Ok so call me stupid but I just cant seem to get my head around all the acronyms. Can someone give me a break down of the different parts of a MI Battalion/Company PLEASE? Whats they do, how they do it and what tools they use...

And perhaps personal positions on how MI units would work in a T2k-T2013 setting..

I've been MI for the last 8+ years and I can't even tell you that. Military Intelligence has no consistent structure. Plus, a lot of the connectivity which modern MI takes for granted is gone after the nukes.

HUMINT would probably change the least in a T2013 world, after all, you really just need some collection requirements and the gift of gab.

I'd imagine MI assets would contract to about a WWII-era level.

I can only help from the USAF perspective....our intelligence is a totally different beast from MI

I was in 9 MI Co in Ft Lewis Washington, and then they went through a complete alfabet of changes in the space of a few months back in the 80's.

IIRC our first change was from a company to battalion when 9 MI Co was incorporated with the ASA commo security guys. Then, and this was also accompanying the 9th Infantry's change to "Light Infantry Test Bed", we changed to 109th MI Bn (Provo), then 109 CEWI Bn (Provo) until I was medically discharged.

The (Provo) stood for Provisional as they were uncertain if they would stay one thing or another. (Sorry about the sarcastic tone there...)

CEWI was: Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelligence.

This unit had a tactical radar company, a commo security company (unsure of the exact make up of those guys or what they actually did).

OPFOR Company. Yes, OPFOR in Ft Lewis was a separate company but had fluid troop assignments. I did some stuff with them as a "Redland" APC driver/infantryman on an occasion or two. For general interest the OPFORs had a BTR-60PB which was a veteran of the 6 Day War.

What about LRSD units? How did that attachment work seeing as its the most likely type of unit to survive the "new world" relatively intact.

LRSD are all 11B Infantrymen. The only real change for them would be loss of their commo gear and camera equipment.

If they are all infantry then in say an ACR, thees guys would be platoon / company / MI battalion designation yeah?

I am trying to figure out an MI Battalion for an ACR in the Twilight style situation.

Are you trying to find out about LRSD or about ACR? The two are completely different things. You are comparing apples to oranges.

LRSD is almost on par with a special operations force. They go to HALO school, SCUBA school, and other specialized courses. The only thing that truly keeps them conventional instead of SOF, is command and control and the type of intelligence targets they surveil.

Now, that's not to say that 2 ACR doesn't have a LRSD in their Regiment. Every Division/Regiment (and higher elements for LRSCs) has one. In present times they're part of the Battlefield Surveillance Brigades, but they still exist. In the time of T2K, they were a Division (or higher) asset.

Again, I have to highlight my ignorance with army acronyms.

ACR = armored cavalry regiment?
LRSD = long range support detachment?

ACR = Correct

LRSD = Long Range Surveillance Detachment

LRSC = Long Range Surveillance Company

Unless things changed a heck of a lot, ACRs lost any troop level MI assets in the 80s and the ground surveillance radar guys went to MI Bns for dispersal with the ACRs on a per need basis.

I was a GSR 17Kilo with 2 ACR back in the good old days, I left Germany the month before the radar teams were re-assigned to MI units.

Things have changed, quite a bit. For example, 2 ACR is now 2 SCR, Stryker Cavalry Regiment. It does have it's own MICO now, but LRS is not a part of it.

I am looking to create an ORBAT for an MI unit within a ACR, modified to meet a T2Kish setting. Sorry if I wasnt clear.

I believe it was when they redesignated them to 96Romeo and fully brought them under the Military Intelligence branch. I could be wrong though, GSR was fully in the MI umbrella in 2001 when I came in as a Romeo. As I understand it, the last Romeo in the Army was my buddy Baldwin from the 82nd, who was in the SF pipeline at the time. The rest of us reclassed mostly to HUMINT (like me), Analysts, and UAV Operators.

