Newsgroups: sci.military Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: Adam Frankl Subject: Definitions please? Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Date: Tue, 20 Nov 90 01:51:41 GMT Approved: military@att.att.com Message-ID: <1990Nov20.015141.23831@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Lines: 48 From: Adam Frankl >>From: richk@tera.com (Richard Korry) >Just a quick question. How do the following unit types differ? >Cavalry and Armored Cavalry? >Armored Cavalry and (just plain) Armor >Airborne and Airborne (Air Assault) >And also, does the 1st Air Cavalry that fought in VietNam still operate as >"Air Cavalry" or is it now just "Cavalry". And will they get to ride camels >this time (:-))? > rich The differences between these units come from their missions and their equipment. The basic tasks of cavalry units are reconnaissance and security. Cavalry units are combined arms teams consisting of a combination of air cavalry and armored cavalry. For example, an ACR (Armored Cavalry Regiment) consists of 3 Armored Cavalry Squadrons + 1 Air Cavalry Squadron + misc support. Divisional Cavalry units usually consist of 1 squadron which has 2 armored cavalry troops + 2 air cavalry troops. Armored cavalry troops contain a mix of tanks and cavalry fighting vehicles. Air cavalry troops contain a mix of scout and attck helicopters. BTW, troop == company squadron == battalion regiment == brigade The 1st Cavalry division is not really "cav", it just maintains the historic name. It is organized as an armored division. The U.S. Army has three Armored Cavalry Regiments: the 3rd in Saudi Arabia, The 2nd on it way from Europe to Saudi Arabia, and the 11th in Germany. ACRs are usually attached directly to a corps HQ. Airborne units deploy by parachute. Air Assault units deploy by helicopter. Adam Frankl 1LT IN U.S. Army