In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer (NCO) that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition (Australian Army, Canadian Army, and others) this organization is referred to as a section. In most armies a squad consists of eight to fourteen soldiers, and may be further subdivided into fireteams.

United States

In the United States Army, a squad is composed of two fireteams of four or five soldiers each, as well as a squad leader who is a Staff Sergeant. A Military Police squad is composed of three teams of three. In the United States Marine Corps, a squad is typically composed of three fireteams of four Marines and a squad leader who is typically a Sergeant or Corporal.

Chinese National Revolutionary Army to 1949

The squad, 班, or section was the basic unit of the National Revolutionary Army, and would usually be 14 men strong. An infantry squad would ideally have 1 light machine gun and 10 rifles.

Leadership

A squad is led by an NCO known as a Squad Leader. His second in command is known as an Assistant Squad Leader. In Britain and the Commonwealth, these appointments are known as Section Commander and Section 2IC ("second in command"), respectively.

Typical ranks for squad leaders are:

• Australian Army: Corporal
• Austrian Army:Sergeant
• Brazilian Army: In the Brazilian Army, a Squad (Esquadra, in Portuguese) is led by a Corporal, with 3-10 soldiers. It is the smallest unit in the infantry and cavalry, equivalent to a U.S. Army Fireteam. Grupo de Combate (in Portuguese) is a subdivision of the platoon and commanded by a 3rd Sergeant, same to U.S. Army squad.
• British Army: Corporal
• Canadian Army: Sergeant or Master Corporal
• Danish Army: Sergeant
• Estonian Defence Forces: Seersant or Nooremveebel
• Finnish Army: Alikersantti or Kersantti (Corporal or Sergeant)
• German Army: Feldwebel or Oberfeldwebel (previously Unteroffizier)
• Israeli Defence Force: Sergeant (Samál) or Staff Sergeant (Samár)
• Norwegian Army: Sergeant (NOC is corporal and leads the light machine gun fire team of the squad).
• Spanish Army: Cabo 1º, Cabo mayor, Sargento or Sargento 1º
• Swedish Army: First Sergeant
• Swiss Army: Wachtmeister (before 2004: Korporal)
• U.S. Army: Sergeant or Staff Sergeant
• U.S. Marine Corps: Sergeant or Corporal

Other military uses

A squad can also be an ad hoc group of soldiers assigned to a task, for example, a firing squad.

In the Canadian Army, the term "squad" can actually refer to a portion of a drill movement. This is generally used when a group of soldiers is learning a new drill movement, as it is easier to learn step-by-step, rather than all at once.