Military Commander

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Douglas Haig and Ferdinand Foch inspecting the Gordon Highlanders, 1918

The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as they see fit, within the bounds of military law. In this respect, commanding officers have significant responsibilities (for example, the use of force, finances, equipment, the Geneva Conventions), duties (to higher authority, mission effectiveness, duty of care to personnel), and powers (for example, discipline and punishment of personnel within certain limits of military law).

In some countries, commanding officers may be of any commissioned rank. Usually, there are more officers than command positions available, and time spent in command is generally a key aspect of promotion, so the role of commanding officer is highly valued. The commanding officer is often assisted by an executive officer (XO) or second-in-command (2i/c), who handles personnel and day-to-day matters, and a senior enlisted advisor. Larger units may also have staff officers responsible for various responsibilities.

There are two recurring debates related to military command: the collective command thesis and civil-military relations.

While the commander is an individual, the academic debate centres on whether command is an individual act or a form of a collective. British sociologist Anthony King argued for the emergence of a command collective in Western military forces in his 2019 book Command.[1] Others have argued against King's thesis, stating that it romanticises the collective,[2] that contemporary commanders themselves do not understand their function in this way,[3] or that it may be the case. Still, collective forms of command are less effective in actual combat.[4] U.S. Marine Corps General James Mattis also disagreed with King's thesis: "I disagree if you are trying to do decision-making in boards. The emeny will dance arround you". [1]

The civil-military control debate centres on a paradox. The military, an institution designed to protect the polity, must also be strong enough to threaten the society it serves. A military takeover or coup is an example where this balance is used to change the government. Ultimately, the military must accept that it may have to implement a policy decision with which it disagrees.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 King, Anthony (2019). Command: The Twenty-First-Century General. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108642941. ISBN 978-1-108-47640-9.
  2. ↑ Klitmøller, Anders; Obling, Anne Roelsgaard (2021-12-21). "Collective Command: Problems and Perspectives for Military Operational Leadership in the 21st Century". Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies. 4 (1). doi:10.31374/sjms.94. ISSN 2596-3856.
  3. ↑ Sjøgren, Søren (2022-11-15). "What Military Commanders do and how they do it: Executive Decision-Making in the Context of Standardised Planning Processes and Doctrine". Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies. 5 (1). doi:10.31374/sjms.146. ISSN 2596-3856.
  4. ↑ Storr, Jim (2025). War and warfare in the twentieth century. Havant, Hampshire: Howgate Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-912440-57-3.
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