ABSTRACT
The military has been using what is referred to as a “joint approach” for many decades. Without such an approach, major coordinated operations, like D-Day or Desert Storm just to name a few, would not have been possible and the joint, coordinated power of air, sea and land assets would not have had the same effect. While the management of the armed forces in peacetime is typically run by an administration of military and civilian employees under the guidance of the executive branch and accountable to the legislative branch, this will change in a crisis, where a president or another designated individual takes full control of the role of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The operational level plays a key role in understanding what the strategic level wants to achieve, while also understanding what the tactical level could actually do to reach that end.
