Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmySGT.
No.
Damocles answers to National Command Authority, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Secretary of Defense, Strategic Missile Command, and the Chain of Command for a Missile Defense Wing (Experimental).
Snake Eaters are an Army unit under Special Operations Command. A Captain or Major (Leader of an Operation Detachment Alpha) is too junior to have the authority.
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There are US military there are two kinds of authority Command and General
http://www.armystudyguide.com/conten...y-of-nco.shtml
"Command authority is the authority leaders have over soldiers by virtue of rank or assignment. Command authority originates with the President and may be supplemented by law or regulation. Even though it is called “command” authority, it is not limited to officers – you have command authority inherent in your leadership position as a tank commander or team leader, for example. Noncommissioned officers’ command authority is inherent with the job by virtue of position to direct or control soldiers.
Leading soldiers includes the authority to organize, direct and control your assigned soldiers so that they accomplish assigned missions. It also includes authority to use assigned equipment and resources to accomplish your missions. Remember that this only applies to soldiers and facilities in your unit. For example, if the platoon sergeant of first platoon goes on leave and a squad leader is put in charge, that squad leader has command authority over only first platoon, until he is relieved from the responsibility. The soldiers in first platoon will obey the squad leader’s orders due to his position. However, the squad leader does not have command authority over another platoon.
General military authority is authority extended to all soldiers to take action and act in the absence of a unit leader or other designated authority. It originates in oaths of office, law, rank structure, traditions and regulations. This broad-based authority also allows leaders to take appropriate corrective actions whenever a member of any armed service, anywhere, commits an act involving a breach of good order or discipline. For example, if you see soldiers in a brawl, you have the general military authority (and the obligation) to stop the fight. This authority applies even if none of the soldiers are in your unit.
General military authority exists whether you are on duty or not, in uniform or in civilian attire and regardless of location. For example, you are off duty, in civilian clothes and in the PX and you see a soldier in uniform with his headgear raised up and trousers unbloused. You stop the soldier immediately, identify yourself and ensure the soldier understands and makes the necessary corrections. If he refuses, saying you don’t have the authority to tell him what to do because he’s not in your NCO support channel, the soldier is wrong."
In MP Command Authority will be gone above a very low level for the Snake Eaters (and everyone else). Everything is going to come down to General Military Authority. To my understanding it rank is rank, branch doesn't matter (with the exception of some oddball things like Navy Limited Duty Officers). It goes from Five Star Generals to E-1s. If everything went to Hell in a handbasket and a bunch of military types found themselves thrown together command would fall to the highest rank. Maybe Special Forces guys would ignore this, but I don't see under what authority they could do so.
The reverse is true. Damocles would be required to accept any surviving military that had general authority (i.e. outranks him) as being able to command him, unless he had pre-existing orders from a higher ranking individual that were still in effect. This might be the case, but it would be difficult to parse any orders from before the wargame and war as being relevant to the current situation. I could see there being a contingency in Damocles orders that under certain circumstances his commission would be activated. If I was a Damocles planner I would do this just for the reasons I stated above. Damocles' commission in the USAF becomes active if he is cut off from all command authority and the US has suffered a devastating attack.
Also if Damocles can launch nuclear weapons he must have specifically and directly delegated authority from the POTUS to do so (I think, launch authority is pretty arcane stuff at times).