Military Organization: Strategizing the Alpha to Omega, The Dynamics of 21st Century Force Structures

By Fouad Sabry

What is Military Organization

Military organization (AE) or military organisation (BE) is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to use hierarchical forms.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Military Organization

Chapter 2: Defence Forces of Georgia

Chapter 3: Kuwait Military Forces

Chapter 4: Army of North Macedonia

Chapter 5: United States Armed Forces

Chapter 6: Portuguese Armed Forces

Chapter 7: Battalion

Chapter 8: Military rank

Chapter 9: Brigade

Chapter 10: Corps

(II) Answering the public top questions about military organization.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Military Organization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 31, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Military organization

The structure of a state's armed forces in order to provide the military capacity that a national security policy may require is known as military organization. Although not considered military, paramilitary groups are sometimes a part of a country's armed forces. While conventional military organizations typically adopt hierarchical formations, armed forces that are not affiliated with military or paramilitary organizations, such as insurgent forces, frequently imitate or use these structures.

With the Roman Army, defined ranks in a hierarchical organization became widely used.

In the contemporary era, governments often exercise executive control, management, and administration over military organizations through a government department within the framework of public administration, which is frequently referred to as a ministry of defense or department of defense. These in turn oversee military branches that direct formations and troops with a focus on fighting, combat support, or combat-service support.

In democracies, an elected political figure who serves as a member of the government's cabinet and is commonly referred to as the minister of defense exercises the executive control that is typically civilian or partially civilian over the national military organization. The president is the commander-in-chief under presidential systems like the one in the United States, while the defense minister in the cabinet is second in command. Secretaries for particular important operational divisions of the entire armed forces, such as those that offer general support services to the soldiers, including their dependents, are frequently subordinate to that office.

Then there are the leaders of particular departmental agencies, who are in charge of managing and providing particular skill- and knowledge-based services like strategic advising, capability development assessments, military scientific research, and technology design and development. Administrative branches responsible for further agency business specialization work can be found inside each departmental agency.

Army, Navy, and Air Force are the three military branches (sometimes known as services, armed services, or military service) that make up the majority of nations' armed forces.

The traditional paradigm of three basic military branches has varied in several nations. Additionally, several countries set up their space force, marines, cyber force, emergency service, medical service, military logistics, and special forces like commandos or airborne forces as separate armed services. Although in many countries border guard or coast guard is a civil law enforcement organization, a country's border guard or coast guard may also be an independent arm of its military. Many nations lack a navy due to geographical constraints.

The cultures of the various branches of the armed services can vary greatly in bigger military forces.

The majority of smaller nations have a single organization that unites all of their armed forces. While affluent countries' armies often have larger formations with expensive equipment and only a small percentage of people in infantry units, armies of underdeveloped countries typically consist mostly of infantry.

A joint force is a unit or formation that represents the combat capabilities of two or more military branches in western militaries.

Gendarmeries, military police, and security forces, including equivalents like paramilitary forces, militia, internal troops, and police tactical unit similar, are an internal security service that is common in most of the world but uncommon in nations with a history of English common law where civil police are used to enforce the law and there are strict limitations on how the armed forces may be used to assist are employed to enforce the law.

The terms commands, formations, and units are frequently used, at least among the militaries of Europe and North America.

A command is a group of military units and formations that are under the direction of a single officer, while in the Second World War, the US Army used the term command to refer to a combat group. It is typically a strategic administrative and executive headquarters that reports to the national military headquarters or the national government. Although it is typical for each of a country's services to have its own command (for example, the Belgian Army's Land Component, Air Component, Naval Component, and Medical Component), this does not rule out the formation of commands that are not based on a nation's services.

The US Department of Defense defines a formation as two or more aircraft, ships, or troops moving together under a commander. Pakfront, Panzerkeil, Testudo Formation, and other examples of formation are used in this context.

A typical unit is a homogeneous military organization (either combat, combat support, or non-combat in capacity), consisting mostly of service members from a single branch or arm of the service, and having self-contained administrative and command responsibilities. Any unit that reports to another unit is referred to as that unit's minor or subordinate unit. Unit and formation are frequently used interchangeably in American culture. Smaller groups like battalions aren't formed in the Commonwealth of Nations; instead, they're referred to as units, and the platoons or companies that make them up are termed sub-units. Formations of the Commonwealth include divisions, brigades, etc.

The same name may be used to refer to several organizational types by various armed forces, including different branches of service within those armed forces. The squadron is one illustration. A squadron is a structure of multiple ships in most navies, a unit in most air forces, a cavalry battalion in the U.S. Army, and a company-sized sub-unit in Commonwealth armies.

The U.S. Army Force Management Support Agency publishes a table of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) that specifies the structure, personnel, and equipage of units down to divisional size, as well as the headquarters of Corps and Armies.

Additionally, it offers details regarding a unit's capabilities, objective, and present status. In contrast to a specific unit, a general TOE is applicable to a type of unit (such as infantry) (the 3rd Infantry Division). This way, all troops within a branch (like infantry) adhere to the same structural principles.

The terminologies used to define army hierarchy in armed forces around the world are summarized in the following table. While it is acknowledged that many countries' militaries differ from one another, many are based on either the British or American models, or both. However, numerous military formations and units have a lengthy history and were developed by various military theorists throughout European history.

For instance, during the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon created the modern Corps as a more adaptable tactical grouping of two or more divisions for the first time in France around 1805.

This ladder allows for the skipping of rungs; normally, NATO forces skip from battalion to brigade. In addition, different armies and nations may use traditional names, which can cause a lot of confusion. For instance, an American cavalry squadron (battalion) is divided into troops (companies) and platoons, whereas a British or Canadian armored regiment (battalion) is divided into squadrons (companies) and troops (platoons). According to the French system, which is employed by many African nations, the company is organized into sections (platoons) made up of three groupes de combat (combat groups) of seven soldiers each, as well as a group of vehicle crews and an HQ with two snipers.

