Can someone explain USMC companies/battalions, and when they say like "9th Marines"?

golgafrincham

"9th Marines" refers to the 9th Marine Regiment
There are several Golf Companies. Below is a short breakdown, from the top down, of one "force" (the largest grouping in the Marine Corps):

Here is an org chart of the breakdown of I-MEF, the other MEFs are basically the same:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/1st_Marine_Expeditionary_Force.png

So, for the smaller units...each infantry regiment is comprised of 3 battalions, simply numbered 1, 2, and 3. So if you see "3/1" they mean 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

Then each battalion is broken down into companies: every 1st battalion has A, B, C, HQ, and Weapons (D) companies; 2nd battalions have E, F, G, HQ, and Weapons (H); 3rd battalions have I, K, L, HQ, and Weapons (M) company. So if you see "G/2/1" they mean Golf company, 2nd Bn, 1st Mar, 1st MarDiv (division is usually assumed, unless designation a division level asset such as "HQ, 1st MarDiv"). Weapons companies are just referred to as "weapons company" and never as their alpha designation (these are the guys that carry the "big" weapons -- big so far as not being vehicle mounted). If you noticed "J" company was missing, I can only surmise it is because nobody wanted to be called "Juliette Company."

Each company has 3 platoons, except HQ company which has: several administrative units (admin, intel, ops, logistics, Supply, Motor T), comm platoon, recon platoon, and probably some more I can't remember.

There are further breakdowns, but these are the "major" groupings. Also, this is all very generalized. You can get a lot of detail out of wikipedia, if you really want it, see links below.

Dennis D

Normally there would be four companies in a battalion, three battalions in a regiment and three or more regiments in a division with supporting elements. The 9th Marines are a regiment composed of three battalions, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The ninth Marine regiment was a highly decorated regiment during the Vietnam war. Companies are lettered A, B, C, and D within a 1st battalion. E, F, G and H, in a 2nd battalion and so on. Golf company would be a company with the second battalion of any regular Marine regiment. The battle configurations of the Marine Corps have changed in recent years with air ground teams made up for specific missions..

Perro De Lava

In an infantry battalion you will have 3 line companies, a weapons company, and a headquarters and service company.

As an example..My unit was the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines....This battalion is made of of the following..

A Co
B Co
C Co
Wpns. Co
H&S Co

There are usually 3 battalions per regiment. So aside from 1/3, we had 2/3 and 3/3 in the regiment.

2/3 is made up of E.Co, F Co, G Co. and so on...

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