Military order (instruction)

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An officer of the Presidential Guard of Zimbabwe giving military commands during a parade. Zim soldier.jpg
An officer of the Presidential Guard of Zimbabwe giving military commands during a parade.

A military command or order is a binding instruction given by a senior rank to a junior rank in a military context. Not all senior ranks in all military forces have the right to give an order to all lower ranks. [1]

Contents

U.S. Department of Defense

General orders, according to the United States Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, are:

  1. Permanent instructions, issued in order form, that apply to all members of a command, as compared with special orders, which affect only individuals or small groups. General orders are usually concerned with matters of policy or administration. [2]
  2. A series of permanent guard orders that govern the duties of a sentry on post.

An operations order, in a US DOD sense, is a plan format meant which is intended to assist subordinate units with the conduct of military operations.

See also

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References

  1. George Breckenridge Davis, A Treatise on the Military Law of the United States, 1913 1584776501 p385 "A staff officer has, except by assignment, no right to give a military order to an officer of the line ; if he should do so without stating that he did so in the name of a superior to the line officer, such order would be invalid."
  2. Joint Publication 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, 12 April 2001, (As Amended Through 31 October 2009), 224.