Tarrant in Rumours mentions both armies and fleets when he calls Servalan High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets and Lord General of the Six Armies. Grose was a Section Leader in the Fifth Legion, an army thing rather than naval (Legion in the Roman military was land-based), and the rank of Colonel (held by Grose's commanding officer Astrid) does not occur in naval lists.
According to an online dictionary, the various units in an army are defined as follows:
Squad. The smallest tactical unit of military personnel. Section. An army tactical unit smaller than a platoon and larger than a squad. *Platoon. A subdivision of a company of troops consisting of two or more squads or sections, usually commanded by a lieutenant. Company. A subdivision of a military regiment or battalion that constitutes the lowest administrative unit. It is usually under the command of a captain and is made up of at least two platoons. *Battalion. An army unit typically consisting of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar subunits. *Regiment. A military unit of ground troops consisting of at least two battalions, usually commanded by a colonel. Brigade. A military unit consisting of a variable number of combat battalions or regiments.
Asterisked units are not mentioned in B7.
Commander Escon suggests a small number for the size of a squad in Seek ("We have the whole area circled; squads on every roof, disruptors with wide firing ..."). In the fourth episode, there are four Guardians in the time squad (unless the title refers to Cally, Blake, Vila & Avon on Saurian Major). There are four in Sleer's squad in Gold. There are five in the squad Major Greenlee despatches.
There were six members in the squads in The Way Back and Bounty, and of course in Blake's. Six is the more common number of Troopers in a squad. The capacity of a T-16 Troop Transporter, judging by the three rooms shown in Moloch, is between thirty and 40. Assuming this is enough for one Section, a Section would contain six squads of six troopers each (either inclusive or exclusive of the squad leader).
Dayna mentions "a full Company of troops" in Animals without giving an idea as to its size. Colonel Astrid should be over a regiment but B7 doesn't mention regiments. It presumably has given him a Legion. A Brigade Commander is mentioned in Moloch but in such a way as to suggest it is under a Colonel, and therefore smaller than a regiment / legion:
from Moloch Servalan: Section Leader Grose, what happened to Colonel Astrid? Grose: Colonel Astrid, he met with an accident. Servalan: And his second-in-command? Grose: He met with an accident, too. Lector: Yeah, it was a very bad time for accidents. Servalan: I see. And you assumed full command? Grose: Of course, the demands of duty. I was next in line. Servalan: You were just a Section Leader aboard a flagship, serving under two pilot Captains and a Brigade Commander. Did they all meet with accidents too?
Servalan's thinking here is that Grose was not next in line. The pilot captains and a brigade commander are ranks between Colonel Astrid's and Section Leader Grose's. Also, when brigade is mentioned by Avon in Pressure Point ("more efficient than any brigade of troops"), it suggests a number large enough to repel a small army (because Vila has said "Armies can't do it, space fleets can't do it, but we can, is that it?") but not larger.
The current ranks in the British Army and Navy are ordered like this: British Army Royal Navy *Field Marshal Admiral of the Fleet General Admiral (*) *Lieutenant-General *Vice Admiral *Major-General *Rear Admiral *Brigadier *Commodore Colonel Captain *Lieutenant-Colonel Commander Major Lieutenant Commander Captain Lieutenant Lieutenant *Sub-Lieutenant *Second Lieutenant *Midshipman
Admiral corresponds nicely with Fleet Warden General (eg. Old StarKiller). In the US Army, Major is above Captain and below Lieutenant Colonel. Majors Thania and Greenlee are presumed to be Majors Lieutenant. Colonel Astrid's second-in-command is likewise a Major, as well as presumably commanding a brigade.
The Federation Ground Force would look something like this:
A Squad Leader is over a squad of six Privates or Troopers (=6 T). A Section Leader is over a Section of six Squads (=36 T). A Lieutenant is over a Platoon of six Sections (=216 T). A Captain is over a Company of six Platoons (=1296 T). A Major is over a Brigade of six Companies (=7776 T). A Colonel is over a Legion of six Brigades (=279,936 T). A General is over an Army of six Legions (=1,679,616 T). The Supreme Commander is over six Armies (=10,077,696 T)
This makes 10,077,696 Troopers in the Federation Ground Forces before Star One (not counting squad leaders, section leaders, sub-commanders, unit commanders, sergeants, and officers).
Assuming a Federation of two hundred planets with six million citizens each, that is a ratio of 1,200 m to 10 m, or 120 citizens to every Trooper. The alien fleet contained 600 ships and the battle with them cost the Federation its military machine. Each ship killed an average of over 16,000 Terran Troopers. Whether these figures argue for or against the other figures mentioned above, I cannot say.
At the height of the Cold War a couple of decades ago, the four largest armies were maintained by China, Vietnam, USSR, USA, each having over a million troops (in rough figures). A ten million-strong Federation Ground Force ruling half the civlised worlds seems small in comparison.
However, Legion, according to the dictionary, was "the major unit of the Roman army consisting of 3,000 to 6,000 infantry troops and 100 to 200 cavalry troops." In comparison, Colonel Astrid's Fifth Legion seems massively over-sized at 280,000 Troops.
Any comments?
DC
http://www.dictionary.com/ http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/people/ http://hermit.org/Blakes7/SevenCyc/T.html (Troopers) http://tezcatlipoca.algonet.se/cgi-bin/getbyid.pl?id=14387 http://tezcatlipoca.algonet.se/cgi-bin/getbyid.pl?id=25766
Good day all,
I'll snip most of this posting for brevity, then post some observations.
----- Original Message ----- From: seven@gaudaprime.com To: blakes7@lists.lysator.liu.se Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 1:22 PM Subject: [B7L] What was the Size of the Fifth Legion - 280,000 T?
Tarrant in Rumours mentions both armies and fleets when he calls Servalan High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets and Lord General of the Six Armies. Grose was a Section Leader in the Fifth Legion, an army thing rather than naval (Legion in the Roman military was land-based), and the rank of Colonel (held by Grose's commanding officer Astrid) does not occur in naval lists.
<snip> Relative ranks and unit sizes probably wobble about over time, depending on the whims and fancies of commanding officers and political requirements. For one example, during World War One, fighter pilots were largely junior officers, during WW2, there were Sargent pilots and in modern times seems like colonels are expected to fly combat missions. Several nations have divided their armed forces into sub units called armies, even if they are not all strictly ground troopers. Secondly, as far as I can tell, the ratio of support troops to combat troops increases with the level of technological sophistication of the army, and there is probably a corresponding decrease in the combat effectiveness of support troops if they are forced into combat. In all probability, the bulk of the combat strength of the Federation ground troopers probably came from a relatively small front line force backed by a much larger support force. Finally, like the Nazis and the Soviets, there would likely have been different bodies of troops, all nominally ground troopers, under various different power structures within the Federation. Besides the "Regulars" under the direct control of Servalan as Supreme Commander, the Federation Space Navy might have had some "Marines" attached permanently to star ships and bases, the 'civil' administration would have had "Police" units, Federation governors, their own private armies, etc, all theoretically under the command of the Supreme Commander, though practically, such cooperation depended on the relationship between Servalan and the local commanders.
To conclude, the Six Armies in Tarrant's reference may have been an antiquated title, may have referred to only part of the Federation armed forces, such as the Home Guard of Earth which may have special historical meaning, or that the term army, is being used to refer to all military units from or in a given territory.
I hope that all makes some sort of sense,
Catch you later, Walter Minne
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sevenīŧ gaudaprime.com -
Walter Minne