Army, army group, region, and theater are all sizable units that differ greatly in size and hierarchy position between armed forces. Historically, support units including field artillery, hospitals, logistics, and maintenance were introduced to the unit organization at the divisional level. However, since World War II, many brigades have these support units, and since the 1980s, regiments have also been acquiring support units. In US military jargon, a regiment with such support components is referred to as a regimental combat team, or a battlegroup in the UK and other forces. The combat team—a company of infantry reinforced by tanks, a squadron of tanks reinforced by infantry, or a full company of infantry combined with a full squadron of tanks—is another component of Canadian Army doctrine.

The Red Army employed the same fundamental organizational design during World War II. A division of the early-WWII Red Army would have been around the size of most nations' regiments or brigades. However, many units were severely weak in the beginning and their size was really one step lower on the ladder that is generally employed elsewhere. The Red Army's term for the top of the food chain—what other countries would refer to as an army group—is a front. The German Wehrmacht army groups, notably on the Eastern Front, such as Army Group Center, however, substantially outnumbered the aforementioned figures and were more in tune with the Soviet Strategic Directions during the same period.

The flotilla level and above of naval organization are less frequently observed because ships operate in smaller or bigger groupings in a variety of scenarios that can alter at any time. However, there is certain terminology that is used consistently among fleets to convey the overall idea of how many warships may be in a unit.

For a specific purpose—usually strategic—navies are typically grouped into groups. These organizational groupings constantly change depending on the demands and circumstances placed on a navy. In contrast, army organizations have static units that use the same personnel and equipment for extended periods of time.

With the exception of ceremonial or honorary appointments, the five-star posts of admiral of the fleet and fleet admiral have mainly been out of regular use since the 1990s. Currently, an admiral of either four-star rank or three-star rank depending on relative size commands both blue-water and green-water navies. Rear-admirals (two-star rank), commodores (one-star rank), or even captains are in charge of smaller naval units, such as the Royal New Zealand Navy, or fleets that serve as coast guards.

Captains are often in charge of aircraft carriers. A captain or commander is normally in charge of submarines and destroyers. Most destroyers are often led by officers with the rank of commander, especially smaller destroyers like frigates (formerly known as destroyer escorts). Officers with the rank of commander or lieutenant-commander are in charge of corvettes, the smallest type of warship. Lieutenants, sublieutenants, or warrant officers are typically in charge of auxiliary ships like gunboats, minesweepers, patrol boats, military riverine vessels, tenders, and torpedo boats. Typically, the rank of the ship's commander decreases with vessel size. For instance, ensigns are frequently in charge of patrol boats, whereas commanders are almost never in charge of frigates.

In the past, navies had much more strict organizational structures. Divisions of ships were gathered into numbered squadrons, which in turn were gathered into numbered fleets. A written approval would be required before a vessel could leave one unit and join another.

The carrier strike group and the expeditionary strike group are just two examples of the conventional groupings of boats that make up the contemporary U.S. Navy.

Additionally, a single ship maintains naval organization. The complement is organized into three or four departments (such as engineering and tactical), each of which has a number of divisions, and then there are work centers.

Different countries' air forces have different organizational structures: some, like the US Air Force and the Royal Air Force, are broken up into commands, groups, and squadrons, while others, like the Soviet Air Force, have a structure more like to the Army. The Air division is the arrangement used by the modern Royal Canadian Air Force between wings and the full air command. Canadian wings are made up of squadrons like the RAF.

A task force is a group that is assembled temporarily for a particular operational goal. In addition to administrative hierarchical organizational structures that have developed since the early 17th century in Europe, fighting forces have been grouped for specific operational purposes into mission-related organizations, such as the German Kampfgruppe or the U.S. Combat Team (Army) and Task Force (Navy) during the Second World War, or the Soviet Operational Manoeuvre Group during the Cold War. During the Second World War and the Cold War, the battlegroup became the standard way of organizing companies in the British and Commonwealth armies.

A Combined Task Force (CTF) would be such a temporary grouping within NATO that includes elements from more than one nation, a Joint Task Force (JTF) would be such a temporary grouping that includes elements from more than one armed service, and a Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) would be such a temporary grouping that includes elements from more than one armed service and more than one nation.

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Defence Forces of Georgia

The Defence Forces of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, sakartvelos tavdatsvis dzalebi (romanized), as well as Georgian Defense Forces (GDF), are Georgia's joint armed forces, charged with defending the country's independence, sovereignty, , and territorial constancy.

The Land Force is among them, Air Force, National Guard, along with Special Operations Forces.

The Georgian Minister of Defense oversees the Defense Forces, and the Chief of Defense Forces is directly in charge of them.

The first Georgian Republic created a formal military in 1918, and it remained in place until the republic was overthrown by Soviet Russian forces invading it in 1921. The government's decision of April 24, 1991, was the basis for the establishment of the contemporary Georgian military. The day of the Georgian military forces has been observed on 30 April since the first conscripts were called up for service in 1991.

The Georgian military has participated in significant international military operations, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as domestic wars, separatist conflicts, and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. One of the first former Soviet countries to join NATO Partnership for Peace in 1994 and Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) in 2004, Georgia has worked to bring its military up to NATO standards.

President Zviad Gamsakhurdia ordered the formation of the Defense Forces on December 20, 1990. Gamsakhurdia was ordered to halt creating the National Guard by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov in January 1991. For the first time in 70 years, Georgians took the oath of allegiance to the Georgian nation during the first