Section (military unit)
| Military organization | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Typical units | Typical numbers | Typical commander |
| fireteam | 3–4 | corporal |
|
squad/ section |
8–12 | sergeant |
| platoon | 15–30 | lieutenant |
| company | 80–150 | captain/major |
|
battalion/ cohort |
300–800 | lieutenant colonel |
|
regiment/ brigade |
2,000–4,000 |
colonel/ brigadier general |
|
division/ legion |
10,000–15,000 | major general |
| corps | 20,000–40,000 | lieutenant general |
| field army | 80,000+ | general |
| army group | 2+ field armies |
field marshal/ five-star general |
|
region/ theater |
4+ army groups | Six-star rank |
A section is a military sub-subunit. It usually consists of between six and 20 personnel, and is usually an alternate name for, and equivalent to, a squad. As such two or more sections usually make up an army platoon or an air force flight.
However, in the French Army and in armies based on the French model, a section is equivalent to a platoon.
Under the new structure of the infantry platoon, sections are made up of eight men divided into two four-man fireteams. Each fireteam consists of a team leader (corporal/lance-corporal), a marksman with enhanced optics, a grenadier with an M203 and an LSW operator with an F89 Minimi light support weapon.
Typical fire team structure:
At the start of World War I, the Australian Army used a section that consisted of 27 men including the section commander, who was a non-commissioned officer holding the rank of sergeant.
During World War II, a rifle section comprised ten soldiers with a corporal in command and a lance-corporal as his second-in-command. The corporal used an M1928 Thompson submachine gun, while one of the privates used a Bren gun. The other eight soldiers all used No.1 Mk.3 Lee–Enfield rifles with a bayonet and scabbard. They all carried two or three No.36 Mills bomb grenades.
Post–World War II, and indicative for the Vietnam War, a rifle section consisted of ten personnel comprising: a command & scout group (three people – two sub-machineguns/M16A1 and a L1A1 SLR); a gun group (three people – an M60 machine gun and two L1A1 SLRs) and a rifle group (four people – L1A1 SLRs).
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Wikipedia