Editing Fireteam (section)

===World War II===
WWII US Army rifle squads consisted of twelve soldiers<ref>Army Lineage Series ''Infantry Part I: Regular Army'', pp. 56 & 73 [https://archive.today/20150422171856/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/060/60-3-1/index.html] . Retrieved 2 November 2016.</ref> divided into three teams: The A "Able" (contemporary [[spelling alphabet]]) team consisted of the squad leader and two scouts, the support B "Baker" team of the BAR gunner, assistant gunner, and ammunition bearer, and C "Charlie" team of the assistant squad leader, also serving as the anti-tank grenadier, and five riflemen, one of whom served as the alternate anti-tank grenadier).<ref>War Department ''The Rifle Platoon and Squad in Offensive Combat'' Part 1, Section 1: Organization of the Rifle Platoon, March 15, 1943 (see FM 7-10, para. 133). http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/ww2/offensive_combat.htm Retrieved 28 October 2016.</ref> In an assault the A team would provide overwatch and security or assist the C team in the assault, as the squad leader directed, while the B team provided suppressive fire. Suppressive fire from the BAR would be supplemented by fire from the rifles of his team as he reloaded, and could be further supplemented by platoon medium machine guns.

The US Army Rangers and Special Service Force adopted an early fireteam concept when on campaign in Italy and France. Each squad sub-unit of four or five men was heavily armed, composed of a two-man BAR automatic rifleman and assistant, a scout (marksman/grenadier) armed with an M1903 Springfield with a rifle grenade discharger, and a team leader armed with an M1 carbine or M1 Thompson submachine gun. Their later misuse as conventional infantry negated their special training and fighting skill and their use as "fire brigades" against larger enemy forces negated their advantages in aggressiveness and firepower.

Meanwhile, the communist Chinese established the three-man fireteam concept as the three-man cell when they organized a regular army, and its organization seemed to have been disseminated throughout all of Asia's communist forces, perhaps the most famous of which are the PAVN/NVA ([[People's Army of Vietnam]]/North Vietnamese Army) and the [[Viet Cong]].{{citation needed|date=February 2010}}