What This Field Means
How the unit is positioned for service—at home, forward, rotating, deployed, mobilized, or expeditionary.
This describes how the unit is positioned for service at a particular time: home-stationed, forward-stationed, rotational, deployed, mobilized, expeditionary, or another supported posture. It helps place a unit in the situation a veteran experienced.
How to Read It Correctly
Posture is not lifecycle status, readiness, deployability, or mere location. A current deployable unit can be home-stationed; a mobilized Reserve unit does not thereby become Regular.
Example
A current unit may be home-stationed, forward-stationed, or deployed.
Technical Specification
The database column is [USMIL-Unit].[Unit].[Posture]. Required posture summary mapped to the controlled Posture dimension. Posture is time-varying and distinct from both mobility and lifecycle status.
Use the controlled posture value supported for the applicable period. Treat posture as time-varying and keep the supporting location, operation, or mobilization evidence connected.
| Property | Definition or current value |
|---|---|
| Database column | Posture |
| Column order | 41 |
| SQL data type | nvarchar(128) |
| Kind of information | Ontology-controlled classification with a scalar Unit-table summary |
| Cardinality | Unit table: one scalar summary per row. Ontology dimension: multiple; time-varying: true. |
| Required | Yes |
| Database default | No database default |
| Key or relationship | None |
| Database check constraint | ([CurrentStatus]=N'Planned' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Status unknown' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Historical' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Inactive' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Current') |
| Live population | 9341 of 9341 Unit records (100%) |
| Distinct nonblank values in the live table | 1019 |
| Live profile measured | September 2, 2026, 20:43 UTC |
Allowed Values and Definitions
The complete active controlled vocabulary is listed below. The ontology is authoritative for normalized options. Narrative or legacy phrases found in the scalar Unit-table column are current data expressions, not additional approved options.
| Ontology property | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ontology dimension | Posture |
| Dimension number | 40 |
| Ontology definition | Home-stationed, forward-stationed, rotational, deployed, mobilized, expeditionary, or supported posture. |
| Ontology cardinality | multiple |
| Changes over time | Yes |
| Active controlled options | 12 |
| Canonical option | Code | Plain-language definition | Technical definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | unknown | The evidence reviewed so far does not establish a value. | No supported value is asserted; this is an evidentiary state, not a positive classification. |
| Not applicable | not-applicable | This question does not apply to this kind of unit or relationship. | The dimension is intentionally inapplicable to the subject type; it is not missing data. |
| Unresolved | unresolved | The unit is known, but the available evidence does not yet settle this particular point. | Confirms that resolution remains open after review without asserting a competing value. |
| Needs review | needs-review | The retained evidence needs additional review before a reliable value can be shown. | Places the assertion in a review-required disposition rather than accepting a substantive value. |
| Source conflict | source-conflict | Reliable sources disagree, so the guide preserves the disagreement instead of choosing one silently. | Records an unresolved conflict among retained sources and prevents false canonical certainty. |
| Home-stationed | home-stationed | Home-stationed means the unit is positioned at its normal permanent station or homeport rather than forward or deployed. | Controlled posture code 'home-stationed' in ontology Dimension 40. Posture is time-varying and must be effective-dated separately from lifecycle status, mobility state, and force component. |
| Forward-stationed | forward-stationed | Forward-stationed means the unit is permanently or enduringly based closer to an anticipated area of operations than its service’s principal home territory. | Controlled posture code 'forward-stationed' in ontology Dimension 40. Posture is time-varying and must be effective-dated separately from lifecycle status, mobility state, and force component. |
| Rotational | rotational | Rotational means the unit occupies a location or mission position for a recurring limited period before replacement or return. | Controlled posture code 'rotational' in ontology Dimension 40. Posture is time-varying and must be effective-dated separately from lifecycle status, mobility state, and force component. |
| Deployed | deployed | Deployed means the unit has moved from its normal station to perform an operation, mission, or other directed activity. | Controlled posture code 'deployed' in ontology Dimension 40. Posture is time-varying and must be effective-dated separately from lifecycle status, mobility state, and force component. |
| Mobilized | mobilized | Mobilized means the unit or its personnel have been ordered into an activated status to meet operational requirements. | Controlled posture code 'mobilized' in ontology Dimension 40. Posture is time-varying and must be effective-dated separately from lifecycle status, mobility state, and force component. |
| Expeditionary | expeditionary | Expeditionary means the unit is positioned or employed as a force intended to operate away from an enduring home base, often with deployable support. | Controlled posture code 'expeditionary' in ontology Dimension 40. Posture is time-varying and must be effective-dated separately from lifecycle status, mobility state, and force component. |
| Another evidenced posture | another-evidenced-posture | Another evidenced posture is used when authoritative evidence establishes a posture not represented by the named standard choices. | Controlled catch-all code 'another-evidenced-posture' in ontology Dimension 40. Use requires explicit source support; recurring concepts should receive a separately defined extension rather than accumulating as unexplained catch-all data. |
How the Live Unit Table Uses This Field
The scalar Unit-table column currently contains 1019 distinct nonblank expressions. The 20 most frequently used expressions are shown below; these are evidence-derived or legacy contents, not extra controlled options.
| Observed live expression | Live Unit records |
|---|---|
| Current posture | 4535 |
| Source-period posture established; current posture unresolved | 1482 |
| Status unresolved | 967 |
| Source-period | 240 |
| Historical deployed task organization | 197 |
| Source-period status does not establish current posture | 174 |
| Historical | 147 |
| Inactive as recorded in the source period | 136 |
| Current | 38 |
| Not applicable | 24 |
| Operational current posture | 23 |
| Decommissioned historical posture | 19 |
| Historical Fall 1972 deployed team | 18 |
| Inactivated historical posture | 15 |
| Disbanded as recorded in the source period | 10 |
| Historical source-period posture | 9 |
| Current mission support group | 9 |
| Current medical group | 8 |
| Source-period identity confirmed; exact current posture unresolved | 8 |
| Historical posture | 8 |
Missing, Unknown, and Conflicting Information
This column cannot be NULL in the Unit table. When the underlying fact is incomplete, the record must use an allowed explicit disposition or a supported evidence-derived statement. Required storage does not mean that every historical fact is known, and it never authorizes a guessed value.
The controlled uncertainty values are deliberately different: Unknown means evidence has not established a value; Unresolved means the question remains open after review; Needs review identifies work still requiring evaluation; Source conflict preserves disagreement among retained sources; and Not applicable means the dimension does not apply to the subject.
Connections to Other Fields
- Unit Deployability — Whether and how the unit can move from its normal location to perform a mission elsewhere.
- Current Status — Whether the unit is currently operating, belongs to history, was formally inactivated, is planned, or has an unresolved present status.
- Operating Location — A place where the unit is operating, deployed, detached, or rotating, which may be different from its home station.
- Home Station or Homeport — The installation, base, station, or port the unit normally calls home.
- Force Component — Whether the unit belongs to the regular force, Reserve, National Guard, or another supported component.