Eli5 – how many airborne divisions were there? Why is the 101st so famous?

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Recently reading the headlines about Band of Brothers coming from HBO tho Netflix and it got me thinking:

– how does the US military divide up it’s soldiers? (Eg regiment vs troop vs platoon vs squadron)

– are there different rules for each branch of the military?

– I’ve only ever heard of the 101st airborne division but not other ones… Was there a 100th division? 99th division, etc? Why is the 101st so famous?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Adding that the military organisation isn’t unique to the US, nearly every country with a large professional military is organised in a similar way with minor variations on naming and composition.

XXXXXX: Combatant Command / Theatre etc
XXXXX: Army Group / Major Command etc
XXXX: Army (as an organisation)
XXX: Corps
XX: Division
X: Brigade
III: Regiment / Group
II: Battalion / Squadron / Group
I: Company / Battery / Troop
•••: Platoon / Troop
••: Section
•: Squad / Section
0: Team / Fireteam

Not every country will have every division (and the biggest organisations are almost exclusively a WWII feature).

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