As best as I can recall, MICOs are set up with three branches now, a HUMINT platoon, a SIGINT platoon, and an All-Source Production/Analysis platoon. I haven't been in a line MICO since 2004 and have been in SOF units since then, which are usually task-organized based on the current mission. And as I recall, in pre-BCT units were organized differently based on what their parent unit was. Heavy units like the ACRs/Mech were set up differently than the light/airborne units which were more integrated. (As I understood it, heavy MI BNs were set up like the old CEWI battalions from the 80s). The BCTs, *I THINK* are more standard across the boards when it comes to the Special Troops Battalions.

GSR was a good time. Too bad they didn't know how to use us effectively.

You were perfectly clear. However, in a T2k"-ish" setting, more information is better than less information. For instance, if you use the T2K13 timeline, all of the changes I spoke of occurred around 2005, before the major divergences in our timeline. If you're using more original T2K timelines, it won't be that pertinent, but it does give you a plausible argument for why Brigade Commander Bob organizes his MI guys a little bit differently from what the standard says. Then, knowing what capabilities they have, will allow you to determine which capabilities they will lose after the war starts in earnest and bombs start falling.

Clarification question; using the 1st Armored as an example, is there any structural difference between an Armor and Cavalry Regiment? I'm assuming they both operate M1s.

Yes there is.

An ACR has scout squads and tanks squads in the troop platoons. The troops are the "point of the sword". An ACR also has in each squadron a tank company and a howitzer battery and the Regiments have integral Air Cav Squadrons also.

An Armoured Division has infantry companies as well as Armoured Cav Squadrons (for divisional screening and recon).

ACRs are primarily heavy reaction, screening, and scouting units for Army and Corps.

BTW,each unit (Div and ACR) have support elements not listed but equally important for each unit's mission. The ACRs rely more on these than a division does as a division will have higher echelon support more readily available.

So an ACR is more combined arms, while an armor regiment is more cut-and-dry line breaker stuff?

Not so much "more combined arms" vice not. Both are heavy combined arms organizations, but the basic meaning of more mobile and repositionable versus getting into the knock-down, drag-out, fixed in position fights.

In theory, that is.

So, (in theory), Cav units are trained more heavily towards maneuver warfare, whereas Armor units are based on more traditional tank strategy, like the armored spearhead?

Once again, not really. It's all "maneuver warfare." The principles and tactics are the same, the difference comes in the techniques of how they apply those principles and tactics.

For instance, in the 9 Principles of Warfare, Armor Regiments might focus more on Maneuver, Mass, and Offense whereas Cav will focus more on Surprise, Economy of force, and Security.

Think Roman warfare. You have the Phalanxes (tanks) going right up the middle, engaging and fixing the enemy, then you have the horse cavalry flanking around the sides and rushing in, breaking up the lines and making quick attacks. Then the Phalanxes just pick apart the broken lines and formations.

Armored Regiments and Armored Cavalry are organized to work in a similar manner.

This is from the Army’s BCT manual:

“BCTs are the Army’s basic tactical maneuver units, and the smallest combined arms units that can be committed independently. BCTs are designed to conduct offensive, defensive, and SO [Stability Operations]. Their core mission is to close with the enemy by means of fire and maneuver to destroy or capture enemy forces, or to repel their attacks by fire, close combat, and counterattack. The BCT can fight without augmentation, but it also can be tailored to meet the precise needs of its missions.”

This is from an older ACR manual but it still gets the point across:

“The ACR is unique in the force structure. It is a combat organization which focuses on reconnaissance and security. The ACR provides reports which allow corps commanders and others to make informed decisions concerning future operations. These reconnaissance efforts take the form of route, zone, or area reconnaissance, or a combination of these types within a single mission. Information forwarded includes terrain features, trafficability, natural and artificial obstacles, and descriptions of enemy forces in the area. These missions are accomplished by using a combination of mounted, dismounted, and aerial reconnaissance. Where the enemy attempts to deny information through counterreconnaissance, the ACR is capable of fighting for that information and defeating the enemy in the process.”

While the Army fields both the 3rd and 11th ACRs, only the 3rd is a true ACR formation.