In November of 1945, the Marine Corps Gazette published an article calling for the replacement of the thirteen-man rifle squad with a unit of the same name that rated seventeen Marines. Where the existing squad, which had been used during the last year of the Pacific War, broke down into three identical fire teams, the squad imagined by the author of this article, William C. Chamberlin, would consist of a scout-rifle team, a BAR team, and two rifle teams.
Where the leader of the scout-rifle team would carry an M-1 rifle, the second member of that element would carry either an M-1 rifle or an M-1 carbine. (This option, I suspect had something to do with the large stock of M-1 carbines on hand at the end of World War II. It may also have reflected the tendency of Marines employed as scouts to prefer the lighter weapon when serving as the ‘eyes and ears’ of their respective squads.)
The two remaining members of the scout-rifle squad were to be armed with M-1 rifles. (Strange to say, Major Chamberlin made no mention of the issue of rifle grenades to these men. These, I would think, would have provided the scouts with a useful means of breaking unwelcome contact, signalling the discovery of hostiles, and reducing resistance in confined spaces.)
Like the BAR squad of the early years of World War, the BAR team imagined by Chamberlin employed two Browning automatic rifles. The BAR team, moreover, would fulfill the same basic role as its predecessor, proving a ‘base of fire’ for rifle-armed units to exploit. (That said, the fact that it consisted of four, rather than eight, men meant that the BAR team would have been able to carry less in the way of ammunition than the BAR squad.)
The leader of the seventeen-man squad – who would continue to rank as a sergeant –would carry either a sub-machine gun or an M-2 carbine. (In most respects, the M-2 carbine resembled the M-1 carbine. However, while the older weapon could only fire a single shot with each pull of the trigger, the M-2 carbine could be fired in automatic mode.)
The leaders of the two rifle teams would be armed in the same way. The other members of those teams would, however, carry M-1 rifles.
Source
William C. Chamberlin ‘17-Man Squad’ Marine Corps Gazette (November 1945) pages 35-37 (Internet Archive)
For Further Reading
Excellent idea; please note - maneuvering 4 elements requires experience and training together. However just having that many is wise - especially scout rifle team. Update to Drone team today. There’s sufficient (maybe) IAR automatic rifle and grenadiers to the squads.(I don’t know about this M27 IAR but we’ll find out) .