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This is about the Organizational structure present within this guild. Pretty much all of it.

But, I've been having some trouble recently deciding on how most of the small unit operations should be dealt with. The ranks will mostly be based off of the United States Armed Forces, with the Army ranks used for the "Ground Troops" rather than the marines. This mostly becuase there is an E-1 classification as a "Recruit", which makes things much smoother; and upon graduation, you are promoted, which is always nice.




I've been wondering if I should go a more Army or Marines style squad formation.

Army would be like, a 5 man fire team, a 10 man squad, a 20-40 man platoon and an 80+ company etc. The fire team would basically be lead by a corporal, with a Squad being lead by a Sergeant; however, the Sergeant would replace the corporal in lead of one of the fire teams in squad style. In a platoon, a Lieutenant would replace one of the Squad Sergeants. Theoretically, a squad would be two fire-teams and a platoon 2-4 squads. Then, a captain would lead 2-4 platoons, or a company. It basically goes fireteam, two to four fireteams per platoon, and then two to four platoons for company, lead by a corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain respectively. Theoretically, a lieutenant would have direct control over an individual fireteam, while also possessing control over the entire platoon.

In a more marine styled format, there would be a fire team of 4, a squad of 13, a platoon of 40 and a company of 120-125. A marine style is a bit more rigid and fits together nicely. For instance, a 4 man fire team would be lead by a corporal, with three per squad. This makes 12 people, with three leading corporals; however, a Sergeant would be introduced to lead and control the squad, creating a 13 man group. Then, a platoon would be three squads, totaling 39 people, with a 40th to lead as a lieutenant.

Then of course, a company would be lead by a Captain, which would also probably include a few other officers, and be three platoons, having roughly 120-130 people.

This format makes incredible sense, and works in sequential orders of threes- a three man fire team with a corporal as a leader, three fire teams with a sergeant as a leader, three squads with a lieutenant as a leader, and finally three platoons with a Captain as a leader.




But there's a catch. While the Marine format has a somewhat more solid group formation with an ease and working at the platoon level, things being logistically easy, it relies heavily on the individual units per firing team. For instance, in a 5 + 5 man squad, rather than a 4 + 4 + 4, you could have a somewhat more solid squad formation. You would have a machine gunner, a rifleman, a grenadier, a marksmen, and a specialist (possibly medic), with every squad having two machine gunners, two designated rifleman, two grenadiers etc., this making things logistically easy. Were as a marine styled squad has more firepower, they are somewhat lacking in the easy organization. For instance, while you can have a perfect, and easy 5 man group of all the roles, in this style you only have four people. This means that each individual firing team is less important and heavy importance is placed on the squad, rather than the firing team. This also means that, should you have machine gunners, you would either have too little or too many; or perhaps should you have medics, would be lacking in medics or have a large amount per squad. This also places heavy emphasis on the individual and the individual fire team, removing a rigid squad/fireteam structure and forcing fireteams and squads to be made out of a loose assortment of soldiers, meaning that every fire-team would be made out a somewhat random group of people, with gaps filled in or simply left empty at the squad level, meaning that every squad would differ greatly in it's composition from one unit to the next, causing it's strategic understanding to drop greatly.

Alternatively, a 4 man fireteam could simply require that certain units be tasked with multiple duties, such as a rifleman also being a medic or a grenadier also being an explosives expert. It is also possible that an entire other group should be responsible for certain activities, such as a "machine gun" squad or company being present, or a special group of medics who work separate from the fire team rather than the duty being passed on to someone as the squad level. It is possible that every fire team member could simply be a rifleman or grenaider, with machine gunners, specialists, and marksmen being filled at the platoon or commanding level accordingly.




Which ever case, it's all very confusing and all of it seams to work out logistically. Basically, what would be better or seems more fitting, 2 five man groups, two to four ten man groups, and two to four 40 man groups, or a 4, 13, 40, 120+ styled group that works in groups of threes.

Both work with platoons at level 40, so everything at and above the platoon level would function normally, with large groups being as they usually are. The question is, as the squad and platoon level, what kind of organizational structure should there be?

I think I'm going with the Four man fire team, just cause.

I don't think it's reasonable to assume that everyone is going to have a "Specialist" with them, and I also like the idea of decentralized control.

I want people to think for themselves, and on their own, and having a squad that allows them to do that will be much easier.

I'll just have a specialist group.




So a four to five man fire team in squads of 2-3.