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Military organization (AE) ormilitary organisation (BE) is the structuring of thearmed forces of astate so as to offer suchmilitary capability as anational defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to usehierarchical forms (seeModern hierarchy for terminology and approximate troop strength per hierarchical unit).
In some countries,paramilitary forces are included in a nation's armed forces, though not considered military. Armed forces that are not a part of military or paramilitary organizations, such asinsurgent forces, often emulate military organizations, or use these structures.
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The use of formalizedranks in a hierarchical structure came into widespread use with theRoman Army.[citation needed][dubious –discuss]The Roman Army was organized intolegions, each comprising around 5000 soldiers and led by alegate. Each legion was further divided into centuries which were led bycenturions.[1]
In modern times, executive control, management and administration of military organization is typically undertaken by governments through agovernment department within the structure ofpublic administration, often known as a ministry of defence or department of defense. These in turn managemilitary branches that themselves command formations and units specialising in combat,combat support andcombat-service support.
The usuallycivilian or partly civilian executive control over the national military organization is exercised indemocracies by an elected political leader as a member of the government'scabinet, usually known as aminister of defence. Inpresidential systems, such as theUnited States, the president is thecommander-in-chief, and the cabinet-level defense minister is second in command. Subordinated to that position are oftensecretaries for specific major operational divisions of the armed forces as a whole, such as those that provide general support services to the military, including their dependants.
Then there are the heads of specific departmental agencies responsible for the provision and management of specific skill- and knowledge-based services such asstrategic advice,capability development assessment, ormilitary science provision of research, and design and development of technologies. Within each departmental agency will be found administrative branches responsible for further agencybusiness specialization work.
In most countries, thearmed forces are divided into threemilitary branches (alsoservice, armed service, or military service):army,navy, andair force.
Many countries have a variation on the standard model of three basic military branches. Some nations also organize theircyber force, emergencies service,medical service,military logistics,space force,marines, andspecial forces such ascommandos orairborne forces as independent armed services. A nation'sborder guard orcoast guard may also be an independent branch of its military, although in many nations border guard or coast guard is a civillaw enforcement agency. A number of countries have no navy, for geographical reasons such as beinglandlocked.
In larger armed forces, the cultures between the different branches of the armed forces can be quite different.
Most smaller countries have a single organization that encompasses all armed forces employed by the country in question. Armies ofdeveloping countries tend to consist primarily ofinfantry, whiledeveloped countries armies tend to have larger units manning expensive equipment and only a fraction of personnel in infantry units.
In western militaries, ajoint force is defined as a unit or formation comprising combat power from two or more branches of the military.
Gendarmeries,military police andsecurity forces, including equivalents such asparamilitary forces,militia,internal troops andpolice tactical unit, are aninternal security service common in most of the world, but uncommon in countries with Englishcommon law histories where civil police are employed to enforce the law, and there are tight restrictions on how the armed forces may be used to assist.[a]
It is common, at least in the European and North American militaries, to refer to the building blocks of a military ascommands,formations, andunits.
In a military context, a command is a collection of units and formations under the control of a single officer, although duringWorld War II a command was also a name given to abattlegroup in theUnited States Army. In general, it is an administrative and executivestrategic headquarters that is responsible to the national government or the national militaryheadquarters. It is not uncommon for a nation's services to each consist of their own command (such as Land Component, Air Component, Naval Component, and Medical Component in theBelgian Army), but this does not preclude the existence of commands that are not service-based.
A formation is defined by theU.S. Department of Defense as "two or more aircraft, ships, or units proceeding together under a commander".[2] Fomin in theGreat Soviet Encyclopedia emphasised its combined-arms nature: "Formations are those military organisations which are formed from different speciality Arms and Services troop units to create a balanced, combined combat force. The formations only differ in their ability to achieve different scales of application of force to achieve different strategic, operational and tactical goals and mission objectives."[3] It is a composite military organization that includes a mixture of integrated and operationally attached sub-units, and is usually combat-capable. Examples of formations includedivisions,brigades,battalions,wings, etc. Formation may also refer totactical formation, the physical arrangement or disposition of troops and weapons.[4] Examples of formation in such usage includepakfront,panzerkeil,testudo formation, etc.
