I guess Fort Carson got some new troops this week. I passed three busses with signs on their sides say "Welcome to Fort Carson, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd to none." Is this like a reinforced brigade, along the lines of a WW2 Combat Command, or what?

This web page has some information:


http://strategypage.com/articles/ibct_files/default.asp

Yes, a Brigade Combat Team is a reinforced infantry brigade. A BCT, will basically consist of 3 or more manuveuer battalions, 1 field artillery bn, 1 Forward support battalion, and possible other support units.

The one you mentioned is the 2 Brigade Combat Team, 2 Infantry Division.

Being a US Army Retiree, I used some of the restricted (non-public) US Army websites to check it out. What is happening is that 2 BCT, 2 ID has been transfered from Republic of Korea to Fort Carson, CO. The home of my former division, the great 7 Infantry Division. ]

FYI, curently personal have started to arrive there from Korea.

Hope this helps.

Roger for a more detailed answer. Mech Inf and Armor are very rarely straight outfits anymore. In my Tank battalion we had two Armor and one Infantry company.....when we went into combat....for admin purposes everything was kept pure. The infantry company sent a platoon of INF to the other two TNK companies Battalion level is called a TASK FORCE, Company---COMPANY TEAM My BDE in Germany was made up of 3 INF heavy and 2 TNK heavy task forces(the heavy being more tank or infantry companies in unit)we also had a dedicated battalion of Artillery and a company of engineers from the engineer battalion..combat service support , etc (as we called 'em the ash and trash units)

The following is a breakdown of a typical BCT deployed by the Philippines to the Korean War in the 50s'.


BCT

(51 officers-812 men)

*Tank Company

* Recon Company

*105mm Artillery Battery

1x BHQ

1x HQ Company

3x Infantry Companies

1x Combat Support Company(9-147)

- 4x 4.2 inches Mortars
- 10x 81mm Mortars
- 3x 106mm RR
- 35x 3.5inch RL
- 3x HMG
- 22x MMG
- 60x LMG

****

Rifle Company

HQ: 2 Officers, 17 Enlisted men

HW Platoon: 1 Officer, 35 Enlisted Men

- 3x 81mm
- 2x 75mm RR
- 2x 3.5inch

3 Rifles Platoons

HQ: 1 Officer 2 Enlisted Men

Heavy Weapons Squad: 9 Men

- 2x MMG
- 1x 3.5 inch RL

Rifle Squads: 9 Enlisted Men

- 2x BARS
- 2x M1s with GLs
- 5x M1 rifles
*******************************************************

Hope it helps.

from what ive read above it seems a Brigade Combat Team is practically the same as a British battlegroup, but at Brigade level-rather than battalion.

although BCT seems a strange name for such a large formation. the word team implies a small unit to me

regards

joe

Here's a good site with lots of info on the BCTs and where they will be stationed: http://www.army.mil/modularforces/

Basically, brigades will become autonomous units -- divisions really cease to exist except as a command and control element. During a deployment, a division HQ might be over several BCTs, none of which might even wear the same patch as the controlling division.