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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To your first question, other commenters covered it pretty well.
Your second question, each Branch is a bit different but only the Navy really diverges from the rest with carrier groups, Amphibious groups, shore and air wings.
As an 82nd Airborne vet… The 101st isn’t even an airborne unit anymore, just some Nasty LEGS that rappel out of rotary wing aircraft. You ain’t Airborne unless you let go of the aircraft. As to naming conventions, they where just regular infantry divisions that got converted to Airborne Divisions in WW2. There were several other Airborne Divisions in WW2 that have since been de-activated (11th, 13th, 17th come to mind) leaving only the 82nd as the Army’s last true Airborne Infantry Division.
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