Standard Marine Platoon Sorting and Structure

[Nightmare2125]

So I've seen that the suggestions are locked down for some reason, so this is somewhat of a suggestion, followed by realistic US Marine Rifle Squad based structure. I always look at this from the view point from my 6 years in the Marine Corps, so it'll be similar, but also somewhat different.

Platoon Level

Platoon Leader (O-1 2Lt/O-2 1Lt): The Platoon Leader takes his orders from Company Command, however NOT Company Gunny/1Sgt. The Platoon Leader will either lead his Men over Comms, using grid Coordinates. Or in the field.

Platoon Sergeant (E-6 SSgt/E-7 GySgt): Platoon Sergeants take their orders from the Platoon Leader, His job is mainly to relay PTLs orders or give orders if the PTL is unavailable or incapacitated.

Squad Level

Squad Leader (E-5 Sgt/E-6 SSgt): The Squad Leader takes his orders from the Platoon Leader and or Platoon Sergeant depending on who's in charge. Squad Leads will lead their men head first into battle, giving direct orders and leading by example. The Squad Leader, unlike the Platoon Leader, will most likely have years of experience under his belt and is highly capable of leading his 12 Marines and 1 Corpsman.

Squad Corpsman (E-3 HM3/E-2 HM2): The Corpsman takes his Orders from the Squad Leader and is the next in line for Leadership if in a medical emergency. Corpsmen are taken from the US Navy because Marines don't have a field medical training school. He/She is an expert in the field of medicine and should be relied on just as much as the Squad Leader.

Fireteam Level

Fireteam Leader[FTL] (E-4 Cpl): The FTL is a new or seasoned NCO in the Marines, he's been appointed his first command as a Team Leader. In the Marines, we called these guys Middle of Middle management, He or She will take orders from the Squad Leader or Corpsman if in a medical emergency.

AutoRifleman (E-3 LCpl): The Auto Rifleman is the most valued in the Marines when it comes to firepower, considering he carries the largest automatic rifle the Marines have to offer, his job is to Lay down suppressing fire for his fellow Marines in a case of bounding, retreat, or ingress.

Assistant AR (E-2 PFC/E-3 LCpl): The AAR as we call it, is a Rifleman with Machine Gun Ammo, that's it.

Rifleman (E-2 PFC/E-3 LCpl): The bread and butter of the Marine Corps. You should always and already know: Every Marine is a Rifleman. From the Commandant of the Marine Corps to the Newest Private fresh from boot and ITB. The Marines can be versatile in roles such as Look Out, Pointman, Ammo bearer, Grenadier, and just a regular Rifleman.

There are other positions that could be included, such as Platoon Radio Operator, Platoon Corpsman, and the Company Level structure if the server was ever looking to expand. In the case of how many Marines are in a Squad, the total number varies from what kind of Platoon it is, I've noticed that on the server, it's just a standard Rifle Platoon. So the answer is 14, 1 Squad Lead, 1 Corpsman(Medic), 3 Team Leaders, with 3 Marines under them. This obviously isn't something that NEEDS to go into the server, but if it does, it should be something that expands Job opportunities, roleplay and more of a respect for rank. This doesn't need to be used, I just wanted to post something on here to make sure you guys have some information from someone with a background in the Military. Thanks for reading everyone!

[Blade2000Br]

I am sure Apophis see this, he's eyes shiny from having another competent player in our marine wannabe game!

I think the idea is neat, but not sure how it could play out in-game since it should have some kind of balance. I mean, we are talking about samples of da real MVPs!
I would like this, however.

[Nightmare2125]

I am sure Apophis see this, he's eyes shiny from having another competent player in our marine wannabe game!

I think the idea is neat, but not sure how it could play out in-game since it should have some kind of balance. I mean, we are talking about samples of da real MVPs!
I would like this, however.

This was more of an RP and realism balancer. Since the Colonial Marines are the United States Marine Corps with a different name, you'd figure if the writers of Aliens were prior Marines, they'd balance the Marines as such. To my knowledge, the only prior Marine was Al Matthews who played Sergeant Apone. Honestly, if there were to be only ONE change, I'd say it should be the name change from Medic to Corpsman, considering as I said before, we never had any medics in the Marines, we took our medical from the Navy and they called them Corpsman.

[Gookamungus]

Yeah, the marines not having corpsmen grinds me a bit. Everything else fits in more or less neatly.

[Nightmare2125]

Yeah, the marines not having corpsmen grinds me a bit. Everything else fits in more or less neatly.

Yeah, I didn't really think there needed to be this huge change, it's more of a realistic standpoint vs. Si-Fi which would never win hahaha. But if we are calling ourselves Marines, it's more of a courtesy to Actual Marines like myself to at least get our medical personnel's titles correct.

[LordLoko]

This has been suggested some times before.

