This may be a bit of a silly question... but....

I've read the article on modern US AFV markings. In particular I'm curious about the use of the chevrons to mark companies. You know the ^ or < or > symbols on the sides of tanks. Well... let's say we're looking at an M1A1 from charlie company, we would expect to see <. So does this mean that on one side of the tank the chevron will point to the front and on the other side, it will point to the rear?

Sorry if this is too silly.

Cheers,
Cipher

it will be the same on both sides to avoid confusion , not really a silly question
have a good one !! turrettoad out

Hey cipher,

actually the chevrons denote platoons while the number by the chevron denotes company and battalion. For example my tank B23 was 92 with a ^ over it. And like turrettoad said the chevrons go the same way.

As Sabotshooter says, the chevron over (under or next to) the company/battalion number denotes the platoon. Don't get that chevron confused with the coalition inverted "V" used during the first Gulf War.

As far as the direction of the chevron for the first and third platoons, yes, the direction changed from left and right sides. IIRC, the direction of chevrons go clockwise and started to the left of the number for the first platoon, above for second platoon, right for third platoon and below for the fourth platoon (if the unit has one).

So since the chevron always is either to the right or left of the number for a particular vehicle. This means that on a particular vehicle if the right side chevron is pointing forward, the left side chevron is pointing rearward.

Thanks for the information. It sounds like the article on the markings ( Modern USArmy Vehicle Identification) may be misleading, as the diagrams depict little dots that represent platoons and would lead the reader to logically conclude the direction of the chevron would be the company. So is the article incorrect? If so, it should be corrected.

Sabotshooter... so your tank B23 belongs to Bravo company, 2nd Platoon, 3rd "track" or vehicle? What does the 92 mean? 9th company, 2nd battalion?

I guess its becoming pretty obvious, I'm a newbie to armour.

Cheers,
Cipher

Each maneuver battalion in a division received a number (the "tens" digit), and each company received a number (the "ones" digit). So battalion numbers would be 10, 20, 30, 40...90. Individual company numbers in each battalion would be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (HHC, A, B, C, D, E).

So a HQs tank or Bradley could be 10, 20, 30, etc.
An A company vehicle would be 11, 21, 31, etc. B Co would be 12, 22, 32, etc.
His "92" would mean the 9th battalion of that division, B Company. His actual battalion could be 1-33 AR, 4-34 AR, or whatever unit designation it really was. The concept was to give divisional unit leaders the ability to quickly identify the unit without making it too easy for the enemy to make the same indentification.

The dot for platoon thing Pete talks about was a 24th ID thing. 1st Cav and 2nd AD in the states had similar unique marking methods. The 2 digit system was developed for USAREUR (United States Army Europe) based units and was just carried over to use in the Gulf since the European-based US VII Corps took over operational control of the heavy divisions in theater. CONUS based divisions just brought the marking system back to the states with them.

Thanks for the info Rob. Man have things changed since I was in we just used bumper markings. Some battalions had little signs with colors and symbols that they put on bustle racks. Well I'm only up to Vietnam and cold war in my interests, so I'm safe for now.

The geometric tact board went away in 1990. When I got to Germany ours was a hexagon (6 sides) with a square inside for A Company. We made nice new tact boards out of thick aluminum when we drew A1s in in 1989, then went to the new double digit system when we drew Heavy Commons in 1990.

Could someone help me research the Geometric tactical boards for armored vehicles, I Remember seeing them in Fort Hood in the 80's, some had a domino design to them.
But I can't find any reference material on them at all.
Please help and thank you in advance.

[quote]This may be a bit of a silly question... but....

I've read the article on modern US AFV markings. In particular I'm curious about the use of the chevrons to mark companies. You know the ^ or < or > symbols on the sides of tanks. Well... let's say we're looking at an M1A1 from charlie company, we would expect to see

no question is too silly ! I was wondering that myself !

Here's a picture of my Bradley, the chevron on the side is for C company, 3rd Platoon.



Here you can see (barely) the vehicle number C33, which is C company, 3rd Plt, 3rd vehicle on the right drive and Division and Battalion 24th Id 3rd Battalion 15th Infantry on the left.