Company commander - captain or major?

[Officer of Engineers]

So at the risk being a Necroposter....our new member Sam mentioned this post so I decided to revisit. Great stroll down memory lane with some former, and sadly, late members.

But I did not see one point that I think needs to be brought up on this subject.

In the British and Commonwealth armies in much of their history, the rank of company commander was a Captain and not a Major.

So what changed, when & why? A result of lesson learned form WW 1? Massive change in doctrine?

WWI is easy. We lost too many Captains. Until Arthur Currie, only Officers were issued with maps and compasses. The Germans learned that if you shoot the Officers, the rest of the platoon/company would be lost and don't know where to advance after their immediate objective.

WWII and beyond, there was the Company Group (coy+) to include other sections/platoons/even another squadron from the brigade's artillery/tank/engineer units which demanded the Major rank to integrate. In other words, asking a re-enforced company to do the job of a battalion. That was not fun.

 

[Albany Rifles]

WWI is easy. We lost too many Captains. Until Arthur Currie, only Officers were issued with maps and compasses. The Germans learned that if you shoot the Officers, the rest of the platoon/company would be lost and don't know where to advance after their immediate objective.

WWII and beyond, there was the Company Group (coy+) to include other sections/platoons/even another squadron from the brigade's artillery/tank/engineer units which demanded the Major rank to integrate. In other words, asking a re-enforced company to do the job of a battalion. That was not fun.

Thanks sir.

Interesting perspective. When I went to the Infantry Officers' Advanced Course in 1984-85 I was taught to use integrated combined arms at the company level and how to command them. As a Rifle Company commander I habitually was task organized as 2 Mechanized Infantry platoons, 1 tank platoon, Mech Engineer Platoon (-), Fire Support Team, ADA Team. Did all of that as a captain. Maybe I would have done it better as a Major.

 

[Officer of Engineers]

Interesting perspective. When I went to the Infantry Officers' Advanced Course in 1984-85 I was taught to use integrated combined arms at the company level and how to command them. As a Rifle Company commander I habitually was task organized as 2 Mechanized Infantry platoons, 1 tank platoon, Mech Engineer Platoon (-), Fire Support Team, ADA Team. Did all of that as a captain. Maybe I would have done it better as a Major.

It wasn't the combined arms that was the problem. It was actually going on deployment (peacekeeping) with such a grouping and tasked with the job of battalion. A company group is not a battalion no matter what resources you throw at it. The Canadian Airborne Regiment saw combat in the Turk invasion of Cyprus as a Company Group. 1 Commando was re-enforced with a squadron (company) from 2nd Combat Engineers Regiment. They were wishing to hell that they had 2 and 3 Cmdo there.

 

[Albany Rifles]

Okay, sir. I get what you are saying. We declare those as Task force and place a major or lieutenant colonel in charge with a staff. I was speaking purely as the commander of a company.

The span of control issues become ungainly once a commander gets past 5 subordinate units...platoons at company level, companies at battalion level, and so on. That is one of the reasons we built support commands, fires brigades, etc., so there would be a command element over a lot of those separate units.

 

[JCT]

It's been awhile since I've been down at a USMC rifle Battalion, but Company Commanders were typically senior Captains with many getting promoted to Major at the tail end of their tour.

2ndLt/1stLt will do their initial tour with a rifle battalion, then move on to a 'B' billet which is typically either a tour at the recruit depots, as a recruiter, or similar training/staff post. They are usually promoted to Captain during this time. Upon completion of this tour, they then go on to Expeditionary Warfare School (or it's equivalent), then back to the Fleet as a senior Captain. There are many exceptions, a really good 1stLt will sometimes be kept around the battalion and will get a Company, but it's not typical.

I think the extra couple of years does benefit the Captains.

 

[Shinytop]

I served during the Vietnam era. At that time a newly commissioned 2LT served for a year and then get promoted to 1LT and at about the same time get his first VN tour. Upon return to CONUS we often attended our branch advanced course, got one more assignment and then off to VN again. That tour would normally include a 6 month tour as a company commander. I closely followed that scenario. Was I ready for company command? Not as well as I would have liked but I was as qualified as the other captains becoming commanders at the same rate. The Army in its infinite wisdom decided to promote faster rather just let us serve in the same positions with a lower grade. I was not infantry and I understand many 1LT's did command companies. War is a terrible business and all institutions adapt.

What I saw of the Marines followed similar promotion rates during Vietnam.