Squad
In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section", while U.S. Army doctrine further defines a squad as a "small military unit typically containing two or more fire teams. It typically contains
a dozen Soldiers or less." In the Australian, British and Canadian Armed Forces the equivalent of a squad is a section.
The Canadian Forces Manual of Drill and Ceremonial defines a squad as "a small military formation of less than platoon size which is adopted to teach drill movements. ".
A squad can also be an ad hoc group of soldiers assigned to a task, for example, a firing squad.
Organization
NATO military symbol
U.S. Army in Chapter 2 of Army Doctrine Publication No. 3-90 provides the following definitions for army echelons:- a fire team is a small military unit typically containing four or fewer Soldiers; two or three fire teams are usually grouped into a squad or section
- a crew is a small military unit that consists of all personnel operating a particular system
- a squad is a small military unit typically containing two or more fire teams; in some cases, the crew of a system may also be designated as a squad
- a section is a tactical unit of the Army and Marine Corps smaller than a platoon and larger than a squad
| Echelon | Team / Crew | Squad | Section |
| Symbol | Ø | ● | ●● |
In practice, the meaning of these symbols depends on the NATO member country. For example
- Table 2-3 in U.S. Army Field Manual No. 1-02.2 and U.S. designations in Annex B to APP-06 contain the note that Common English language definition also applies to symbol ●, “a small group engaged in a common effort or occupation”
- The Military English Guide v. 1.4, published by Swedish Defence University, makes no distinction between a section and a squad, designating them with the symbol ●●; a fire team is designated by the symbol ●
| Denmark | ● | Gruppe |
| Italy | ● | Squadra |
| Portugal | ● | Esquadra |
| Slovakia | ● | Družstvo |
| Turkey | ● | Manga |
| United Kingdom | ● | Section |
| United States | ● | Squad |
| Spain | ● | Escuadra |
| Spain | ●● | Pelotón |
| Albania | ●● | Skuadër |
| Bulgaria | ●● | Otdelenie |
| Canada | ●● | Section |
| Croatia | ●● | Odred |
| Czechia | ●● | Družstvo |
| Estonia | ●● | Jagu |
| France | ●● | Groupe |
| Germany | ●● | Gruppe |
| Hungary | ●● | Raj |
| Latvia | ●● | Komanda |
| Lithuania | ●● | Skyrius |
| Luxembourg | ●● | Groupe |
| Norway | ●● | Gruppe |
| Poland | ●● | Drużyna |
United States
United States Army
Historically, a "squad" in the US Army was a sub-unit of a section, consisting of from as few as two soldiers to as many as 9–10 soldiers and was originally used primarily for drill and administrative purposes. The smallest tactical sub-unit being the section, which was also known as a half-platoon.Depending upon the time period, the squad "leader" could be a sergeant, a corporal, a lance corporal, a private first class . or even a "senior" private.
In 1891, the US Army officially defined a rifle "squad" as consisting of "seven privates and one corporal." The US Army employed the eight-man rifle squad through WWI and until the late 1930s under the Square Division organizational plan, in which sergeants continued to lead sections consisting of two squads.
Under the Triangular Division organization plan in 1939 rifle squads were no longer organized into sections. Instead, the squads were reorganized into a 12-man unit of three elements, or teams, Able, Baker, and Charlie, reporting directly to the platoon commander, assisted by a sergeant assigned as the "assistant to platoon commander" The squad leader was still only a corporal but the squad was also assigned a PFC as the assistant to the squad leader. This soldier could serve as either the squad leader's messenger to the platoon commander or could be used to relay orders to other squad elements, as needed. While not a noncommissioned officer the PFC was an experienced soldier, as prior to WWII the majority of enlisted men remained privates for the entire term of their enlistment since promotion opportunity was scarce. However, the obvious command weakness of so large a squad under one NCO rapidly became obvious in light of the pre-war mobilization and was corrected in 1940 when a second NCO was added to the squad.
This adjustment raised the squad leader to a sergeant and the assistant squad leader to a corporal. The "platoon leader" now became a staff sergeant,. This squad organization included two men serving as “scout (rifleman),” who along with the squad leader, formed the security element, designated as “Able.” The second element was a three-man Browning Automatic Rifle team consisting of an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman and an ammunition bearer. This element formed the “base of fire” and was designated as “Baker.” Lastly, there were five riflemen and the assistant squad leader, who formed the “maneuver element”, designated as “Charlie.”
In 1942, the Army had a massive restructuring of its Tables of Organization & Equipment and increased the rank of the squad leader and assistant squad leader to staff sergeant and sergeant, respectively. The BAR man and the senior rifleman of the Charlie element became corporals and de facto team leaders, even though not officially designated as such.
