Hi

Now I'm no genius on this sort of thing, but I have always had this theory that the president of a country doesn't really have as much to do with the military aspect as everyone thinks.

I've always felt that there must be someone, like a commander, who controls all the military stuff, and the president just calls the shots with political stuff like going to war and other such American things.

What do you guys think on this?

DarkStar...

I think the president never issues military orders, he only approves those laid out by the J3.

Yeah, thats what I think. That the military people come up with plans and projects and Mr.President just signs all the papers.

DarkStar...

I seem to recall that, in theory at least, the elected representatives of the people are supposed to fit in there somewhere.
But the Pres. is the Commander in Chief and at various times "big names" in the military have been "shot down" - MacArthur springs to mind as does Patton.
I tend to think that the Joint Chiefs are probably much more concerned about fighting one another than anyone else.

Originally posted by David
I think the president never issues military orders, he only approves those laid out by the J3.

Thats what I've always thought it was all about.

yeah the president is the head of the army. i forget what he is called. he doesn't design the war plans though. he does send the people to this or that. but the other generals have to follow his orders. that is very interesting. never thought of it like that.