Chain of command

Categories: Military life | Military organization | Warfare

In a military context, the chain of command is the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed.

The line of command will generally go from a higher-ranked soldier who gives the order, i.e. an officer, down to a lower-ranked soldier who is ordered to perform, i.e. a common soldier.

In general, military personnel give orders to only those directly below them in the chain of command and receive orders from only those directly above. For example, a common soldier who has difficulty carrying out an order is likely to be disciplined for not observing the chain of command if he skips the officer who is in direct command of him and directly appeals to a higher-ranked officer in his chain of command.

The concept of chain of command also implies that higher rank alone does not entitle a person to give commands. For example, an officer of a given military unit cannot directly command common soldiers of another unit, because this officer is outside of their chain of command. If the officer needs something from the soldiers of another unit, he is generally expected to approach an officer along their chain of command.

The term is also used in civilian context describing comparable hierarchical structures of authority, for example in management.

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Chain of Command (the game)

"Chain of Command" is a free, online, multiplayer WWII game. In each battle, players can join the German or American team. Each player controls four individual soldiers in a squad and there are 1-10 players per team. On an overhead isometric map, each battle lasts a maximum of 15-20 minutes.

A player's perspective of the battle is limited by his line of sight and visibility of subordinate teammates. Kills are calculated through mathematical probability. As opposed to the lowest ranking soldiers, the commander has a good overall view of the battle. Promotion points are passed on through the highest-ranking survivor of each team to lower-ranking players.

To play, one must first register an account. After the account has been verified, one downloads the program (Windows only) and connects to one of the rooms. All commands in the game are entered via mouse by clicking the table of buttons at the bottom of the screen. Each soldier is assigned a row of buttons, or may select the top row to command all his or her soldiers at once. The text-chat interface offers communication to other players for help or gameplay.

The game was originally made by 2am-games, which went bankrupt several years ago. The game itself now survives with dedicated players that mostly play in the evenings in North America. The weekends are especially busy.

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