Platoon / Legends A platoon was a small - scale military unit , typically consisting of a few dozen soldiers organized into squads and commanded by a lieutenant . Galactic Republic . In the Grand Army of the Republic , a standard platoon of clone troopers consisted of four squads , each led by a sergeant , a total of forty soldiers , led by a Lieutenant . Giving a total of forty - one clones to a platoon . The platoons were known to be under the established strength due to battle losses . Four such platoons formed a company . Among the clone commandos of the Special Operations Brigade , however , the equivalent unit was a troop consisting of five four - man squads and just twenty men . There were also platoons of twenty - four troopers in the Army . Galactic Empire . Imperial Army . In the Imperial Army , the basic structure of the standard platoon remained very close to what it had been in the GAR : four squads , each consisting of eight men plus a sergeant , with four platoons forming a company ; but whereas under the Republic the platoon ' s commanding Lieutenant had been included within the 36 - man detail , he was now supernumerary along with a Sergeant Major who served as platoon adjutant , for a total of thirty - eight personnel . A platoon was the smallest unit authorized to request fire support from friendly artillery , although typically these requests first had to go through the unit ' s parent battalion headquarters , which either allocated resources or passed the request higher up the chain of command . If there was time before a battle to plan a battalion commander might assign an artillery section under his control to a specific platoon , a process known as " grafting " which guaranteed the platoon immediate fire support upon request . Additionally a large number of platoons could be " grafted " to a single artillery or armor company , with the company commander allocating fire support requests as he saw fit . Army platoons could be augmented as per their Order of Battle ( OB ) , however whereas larger units adhered to this doctrine more closely in practice there was more flexibility when augmenting platoons . Where possible the organizational chart was followed but it was quite common for commanders to swap men and equipment between different platoon types . Equipment was often over - ordered at the company level and reinforcements assigned to the wrong unit were " adopted " by their new unit . The result was that platoons were the least standardized unit in the Imperial Army , with some packing as much firepower as an entire company . Line Platoon . The line platoon was the standard light infantry formation of four line squads for a total of 38 troopers . Prior to combat , the lieutenant was suppose to assign his sergeant major to the squad that would come under the most pressure , and move between squads as the battle dictated . In practice this tended to result in a very short lifespan for the lieutenant , with those who survived falling into two general types . The first were the more pragmatic lieutenants who stayed with one squad during combat and commanded the platoon through their comlink and other less - sophisticated communication methods . The second were simply quite tough . Officially it could be augmented with four additional line squads . Assault Platoon ( Heavy Weapons Platoon ) . This unit was made up of two line squads and two heavy weapon squads , the latter usually armed with heavy repeating blasters . Officially its OB added first two armor sections and then two additional line squads , but unofficially many simply included more heavy weapons details to their standard strength . This could just be a single medium repeating blaster detail , or up to three medium repeating blaster or two heavy repeating blaster details . Thus the platoon could have a total strength anywhere from 38 to 47 troopers , with 41 being the most common , before official augmentation took place . Repulsorlift Platoon . This platoon contained three repulsorlift squads and one heavy weapon repulsorlift squad which , along with the command element , numbered 56 troopers and 11 vehicles . The command element served as mobile command base and coordination center and consisted of two modified light transport vehicles with heavier armor and more powerful repulsors to compensate . In combat the lieutenant ' s vehicle operated from where he could best direct the platoon while the sergeant major ' s was assigned to the lead squad . The platoon also included a support vehicle which carried spare parts and eight technicians , operated by a crew of four ( who doubled as mechanics ) . Augmented platoons include two more repulsorlift squads and two more heavy weapons repulsorlift squads . Heavy Weapons Repulsorlift Platoon . The heavy weapons repulsorlift platoon was the same as a standard repulsorlift platoon , including the command element and support staff , but was entirely composed of heavy weapon repulsorlift squads . Through the augmentation process this platoon could essentially double in size with four additional heavy weapon repulsorlift squads added . Scout Platoon . A scout platoon consisted of two scout lances , known together as a scout squadron , and two line squads . While the lieutenant was officially in charge of the entire platoon , tradition had him commanding the scout squadron , replacing the sergeant in the command lance , while the sergeant major commanded the infantry . A baseline scout platoon had 29 men and 10 speeder bikes , while a fully augmented platoon had three more scout lances and a third line squad for a total of 53 troopers and 25 speeder bikes . Armor Platoon . Armor platoons were composed of repulsorlift tanks or their equivalent vehicle or walkers . Consisting of four armor sections the platoon either had four heavy vehicles or eight medium or light ones , with the heavy configuration being the most common , along with a modified medium command tank in which the lieutenant rode . The command tank which often featured a second crewman to wield a heavy repeating blaster in a secondary gun cupola , while the sergeant major either rode in another tank or protected the platoon ' s support element . Two Heavy Transport Vehicle s carried the platoon ' s supply of spare parts and components as well as four technicians ; each HTV was crewed by three crewmen who doubled as mechanics . Together a platoon consisted of 34 to 42 men , 5 to 9 combat and 2 support vehicles , and could be augmented to include four more armor sections . Artillery Platoon ( Artillery Line ) . This platoon had four artillery sections with either four heavy or medium artillery pieces or eight light vehicles . The standard complement was 38 men and 4 to 8 vehicles . It could be augmented with two additional artillery sections , then a line squad and a heavy weapons squad . Special Mission Platoon . Special Mission platoons were organized much like standard line platoons with 38 troopers , but were designed around accomplishing missions which required a few elite men rather than normal military operations . They were composed of two sharpshooter squads , an engineering squad and a heavy weapons squad , with the augmentation process adding a second engineering squad , two more sharpshooter squads , and a second heavy weapons squad to essential double it in size . In addition these squads were often split in equal sub - units , containing troopers of all squads for greater flexibility , and could be cross - attached to other units . Special mission platoons were often used to prosecute delicate missions such as assassinations , Rebel Activity Clearance and Political gain operation s . Stormtroopers . In the Stormtrooper Corps , it was possible that some stormtrooper units were organized along the same four - squad platoons structure as the line forces of the GAR and the Imperial Army , but there is better evidence for a platoon - strength unit of forty - five men : such formations probably consisted of five squads in the manner of the troop used as the platoon - size unit within the GAR ' s earlier Special Operations Brigade , but with the squad strength enhanced to match the Army ' s standard nine - man unit . The nine - man stormtrooper squad was certainly known to have been standard by 9 ABY , but it is known that squad size could be smaller than this , although it is unclear whether this indicated any significant variation in the overall size of the platoon , or if variation tended to be within a relatively stable platoon matrix . A forty - five man platoon might have consisted of squads of nine , five or three men , assuming that the squad strength was equal , which was not of course the case in army heavy weapons platoons . Specialist stormtroopers were certainly organized into unusual unit sizes : Scout troopers were organized in 10 - man squadrons or 22 - man platoons as just mentioned , while spacetrooper platoons consisted of forty troopers , operating in conjunction with the five - man crews of " Gamma " - class assault shuttles . By 22 ABY , however , forty troopers organized in ten four - man squads comprised the strength of a full company in the 501st Legion , now fighting for the Empire of the Hand . It therefore appears that the platoon had at least partially disappeared by this date in at least some stormtrooper units , although it is not clear when this process began .