Brigade

Brigades are large units, and are the smallest temporary field units. Brigades contain from one to six battalions, which are mixed types. Brigades will usually contain two to five battalions.

Structure
A brigade will contain two to five battalions, although it usually ranges from three to five. Along with these battalions, is the command staff, which contains the commander, the second in command, the administrative officer, the medical officer, the intelligence officer, the signals officer and the operations officer.

The officer commanding is usually a brigadier general and has direct command over the battalions in a brigade. The second in command is usually a colonel, sometimes a lieutenant colonel, and assists the officer commanding in commanding the brigade.

The administrative staff contains the administrative officer (a major), who is in charge of the brigade's administration and all the battalion's administrative officers. The medical officer (a major), who is in charge of all of the brigade's medical elements is also present. Another staff member is the intelligence officer (a captain), who is in charge of the brigade's intelligence elements as well as the signals officer (a captain), who is in charge of the brigade's communications and will usually act as the brigade's liason. Lastly is the operations officer (a lieutenant colonel), who works with the intelligence officer, officer commanding and second in command to plan attacks and strategic operations.

Role
As the smallest independant field unit, a brigade is responsible for a small area within a military theatre. In the army, they will usually be positioned moving into enemy territory, or acting as defence for certain areas. In the marine corps, a brigade is the smallest unit that will be used in an invasion landing. A brigade may also be used as the name to signify a group of marines protecting a task group of ships, which usually contains two to eight infantry battalions, and is led by a brigadier general.

Integration
In a brigade, there are two to five main battalions. Usually a brigade will contain either two to five rifles battalions or armoured battalions; there are rarely both, except for in marine corps landings. There are usually two to four brigades in a division. Brigades are numbered within their military, and are labeled by their clan of origin, then Machanized Brigade, and tagged with an A or M (for army or marine corps) and an I or an A (for infantry or armour). For example, a marine corps infantry brigade composed of ZX battalions could be 1st ZXMB-MI.