A typical unit is a homogeneous military organization (either combat,combat-support or non-combat in capability) that includes service personnel predominantly from a single arm of service, or a branch of service, and its administrative and command functions are self-contained. Any unit subordinate to another unit is considered its sub-unit or minor unit. It is not uncommon in the United States for unit and formation to be used synonymously. InCommonwealth practice, formation is not used for smaller organizations such as battalions, which are instead called "units", and their constituentplatoons orcompanies are referred to as sub-units. In the Commonwealth, formations are divisions, brigades, etc.
Differentarmed forces, and even different branches of service of the armed forces, may use the same name to denote different types of organizations. An example is the "squadron". In most navies asquadron is a formation of several ships; in most air forces it is a unit; in the U.S. Army it is a battalion-sizedcavalry unit; and in Commonwealth armies a squadron is a company-sized sub-unit.
Atable of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) is a document published by the U.S. Army Force Management Support Agency that prescribes the organization, manning, and equipage of units from divisional size and down, but also including the headquarters of Corps and Armies.
It also provides information on the mission and capabilities of a unit as well as the unit's current status. A general TOE is applicable to a type of unit (for instance, infantry) rather than a specific unit (the 3rd Infantry Division). In this way, all units of the same branch (such as infantry) follow the same structural guidelines.
The following table gives an overview of some of the terms used to describe army hierarchy in armed forces across the world. Whilst it is recognized that there are differences between armies of different nations, many are modeled on theBritish orAmerican models, or both.[5] However, many military units and formations go back in history for a long time, and were devised by various military thinkers throughout European history.
For example, the modernCorps was first introduced in France about 1805 by Napoleon as a more flexible tactical grouping of two or more divisions during theNapoleonic Wars.
| NATO Symbol | Name | Nature | Strength | Constituent units | Commander or leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-_Unspecified_or_Composite_All-Arms_(NATO_APP-6).svg) | Combatant Command[6] or equivalent region[b][5] theater | Command | 1,000,000–10,000,000 | 4+ army groups | OF-10:field marshal OF-9:general,army general orcolonel general |
-_Unspecified_or_Composite_All-Arms_(NATO_APP-6).svg) | army group or equivalent front | Command | 400,000–1,000,000[5] | 2+ armies | OF-10 field marshal OF-9: general, army general, or colonel general |
-_Unspecified_or_Composite_All-Arms_(NATO_APP-6).svg) | field army | Command | 100,000–200,000 | 2–4 corps | OF-10: field marshal OF-9: general, army general, or colonel general OF-8: Lieutenant General |
-_Unspecified_or_Composite_All-Arms_(NATO_APP-6).svg) | corps | Formation | 20,000–60,000 | 2+ divisions | OF-9: general or army general[c] OF-8:lieutenant general,corps general, or colonel general[d] OF-7:major general[e] |
 -_Unspecified_or_Composite_All-Arms_(NATO_APP-6).svg) | division | Formation | 6,000–25,000 | 2–8 brigades or regiments | OF-8: lieutenant general OF-8 or OF-7:divisional general OF-7:major general or OF-6:senior colonel[e] OF-7:Brigadier general |
 | brigade | Formation | 3,000–5,000[5] | 2+ regiments or groups, or 3–8 battalions or equivalent | OF-7: major general OF-7 or OF-6:brigade general OF-6:brigadier,brigadier general,senior colonel OF-5:colonel |
 | regiment | Unit | 1,000–3,000 | 2+ battalions or equivalent | OF-5:colonel |
 | battalion or equivalent regiment (some countries for some arms only) squadron (US Cavalry) squadron (some countries for aviation) | Unit | 300–1,000 | 2–6 sub-units (companies or equivalent) | OF-4:lieutenant colonel |
 | company or equivalent artillery battery squadron (some countries for some arms only) U.S. cavalrytroop | Unit or Subunit | 100–250 | 2–8 platoons or equivalent | OF-3:major OF-2:captain OR-9:chief warrant officer |
_-_Germany.svg) | staffel[7] or echelon[8] | Sub-subunit | 50–90 | 2 platoons/troops or 6–10 sections | OF-2:captain orstaff captain OR-8:warrant officer ormaster warrant officer |
 | platoon or equivalent troop (some countries for some arms only) | Sub-subunit | 20–50 | 2+ Section, or vehicles | OF-1: first or secondlieutenant OR-7:warrant officer |
 | section orpatrol | – | 12–24 | 2–3 squads or 3–6 fireteams | OR-6:staff sergeant OR-5:sergeant |
