U.S. Armored Vehicle Markings

Rob Gronovius

I think the diamond was D Company and Charlie was the triangle.

Alpha was a square, B a circle, Charlie the triangle and Delta a diamond.

The outer shape denoted the battalion, It could be a circle, square, diamond, etc. Ours was a stop sign. I kept my XO tac board, but it got lost in one of my moves.

 

Thats where it can get funky. I know at one time A Co. was the triangle, B. Co. the square, and C. Co. the circle. HQ or D Co. could be a diamond. When battalions got up to five companies including E. Co. plus HHC, you start to run out of basic shapes. It's been ages, but I vaguely recall in E. Co. we had a sideways or inverted triangle when we went to that system. 

The use of the chervons after the tac boards is also an under-stated measure of the improvement of night sighting systems.  Under IR and early thermal systems, the tack boards were a way for aviation assets (in particular) to passively IFF "friendlies."

Now, as rabbit holes go, there's little to compare to the USMC UNIS marking system.

This came about in '44 and '45 as a result of the campaings being larger thna a single Marine Division.  UNIS appears to have come out of the G-3 & G-4 shops of 3MarDiv, and moved over to 5MarDiv shortly thereafter.  Part of that comes from the Marine peculiarity, that gear "belonged" to the various Regiments.  It was issued out "on loan" via the Form 782, and if a Marine changed Regiments, they turned in (or accounted for) all of their gear (O the heady days befoe DoD and CIF ).

UNIS used geometric shapes to identify major units, and then used number desigantions inside the shapes for specific units.  It also was deliberately misdirecting so as to deny unit info to opposing forces.  This extended down to individual bits of personal gear (depending on how Zealous the Supply Officers were) like canteen covers, even first-aid pouches.

HeavyArty, Rob & Stik:

I knew I could count on you guys to explain that stuff to an old USAF weather guy. I really appreciate the info as it wasn't obvious to me what they were. Of course, maybe that was the whole point!

Thanks again!

I think the diamond was D Company and Charlie was the triangle.

Alpha was a square, B a circle, Charlie the triangle and Delta a diamond.

The outer shape denoted the battalion, It could be a circle, square, diamond, etc. Ours was a stop sign. I kept my XO tac board, but it got lost in one of my moves.

Rob Gronovius

 

 

 

 

 

The chevron system was put into use about 1989 or 1990.

Previously, we used geometric shapes as tactical signs called "Tac Boards". Each battalion had a geometric shape and the company did as well.

Our Battalion used an octogon, A Co used a square. I remember B Co. being a circle.

Some Cold War tac boards on tank models will be a yellow mark and a black shape inside. A Roman numeral inside the black shape denoted the platoon I, II, III, etc.

 

Thanks for the explanation of the Tac Boards. 
So let's say a rough breakdown of this one would be 3rd Platoon, of perhaps A Company, or whichever Battalion the outer diamond designates?

M1GarandFan

Thanks for the clarification on these designations, Rob. You seem to be up on this kind of thing. Can you tell me what the chevron markings are on the newer armor like the M-1 Abrams and (I think) the Bradleys?

 

The chevron system was put into use about 1989 or 1990.

Back then, each battalion within a division was given a 2-digit number to denote the battalion.

My battalion, the 5th Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment of the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) was given the number "00".

Each headquarters company vehicle carried the number 00 on the side. 

The second digit denoted the various companies within the battalion. For instance, my tank company was A Company and the number on the side was 01. B Co. was 02, C was 03, D was 04. If there were additional companies, they got 5, 6, etc.

As Gino stated, the chevron around the 2-digit number was for the platoon.

Previously, we used geometric shapes as tactical signs called "Tac Boards". Each battalion had a geometric shape and the company did as well.

Our Battalion used an octogon, A Co used a square. I remember B Co. being a circle.

Some Cold War tac boards on tank models will be a yellow mark and a black shape inside. A Roman numeral inside the black shape denoted the platoon I, II, III, etc.

M1GarandFan

Can you tell me what the chevron markings are on the newer armor like the M-1 Abrams and (I think) the Bradleys?

It depends.  In Operation Desert Storm (ODS) they were the Coalition ID markings and usually pointed up.

After ODS, they were used to denote Platoon by teh direction they point.   Up is 1st Plt, right 2nd Plt, down 3rd Plt, left 4th Plt.  They usully have a two or three digit Bn ID number on them as well, sometimes inside the chevron, or sometimes dots in the chevron for squad or Plt.

Thanks for the clarification on these designations, Rob. You seem to be up on this kind of thing. Can you tell me what the chevron markings are on the newer armor like the M-1 Abrams and (I think) the Bradleys?

CapnMac82

As a guess you are referring to the "Delta" Δ symbol that, from memory, was the US Army designator for Armored Units.

 

These vehicle identifications are often wrong. For instance, the last number, whether a -3, -10, -66, etc. are not the 3rd vehicle, 10th vehicle or 66th vehicle of the unit.

The number often denotes the position of the person the vehicle is assigned to.

For instance, HQ-3 is the vehicle assigned to the unit S-3, the unit Operations Officer. Likewise HQ-2 would be the unit intelligence officer, the S-2.

Command group units are identified with numbers with a "6". HQ-6 is the unit commander. The number "5" denotes the executive officer, who is often the second in command.

In a tank company, A-66 is the company commander's tank. A-6 would be his HMMWV.

A-11 isn't the 11th tank of the company; it's the first tank of the first platoon and would be pronounced "Alpha-One-One". The first tank is the unit platoon leader. A five vehicle platoon would be A-11, A-12, A-13, A-14, A-15, although some units used -10 as the first vehicle and the five number run would end with -14.

Cavalry platoons often had six or ten vehicle platoons.

The last remnants of the tank destroyer units were the anti-tank "Echo" companies. They were deactivated in the mid-1990s and were equipped with either M901 Improved TOW Vehicles or M3 Cavarly Fighting Vehicles.

Glad you got the A/C and the pool. Made a big difference when we were in So Cal a week ago.

Company designations are the only things I could come up with also. The pictures I have show numbers12,13 and 14 with those symbols.

Keep doing your good work and thanks for the thoughts on this question.

M1, it has been awhile. I'm doing just fine and hope that you are as well. No problem with the summer heat here. Have great AC, and a pool if I feel like being outdoors.

The only other reason I can speculate for the marking is for the company. I see a 12 as part of the bumper code, but no company letter. Perhaps the battalion replaced those with the geometric symbols?

Hi Stik. Thanks for the reply. It's been awhile, but I hope you're surviving the summer heat all right.

Yes. That's one of the photos I was referring to. Yeah, it's possible it's a battalion identifier, although I don't get why it would be so small and next to the standard markings, ie: 

1A 634TD

Anyway, it's curious and it adds a little detail to a model that doesn't have a lot of markings anyhow.

Perhaps its some sort of battalion insignia? I think that it was 601st TD Battalion that used a yellow square or rectangle divided by a red Y on their vehicles.

Is this the Aachen photo?

CapnMac82

Thanks for your reply, but I am aware of those unit designations used on the front and rear of the vehicles and tanks.

This symbol is used alone with no other letters or numbers. The best description I can think of is it looks like the symbol on buttons in elevators used to open the doors, but without the vertical line between the arrows. There are two of these stacked on top of each other.

As a guess you are referring to the "Delta" Δ symbol that, from memory, was the US Army designator for Armored Units.