Part 4: The Military Departments
There are three military departments within the Department of Defense, Army, Navy and Air Force. Each is headed by a civilian Secretary, Under Secretary and several Assistant Secretaries. These are all civilian positions, although, occasionally, military officers have been appointed as Assistant Secretaries, and within the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations has served as acting Secretary.
Reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense is the chief of the service, who is the senior military officer of that department (except for the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the JCS, who rank above the service chiefs).
The military departments are responsible for the training, provision of equipment, and the administration of their respective services. They do not direct military operations; that function was removed by the Defense Reorganization Act of 1958. The influence and prerogatives of the military departments have widely varied, depending on the personality, influence, and attitudes of the service secretaries and to a lesser extent, the service chiefs.
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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