Why are US Army Military Police Companies numbered instead of having letters like A Co B Co?
To my knowledge, only infantry companies are lettered. Because
there are more than 26 of them, or at least plans were made for
them to have that many. Military Police companies aren't the only
ones that are numbered instead of lettered. Here's the deal: In the
Army, we have companies, battalions, brigades and divisions. A
division is a group of brigades, a brigade is a group of
battalions, a battalion is a group of companies (or batteries).
Let's say you're a Signal soldier. You're in the 100th Signal
Battalion, and you're also in Company B of that battalion. There's
also a Company A, and probably a Company C and Company D. Okay so
far? If you're an MP, you're in the only MP company in the
division. You can't be Company A of the 10th MP Battalion because a
battalion can't have only one line company. Therefore, they just
name your unit the 10th MP Company. Some of the other kinds of
units that are numbered instead of lettered include high-level
aviation maintenance, pathfinder, chemical, artillery, and
training. Until the Vietnam war era Military Police Companies in a
Battalion were lettered, a BN would have an A, B,C etc co. like the
759th MP BN went all the way to D co. After the Vietnam war the
Army began reallignment of the MP Corps by adding Brigades and
realized there were too many MP Companies so they got rid of the
lettered company and added the numerical companies that were
already in existence. After the Vietnam era until the Mid-90's
there was still an A co which was the Garrison MP CO of the BN,
only working law enforcement. In the mid to late 90's they were
switched to MP Detachments. Training Battalions still have
companies with letters 701st has A - C, 787th, 795th, and 796th go
to Golf Co
