WTF is Cheney doing giving the order to shoot down?

[Kazak]

He's not even in the chain of command. Very nefarious.

[kanrok]

1. He is the President, after all.

Chimpy McAsslick is just a puppet.

[Lindsey]

2. Further proof that he's the one running things.

We at DU know that but maybe ma & pa sixpack will start seing the light.

[Slickriddles]

3. Cheney

We've been chewin' the fat on this one forum up. Come see.

[Kazak]

5. Yeah...

it was largely due to your discussion that it occured to me...thanks! That's really creepy. Welcome to DU (again).

[theivoryqueen]

4. I wondered about that

I wasn't aware the VP was authorized to authorize...

[Zen]

6. Cheney had to give the order since Bush was still having children teach

him how to read! I can't wait to see F-911 - got advance tickets already. Seeing the dunce pretending to read an upsidedown book while death and destruction are occuring is hilarious (well, it would be hilarious if we weren't living it). Hail to Dunce the Chimp!

[HawkerHurricane]

7. Actually, he is in the Chain.

Pres
VP
SecDef
Sec(service)
Chief of Staff/CNO for Navy

And of course, like a good XO, VP Cheney took over when the Pres was incapable of performing his duties...

[Kazak]

8. Ah, well that blows that theory out of the water.

Or, does it? I'm confused.

[TahitiNut]

9. Uhmmmm... not unless something has changed dramatically, recently.

(For the Army, this is described in FM 100-7.)

The chain of command for combat and operational matters ...
From Commander-in-chief (president)
to Secretary of Defense
to Chief of Staff for Army/Navy/etc.
to Unified/Specified Command
... and so on.

For other (non-operational matters) ...
From Commander-in-chief (president)
to Secretary of Defense
to Secrtary of the Army/Navy/etc.
to Department of the Army/Navy/etc.
... and so on.

The only non-DoD person in the chain of command is the President. (It should also be noted that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff isn't technically in the formal chain of command, only the chief of staff for the Air Force. This was made clear in 1986, I think.)

The Vice President is not in the military chain of command. At least not according to law.

The eight unified commands are the Atlantic Command, headquartered in Virginia; Pacific Command, in Hawaii; European Command, in Stuttgart, Germany; Southern Command, in Panama; Central Command and Special Operations Command, both in Florida; Transportation Command, in Illinois; and Space Command, in Colorado. The two specified commands are the Air Combat Command and the Forces Command.


See http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/100-7/f1007.htm
Also see http://www.defenselink.mil/odam/omp/pubs/GuideBook/DoD.htm

On edit --
This was/is a pretty standard question on Army promotion tests.
Q. Who are the three civilians in the chain of command?
A. The Commander in Chief, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Army.
:shrug:
http://www.militaryedu.com/studyguide/Chain_of_Command/Questions/more2.html

[Zen]

10. Cheny is in the chain of crap out of W's ass though

:P

[HawkerHurricane]

11. Navy taught...

that VP was in the chain. And we were required to memorize our chain...

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is not in the chain... he's just the guy who gavels the meetings.

[TahitiNut]

12. Yeah, it's a commmon "knowledge" drill to recite the CoC ...

... in the service academies, too. So, I had to memorize it when I was at the USCGA, while I awas in the ROTC, and for promotion boards in 'Nam. Even though I don't ever remember the VP in that chain, I didn't want to rely on my memory of stuff going back to the 60's. I vaguely remembered a CoC clarification back in the 80's having to do with the Joint Chiefs, but that didn't have anything to do with the VP. I do remember that Truman didn't know anything at all about the plan to bomb Hiroshima or Nagasaki, so it's pretty clear he wasn't in the CoC during WW2. :shrug: