Evolution of the Modern USMC Squad (Cold War to Future)

this video is brought to you by our patreon supporters in last week's video we looked at how the marine corps rifle squad went from eight riflemen to the world war two fire team layout that survives to this day in this video we're picking up from that video looking at the squad as new weapon systems were introduced through the cold war and how the marine corps intends to modernize and future proof it heading into the 2020s to recap at the end of world war ii the marine rifle squad consisted of a squad leader and three fire teams of four men each the squad leader was a sergeant armed with an m1 carbine and each fire team consisted of one team leader ranking corporal and armed with an m1 rifle one automatic rifleman ranking private or pfc and armed with an m1918a2 bar one assistant automatic rifleman ranking private or pfc and armed with an m1 rifle and one rifleman ranking private or private first class and armed the same this squad organization continued through the korean war with little change in 1952 carbines would be withdrawn from marine corps service so at that time the squad leader would be re-armed with an m1 rifle more major changes came in 1961 following the introduction of new weapon systems and the adoption of the modern rank system first the m1 garand and m1918a2bar was replaced with a new m14 rifle which had been envisioned to replace rifles automatic rifles carbines and submachine guns the automatic raffleman's m14 would likely be modified for the automatic rifle roll initially just with a bipod and later with a new stock under the m14a1 or m14e2 second the lance corporal rank was introduced between private first class and corporal this rank was given to the automatic rifleman with the logic being important weapon systems required more experience and lastly a grenadier manning the new m79 grenade launcher was added directly under the squad leader the squad then consisted of a squad leader ranking sergeant and armed with a rifle a grenadier ranking lance corporal and armed with an m79 and a pistol and three fire teams of four men each each fire team consisted of one team leader ranking corporal and armed with a rifle one automatic rifleman ranking lance corporal being the team's second most senior man and armed with an automatic rifle version of the rifle and two riflemen each ranking private or private first class and armed with rifles this organization would have remained largely intact through vietnam although around 1967 to 1969 the m14 rifle would have been phased out for the new m16 a1 rifle in vietnam marines in europe or the united states would have retained the m14 for a period of time for the automatic rifleman there was little difference between their m16 and other m16s in the squad although a bipod was often used after the war in 1975 the marines adopted the m203 under-barrel grenade launcher unlike the army the marines did not issue the m203 as standard during the final years in vietnam at this time marines made one rifleman per fire team a rifle grenadier rendering the separate m79 grenadier redundant later the early 1980s would probably be the most dramatic period for the rifle squad post-vietnam budget cuts meant that the marine corps had to make significant cutbacks in its manpower while maintaining its battalions the initial solution was to maintain two separate organizations one provisional organizations for fmf atlantic units aimed at conflict with the soviet union and one reduced peacetime organization or fmf pacific units were less likely to be embroiled in a new war however this would not be enough and more overarching reductions were needed beginning in 1982 squads would be reorganized around two fire teams of five men each it would be led by a sergeant squad leader each team would be led by a team leader ranking corporal there would be a lance corporal automatic rifleman and two rifle grenadiers one ranking lance corporal and the other private or private first class and finally one rifleman ranking private or pfc this reduced squad organization began to phase in with some battalions beginning in late 1982 although it didn't fully phase in before the critiques got the better of it there were a number of flaws that were harshly criticized when the 11-man squad was introduced first off it was smaller than the classic 13-man squad as we saw when the marine corps announced in 2018 when it wanted to reduce the squad to 12 men marines don't like it when squads get smaller the reduction in squad size made the squad more vulnerable to casualties whether that be battle casualties or just regular shortages second the transition to a two-team setup would require a complete overhaul of marine squad tactics as they had been based around three teams for 38 years it may have been easier to control for a squad leader but would be less capable of more complicated maneuvers that require three teams and third ammo is heavy experience during vietnam had shown that carrying ammunition for a single grenadier was sometimes a challenge for squads so reduced squad carrying ammo for four grenadiers would probably be even worse additionally whenever the m249 saw got to units the ammunition burden would only get worse the marine corps strategy was to compensate for reduced manpower with increased firepower but being a light infantry force ammunition load would prove to be an extreme bottleneck to firepower in 1985 the marines reversed their rifle squad reduction bringing the squad back to 13 men with three fire teams additionally the second grenadier on each fire team was removed from here until 2018 the main changes to the marine corps rifle squad were usually just the introduction of new equipment the new m16a2 rifle phased out the older m16a1 through the mid to late 1980s and the m249 saw would be phased in by the early 1990s the introduction in the m249 meant the marine squad had a true squad automatic weapon arguably the first it had since the m1918a2 bar was replaced in the late 1950s and early 1960s further in 1989 the squad's grenadier was reflagged as an assistant automatic rifleman a position made more necessary by the bell-fed m249 saw and the grenade launcher was transferred to the team leaders this is the equipment that would have existed through to the invasion of afghanistan in 2001. however by the invasion of iraq in 2003 the m16a4 distinctive by its picatinny rail interfaces would have begun replacing the a2 still as late as 2005 muse in particular would still have been getting the older m16a2 as newer equipment was prioritized for combat units as with all wars the squad would have been modified in theater to cope with changing tactical situations and manpower shortages here are a couple examples that we've gathered from veterans of operation enduring freedom and operation to rocky freedom first a situation where the squad is under strength there's been a chronic shortage of infantry ncos so squad may be led by a corporal or lance corporal rather than a sergeant while lance corporals or private's first class could fill team leader roles generally speaking acog optics had to be rationed they go to team leaders and squad leaders first you can find examples of private purchase optics at the time due to the shortage such as these photos and marines with itl mars gun sights from around 2004 rather than running three fire teams a squad may have had to run two reinforced fire teams if a 13 man paper squad only had eight to ten men available this would be necessary to have fire