 | squad section (Commonwealth of Nations) | – | 6–12 | 2–3 fireteams or 1+ cell | OR-5:sergeant OR-4:corporal |
 | fireteam or crew | – | 2–4 | n/a | OR-3:lance corporal to OR-5:sergeant OR-2:private first class |
Rungs may be skipped in this ladder: for example, typically NATO forces skip from battalion to brigade. Likewise, only large military powers may have organizations at the top levels and different armies and countries may also use traditional names, creating considerable confusion: for example, a British or Canadian armored regiment (battalion) is divided intosquadrons (companies) andtroops (platoons), whereas an American cavalry squadron (battalion) is divided into troops (companies) and platoons. In the French system (used by many African countries) the company is divided into sections (platoons) composed of 3 x "groupes de combat" of 7 soldiers, plus a group of vehicle crews and a HQ that includes 2 x snipers.[citation needed]
Army,army group,region, andtheatre are all large formations that vary significantly between armed forces in size and hierarchy position. Whiledivisions were the traditional level at which support elements (field artillery, hospital, logistics and maintenance, etc.) were added to the unit structure, since World War II, many brigades now have such support units, and since the 1980s, regiments also have been receiving support elements. A regiment with such support elements is called aregimental combat team in US military parlance, or abattlegroup in the UK and other forces. Canadian Army doctrine also includes thecombat team which is a company of infantry augmented with tanks, or a squadron of tanks augmented with infantry, or the combination of a full company of infantry with a full squadron of tanks.
DuringWorld War II theRed Army used the same basic organizational structure. However, in the beginning many units were greatly underpowered and their size was actually one level below on the ladder that is usually used elsewhere; for example, a division in the early-WWII Red Army would have been about the size of most nations' regiments or brigades.[9][10] At the top of the ladder, what other nations would call an army group, the Red Army called afront. By contrast, during the same period the GermanWehrmacht army groups, particularly on theEastern Front, such asArmy Group Centre significantly exceeded the above numbers, and were more cognate with the SovietStrategic Directions.
Naval organization at theflotilla level and higher is less commonly abided by, as ships operate in smaller or larger groups in various situations that may change at a moment's notice. However, there is some common terminology used throughout navies to communicate the general concept of how many vessels might be in a unit.
Navies are generally organized into groups for a specific purpose, usually strategic, and these organizational groupings appear and disappear frequently based on the conditions and demands placed upon a navy. This contrasts with army organization where units remain static, with the same men and equipment, over long periods of time.
| Unit Name | Vessel types | No. of Vessels | Officer in command |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combatant Command (US)[6] orNavy orAdmiralty | All vessels in a navy | 2+ Fleets | Fleet Admiral,Admiral of the Fleet,Grand Admiral orAdmiral |
| Fleet | All vessels in an ocean or general region | 2+Battle Fleets | Admiral orVice Admiral |
| Battle Fleet (US, 1922–1941) | A large number of vessels of all types | 2+Task Forces | Vice Admiral |
| Task Force[citation needed] orCarrier strike group (US) | A collection of complementary vessels | 2+Task Groups,Divisions orFlotillas | Rear Admiral (upper half) orRear Admiral |
| Division orTask Group | Usuallycapital ships | 2+ large vessels | Rear Admiral (lower half),Commodore, orDivision Admiral |
| Flotilla or Task Group | A small number of vessels, usually of the same or similar types | 2+Squadrons | Rear Admiral (lower half),Commodore, orFlotilla Admiral |
| Squadron or Task Unit | Small vessels | A small number of vessels, usually of the same or similar types | Captain orCommander |
| Task Element | A single vessel | One | Captain,Commander,Lieutenant Commander orLieutenant |
The five-star ranks ofadmiral of the fleet and fleet admiral have largely been out of regular use since the 1990s, with the exception of ceremonial or honorary appointments. Currently, all major navies (blue-water andgreen-water navies) are commanded by anadmiral of either four-star rank or three-star rank depending on relative size. Smaller naval forces, such as theRoyal New Zealand Navy, or those navies that are effectivelycoast guards, are commanded by arear-admiral (two-star rank),commodore (one-star rank) or even acaptain.
