There,s 1 thing you have to keep in mind about that, the DO Squad Ldr is being trained to handle up to 6 additional Marines as attachments, depending on the mission.
You have to remember that in the mindset of mission flexibility the 12man squad(C2 & 2xFTs) is just a base. A Marine BN Weapons Co is huge, there,s more than enough MG/Assault/Mortarmen to beef up the squads when missions dictate.
There,s also talk of attaching CI/HumInt, UAV, and SigInt Dets to the Squads, the potential Task List is long.
That C2 capability is necessary to be able to operate in those various formations for those missions.
Also the DO squad will not always operate in that structure, which is why they designed no changes to the DO Plts T/O and Personnel. Making it able to switch back & forth btw DO and Traditional Structure depending on the mission.
The argument seems to boil down to two general arguments; size of the rifle squad and how it is to be equipped.
As for size we have the universal truth from General Gray and already posted: "I never saw a hill captured by a TO platoon."
If we accept that even by chance you go into battle with a full strength squad attrition over time will not leave it that way. So look at it this way: If you start out with a 13 man Squad and attrition reduces by 1/3rd you still have a 9 man squad. If you start out with a 9 man squad then you are down to 6 with same rate of attrition.
Another factor in the large squads favor is the distribution of the load they have to carry. If you make GPMGs or other weapons part of the squad TO&E or attach them it means more ammunition and equipment that must be hauled around by the squad. The Marines of today are already carrying around more than I had to. A reduced squad leaves fewer bodies to spread that burden to.
If distributed Ops are in the future you can look to large squads anyway either through an increased TO&E or more likely through attachments. A large 3 Fire Team Squad lends itself to adaptation to DO with its 3 Fire team leaders than does a smaller squad.
I think you need to keep some sort of consolidation and control of key weapon systems, instead of spreading them out.
By spreading them out too far you run the risk of repeating the mistakes of the allies in 1940 France. The French had plenty of tanks and anti-tank weapons but they spread them out so everybody had some tank/anti-tank support but nobody had enough.
Instead of giving our squads a GPMG we need to replace the light machinegun they already have (M-249) with a true squad automatic rifle. The M-249 has already proven less than perfect for room clearing/house to house combat. Many M-249 gunners pick up lighter, easier to handle weapons when going into buildings. An M-240G will not be any easier to handle.
Instead I favor an organization tested by the Marine Corps: The SAWS are pulled from the Rifle Squads and replaced with a Squad Automatic rifle such as the Colt AR or the Ultimax 100. One of the three platoon Rifle Squads is then converted to a weapons squad with M-249s used in a role they are really designed for -Light machineguns. I would go a step further and add SMAWS to the weapons squad or perhaps three 3 man LMG teams (necessary for carrying the spare barrel tripod and ammo) along with two 2-man SMAW teams. Or perhaps keep the Squad members level of training so they can be easily equipped with either the M-249 or SMAWS depending on METT-T.
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