Structure of the Argentine Army
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Army forces are distributed throughout the country and are geographically grouped into three Army Corps (roughly equivalent in terms of nominal organization to an U.S. Army division). Each Army Corps has an area of responsibility over a determined region of the country; Second Army Corps covers the northeast of the country, Third Army Corps covers the center and northwest of Argentina and Fifth Army Corps covers the south and Patagonia. Both First and Fourth Army Corps were dissolved in 1984 and 1991 respectively, as part of the country's military reorganization; their dependent units were reassigned to the remaining three Army Corps.
There are no intermediate division level units; each Army Corps is composed by a variable number of Brigades. To date (2005), the Argentine Army has ten brigades: two armored brigades (1st and 2nd), four mechanized brigades (5th, 9th, 10th and 11th), two mountain brigades (6th and 8th), one paratroopers brigade (4th) and one jungle brigade (12th). The 7th Infantry Brigade was dissolved in early 1985, while the 3rd Infantry Brigade was transformed into the 3rd Motorized Brigade (Training), and existed until late 2002, when it was finally dissolved.
Depending on its type, each brigade includes two to five Cavalry or Infantry Regiments, one or two Artillery Groups, a scout cavalry squadron, one battalion or company-sized engineer unit, one intelligence company, one communications company, one command company and a battalion-sized logistical support unit. The terms "regiment" and "group", found in the official designations of cavalry, infantry and artillery units, are used due to historical reasons, these units being more accurately described as light battalions; similar-sized units that do not belong to the above-mentioned services are referred to as "battalions". In addition to their service, Regiments and Groups are also specialized according to their area of operations (Mountain Infantry, Jungle Infantry, Mountain Cavalry), their equipment (Tank Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Mechanized Infantry) or their special training (Paratroopers, "cazadores" -elite mountain or jungle troops- or Air Assault)
Regiments are made up by three maneuver sub-units (companies in infantry regiments and squadrons in cavalry regiments) and one command and support sub-unit for a total of 250 to 400 troops. This low number of troops per unit is due to the dwindling manpower available to the Army (and the Argentine military in general) since the abolition of conscription in 1995; budgetary concerns force the Army to turn down many volunteers. The Army's future plans contemplate a reorganization of the Table of Organization and Equipment and increasing the number of active-duty troops to allow at least the combat units to be fully-manned.