teams that were big enough to be combat effective this would usually result in the squad leader leading a team while the other team was led by a team leader amounting to an ad hoc assistant squad leader this could result in squads of 5 or 4 men each with an m249 light machine gun and rifle with an m203 grenade launcher in the respondent's case the m203 went to a rifleman rather than the team leaders in afghanistan an m240 general purpose machine gun could replace an m249 light machine gun in some squads due to longer than normal engagement distances caused by elevated terrain in the respondents unit their company converted its weapon splatoon into another rifle platoon with its m240s and smaws being spread around if a weapon splatoon was retained m240 machine gun and smaw teams were usually attached to rifle platoons or squads if patrols were platoon sized most of the company's support weapons could be concentrated into that patrol if necessary another case was an understrength squad that had its organization altered for urban combat during the battle of fallujah in that environment the squad was organized into a breaching team and an overwatch team the breaching team would be reinforced to six men all armed with rifles this made it more efficient to clear buildings and made them more reactive if there was a contact the overwatch team which may have included two or three m249 machine guns could then stay outside the building to cover the street and act as a follow-on force it should be noted that these variations aren't exhaustive and there were a great many more in-field modifications that could be made to adapt to a unit's specific circumstances back to the paper organization equipment changed through the late 2000s and early 2010s m4 carbines began to trickle into units probably around that time although the marine corps didn't officially replace the m16a4 with the m4 until 2015. further in 2011 the m249 light machine gun was replaced with the m27 iar a variant of the heckler and koch hk416 m249s were then transferred to the company level where six would be available to issue to the company's nine rifle squads as needed however among the most extensive changes to the marine squad were announced in 2018 initially in may 2018 the marine corps announced a reduction in the squad from 13 men to 12 men this move was largely to be more manpower efficient and allow for a shift in manpower towards other parts of the marine corps including cyber warfare and electronic warfare units however this change went against the recommendations made by marines who tested the new wargs later in 2018 the marine corps retracted its initial announcement and now wants to enlarge the squads to 15 men the squad will still be led by a sergeant armed with an m27 however they'll now be assisted by an assistant squad leader ranking corporal the assistant is meant to take some responsibilities off of the squad leader in the marine corps squad leaders often have to act as forward observers for artillery support or direct close air support so the assistant will handle some of the fire's coordination and communications work for the squad leader it may be that in the future assistant squad leaders will have to become qualified as joint fires observers this training isn't as thorough as the training a jtac would get but training jtacs is also an expensive endeavor and not realistic at the squad level the assistant squad leader will most likely man a prick 117 golf radio the squad will also be getting a squad systems operator ranking lance corporal they'll operate an instant eye quadcopter drone and a squad tablet the drone is probably one of the more important changes pushing an extended reconnaissance capability down to the squad level this has a lot of interesting implications for example it allows squads to spot covered enemy positions from a high vantage point using a thermal camera or enemy ambushes around a kink in a road that would be impossible to see from the ground drones can also be positioned on vantage points like rooftops to act as mobile cameras observing specific areas for longer periods of time the squad systems operator will also allow the squad to adapt to new technologies possibly including new unmanned aerial and ground vehicles counter ied equipment and electronic warfare jamming equipment meanwhile the squad's close combat elements are its three fire teams each fire team will consist of a team leader an automatic rifleman a dedicated grenadier and a rifleman all armed with the m27 the plan is to have the grenadier armed with an m320 grenade launcher in the standalone mode the m320 is pretty compact arguably more accurate than the m203 in the standalone configuration has more diverse possibilities for munitions and takes front loaded weight off of the rifle when equipped an m38 squad designated marksman rifle or sdmr and m3e1 moz will also be available to arm riflemen the moz is a carl gustav or corliss rifle the saltman mos whose members man the legacy smaw is going away so squat level carl g's will eventually replace the small which has traditionally been held in the company weapon splatoon whether or not his squad will always take out the moz is a different matter we suspect that would be more of a weapons locker thing with a squad only taking out a mods if it fits mission profile in addition to weapons there are a couple other equipment upgrades the marines plan to roll out into the future first they plan to suppress all of their m27s concurrently with their tests of the m27 they also tested army marines with suppressed m4a1 carbines it seems that the results were compelling enough that in july of 2020 it was announced that they'd be contracting knight's armament company for enough suppressors to suppress every m27 and m4 in inventory suppressors offer a number of advantages tactically they can mask the direction shots are coming from although an enemy may know they're being shot at because the rounds are still supersonic and carry a sonic boom with them suppressors can make it more difficult to return accurate fire other advantages include combating long-term hearing damage and making verbal communications more reasonable in combat second the marines are planning on procuring the trijicon v cog one to eight variable optic as their new squad common optic to replace the rifle combat optic the intends to increase the long range effectiveness of the rifleman and automatic rifleman out to the maximum effective range of 556 while still giving them the option for low magnification in close quarters environments although earlier reports a year or two ago stated that the squad common optic would replace all optics in the squad potentially including the leupold 2.5 to 8 times variable used on the m38 reports since the adoption state it'll only replace the rifle combat optic it's unknown if the new optic will affect the current dmr optics since it has a similar capability and now i want to give a quick shout out to our patreon supporters especially our producers if you want to support battle order and get some perks like shout outs early access to videos wallpapers ebooks and a patron only chat on our discord consider becoming a patron link in the description thanks for watching everyone and i'll see you all in the next one

Channel: Battle Order

Views: 638,658

Keywords: marine, marine corps, iar, m27, m4a1, modern, structure, TO&E, organization, changes, new, squad, section, platoon, marsoc

Id: A8l38U5Gb34

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 31 2020