After WWII, in 1948, the Army decided to "downsize” the rifle squad to a nine-man organization, as post-war analysis had shown that the 12-man squad was too large and unwieldy in combat. The squad leader was again called a sergeant The two scouts of the Able element were eliminated with the idea that all of the riflemen should be able to perform the scouting duties and would therefore all share in the associated inherent risk of that position. The Baker element's ammunition bearer was also eliminated, leaving the two-man BAR team as the base of fire, supervised by the assistant squad leader, but remaining as a grade 4, since the rank of sergeant was then eliminated. The five riflemen of the “Charlie” team, now led by the squad leader, remained as the maneuver element.
Also, in 1948, the rank title of the platoon sergeant changed from technical sergeant to sergeant first class and the rank title of first sergeant was again eliminated, being retained only as an occupational title for the senior NCO of a company. In 1951 the pay grades were reversed, with master sergeant becoming E-7 and sergeant first class becoming E-6, so that the squad leader became a sergeant and the assistant squad leader, a corporal.
In the 1956 the Army began reorganizing into its "Pentomic” plan under the ROCID TO&Es. The rifle squad was reorganized into an eleven-man organization with a sergeant as squad leader and two five-man fire teams. Each fire team consisted of a corporal team leader, an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman, a grenadier, and a scout-rifleman. The assistant squad leader position was eliminated, with the senior fire team leader now filling this role as needed.
In 1958, with the addition of the E-8 and E-9 pay grades, the ranks of the squad and fire team leaders changed again, now to staff sergeant and sergeant, respectively. The 1958 restructuring restored the traditional sergeant and staff sergeant rank insignia of three chevrons and three chevrons over an inverted arc, respectively.
Under the History of [the United States Army#Cold War|ROAD] structure in 1963, the rifle squad was reduced to a ten-man organization. This iteration of the rifle squad retained the two fire teams but eliminated the two scouts, instead providing the squad leader with one extra rifleman, who could be used to reinforce either fire team or assist the squad leader as required. An exception was in mechanized infantry units, where an additional rifleman was assigned as the driver of the squad's M113 armored personnel carrier.
Currently, US Army rifle squads consist of nine soldiers, organized under a squad leader into two four-man fire teams. The squad leader is a staff sergeant and the two fire team leaders are sergeants. Mechanized infantry and Stryker infantry units are equipped with M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and M1126 [infantry carrier vehicle|M1126 Stryker] infantry carrier vehicles, respectively. Unlike the ROAD era mechanized infantry units, none of the vehicle crewman are counted as part of the nine-man rifle squad transported by the vehicles. The term squad is also used in infantry crew-served weapons sections, military police, and combat engineer units. Cavalry scout squads consist of six men divided into two teams while infantry scout squads consist of eight men divided into two three-man teams plus a team leader and assistant team leader.
United States Marine Corps
In the United States Marine Corps, a rifle squad is usually composed of three fireteams of four Marines each and a squad leader who is typically a sergeant or corporal, Other types of USMC infantry squads include: machinegun, heavy machinegun, LWCMS mortar, 81 mm mortar, assault weapon, antiarmor, and anti-tank. These squads range from as few as three Marines to as many as eight, depending upon the weapon system with which the squad is equipped. Squads are also used in reconnaissance, light armored reconnaissance, combat engineer, law enforcement, Marine Security Force Regiment (MSFR), and Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) companies. On 9 May 2018, it was announced that a USMC squad would be reduced to 12 Marines, with three fire teams of three Marines each with two new positions: an assistant squad leader and a squad systems operator. Beginning in 2019, the structure had been changed to 15 men; assistant automatic riflemen were replaced with grenadiers and anti mechanized infantry became a new addition to Marine fireteams. All M16A4 rifles and M4A1 carbines were to be replaced with the M27 infantry automatic rifle. Depending on the mission, automatic rifleman may use the M249 light machine gun instead of the M27 IAR. In April 2025, the Marine Corps returned to a 13-man squad structure.United States Air Force
In the U.S. Air Force Security Forces, a squad is made up of three fire teams of four members, each led by a senior airman, staff sergeant, or tech sergeant.Fire service in the United States
A squad is a term used in the US Fire and EMS services to describe several types of units and emergency apparatus. Oftentimes, the names "squad" and "rescue squad" are used interchangeably, however the function of the squad is different from department to department. In some departments, a "squad" and a "rescue" are two distinct units. This is the case in New York City, where the FDNY operates eight squad companies. These special "enhanced" engine companies perform both "truck" and "engine" company tasks, as well as hazardous materials mitigation and other specialty rescue functions. FDNY's five "rescue" companies primarily mitigate technical and heavy rescue incidents, and operate as a pure special rescue unit. Squads and rescues within the FDNY are part of the departments specialty operations command.In other departments, a squad is a name given to a type of apparatus that delivers EMS and rescue services, and is staffed by firefighter/EMTs or firefighter/paramedics. This type of service delivery is common in the greater Los Angeles area of California, and was made famous in the 1970s show Emergency!, where the fictional Squad 51 highlighted the lives of two firefighter/paramedics of the LACoFD.
