TangoTwoBravo
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,114
- Points
- 1,110
ConsideringCareers… said:So, and Echelon is a group of armoured vehicles operating together? Would this be somewhat correct? And they guys in the Echelon are the ones manning these vehicles? Or are they dismounts walking alongside these vehicles?
Don't worry too much about Echelons. Just know that crewmen are in the tanks, recce vehicles and the support vehicles. Everybody in a squadron is in a vehicle, although of course they dismount when required.
A tank squadron has a Squadron Headquarters (SHQ) with three tanks, four tank troops with four tanks each and a sizeable support element.
Each tank has four crew, so a troop has sixteen personnel. One tank is the Troop Leader commanded by a Lieutenant with a Master Corporal as the Loader and Trooper/Corporals as the driver and gunner. The second tank is commanded by a Warrant Officer who is the Troop Warrant (second in command) and he will tend to have the pick of the litter for his crew. The third tank is commanded by a Sergeant (could be a senior Master Corporal) and the fourth tank by a Master Corporal (could be a Sergeant). The soldiers in the troop tend work on their tanks in the bays, and they have their lockers there. When not training, they will spend much of their day in the hanger working on the tanks under the supervision of the Master Corporals. The Troop Leader, Troop Warrant Officer and Troop Sergeant are usually in a bull-pen style of office with the leadership of the other Troops. They certainly go down to the hangar floor but they (usually) leave the minute-to-minute supervision to the Master Corporals. In the field you all work and live together as crews/troops. Crews tend to be fairly informal when on/around the tank.
The crews in Squadron Headquarters will have all served in the Troops and have been noted as top performers. The crews in the "echelon" will also tend to be senior Troops and Corporals who can work with minimal supervision.