Platoon organization, Gunnery sergeants and whatnot. I don't think they were ever denied but they usually get forgotten and get autodenied for lack of activity.

[4thsurviver]

I imagine we use the term medic for ease of access. Everyone knows what a medic is but not everyone knows what a corpsman is and will read it as corpse man.

I got this from the AVP wiki. The Citations go to the Aliens:Colonial Marines Technical Manual. I guess if we did do platoon organization it would be more like this rather than the real marines. Oddly enough it doesn't say anything about Corpsmen even though Dietrich was one in Aliens.
http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/United_States ... rine_Corps
Rifle Platoon
The organization of the rifle platoons represents the USCM doctrine of small, autonomous infantry units capable of independent action on a non-linear battlefield.[6] The platoon commander, a lieutenant, is assisted by one or two Synthetics as technical and scientific advisers, medics and drivers. The platoon is divided into two sections, which are further divided into two squads of four Marines each. Each section is led by a sergeant and includes a driver for the M577 Armored Personnel Carrier. In addition, during Drop operations each section is assigned a UD-4 Dropship from the aerospace company team. Including the platoon commander and crews for the dropships and APCs, a full-strength rifle platoon would number twenty-five Marines, though in practice the platoon often operates with fewer personnel.[6]

Squads
The rifle squad consists of four Marines: a Corporal, a Lance Corporal, and two Privates/Privates First Class. The squad is broken up into two fireteams, the Rifle Team and the Gun Team. The Rifle Team consists of two riflemen armed with M41A Pulse Rifles, while the Gun Team consists of a gunner armed with the M56 Smartgun and a rifleman armed with a M41.[7]

[Nightmare2125]

I imagine we use the term medic for ease of access. Everyone knows what a medic is but not everyone knows what a corpsman is and will read it as corpse man.

I got this from the AVP wiki. The Citations go to the Aliens:Colonial Marines Technical Manual. I guess if we did do platoon organization it would be more like this rather than the real marines. Oddly enough it doesn't say anything about Corpsmen even though Dietrich was one in Aliens.
http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/United_States ... rine_Corps
Rifle Platoon
The organization of the rifle platoons represents the USCM doctrine of small, autonomous infantry units capable of independent action on a non-linear battlefield.[6] The platoon commander, a lieutenant, is assisted by one or two Synthetics as technical and scientific advisers, medics and drivers. The platoon is divided into two sections, which are further divided into two squads of four Marines each. Each section is led by a sergeant and includes a driver for the M577 Armored Personnel Carrier. In addition, during Drop operations each section is assigned a UD-4 Dropship from the aerospace company team. Including the platoon commander and crews for the dropships and APCs, a full-strength rifle platoon would number twenty-five Marines, though in practice the platoon often operates with fewer personnel.[6]

Squads
The rifle squad consists of four Marines: a Corporal, a Lance Corporal, and two Privates/Privates First Class. The squad is broken up into two fireteams, the Rifle Team and the Gun Team. The Rifle Team consists of two riflemen armed with M41A Pulse Rifles, while the Gun Team consists of a gunner armed with the M56 Smartgun and a rifleman armed with a M41.[7]

True, maybe if I'm more open minded, over 100+ years have passed from now to then, maybe the Marine Corps opened a field medical school within that amount of time. But when Aliens was first made, it was the 80s, so either they didn't know shit about the Marines and just thought it was a cool name, or they knew a lot about the Marines and knew they had to tweak it. Also, keep in mind, we are on a USS Naval vessel (Almayer) If you look at the Wiki, there are Navy Ranks from O-1 Ensign, to O-10 Fleet Admiral. So is there a good reason why there isn't Enlisted Navy Ranks for the Doctors, Surgeons, And Corpsman? Or are they really basing it off of "People are stupid and don't know shit"?

[4thsurviver]

True, maybe if I'm more open minded, over 100+ years have passed from now to then, maybe the Marine Corps opened a field medical school within that amount of time. But when Aliens was first made, it was the 80s, so either they didn't know shit about the Marines and just thought it was a cool name, or they knew a lot about the Marines and knew they had to tweak it. Also, keep in mind, we are on a USS Naval vessel (Almayer) If you look at the Wiki, there are Navy Ranks from O-1 Ensign, to O-10 Fleet Admiral. So is there a good reason why there isn't Enlisted Navy Ranks for the Doctors, Surgeons, And Corpsman? Or are they really basing it off of "People are stupid and don't know shit"?

Looking into it even more on the AVP wiki seems to be that the ship would be run the United States Aerospace Force which is a hybrid of the air force and navy. So I have no idea how the ranks would actually work. I just imagine they did they best they could adapting a 1980's fictional future military force that we only see one squad of to a game that would show them in a larger capacity. Looking at the wiki and comparing it to what you see in the movie is very jarring. It says in the wiki there would be an entire support platoon attached to the ship like what we have with Cargo and MTs and so on but in the movie the marines have to load their own gear themselves. So I guess we are basically doing our own thing and are free to base it off whatever we like including real marine organization.