Aircraft carriers are typically commanded by a captain.Submarines anddestroyers are typically commanded by a captain or commander. Some destroyers, particularly smaller destroyers such asfrigates (formerly known asdestroyer escorts) are usually commanded by officers with the rank of commander.Corvettes, the smallest class of warship, are commanded by officers with the rank of commander orlieutenant-commander. Auxiliary ships, includinggunboats,minesweepers,patrol boats, militaryriverine craft,tenders andtorpedo boats are usually commanded bylieutenants,sub-lieutenants orwarrant officers. Usually, the smaller the vessel, the lower the rank of the ship's commander. For example,patrol boats are often commanded byensigns, while frigates are rarely commanded by an officer below the rank of commander.
Historically, navies were far more rigid in structure. Ships were collected indivisions, which in turn were collected in numberedsquadrons, which comprised a numberedfleet. Permission for a vessel to leave one unit and join another would have to be approved on paper.
The modern U.S. Navy is primarily based on a number of standard groupings of vessels, including thecarrier strike group and theexpeditionary strike group.[citation needed]
Additionally, naval organization continues aboard a single ship. The complement forms three or four departments (such as tactical and engineering), each of which has a number of divisions, followed by work centers.
The organizational structures of air forces vary between nations: some air forces (such as theUnited States Air Force and theRoyal Air Force) are divided into commands, groups and squadrons; others (such as theSoviet Air Force) have an Army-style organizational structure. The modernRoyal Canadian Air Force usesAir division as the formation between wings and the entire air command. Like the RAF, Canadian wings consist of squadrons.
| NATO Symbol (for Army comparison) | Unit Name (USAF/RAF/Other air forces) | No. of personnel | No. of aircraft | No. of subordinate units (USAF/RAF) | Officer in command (USAF/RAF) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Combatant Command[6] or nationalair force | Entire air force | Entire air force | AllMajor Commands /Commands | GAF /MRAF orAir Chf Mshl |
 | Major Command /Command | Varies | Varies | Varies by Region or Duty | Gen /Air Chf Mshl |
 | No USAF equivalent/Command orTactical Air Force /Air army[11] | Varies by Region or Duty | Varies | Varies by Region or Duty | Gen orLt-Gen /Air Chf Mshl orAir Mshl |
 | Numbered Air Force/No RAF equivalent | Varies by Region or Duty | Varies | 2+ Wings/Groups | Maj-Gen orLt-Gen / N/A |
| No USAF equivalent/No RAF equivalent /Aviation Division /Air division | Varies by Region or Duty | Varies | 2+ Wings/Groups | Maj-Gen orDiv-Gen |
| Wing/Group (inc.EAGs) /Russian aviation brigade/Air Brigade | 1,000–5,000 | 48–200 | 2+ Groups/Wings | Brig-Gen/AVM orAir Cdre |
| Group/wing (inc.EAWs) orStation /Russian aviation regiment | 300–1,000 | 17–48 | 3–4Squadrons/3–10Flights | Col/Gp Capt orWg Cdr |
| Squadron | 100–300 | 7–16 | 3–4 Flights | Lt Col orMaj/Wg Cdr orSqn Ldr |
| Flight or flyingstaffel[12] | 20–100 | 4–6 | 2 or more Sections plus maintenance and support crew | Maj orCapt/Sqn Ldr orFlt Lt |
| Staffel[13] or echelon[14] | 40–160 | 6–12 | 1–2Sections plus maintenance and support crew | Capt orStaff Captain |
| Section | 10–40 | n/a–2 | n/a | Junior Officer orSenior NCO |
| Element | 8–12 | n/a | n/a | Senior NCO orJunior NCO |
| Detail or crew | 2–4 | n/a | n/a | Junior NCO |
Atask force is a unit or formation created as a temporary grouping for a specific operational purpose. Aside from administrative hierarchical forms of organization that have evolved since the early 17th century in Europe, fighting forces have been grouped for specific operational purposes into mission-related organizations such as the GermanKampfgruppe or the U.S. Combat Team (Army) and Task Force (Navy) during the Second World War, or the SovietOperational manoeuvre group during the Cold War. In the British and Commonwealth armies thebattlegroup became the usual grouping of companies during theSecond World War and the Cold War.
Within NATO, aJoint Task Force (JTF) would be such a temporary grouping that includes elements from more than one armed service, a Combined Task Force (CTF) would be such a temporary grouping that includes elements from more than one nation, and a Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) would be such a temporary grouping that includes elements of more than one armed service and more than one nation.
