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A 'fireteam' is a small military unit of infantry. It is the smallest unit in the militaries that use it and is the primary unit upon which infantry organization is based in the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Air Force Security Forces, Canadian Forces, Australian Army and British Army. Fireteams generally consist of four or fewer soldiers and are usually grouped by two teams into a squad or section.
The concept of the fireteam is based on the need for tactical flexibility in infantry operations. A fireteam is capable of autonomous operations as part of a larger unit. Successful fireteam employment relies on quality small unit training for soldiers, experience of fireteam members operating together, sufficient communications infrastructure, and a quality non-commissioned officer corps to provide tactical leadership for the team.
These requirements have led to successful use of the fireteam concept by more professional militaries. It is less useful for armies employing massed infantry formations, or with significant conscription. Conscription makes fireteam development difficult, as team members are more effective as they build experience over time working together and building personal bonds.
The creation of effective fireteams is seen as essential for creating an effective professional military as they serve as a primary group. Psychological studies by the United States Army have indicated that the willingness to fight is more heavily influenced by the desire to defend and avoid a loss of face among other members of the fireteam and the squad than by abstract concepts. Historically, nations with effective fireteam organization have had significantly better performance from their infantry units in combat than those limited to operations by larger units.
In combat, while attacking or maneuvering, a fireteam generally spreads over a distance of 50 m, while in defensive positions the team can cover up to the range of its weapons or the limits of visibility, whichever is smaller. In open terrain, up to 500 m can be covered by an effective team, although detection range limits effectiveness beyond 100 m or so without special equipment. A team is effective so long as its primary weapon remains operational. A team is often reduced to only two men in combat.

Contents

National variations

United States Army

United States Marine Corps

Fireteam rush

British Army

Other nations

History

Variation

Fire and maneuver team

See also

External links

National variations

United States Army

The United States Army particularly emphasizes the fireteam concept, as do most special operations units.
A United States Army Rangers fireteam consists of four soldiers equipped with a personal weapon and special equipment based on position:

★ 'Team Leader': first in command, provides tactical leadership;

★ 'Grenadier (M203)': operates the grenade launcher;

★ 'Automatic Rifleman (M249 SAW)': provides suppressive fire for the fireteam;

★ 'Rifleman': carries communications equipment and covers the rear.

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps summarizes its fireteam organization with the mnemonic "ready-team-fire-assist", the following being the arrangement of the fireteam when in a column:

★ 'Rifleman': acts as a scout for the fireteam; called "Ready";

★ 'Team Leader (M203)': also works as the grenadier; called "Team";

★ 'Automatic Rifleman (M249 SAW)': also serves as second in command for the fireteam; called "Fire";

★ 'Assistant Automatic Rifleman': carries extra ammunition; called "Assist";

Fireteam rush

The United States Marine Corps fireteam is organized around the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. Upon receiving fire, the fireteam can organize in a methodical way to engage the enemy with fireteam "rushes". Fireteam rushes are movement by one part of the team during cover by fire by the other part of the team. Generally, first the Rifleman and Team Leader will move ahead, being covered by the Automatic and Assistant Automatic Riflemen, then the Automatic and Assistant Automatic Riflemen will move up to the Rifleman and Team Leader, being covered by the Rifleman and Team Leader. The process is repeated until no forward progress is possible without serious risk to the entire fireteam. This theoretically increases the safety of the team members during movement.
When finally upon the objective, the fireteam assumes a "hasty 180", where the Automatic Rifleman covers 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock (12 o'clock being the most likely avenue of enemy approach), with the Rifleman and Assistant Automatic Rifleman covering 9 to 11 and 1 to 3 respectively. The Team Leader is next to the Automatic Rifleman to complement his fire with grenade rounds and to assign targets for the M249. Once a frontal enemy counterattack is deemed unlikely, the fireteam then will assume a "consolidated 360" to ensure the flanks of the fireteam are protected. The position of Marines in the fireteam is sometimes called RTFA (Ready - Team - Fire - Assist) because of one of the fireteam formations that are possible.