[NoahKirchner]

Aliens universe marines =/= irl marines. The lore is convoluted but they're basically the army + navy to my understanding and only marines because they deploy from ship to land.

[Nightmare2125]

Aliens universe marines =/= irl marines. The lore is convoluted but they're basically the army + navy to my understanding and only marines because they deploy from ship to land.

I can see where that might be interpreted, But I only see 1 Air Force rank in there, being the TSgt, so that gives it a little bit of understanding, but every other rank is Marine ranks and Army ranks because Marines and Army use some of the same ranks. The only Marine rank I don't see in there is Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt), but I see Lance Corporal which is only used by Marines. So it kind of seems they took all 4 branches and stuffed them into 1 branch which I guess makes sense in the 2100s

[NoahKirchner]

I can see where that might be interpreted, But I only see 1 Air Force rank in there, being the TSgt, so that gives it a little bit of understanding, but every other rank is Marine ranks and Army ranks because Marines and Army use some of the same ranks. The only Marine rank I don't see in there is Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt), but I see Lance Corporal which is only used by Marines. So it kind of seems they took all 4 branches and stuffed them into 1 branch which I guess makes sense in the 2100s

It has a lot of different ranks from comic book to comic book and it's a pretty lazy approach.

I'd like to see some neater organization from cm though that'd be cool

[Nightmare2125]

It has a lot of different ranks from comic book to comic book and it's a pretty lazy approach.

I'd like to see some neater organization from cm though that'd be cool

Same, I feel like it gives more organization, and it would most likely help in the order of battle, no one really seems to know who are Team Leaders based on rank, so unexperienced people get placed in positions of power and screw everyone over.

[LordLoko]

Baystation12 has a neat thing that is a pin attached to your jumpsuit that shows your rank.

Example:

This is Ulysses Skyfall:
He's wearing a Marine jumpsuit with a Rank Pin (E-9 Sergeant Major)

Etc etc.

Now american paygrade rank is something simple, O is better then E and the higher the number the higher your rank. Unfortunately this would rather take some work and suggestions are closed for now.

From what I understand (Basically headcanon) the Colonial Marines seems to be more of force protecting the colonies then future version of the USMC. They are to work mostly independent from the other forces, that's why they operate their own ships without space navy (whatever the name is) support.

[Nightmare2125]

Baystation12 has a neat thing that is a pin attached to your jumpsuit that shows your rank.

Example:

This is Ulysses Skyfall:
He's wearing a Marine jumpsuit with a Rank Pin (E-9 Sergeant Major)

Etc etc.

Now american paygrade rank is something simple, O is better then E and the higher the number the higher your rank. Unfortunately this would rather take some work and suggestions are closed for now.

From what I understand (Basically headcanon) the Colonial Marines seems to be more of force protecting the colonies then future version of the USMC. They are to work mostly independent from the other forces, that's why they operate their own ships without space navy (whatever the name is) support.

True, guarding/protecting US/Ally territories is more of an Army job, with Marines, we are more like, conquer the area and let the Army hold onto it for us while we take more shit over. Thinking it over, it's super frustrating to think all the writers did for Aliens was take 2-3 totally different branches and mix them into 1.

[apophis775]

True, guarding/protecting US/Ally territories is more of an Army job, with Marines, we are more like, conquer the area and let the Army hold onto it for us while we take more shit over. Thinking it over, it's super frustrating to think all the writers did for Aliens was take 2-3 totally different branches and mix them into 1.

That's very wrong. In fact, during the Invasion of Iraq, the Marines played mostly a support role while the the Army moved forward and took ground (if you remember, it was the 3rd Infantry Division of the Army that took Baghdad 3 days after the invasion of the country started, then waited several days for the marines to catch up before they moved north).

The marines don't "take things and let the Army Hold them". In fact, in most recent major engagements it was the total opposite. Look at the Invasion of Iraq. Marines were initially deployed to Iraq at the request of Army General Tommy Franks as a support element to hold ground following the Army movements ahead of them.

Same with Afghanistan, General Franks lead the invasion with Army and CIA special forces controlled by USSOC and JSOC. Nearly every major engagement until Kandar Provice was a US Army engagement that had Marine Support. In around 2003, the Marine numbers began to grow, while the Army numbers lowered as the Army was pulled out in preparation for the Invasion of Iraq.

So, please stop with the normal Marine Ideology of "Marines go first, the Army just cleans up" because historically, it's almost always the exact opposite. Primarily because, the Marines don't have the same support systems the Army has, making it more difficult for them to function on the front lines out of range of Navy ships without using Army support systems. When they operate outside range of ships and leave the "area of influence" on the battlefield the Navy has, they almost always divert into control of the US Army. Look up the history of who commands USCENTCOM. In the last decade it was nearly all US Army Generals, with the exception of a Navy Admiral, and General Mattis from the USMC.

