Eli5. Why do military groups (101st airborne for example) seem to be numbered in random order
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I feel like all the comments here are wrong, and it’s done on purpose for deception. If you didn’t you could just find the highest number and have a good estimation of the size of your enemy.
SEAL team 6 (NSWDG) was called team 6 because there was only 2 (?) SEAL teams….but dick marcinco wanted the enemy to think there were more of them.
I’ve been in the military for 12 years, I just found out like 6 months ago that the 101st airborne division is not in fact airborne any longer.
Why aren’t they called 12th bataljon or 6th? Why 101st?
Why aren’t they called 12th bataljon or 6th? Why 101st?
Related question:
Does “101st Airborne” literally mean what it says, that there were already 100 “Airbornes”, making the next one the
“101st Airborne”? Or does it just mean “The 101st unit, of all the army units ever made, is an Airborne type.”
I guess another way to ask this is, can there be some other “101st” that isn’t Airborne, or does the existence of “101st Airborne” mean no other unit is going to be called “101st”. (So they all share the same numberspace.)
As others have said they were originally numbered sequentially and I’d like to add a modern example: the US Space Force is a new service they created an organizational unit called a Delta. They numbed them Delta 1 through 26, with some historic units retaining a number like the 45th Space Wing becoming Space Launch Delta 45.
As others have said they were originally numbered sequentially and I’d like to add a modern example: the US Space Force is a new service they created an organizational unit called a Delta. They numbed them Delta 1 through 26, with some historic units retaining a number like the 45th Space Wing becoming Space Launch Delta 45.
I feel like all the comments here are wrong, and it’s done on purpose for deception. If you didn’t you could just find the highest number and have a good estimation of the size of your enemy.
Each digit can also have a meaning.
For example, in Canada the reserve units are split into regions 1,2,3,4. Each region is then divided into brigade groups. So anything starting with a 3 is Ontario, and the second digit is the area. 31 service battalion is part of 31 brigade, which is in a different area than 32 brigade. So you can have 11, 12, 13 and then the next is 21.
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