Drug Testing

The company I will be writing about is an Infantry Brigade Combat Team. I am currently serving in the United States Army and this is the unit I am assigned to. Just to give you a little insight of what our company does, I will explain how it is broken down by Battalions and then Company’s. A brigade combat team consists of two combat arms branch maneuver battalions, and its attached support and fire units. A brigade combat team is generally commanded by a colonel (O-6), but in rare instances it is commanded by a brigadier general. A brigade combat team carries with it support units necessary to sustain its operations separate from its parent division.

The maneuver battalions are made up of mostly Infantry men. The Headquarters Company usually consists of Medical personnel, mechanics, communication operators, logistics teams, administrative clerks and the company leadership. The Calvary battalion serves as the Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition. They have a mounted company that operates with vehicles and a dismounted company that operates on mostly foot patrols. Just like the other battalions they have a headquarters company that consists of the same personnel as the Infantry battalion. You then have your Fires Battalion which consists of Howitzer tanks and they call these batteries. They are the ones that fire the missiles once the reconnaissance team radios their target. Then you have the two support battalions. The Brigade Special Troops Battalion which consists of Headquarters Company, the engineer company, the military intelligence company, and the signal company. The Brigade Special Troops Battalion (BSTB) is a new formation of the Army. It is designed to provide command and control to the brigade combat support companies (intelligence and signals) and any company-sized attachments (such as air defense artillery or military police). Lastly you have the Brigade Support Battalion. You have the Headquarters Company, four forward support...