How did the United States Army structure itself prior to the Brigade Combat Team?

by CzarStories

Context: The modern day Brigade Combat Team is a modular structure comprised of "plug-and-play" Battalions. The US Army moved to this force structure post 9/11 as a solution for fighting counter insurgency conflicts. If you keep an eye on the news you will see that the US military is trying to refocus on conventional symmetric warfare vs the asymmetric wars we have been fighting in the Middle East.

I am in the Army and was brought up in the doctrine of the BCT and I am wondering what a conventional force structure looks like. What did it look like in Desert Storm? Vietnam? Korea? Where can I find further reading on this?

the_howling_cow

I will point you to John B. Wilson's Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades, published by the United States Army Center of Military History in 1998. It covers the evolution of the permanent "division" concept in the U.S. Army from just after the Spanish-American War to just before 9/11. You may be interested in this previous answer of mine (below).