British Army

The British Army also uses the fireteam. An infantry section of eight men contains two fireteams (Charlie and Delta), each comprising an NCO (Corporal or Lance-Corporal) and three Privates. The NCO will carry an SA80 with Under-slung Grenade Launcher, with one of the privates carrying an SA80 rifle, one an LMG (FN Minimi) and one an Light Support Weapon. In some units SOPs vary with one of the team members rather than the Fireteam Commander carrying the UGL.

Other nations

In the Canadian Army "fireteam" refers to two soldiers, with two fire teams forming a group and two groups forming a section of eight soldiers. Many other armed forces see the squad as the smallest military unit; some countries' armies have a "pair" consisting of two soldiers as the smallest military unit. In others a fireteam is composed of two pairs of soldiers (fire and maneuver team) forming a fireteam.

History

Fireteams have their origins in the early 20th century. From the Napoleonic War until World War I, military
tactics involved central control of large numbers of soldiers in mass formation where small units were given little initiative. This resulted in a trench warfare stalemate on the Western Front. In order to combat this stalemate, the Germans developed a doctrinal innovation known as infiltration tactics, in which small, autonomous teams would covertly penetrate Allied Forces lines. The Germans used their assault troops (''Stosstruppen'') organized into squads (''Kameradschaft'') at the lowest levels to provide a cohesive strike force in breaking through Allied lines. The British and Canadian troops on the Western Front started dividing platoons into sections after the Battle of the Somme in 1916. This idea was later further developed in World War II. In the inter-war years, United States Marine Corps Captain Evans F. Carlson went to China in 1937 and observed the Communist Chinese 8th Route Army in action against the Japanese invaders.
Carlson and Merritt Edson are believed to have developed the fireteam concept in the Nicaraguan campaign. At that time the U.S. Marine squad consisted on a Corporal and 7 Marines all armed with a bolt action M1903 Springfield rifle and an automatic rifleman armed with a Browning Automatic Rifle. With the introduction of close combat weapons such as the Thompson submachine gun and shotguns and the thick vegetation that could provide a quick overrun of a patrol, a team of 4 men armed with these weapons had more firepower and maneuverability than the standard 9 man squad. He later brought these ideas back to the U.S. when the country entered World War II. Under his command, the 2nd Marine Raider battalion were issued with the semiautomatic M-1 Rifle and was organized in the fireteam (although it was called firegroup) concept, 3 firegroups to a squad with a squad leader. A firegroup composed of a M1 Garand rifleman, a BAR and a submachine gunner. After sustaining severe wounds, Carlson was replaced and his battalion later disbanded and reorganized under conventional Marine doctrine of 10-man squads. Later, Carlson's fireteam concept was re-adopted.
Meanwhile, the Communist Chinese established the 3-man fireteam concept as the 3-man cell when they organized a regular army and its organization seemed to have been disseminated throughout all of Asia's communist forces. Perhaps the most famous of which are the PAVN/NVA (People's Army of Vietnam/North Vietnamese Army) and the Viet Cong.

Variation

Fire and maneuver team

A fire and maneuver team is the smallest unit above the individual soldier. It consists of two (2) soldiers with one soldier acting as senior of the two fighters (decided amongst the two or their superior). A fire team in turn consists of at least two fire and maneuver teams and a squad of two or more fireteams.
The concept is not widely utilized. The United States and most Commonwealth armies rely on the concept of fire teams forming a squad. In the Finnish Defense Forces squad is formed by four (4) fire and maneuver teams.
According to SoldF (Swedish Army field manual), a trained fire and maneuver team is as effective as four (4) ''individual'' soldiers of same quality. However, the efficiency of fire and maneuver team has been challenged by many experts as it has been claimed to be insufficient in close quarter situations where many fighting techniques have been designed for larger units, minimum three fighters.

See also

★ Infantry

★ Military science

External links

★ Fireteamleader.net: A resource for team leaders