Squad Number Question?

[Neo Starlite]

Ok so I played Arma 3 a little when it first came out and finally got back into it since the new update, editor, maps, etc. After watching some videos on YouTube of Military Sim groups it looks really neat. This may be a really dumb question but I see a lot of groups using terms like Alpha 1-1, Delta 2-1, Havoc 6, etc. I know these designate fireteams/squads or a leader but how does this system work exactly. I'm honestly not sure why it's confusing me lol! - Thanks!

[Brutaful]

As far as Im aware, the callsign for a squad depends on the platoon that the squad itself is in which also depends on what company that platoon is in. I'll keep it simple by using an example involving the company level down to squads.

In an infantry battalion there is usually at least 3 companies, each of these companies is normally given a letter that designates which company is the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd company in the battalion. Lets say the companies in the battalion are named A, B, and C companies. These companies take a callsign that uses the letter they are designated by as the first letter in the spelling of their callsign. For example A could be Alpha, B for Bravo, C for Charlie. In some cases the companies use a name that doesn't follow the NATO code, like A for Archer instead of Alpha, B for Boston instead of Bravo, and C for Chimera instead of Charlie. For the rest of this we'll stick to the NATO names and we'll follow the Alpha company for the examples.

The leader of any unit, at any level is the only person who is referred to as 'actual', in Alpha company's case, the leader of the company would be referred to as Alpha Actual. Usually the radio operator for a company is simply referred to as the callsign itself, in this case that would be Alpha, apparently the same goes for the company XO (Company's Executive Officer, if I remember correctly).

Now we go down to platoon level, Alpha company has 3 platoons. Instead of referring to each platoon as a letter and then giving them a name to go with that letter similar to what is done at the company level, the platoons use the same callsign as the company they are in and use an additional number to show which platoon is which. This means the 3 platoons would simply be Alpha 1 for 1st Platoon in Alpha Company, Alpha 2 for 2nd Platoon, and Alpha 3 for the 3rd platoon. The leader of Alpha 1 is designated as Alpha 1 Actual, the same goes for the other 2 platoon's leaders you simply change the number after the name. The 3 squads in each of the platoons would take the callsign and number their platoon has, but they also add another number to differentiate between the squads in each platoon. For example Alpha 1 platoon's 1st squad would be called Alpha 1-1, the leader of this squad is called Alpha 1-1 Actual, 2nd squad is Alpha 1-2, 3rd is Alpha 1-3. The same procedure is followed for all of the other squads in each platoon, remember the 1st number designates the number of the platoon, the 2nd number designates the number of the squad.

I hope this helped, I probably could have written this in a much more concise format, but I believe this explains the system thoroughly and I'm too lazy to change it anyway.

[Neo Starlite]

Thanks a ton, that's definitely a lot easier to understand, I had a hard time trying to find info online on the topic tho that was probably more my fault lol, I think you explained it perfectly!

Out of curiosity does the designation system stop at squad level or does it go beyond that?