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The chain of command leads from the president (as commander-in-chief) through the secretary of defense down to the newest recruits. [2] [3] The United States Armed Forces are organized through the United States Department of Defense, which oversees a complex structure of joint command and control functions with many units reporting to various commanding officers.
The President of the United States is, according to the Constitution, the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces and Chief Executive of the Federal Government. The Secretary of Defense is the "Principal Assistant to the President in all matters relating to the Department of Defense", and is vested with statutory authority (10 U.S.C. § 113) to lead the Department and all of its component ...
"Command is exercised by virtue of office and the special assignment of members of the Armed Forces holding military rank who are eligible to exercise command." [2] In general, military personnel give orders only to those directly below them in the chain of command and receive orders only from those directly above them.
Beginning late on January 1, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized and in an intensive care unit, yet no one in the military chain of command seemed to know about it until January 5.
Theater of operations (TO) is a sub-area within a theater of war. The boundary of a TO is defined by the commander who is orchestrating or providing support for specific combat operations within the TO. Theater of operations is divided into strategic directions or military regions depending on whether it is a war or peacetime.
The military rank system defines dominance, authority and responsibility within a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command—the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command is an important ...
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, although outside the operational chain of command, is the senior-most military body in the United States Armed Forces. It is led by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , who is the military head of the armed forces and principal advisor to the president and secretary of defense on military matters.
A unified combatant command, also referred to as a combatant command (CCMD), is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, and conducts broad and continuing missions. [1]