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The US Army Light Infantry Battalion in the Light Infantry Division

v.1.0 May 20, 2001

This article is by Keith E. Loescher.

The U.S. Army fields several type of light infantry battalions (bns).It has airborne, airmobile and true "leg" battalions.The "leg" battalions are found in the 10th Mountain andthe 25th Infantry (Light) Divisions.There are also arctic infantry battalions in the 172nd Brigadethat is administratively assigned to the 10th Mountain Division.Two of the battalions of the 172nd are "light arctic" infantry.One brigade of the 25th, stationed at Ft. Lewis WA, is scheduled to be one ofthe Initial Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT), that are being formed to providethe U.S. Army with a medium weight force(Initial Brigade Combat Team & Death of a Division,Birth of a Concept: The Evolution of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regimentfrom the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized)) This brigade must now be excludedfrom the count of light infantry battalions.The total then is:

10th Mountain Division 8 battalions

25th Infantry Division (Light) 6 battalions

172nd Infantry Brigade 2 battalions

The light infantry then forms a small pbn.s in its total of seventy-one (71)active infantry bn.s (US Army Active Infantry Battalions 2000)

These battalions are very lightly equipped, as their name implies.A light infantry company has five officers and one hundred, twenty five men.The key weapons, besides small arms include; six medium machine-guns, 5.56 mm,two 60 mm mortars, and six light anti-armor guided missiles (ATGM).These are now equipped with Javelin. The company has a company headquarters (HQ)

platoon, three rifle platoons, an antiarmor section and a mortar section.

The battalion has a HQ, three rifle companies, a mortar section of six 81 mmmortars and an antiarmor unit.There are claims that the new 81mm mortars are almost as lethal as the olderand much heavier 4.2" (107mm) mortars integral to other types of batalions.The mortar section seems to have been increased from four to six, and theantiarmor unit has apparently been increased in size from aplatoon of four TOW ATGMs mounted on HMMWVs to a company of twenty TOWs.The Army Field Manual (FM) 7-91 (1987) listedthe light infantry battalion as having "one antiarmor platoon consistingof two sections of two TOW systems each."

(http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/7-91/F7910055.gif).A TO&E review from 1999 lists a light infantry bn. as havingtwenty "Truck, Util, TOW Carrier, ARMD".( http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/army/unit/toe/07015L000.htm.).

The light infantry batallion has a personnel strength of 567 officers and men.They are in three companies and a HQ with weapons units.Each company has three rifle platoons with a HQ/weapons platoon. Each platoon hasa HQ and three rifle squads of nine men each.

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The equipment allocations for the battalion are:

Grenade Launcher, 40mm, M203 65

Machine Gun, Cal 50, Flex 15

Machine Gun, Grenade 40MM, MK-19 14

Machine Gun, 5.56 MM M249 72

Mortar, 60 MM 6

Mortar, 81 MM, M252 6

AntiTank Set, Command Launch Unit 18

Truck, Util, TOW Carrier, ARMD 20

The Light Infantry Division

The textbook organization of an infantry division has nine infantry bnattalionsin

three brigades, with an air cavalry brigade,an artillery brigade an engineer battalion, an Air Defense Artillery (ADA)battalion, a signal battalion, and a military intelligence battalion.

The air cavalry has an attack battalion of twenty four OH-58D helicopters in threecompanies of eight each,a ground cavalry troop of thirteen HMMWVs armed with 40 mm grenade launchersand .50 cal. heavy machine guns, eight with TOW,and an air cavalry troop of eight more OH-58Ds. An air assault battalion would havethirty-eight (38) UH-60 helicopters and three EH-60 helicopters.Eight of the UH-60s are for command use, 30 for assault, and the EG-60s are for

Comabt Electronic Warfare and Intelligence.

The artillery brigade has three battalion of eighteen M-119 105 mm towed howitzerseach, and a battery of six M-198 155 mm towed howitzers.This is using the Division XXI standardised artillery battery of six platforms perbattery.

The ADA battalion has three batteries of 12 Avenger units each. The Avengersystem uses a HMMWV as itsmobility vehicle and the Stinger

SAM as its main weapon.

Division equipment totals are:

Grenade Launcher, 40mm, M203 585

Machine Gun, Cal 50,Flex 135

Machine Gun, Grenade 40MM, MK-19 126

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Machine Gun, 5.56 MM M249 648

Mortar, 60 MM 54

Mortar, 81 MM, M252 54*

AntiTank Set, Command Launch Unit (Javelin) 162

Truck, Util, TOW Carrier, ARM 188*

OH-58D helicopters 32

UH-60 helicopters 38

M-119 105 mm towed howitzers 54

M-198 155 mm towed howitzers 6

Avenger 36

Manpower totals are: 10,813 officers and men

*Author note: If the 1987 FM 7-91 is used then there are only forty-four (44)TOW launchers, and thirty-six (36) 81 mm mortars.

The TO&E website has variations for light infantry units, and there is lackof clear designation to me. This could in fact show an airborneor airmobile TO&E, they do have a full TOW company assigned to each battalion.However this could be an updated version of the true "leg" battalion.after the realization that it was too light to survive an encounter with anykind of mechanized force.

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All content 2002 Ravi Rikhye. Reproduction in any form prohibited without express permission.