued rifles. The riflemen carried additional ammunition, hand grenades, explosive charges or a machine gun tripod as required and provided security and covering fire for the machine gun team. Two of the standard issue bolt-action Karabiner 98k rifles in the squad could be replaced with semi-automatic Gewehr 43 rifles and occasionally, StG-44 assault rifles could be used to re-arm the whole squad, besides the machine-gun.

United States

United States Army

Historically, a "squad" in the US Army was a sub-unit of a section, consisting of from as few as two soldiers to as many as 12 and was originally used primarily for drill and administrative purposes. The smallest tactical sub-unit being the section, which was also known as a half-platoon.
Depending upon the time period, the squad "leader" could be a sergeant, a corporal, a lance corporal, a private first class . or even a "senior" private.
In 1891, the US Army officially defined a rifle "squad" as consisting of "seven privates and one corporal." The US Army employed the eight-man rifle squad through WWI and until the late 1930s under the Square Division organizational plan, in which sergeants continued to lead sections consisting of two squads.
Under the Triangular Division organization plan in 1939 rifle squads were no longer organized into sections. Instead, the squads were reorganized into a 12-man unit of three elements, or teams, Able, Baker, and Charlie, reporting directly to the platoon commander, assisted by a sergeant assigned as the "assistant to platoon commander" The squad leader was still only a corporal but the squad was also assigned a PFC as the assistant to the squad leader. This soldier could serve as either the squad leader's messenger to the platoon commander or could be used to relay orders to other squad elements, as needed. While not a noncommissioned officer the PFC was an experienced soldier, as prior to WWII the majority of enlisted men remained privates for the entire term of their enlistment since promotion opportunity was scarce. However, the obvious command weakness of so large a squad under one NCO rapidly became obvious in light of the pre-war mobilization and was corrected in 1940 when a second NCO was added to the squad.
This adjustment raised the squad leader to a sergeant and the assistant squad leader to a corporal. The "platoon leader" now became a staff sergeant,. This squad organization included two men serving as “scout,” who along with the squad leader, formed the security element, designated as “Able.” The second element was a three-man Browning Automatic Rifle team consisting of an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman and an ammunition bearer. This element formed the “base of fire” and was designated as “Baker.” Lastly, there were five riflemen and the assistant squad leader, who formed the “maneuver element”, designated as “Charlie.”
In 1942, the Army had a massive restructuring of its Tables of Organization & Equipment and increased the rank of the squad leader and assistant squad leader to staff sergeant and sergeant, respectively. The BAR man and the senior rifleman of the Charlie element became corporals and de facto team leaders, even though not officially designated as such.
After WWII, in 1948, the Army decided to "downsize” the rifle squad to a nine-man organization, as post-war analysis had shown that the 12-man squad was too large and unwieldy in combat. The squad leader was again called a sergeant The two scouts of the Able element were eliminated with the idea that all of the riflemen should be able to perform the scouting duties and would therefore all share in the associated inherent risk of that position. The Baker element's ammunition bearer was also eliminated, leaving the two-man BAR team as the base of fire, supervised by the assistant squad leader, but remaining as a grade 4, since the rank of sergeant was then eliminated. The five riflemen of the “Charlie” team, now led by the squad leader, remained as the maneuver element.
Also, in 1948, the rank title of the platoon sergeant changed from technical sergeant to sergeant first class and the rank title of first sergeant was again eliminated, being retained only as an occupational title for the senior NCO of a company. In 1951 the pay grades were reversed, with master sergeant becoming E-7 and sergeant first class becoming E-6, so that the squad leader became a sergeant and the assistant squad leader, a corporal.

In the 1956 the Army began reorganizing into its "Pentomic” plan under the ROCID TO&Es. The rifle squad was reorganized into an eleven-man organization with a sergeant as squad leader and two five-man fire teams. Each fire team consisted of a corporal team leader, an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman, a grenadier, and a scout-rifleman. The assistant squad leader position was eliminated, with the senior fire team leader now filling this role as needed.
In 1958, with the addition of the E-8 and E-9 pay grades, the ranks of the squad and fire team leaders changed again, now to staff sergeant and sergeant, respectively. The 1958 restructuring restored the traditional sergeant and staff sergeant rank insignia of three chevrons and three chevrons over an inverted arc, respectively.
Under the ROAD structure in 1963, the rifle squad was reduced to a ten-man organization. This iteration of the rifle squad retained the two fire teams but eliminated the two scouts, instead providing the squad leader with one extra rifleman, who could be used to reinforce either fire team or assist the squad leader as required. An exception was in mechanized infantry units, where an additional rifleman was assigned as the driver of the squad's M113 armored personnel carrier.
Currently, US Army rifle squads consist of nine soldiers, organized under a squad leader into two four-man fire teams. The squad leader is a staff sergeant and the two fire team leaders are sergeants. Mechanized infantry and Stryker infantry units are equipped with M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and M1126 Stryker infantry carrier vehicles, respectively. Unlike the ROAD era mechanized infantry units, none of the vehicle crewman are counted as part of the nine-man rifle squad transported by the vehicles. The term squad is also used in infantry crew-served weapons sections, military police, and combat engineer units.

United States Marine Corps

In the United States Marine Corps, a rifle squad is usually composed of three fireteams of four Marines each and a squad leader who is typically a sergeant or corporal. Other types of USMC infantry squads include: machinegun, heavy machinegun, LWCMS mortar, 81-mm mortar, assault weapon, antiarmor, and anti-tank. These squads range from as few as three Marines to as many as eight, depending upon the weapon system with which the squad is equipped. Squads are also used in reconnaissance, light armored reconnaissance, combat engineer, law enforcement, Marine Security Force Regiment, and Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team companies. On 9 May 2018, it was announced that a USMC squad will be reduced to 12 Marines, with three fire teams of three Marines each with two new positions: an assistant squad leader and a squad systems operator.

