Eli5. Why do military groups (101st airborne for example) seem to be numbered in random order
In: 1833
The numbers of squadrons and military units seem random now because various units have been deactivated over the past century.
During times of war regiments and squadrons were spun up as needed, but when the war (World War 2 for example) was over those units were no longer required and were demobilized.
Often units with special qualifications or notoriety were kept active while less well known units were spun down. Resulting in seemingly random numbering in divisions and squadrons today.
However if war were to break out again, those historical units can be re-activated.
Picking a random example 428 squadron in Canada was an active bomber squadron in World War 2 and was deactivated in 1945. But was then re-activated in the 60s and then deactivated again.
When a squadron is re-activated it’s common for its members to look up the history of the unit and re-use it’s nicknames, motto, and logos.
In the case of 428 “The Ghosts”
In Canada a lot of existing squadrons flew Fighters or Bombers during WW2 which is why they have names and logos that don’t seem appropriate for their duties today. 402 squadron for example ‘The Bears’ used to fly Hurricanes and Spitfires but today flies the Dash-8 passenger transport and does training.
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