Brigade combat team

Not to be confused with Regimental combat team or Combat team.

Over 4,000 members of the 1st BCT, 34th Infantry Division, in a special formation for a farewell ceremony.

The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade is normally commanded by a colonel (O-6) although in some cases a brigadier general (O-7) may assume command.[1] A brigade combat team contains combat support and combat service support units necessary to sustain its operations. BCTs contain organic artillery training and support, received from the parent division artillery (DIVARTY).[2][3] There are three types of brigade combat teams: infantry, Stryker, and armored.

Currently, the U.S. Army is structured around the brigade combat team.[4] In this program, divisions that previously had not deployed individual brigades due to a lack of integral support have now been restructured. The 1st Armored Division, 25th Infantry Division, etc. now can deploy one or more BCTs anywhere in the world. These BCTs are intended to be able to stand on their own,[5] like a division in miniature. The soldiers assigned to a BCT will stay at their assignment for three years; this is intended to bolster readiness and improve unit cohesion.

  1. ^ "Archived Document". Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016. Organization: Operational Unit Diagrams:Brigade. Accessed 22 October 2016.
  2. ^ "DIVARTY - Division Artillery". Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  3. ^ Spc. Matthew Marcellus, 1st Armored Division (MAY 15, 2019) Agile and lethal: 4-27 Field Artillery conducts Table XVIII gunnery training May 7[usurped] accessdate=2019-08-11
  4. ^ "MCOE Supplemental Manual 3-90 (2015)" (PDF). U.S. Army. January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  5. ^ FM 3-90.6 : Brigade Combat Team (PDF). Department of the Army. September 2010. Preface ("they can operate as part of a division or independently"), § 1-1 ("[BCTs are] the smallest combined arms units that can be committed independently"). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2013.