Commando 21 is the name given to the reorganisation of the Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 (RM) three battalion sized Commando units; namely 40 Commando

40 Commando

40 Commando RM is a battalion sized formation of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet....

; 42 Commando

42 Commando

42 Commando Royal Marines is a battalion sized formation of the British Royal Marines and a subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet....

; and 45 Commando

45 Commando

45 Commando Royal Marines is a battalion sized unit of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet....

 .

The Commando 21 Organisation

Commando 21 organised each RM Commando

Commando

In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...

 unit into six sub-units, styled companies. Each company

Company (military unit)

A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...

 was subdivided into troops; note that a “troop

Troop

A troop is a military unit, originally a small force of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron and headed by the troop leader. In many armies a troop is the equivalent unit to the infantry section or platoon...

” is the RM nomenclature for a platoon

Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

 rather than for an individual soldier. The new structure was presented as giving the RM more firepower, more mobility, more information, more flexibility and more fighting power. According to open-sources each Stand Off Combat Company was to have a field strength of five officers and 78 other ranks, and each Close Combat Company was to have five officers and 98 other ranks. Under the Commando 21 re-organisation the overall strength of each of the three units was originally stated to be 692 all ranks.

The companies are:

Command Company

Main HQ

Tactical HQ

Reconnaissance Troop (includes a sniper section)

Mortar Troop (9 Barrels of 81 mm) (Includes 4 MFC pairs)

Anti-Tank (AT) Troop (Milan—to be replaced by Javelin ATGW)

Medium Machine Gun Troop

One Logistic Company

A Echelon 1 (A Ech1)

A Echelon 2 (A Ech2)

FRT

RAP

B Echelon (B Ech)

Two Close Combat Companies

Company Headquarters (Coy HQ)

Three Close Combat Troops (Troop HQ, 3 Rifle Sections, Manoeuvre Support Section)

Two Stand Off Companies

Company Headquarters (Coy HQ)

Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) Troop (0.5" heavy machine guns)

AT Troop

Close Combat Troop

Command Company

The Command Company is responsible for command, control, communications, computation, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR). It also was organised to include a machine gun troop, the unit’s mortar and anti-tank troops, together with the reconnaissance troop.

Logistics Support Company

The Logistic Support Company manages administrative and logistic activity.

Close Combat Companies

Each of the two Close Combat Company is similar to the previous RM rifle company, having 3 platoon sized troops, but each troop, in addition to three rifle sections, has a manoeuvre support section of five men equipped with General Purpose Machine Gun

General purpose machine gun

A general-purpose machine gun is a multi-purpose weapon: it is a machine gun firing a full-power rifle cartridge and which can be used in a variety of roles, from a bipod- or tripod-mounted infantry support weapon to a helicopter door gun or a vehicle-mounted support weapon...

, Long Range Rifle and 51 mm Mortar

L9A1 51 mm Light Mortar

The L9A1 51 mm Light Mortar is a man-portable mortar system used by the British Army. Smoke, illuminating and high explosive bombs are available. A short range insert device allows the weapon to be used in a direct fire mode...

.

Stand-Off Combat Companies

Each of the two Stand Off Combat Company has a Close Combat Troop identical to those in the Close Combat Companies. It also was organised to have an Anti-Tank Troop with 6 MILAN

MILAN

MILAN " is French and German for "kite bird") is a European anti-tank guided missile. Design of the MILAN started in 1962. It was ready for trials in 1971, and was accepted for service in 1972. It is a wire guided SACLOS missile, which means the sight of the launch unit has to be aimed at the...

 anti-tank weapons and a Heavy Machine Gun

Heavy machine gun

The heavy machine gun or HMG is a larger class of machine gun generally recognized to refer to two separate stages of machine gun development. The term was originally used to refer to the early generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I...

troop with 6 0.5in Heavy Machine Guns.