Eh … if played out like the above comment suggests, with China giving us a little token tariff on US imports to twist the knife, we on the ground won’t be affected. Fuck, we’ll be vastly better off than under the Trump tariffs plans. We all win, he loses.
Hopefully they all remember their oaths of enlistment are to the Constitution first, THEN the president.
There grey areas in parallel chains but all chains end in Washington at the capital.
No, second in command is the Secretary of Defense. But if the Vice President is acting on behalf or under direction of the president it could be seen as a billet. Walking around bases every unit has pictures of their chains of command, all of them include the VP and have for a long time.
That’s not what chain of command means. It simply establishes the hierarchy. Commands can be given by anyone who outranks you, or holds a billet that comes with higher authority. Trump and Vance at the top of that chain and can issue legal orders to literally anyone in the US military.
Reminds me of a story. Not as annoying as the DMV but there was a BBQ place in Texas, an old place in some old dying town. The place is open only 3 or 4 days a week until the meats are gone. When open the line goes out the door and down the sidewalk. I went once and the local high school kids would get in line. As they got closer to the front they’d start selling off spots, auctioning their place in line. The kids got paid then went and got in line again. Repeat.