Slash.. unlike the Army or Air Force (which originates from the Army) the unit task organization is all based on the number 3.
Militarily speaking of course it is to allow for a 2 up, 1 down theory. You have the Primary, the Backup, and the Reserve.
Now same way
Fireteam
Squad
Platoon
Company
Battalion
Regiment
Brigade
Division
Corp
However the Marine Corp no longer has Brigades unless they task them out as MEB (Marine Expeditionary Brigades) which has not been done in forever.
The difference is in the level of controls and additions. technically a brigade was just the next level of infantry battalions without support elements. The division is the same thing as a brigade just with support elements. So because of the redundancy the USMC does not use the Brigade classifcation because we have no need for it unless we task out several battalions of infantry to perform some operation without the full need of division support. (e.g. Fleet Marine Forces stationed on ships.. hence the Expeditionary classification.) But usually they want support cause who wouldnt... and those are usually classifed as MEF's (or Marine Expeditionary Forces)
Additionally here is a link to a very handy website with TONS of information about the military (if you can sort thru it to find what you want)
globalsecurity.orgI hope that clarifies things for you all.
Semper Fi!