So, before you make "generalization" based on propaganda and posturing, lookup the actual history.

[Nightmare2125]

That's very wrong. In fact, during the Invasion of Iraq, the Marines played mostly a support role while the the Army moved forward and took ground (if you remember, it was the 3rd Infantry Division of the Army that took Baghdad 3 days after the invasion of the country started, then waited several days for the marines to catch up before they moved north).

The marines don't "take things and let the Army Hold them". In fact, in most recent major engagements it was the total opposite. Look at the Invasion of Iraq. Marines were initially deployed to Iraq at the request of Army General Tommy Franks as a support element to hold ground following the Army movements ahead of them.

Same with Afghanistan, General Franks lead the invasion with Army and CIA special forces controlled by USSOC and JSOC. Nearly every major engagement until Kandar Provice was a US Army engagement that had Marine Support. In around 2003, the Marine numbers began to grow, while the Army numbers lowered as the Army was pulled out in preparation for the Invasion of Iraq.

So, please stop with the normal Marine Ideology of "Marines go first, the Army just cleans up" because historically, it's almost always the exact opposite. Primarily because, the Marines don't have the same support systems the Army has, making it more difficult for them to function on the front lines out of range of Navy ships without using Army support systems. When they operate outside range of ships and leave the "area of influence" on the battlefield the Navy has, they almost always divert into control of the US Army. Look up the history of who commands USCENTCOM. In the last decade it was nearly all US Army Generals, with the exception of a Navy Admiral, and General Mattis from the USMC.

So, before you make "generalization" based on propaganda and posturing, lookup the actual history.

Dude, I lived it.

[apophis775]

Motherfucker, So did I, back when shit was getting real. 03-07.

Beyond spending years in the Military myself, I also work the veteran group at the college I teach at. I know how Marines constantly think they "lead the way" and are "superior" to the other branches, because that's what is drilled into them and taught. It's nearly all propaganda, meant to get you into a specific mindset.

[Nightmare2125]

Motherfucker, So did I, back when shit was getting real. 03-07.

Beyond spending years in the Military myself, I also work the veteran group at the college I teach at. I know how Marines constantly think they "lead the way" and are "superior" to the other branches, because that's what is drilled into them and taught. It's nearly all propaganda, meant to get you into a specific mindset.

Whatever you may think, I know what we did in Afganistan. I did 3 tours there from 2010 to 2016. And it wasn't anything like what you're saying it was. We fought, we moved, and we repeat. Now I don't know about our Mech, Armor, or Artty units, but I was MEU and we never stopped moving throughout Helmand, especially from Garmser and Dishu districts.

[apophis775]

Whatever you may think, I know what we did in Afganistan. I did 3 tours there from 2010 to 2016. And it wasn't anything like what you're saying it was. We fought, we moved, and we repeat. Now I don't know about our Mech, Armor, or Artty units, but I was MEU and we never stopped moving throughout Helmand, especially from Garmser and Dishu districts.

In peacekeeping operations, everyone just has sectors to control. But during the height of the war and the invasions, Marines followed the Army as they moved forward.

[Nightmare2125]

In peacekeeping operations, everyone just has sectors to control. But during the height of the war and the invasions, Marines followed the Army as they moved forward.

We never followed any Army unit. We were an Expeditionary unit. We moved from point A to point B and we did it fast.

[apophis775]

Because you had a sector to control, in conjunction with other units.

But you were working under General Nicholson, an ARMY general, who is in charge of all operations/forces in Iraq.

[Nightmare2125]

Because you had a sector to control, in conjunction with other units.

But you were working under General Nicholson, an ARMY general, who is in charge of all operations/forces in Iraq.

I was never under a "General Nicholson" during sector and rapid assault mission during my 3 tours, I was under General McChrystal of the US Army, General Allen of the US Marine Corps, and General Dunford of the US Marines. Those were the 3 US Generals that were the Commanders of ISAF during my time in. and throughout all 3 tours, my mission never changed as a Marine in the Marine Expeditionary Unit. Find and isolate pockets of insurgent locations and eliminate the threat. You might be thinking of a different Marine unit who was in charge of holding positions, but that wasn't the MEU, and neither was it the Recon units or Raider/MARSOC units. closest I could say who held position would have been Armor and Mechanized.

[Nightmare2125]

Shit if I had stayed in, I'd be in Syria right now with the rest of my unit.

[apophis775]

General McChrystal retired in June 2010.

General Nicholson is the commander of all Allied forces in Afghanistan. He's literally the Allied Land Commander for all of NATO. If you were operating in Afghanistan, your unit was under his command.