The "platoon leader" (with the officer still being the "platoon commander") now became a staff sergeant, (grade 3). This adjustment raised the squad leader to a sergeant (grade 4) and the assistant squad leader to a corporal (grade 5). However, the obvious command (viz., leadership and supervision) weakness of so large a squad under one NCO rapidly became obvious in light of the pre-war mobilization and was corrected in 1940 when a second NCO was added to the squad. While not a noncommissioned officer (NCO) the PFC was an experienced soldier, as prior to WWII the majority of enlisted men remained privates for the entire term of their enlistment since promotion opportunity was scarce. This soldier could serve as either the squad leader's messenger to the platoon commander or could be used to relay orders to other squad elements, as needed. Instead, the squads were reorganized into a 12-man unit of three elements, or teams, Able, Baker, and Charlie, reporting directly to the platoon commander (an officer, usually a second lieutenant), assisted by a sergeant assigned as the "assistant to platoon commander" (re-designated as "platoon leader" in 1940 and as "platoon sergeant" in 1943 with the officer then re-designated as "platoon leader".) The squad leader was still only a corporal but the squad was also assigned a PFC (one of the scout riflemen) as the assistant to the squad leader. Under the Triangular Division organization plan in 1939 rifle squads were no longer organized into sections. In 1891, the US Army officially defined a rifle "squad" as consisting of "seven privates and one corporal." The US Army employed the eight-man rifle squad through WWI and until the late 1930s under the Square Division organizational plan, in which sergeants continued to lead sections consisting of two squads. or even a "senior" private (there being many long-service, or "professional," privates until the post-WWII era). The smallest tactical sub-unit being the section, which was also known as a half-platoon (the platoon itself being a half company).ĭepending upon the time period, the squad "leader" (not an official position title until 1891) could be a sergeant (the sergeant, in sections with only one corporal, led the section's first squad, while the lone corporal served as assistant section leader and led the section's second squad), a corporal (in sections with two corporals), a lance corporal (a rank the Army had in varying numbers and conditions from at least 1821 until 1920), a private first class (PFC) (the rank existing since 1846 but not earning its one chevron – taken from the abolished lance corporal rank – until 1920). Historically, a "squad" in the US Army was a sub-unit of a section, consisting of from as few as two soldiers to as many as 12 and was originally used primarily for drill and administrative purposes (e.g., billeting, messing, working parties, etc.). Names of squads in NATO member armed forces The standard NATO symbol for a squad consists of one single dot ( 1.4 Chinese National Revolutionary Army.1.2.4 Fire service in the United States.
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