Bataljons - 109th, 160th, 1. of the 9, etc..

Wondering:

How are the bataljons and such organised. You know, the 1. of 9 - 109th, 160th etc.

Also i'f you know how it is organized in other countries as well.

You see, I'm planning on making my own fictional cavallry/bataljon in a mission and i want it to be a bit realistic in stead of just picking a number...

Not sure about other armies, but here is the layout for the US:

A battalion is composed of 4 or more companies, with roughly 400 to 1000 members.

A company is composed of 2 or more platoons, with about 100 to 250 members. A typical light infantry company consists of three rifle platoons and a headquarters platoon.

A platoon is composed of 2 or more squads (usually 4 squads) and has 16 to 50 members. (39 members for a typical light infantry platoon)

A squad is composed of two or more fireteams and usually has 9 members (for a light infantry squad).

A fireteam is usually 4 members.

Great. thank you, but what about the names/numbers. Are thoose just randomly picked?

Traditionally independent batallions are random or based on military history. But those batallions which belong to a certain brigade are not usually given specific names. In brigade a batallions are numbered typically from I to III or IV (roman numerals) and companies in each batallion from 1 to 12 or 9. In US military they are typically from A,B,C....I (depends on how many companies per batallion). Platoons in companies are also marked with roman numerals I to IV, squads in platoons 1-4 etc.

Is this just infantery then?

What about the airforce. Is it the same?

The US Army uses a kind of weird lineage system. We don't have regiments in the Army anymore, except for the two armored cavalry regiments. This is a really hard system to explain, so I hope I do it right.

When a battalion is given a number, like 1st Battalion of the 16th Infantry (1-16 Inf) it means that that unit carries the traditions and honors of the same 1-16 Infantry that fought in the Gulf War, Vietnam, WW2, WW1, Mexican-American War and even the Civil War.

Back in WW2, the US Army used the regimental system. So the 1st Infantry division would have four regiments, one artillery and three infantry. Each regiment was composed of three battalions. Each battalion had four companies. The companies were all given a letter name.

So, for example, if we had the 16th Infantry Regiment in WW2, it would look like this:

1-16 Inf

A Company

B

C

D

2-16 Inf

E

F

G

H

3-16 Inf

I

K (note: there is no "J" company for some weird reason)

L

M

However, after WW2 this all changed. They did away with the regimental system and gave each division a brigade instead of a regiment. When they did this, things got all weird. The 16th Infantry Regiment was now known as the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division. It had a combined arms composition, and the brigade looked like this:

3-34th Armored Regiment

A Company

B

C

D

1-16th Infantry Regiment

A

B

C

D

4-16th Infantry Regiment

A

B

C

D

2-5th Field Artillery Regiment

A Battery

B

C

D

So as you can see, the "16th Infantry Regiment" became nothing more than a way to carry the traditions of the old 16th Infantry into the modern Army. The 16th Infantry Regiment no longer existed, but the battalions of the 1st Infantry division kept the name and honors of the 16th Infantry.

Naming units itself is pretty simple. It just depends on what military you're talking about and what size of unit. For a company-sized unit, it will almost always have a letter designation, like "A Company" or "D Company". Battalions will always carry the battalion number and regimental number, like my example above. "1st Battalion, 16th Infantry" or "4th Battalion, 122nd Aviation". Brigades are usually just numbered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Brigades of whatever division they're attached to.

And to really show you a real-world example of how the system works, this is the full designation of the last unit I was in in the US Army:

A team, 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry (Air Assault), 66th Air Assault Brigade, 35th Infantry Division, III Corps, 7th US Army.

Now, any questions?