Smaller and Swifter

The Army's new building block is the brigade, a formation of 3,200 to 3,700 soldiers that replaced the more ponderous 20,000-soldier division that required extensive overhaul before it could be deployed to a combat zone. The smaller, self-contained brigades are designed to be more plug-and-play, with a uniform structure, and organized to perform a wide range of missions. The Army has three brigade types-heavy, Stryker and infantry. In Iraq, most are either heavy or Stryker brigades.

Heavy Brigade

3,700 Soldiers

1 Brigade troops battalion, including:

• Civil affairs/psychological operations
• Military police
• Signals and communications troops
• Intelligence company
• UAV platoon (with 4 Shadow aerial drones)

• 4 tank companies
• 2 sniper sections
• 4 mechanized infantry companies
• 2 reconnaissance troops
• 1 surveillance troop
• 2 scout platoons
• 2 mortar platoons
• 2 engineer companies

Major equipment items:

• 55 M1 Abrams tanks
• 85 Bradley Fighting Vehicles
• 14 120mm mortar carriers
• 400 up-armored Humvees

1 Fires battalion

16 155mm self-propelled howitzers

1 Support battalion

Maintenance, medical and distribution companies (number per unit varies)