Chinese National Revolutionary Army
The squad, or section was the basic unit of the National Revolutionary Army, and would usually be 14 men strong. An infantry squad from an elite German-trained division would ideally have one light machine gun and 10 rifles, but only one of the three squads in a non-elite Central Army division would have a light machine gun. Furthermore, the regular provincial army divisions often had no machine guns at all.Denmark
A Danish mechanized or armoured infantry squad consists of 4-5 privates, a sergeant, and sometimes a corporal - 6 members in total. The squad consists of two teams each containing three members.When marching in single file, the squad members, from front to rear consist of:
- Team 2
- * Let maskingeværskytte 2. Pointman. Armed with an M/60.
- * Gevær 2. Rifleman and primary AT gunner. Armed with an M/10 and an AT4. Can be outfitted with a grenade launcher.
- * Gruppefører. Squad leader, sergeant. Armed with an M/10.
- Team 1
- * Gevær 1. Rifleman and squad second-in-command, either a private or corporal. Also known as Bravo. Armed with an M/10 and a grenade launcher.
- * Gevær 3. Rifleman, combat life saver and secondary AT gunner. Armed with an M/10 and occasionally an AT4.
- * Let maskingeværskytte 1. Last man. Armed with an M/60.
German Army
Bundeswehr
The equivalent to squad is the, a sub-unit of 8 to 12 soldiers, in the German Bundeswehr, Austrian Bundesheer and Swiss Army.Wehrmacht
During World War II the German infantry Gruppe was mainly a general purpose machine gun based unit. The advantage of the GPMG concept was that it added greatly to the overall volume of fire that could be put out by a squad-sized unit. The MG 34 or MG 42 GPMGs were normally used in the LMG role. An infantry Gruppe consisted of generally nine or ten men; a non-commissioned officer squad leader, deputy squad leader, a two-man machine gun element and four to six riflemen.As personal small arms the squad leader was issued a rifle, the machine gunner and his assistant were issued pistols and the deputy squad leader and the riflemen were issued rifles. The riflemen carried additional ammunition, hand grenades, explosive charges or a machine gun tripod as required. The riflemen would provide security and covering fire for the machine gun element. Two of the standard issue bolt-action Karabiner 98k rifles in the squad could be replaced with semi-automatic Gewehr 43 rifles and occasionally, StG-44 "assault" rifles could be used to re-arm the whole squad, besides the machine-gun.
Soviet Union
In the Soviet Armed Forces, a motorised rifle squad was mounted in either a BTR armoured personnel carrier or BMP infantry fighting vehicle, with the former being more numerous by the late 1980s. BTR rifle squads consisted of a squad leader/BTR commander, senior rifleman/assistant squad leader, a machine gunner armed with an RPK-74, a grenadier armed with an RPG-7, a rifleman/assistant grenadier, a rifleman/medic, a rifleman, a BTR driver/mechanic and a BTR machine gunner.BMP rifle squads consisted of a squad leader/BMP commander, assistant squad leader/BMP gunner, a BMP driver/mechanic, a machine gunner armed with an RPK-74, a grenadier armed with an RPG-7, a rifleman/assistant grenadier, a rifleman/medic, a senior rifleman and a rifleman all armed with AKMs or AK-74s. Within a platoon the rifleman in one of the squads was armed with an SVD sniper rifle. In both BTR and BMP squads the vehicle's gunner and driver stayed with the vehicle while the rest of the squad dismounted.
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army is made up of the following sub-subunits:- Squad, consisting of a corporal and 2–4 soldiers
- Section, consisting of two squads and commanded by a corporal or sergeant.
- Rifle squad: Made up of a corporal and 3–4 soldiers. Their weapon is the combat rifle.
- Machine gun squad: Made up of a corporal, who carries a machine gun, and 2–3 soldiers. Their personal weapon is the combat rifle, except for the machine gun corporal, who carries a pistol.
- Mortar squad: There are 2–3 soldiers who carry grenades for the mortar. Their weapons are rifles, except for the corporal, who carries a submachine gun.
- Grenade launcher squad: A corporal carries the grenade launcher, and 2–3 soldiers carry the grenades. Their weapons are rifles, except for the corporal, who carries a submachine gun.
Swedish Army
The squad, grupp, in the Swedish army is organized as follows during offensive missions, according to Markstridsreglemente 3 Grupp :Gruppchef – squad leader.Ställföreträdande gruppchef – deputy squad leader.- 2 soldater tillika kulspruteskyttar – two machine-gunners.
- 2 soldater tillika pansarskottsskyttar – two riflemen with anti-tank launcher..
- 1 soldat tillika skarpskytt. – one marksman.
- 1 soldat tillika stridssjukvårdare – one combat medic.
Mechanized infantry (Strf 9040A)
In accordance with Brigadreglemente Armén Pansar-/Mekskyttepluton/-grupp 90 from 2002:Vagnschef – vehicle commanderSkytt – vehicle gunnerFörare – vehicle driverGruppchef – squad leaderStällföreträdande gruppchef – deputy squad leader- 2 Kulspruteskyttar – two machine-gunners
- 1 Granatgevärsskytt – one recoilless rifle gunner
- 1 Granatgevärsladd – one recoilless rifle loader