United States Air Force

In the US Air Force Security Forces a squad is made up of three fire teams of four members each led by a senior airman or staff sergeant and either a staff sergeant or tech sergeant squad leader.

Soviet Union

In the Soviet Armed Forces a motorised rifle squad was mounted in either a BTR armoured personnel carrier or BMP infantry fighting vehicle, with the former being more numerous by the late 1980s. BTR rifle squads consisted of a squad leader/BTR commander, senior rifleman/assistant squad leader, a machine gunner armed with an RPK-74, a grenadier armed with an RPG-7, a rifleman/assistant grenadier, a rifleman/medic, a rifleman, a BTR driver/mechanic and a BTR machine gunner.
BMP rifle squads consisted of a squad leader/BMP commander, assistant squad leader/BMP gunner, a BMP driver/mechanic, a machine gunner armed with an RPK-74, a grenadier armed with an RPG-7, a rifleman/assistant grenadier, a rifleman/medic, a senior rifleman and a rifleman all armed with AKMs or AK-74s. Within a platoon the rifleman in one of the squads was armed with an SVD sniper rifle. In both BTR and BMP squads the vehicle's gunner and driver stayed with the vehicle while the rest of the squad dismounted.

Fire service in the United States

A squad is a term used in the US Fire and EMS services to describe several types of units and emergency apparatus. Oftentimes, the names "squad" and "rescue squad" are used interchangeably, however the function of the squad is different from department to department. In some departments, a "squad" and a "rescue" are two distinct units. This is the case in New York City, where the FDNY operates eight squad companies. These special "enhanced" engine companies perform both "truck" and "engine" company tasks, as well as hazardous materials mitigation and other specialty rescue functions. FDNY's five "rescue" companies primarily mitigate technical and heavy rescue incidents, and operate as a pure special rescue unit. Squads and rescues within the FDNY are part of the departments specialty operations command.
In other departments, a squad is a name given to a type of apparatus that delivers EMS and rescue services, and is staffed by firefighter/EMTs or firefighter/paramedics. This type of service delivery is common in the greater Los Angeles area of California, and was made famous in the 1970s show Emergency!, where the fictional Squad 51 highlighted the lives of two firefighter/paramedics of the LACoFD.

Chinese National Revolutionary Army to 1949

The squad, 班, or section was the basic unit of the National Revolutionary Army, and would usually be 14 men strong. An infantry squad from an elite German-trained division would ideally have one light machine gun and 10 rifles, but only one of the three squads in a non-elite Central Army division would have a light machine gun. Furthermore, the regular provincial army divisions had no machine guns at all.

Swedish Army

The squad, grupp, in the Swedish army is organized as follows during offensive missions, according to Markstridsreglemente 3 Grupp :
During defensive missions, the two soldiers with anti-tank launchers are armed with the Granatgevär m/48 or m/86 instead, where one is gunner and the second loader.

Denmark

A Danish mechanized infantry squad consists of 9 privates and a sergent, subdivided into 5 pairs, or “buddies”.
When marching in single file, the squad members, from front to rear consist of:
Rifleman 1. Scout and second-in-command. Is armed with an assault rifle and a pistol.
LSW 1. The GV1’s buddy. Is armed with an LSW.
Squad leader. Is armed with an assault rifle and a pistol.
Field medic. Is armed with an assault rifle. Equipped with a medic kit.
Anti tank gunner. Is armed with an assault rifle and a Karl Gustav recoilless and reloadable anti tank gun.
Anti tank helper. Is armed with an assault rifle. Equipped with two missiles for the Karl Gustav.
Note: Depending on the mission, the pair can each be armed with an AT4 disposable recoilless anti tank gun instead of the Karl Gustav.
APC driver. Armed with an assault rifle and a pistol.
APC gunner. Armed with an assault rifle and a pistol.
Note: This pair can also be driving the APC for extra fire support while the rest are dismounted.
Rifleman 2. Armed with an assault rifle.
LSW 2. Armed with an LSW.

Leadership

A squad is led by an NCO known as a Squad Leader. His/her second in command is known as an Assistant Squad Leader. In Britain and in the Commonwealth, these appointments are known as Section Commander and Section 2IC, respectively.

Squad leader

In the military, a squad leader is a non-commissioned officer who leads a squad of typically 9 soldiers or 13 Marines in a rifle squad, or 3 to 8 men in a crew-served weapons squad. In the United States Army the TO&E rank of a rifle squad leader is staff sergeant and in the United States Marine Corps the TO rank is sergeant, though a corporal may also act as a squad leader in the absence of sufficient numbers of sergeants. Squad leaders of crew-served weapons squads range from corporal through staff sergeant, depending upon the branch of service and type of squad. In some armies, notably those of the British Commonwealth, in which the term section is used for units of this size, the NCO in charge, which in the British Army and Royal Marines is normally a Corporal, is termed a section commander.

Ranks

Typical ranks for squad leaders are:
and a RPK light machine gun in the center and two soldiers with AK-47 assault rifles and one RPG-7 grenade launcher on the flanks. Another soldier provides liaison or extra firepower where needed.
A squad can also be an ad hoc group of soldiers assigned to a task, for example, a firing squad.
The Canadian Forces Manual of Drill and Ceremonial defines a squad as "a small military formation of less than platoon size which is adopted to teach drill movements. ".