Armored Infantry Leadership: How 6 Armies Do It

Other Platforms

Sources:
U.S. Army
• ATP 3-21.8: Infantry Platoon and Squad (2016)
• Consultation with servicemembers

British Army
• Pamphlet No. 1: The Infantry Company Group The Fundamentals (1998)
• Consultation with servicemembers

Swedish Army
• Consultation with servicemembers

French Army
• Consultation with servicemembers
• BASE DOCUMENTAIRE TACTIQUE À L’USAGE DES STAGIAIRES DE L’ÉCOLE D’ÉTAT-MAJOR (2017)

Dutch Army
• HB 7-35A Pantserinfanteriepeloton Gemechaniseerd (2016)
• Het pantserinfanteriepeloton CV9035NL by Kap B. van ’t Land (2011)
• Consultation with servicemembers

Danish Army
• “Mission Command i administrativ ledelse” (2021)

[jfgh]

Estonian CV9035 unit used to use the same structure as the Dutch at first. It makes sense because the vehicles were bought from the Dutch. Eventually they switched to the Danish system because the structure took too many fresh officers away from other units. There was an Dutch CV90 company in Estonia for a while and the Estonians restructured after them. It´s quite an interesting company structure with large HQ unit.

[MaxwellAerialPhotography]

I really like this format.
It would be neat to seem the same type of comparison for infantry, armour, and other more specialised platoons.

[MexiboyKevin]

I served in a Danish Armored Infantry platoon. I was the radiooperator assigned to the Deputy Leader of the Platoon. My role was to support the deputy leader in his contact with the Platoon sergeant in control of armored vehicles on dismount. I also experienced Platoon leaders who took more control of this depending on specific circumstances. Specifically the pre-planning of an operation. Mostly platoon leaders focus on the dismounted troops.

[LoertscherPhilippe-ypyo]

Great format 👍🏻 Switzerland who also operates the CV90(30CH) uses a similar approach to the Dutch 😉

[TheRandCrews]

Always wondered how Armored infantry works, saw the evolution one from M113 to Bradley’s. This is a good supplement, also wondering if 6-10 dismounted troops matter depending between vehicles. Nonetheless, mounted or dismounted leaders are a cool comparison.

[BarendJan]

Great, thanks! If anymore info is needed on Dutch armed forces in the future let me know

[happyboygogo]

I really love the side by side comparison videos! It would be great to see a more long form video comparing a bunch of the mechanized/motorized infantry you've already covered individually.

[ThatAdamIsMild]

So basically, the US Army version seems the least practical. Love this format.

[teaser]

Content where the Dutch armed forces are represented is always appreciated as a Dutch person :D
Could be interesting to maybe compare the differences of Marine forces of NATO nations, The Dutch Marines are one of the oldest Marine forces in the world.

[stormenper]

Great video! One thing tough: not sure if the vehicles are exacly comparable. The swedes (and maybe the Danes) have the option to open the fighting compartment hatches on top of the CV and allow four dismounts to fire all around the vehicle (in sweden this is called ”vagnsstrid” - you can se this in the video altough while not in combat) This allows the platoon to attack through terrain witch would otherwise require the infantry to dismount. Don’t know if this affects leadership orbat – would be interesting to know!

[cm]

Commenting for the algorithm and to get these numbers up. I like these videos on militaries you can’t seem to find as much info about.

[oddjonsson]

It is very uncommon for the swedish platoon leaders to dismount as it's usually not necessary. The close combat leader is usually a specialist-officer (equivalents to senior NCOs) with extensive knowledge on how to fight dismounted and specialist-officers and junior commissioned officers have parallel rank structures.
It's not uncommon to see platoon commanders, deputy platoon commanders and close combat leaders holding the same rank or ranks that are parallel with each other's for example a Översergeant (OR6) equivilate a Fänrik (OF1). They simply have different roles so one is in charge. In armoured infantry, the mounted element takes precedent over the dismounted

[jackncoke]

IMO the USMC has the best setup: the vehicles have dedicated crews who hold crewman MOSs while the infantry platoon does infantry things. I’ve been in the USMC and the USA and every second an infantryman spends fing around with a vehicle is a second he could be training to do his real job.

[VaultTecSalesman]

Great Video, the Canadian Army does something very similar to the British & Danish armies. The way it was described to me by infanteers at 1VP was that the LAV Sgt and the LAV Commanders really run the show while mounted, they get their orders from the Pl Comd but it's the LAV Sgt that picks formations, speeds, and deals with contacts until the infantry dismount. All in all a very busy position, not only does the LAV Sgt need to command his own LAV, dealing with fire orders and driver commands but he also needs to manage the other 3 vehicles in the platoon.

[Korporaal]

What's important is WHY the Dutch chose the approach of effectively having a double command structure at the platoon level. What happens just after an assault, or other fast mounted move is that the infantry dismounts under command of the dismounted platoon commander and -sergeant. These people then go off to fight on foot.
With having such a capable platform as the CV90, when you then introduce a mounted command structure, is that you can use the four vehicles as a separate manoeuvre element! You just doubled the number of sub-units moving about!!

That doubling is why the Dutch chose the approach they have.

[alzameista]

I was a CV90 Gunner in the swiss army. We use a similar structure to the dutch, with having platoon leaders each for the infantry (Or rather, Panzergrenadiere as they take infantry as an insult) dismounts and the IFV crews, though we did not split them by experience, but the role they have. So gunners / drivers ranking up to lieutenants taking leadership over the mounted parts and operating as a vehicle commander at the same time and the Panzergrenadier lieutenants taking leadership for the dismounts.

[johncmousley]

as countries move to larger modern IFVs and APCs it'll be interesting to see how this affects platoon organization. If you have a vehicle that is 3+8 instead of 3+6 that gives you the option of having dedicated dismounted and mounted commander like the dutch use more easily

[RodefasPlay]

It looks interesting, for example, in Poland, where the vehicle is part of the team and is commanded by team leader.

[johnchaves]

I liked the format but I did certainly miss the the audio/visual cues and other details like the "doctrine vs reality" comparisons

[saulgonzalez]

"It's kind of a nerdy debate, but we are all nerds here". Dude, I'm putting that on a plate.