"Squads/Platoons" Topic

Bemused by the plethora of suggested organisations of squads/platoons in Vietnam what does the hive suggest? Our rules (developing from our WW2 set) kind of depend on having a full-strength platoon as the basis for scenario planning. NVA/VC is pretty simple and I have 2 companies.
SWMBO has been in the way of having 3 squads of 14 to the platoon – 12 riflemen and a 2-man M60 team. A possibility would be to have two companies with two platoons each, one company with 4 platoons or 2 companies with 3 weaker platoons each – perhaps 10 men and 2 M60 teams per platoon….what are your suggestions/observations/recommendations gentlemen?

The reality is that platoons and squads are almost never full strength. Casualties, disease, detailed duty, cross organization, late replacements, all play a role. Typically, if you're lucky, a squad will have seven or eight men, a platoon will be at about 70-80 percent. Again, if you're lucky. On at the other hand, you could have a forward observer with you, or a flamethrower guy, or an observer from higher, among other things.

Same goes for uniform colors. Rain, fading, detergents, time, wear, supply SNAFUS, all play their part to create a very uneven appearance. OD Green is whatever you want it to be.

Wargamers tend to agonize about these things. In real life, things are very different.

Be creative with your scenarios. These are my two cents. :)

My father was a company commander.

First, yes, if you were at 2/3 strength you felt pretty good.

Second, on some occasions they would split up men to get units closer to full strength for a given mission.

Third, he always begged, borrowed, or stole as many M60s as he could lay his hands on for most missions.

Your squads are way over-strength.

link

All good – I should, have been more clear; at the moment we're looking at USMC, hence bigger squads, though in a sense the number of figures in our game is more a measure of resilience and comparative firepower than how many pairs of boots….it's a little hard to explain without writing a short (ish) essay!

uglyfatbloke,

13 was paper strength for a USMC squad. M60s were drawn from the company Weapons platoon. There were three MG sections of two guns each, IIRC. A platoon might have two MGs, but during 68, the M60 was not integral to each squad.

As previously mentioned, squads usually ran 8 to 10 Marines.
Depending on strength, the platoon commander could possibly have one full strength squad and two smaller ones. Often times they may have only had two reduced squads. Later on, the grenadier became the 14th squad member. Normally he was in one of the fire teams instead of a rifleman.

Full strength platoon on paper was 61 men, including two corpsmen. 48 was more the "norm". Three squads and a headquarters group. Again, that was paper strength.
Hope this helps.

Yes, as both a Rifle Plt Ldr, '80-'82 then later an M113 Mech Co Cdr, '87-'89 … We were generally always short. For variety of reasons.

As 101 Rifle Plt were were authorized, IIRC, 36 men. 3 Sqds of 11 and 3 in Plt HQ/CP. + a Medic, maybe an FO/FIST.

As M113 Mech Co. in separate Hvy Bde of the 18th Airborne Corps. Authorized 112 men, again 9 Sqds of 11, + Plt Ldrs …

3 Sqds per/Plt + Plt HQ

Co. HQ with Cdr, XO, 1SG, Commo Sgt, Track Drivers & TCs …

+ AT Sec. of 2 M901 ITVS, with crews of about 4 …

Our Squads were broken down as :

1st Fire Tm :

1 M60 MG
1 M203 GL

1 SAW, at first we had a designated SAW gunner with just a close pin bipod on any M16 … ! By about '85 we finally got the M249 SAW ! Yay !!!

2 16s, those guys ended up humping extra ammo for the M60 or the Squad Radio, etc., …

2d Fire TM was the same but instead of the M60 MG, it issued was an M47 MAW. And at least one extra M47 rd. was humped by a troop(s) carrying an M16.

+ Sqd Ldr w/M16

I've deployed with only 17 in my Plt, then later 63 in my Mech Co.

Uglyfatbloke,

Just wanted to add where my 61 man platoon number came from.
If you take the paper strength of 48 men, then add the two M60s, each with a gunner, assistant and ammo bearer, then
add 2 3.5" rocket launchers, each also with gunner, assistant and ammo bearer. These 12 men along with an NCO from the company weapons platoon and you have the 61. The weapons platoon also had three 60mm mortars, each with a team of 3.
Depending on the mission and terrain, the company commander might assign one of the 60s instead of a 3.5.

I plan to fly into Cuba in the year 1988 with 3 x full strength 13 man Marine squads plus 2 x M60 teams, 2 x SMAW teams and 3 x 60mm mortar teams, all from Weapons platoon. Plus 3 x Navy Corpsmen. If some Marine has a toothache, then they draw Marines from headquarters. "Every Marine a rifleman" after all…

Unrealistic? This is at the peak oF Reaganist US military strength.

Cheers Bismarck. SWMBO has the figures to do a company on hat basis, though mostly they will be appearing as the smaller army units.
Uparmored, that might make the basis of a good 'narrative' game for us….I'd maybe need to source some Cubanm armour…. Pat's M48s can proxy for M60s (they are the Corgi Unsung Heroes so they are pretty big) but we might toil to find 1/48 Bradleys.