The #AEF in #WWI was composed of highly regional formations.
The Army had returned to a Division based structure with the Stimson Plan which adjusted the Tables of Organization to include regional divisions in 1914, but in practice had not utilized the "Divisional Structure" much by the US entry into the #FWW.
The Divisions, while organized to cover regions, were made up of units that were too far apart to train together. The experience on the Mexican Border combined with reports from Europe convinced the Army that restructuring would be required to be effective on the #WesternFront.
The Defense Act of 1916 and the War College's "General Organization Project" of 1917 reformed the entire US Army along larger, Divisional lines. It created a framework that filled the Army's Divisions with men from unique geographic areas.
When the initial planning phase for more divisions closed, the mobilization program encompassed 38 divisions-16 National Guard, 16 National Army, and 6 Regular Army. 30 were planned to be deployed to France, and those in excess of #Pershing's needs were to be held in the US.
To fill the ranks of these non-Regular Army Divisions, they divided the country into 12 regions and pooled recruits from those areas to staff out their new formations.
Divisions were to be numbered 1 through 25 in the Regular Army, 26 through 75 in the #NationalGuard, and 76 and above in the National Army. National Guard Divisions with the exception of 3, would be drawn from multiple states.
As the war took its toll on the men in the ranks, replacements would be pushed forward diluting the regional identity of each Division, and some of these Divisions became "Depot Divisions" who provided training and organizational structure maintaining only a senior staff.
Others became "Skeletonized Divisions" who were dismantled entirely to provide large crops of replacements to fill #combat losses.
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