What's your unit?

I cannot even tell you how many times someone has tried to tell me what unit their husband, or their friend, or their son, or whomever, is in, and they say something like, "Yeah, he's in A Co, 1st Cavalry Division." or, "She's in 3rd Platoon." to which I reply, "3rd platoon what?" and they say, "Vilsek, Germany."

OK, people. Here's what you just told me the equivalent of:
"What's your address?"
"4 Maple Street, Earth."

I have no idea what unit your relative, friend, or spouse is in if you don't give the unit information correctly, so I'm about to tell you how to do it. First of all, you need to understand how Army unit structure works, from the bottom up, so here we go (note that all these numbers are approximate, and averages. There's variation in all of them, but this gives you some idea.):

Soldier
Buddy team (2 soldiers)
Team (4 or 5 soldiers)
Squad (2 teams)
Platoon (3-4 squads)
Company (4-6 platoons)
Battalion (3-10 companies)
Brigade (5-10 battalions)
Division (4-6 brigades)
Corps (several posts, and divisions thereof)
Command (most soldiers are FORSCOM unless they're Spec Ops, then they're SOCOM, and if they're in training or train soldiers, they're TRADOC)
Army

So technically, MY unit when I was in Basic would be:
PVT L, Team B leader, 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, C Co (Crazy Charlie! What what!), 1st Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, 1st Training Brigade, TRADOC.

Nobody gives units like that, though. How freaking ridiculous. Most of the time, a company and battalion will suffice if you're talking with people who know what brigade you're with. In Basic, for example, I said, "I'm in Charlie 1-48." and people knew what I was talking about.

More often, it would be better to give company, battalion, brigade, and division. I could say, for example, "My husband is in HHC, 125th BSB, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division." Now, if you're dealing with other military people you'll hear something more like, "HHC, 125th, over in 3-1." and they'll know what that means. It includes all the same information, though.

So remember, if you want to find out if our husbands are in the same unit, this is the order you do it:
Company
Battalion
Brigade
Division

Do that, and EVERYBODY will know what you're talking about.