Under the current ASC command structure the day-to-day management of the ASC is distinct from the command of military operations. The services are administered through the Joint Forces Command (JFC), with the head of each service (the Chief of Land Forces, Chief of Aerospace forces and Chief of Civil Defense) and the service headquarters being responsible for raising, training and sustaining combat forces. The Chiefs are also the Government's principal advisor on matters concerning the responsibilities of their service.
While the individual members of each service ultimately report to their service's Chief, the Chiefs do not control military operations. Control of ASC operations is exercised through a formal command chain headed by the Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS), who reports to the ASC Supreme Commander. As part of this structure each service is organized into an administrative headquarters (Land, Aerospace and Civil Defense headquarters) which supports the service Chief and an operational command which report to the respective service Chief but are responsive to CJOPS. Several 'joint' operational task forces also report to CJOPS. In practice, when ASC units deploy on exercises or operational deployments they are temporarily re-assigned from their respective service to the relevant operational headquarters.
Administrative Commands
Joint Forces Command (JFC): The Joint Forces Command (JFC) commander is responsible for the joint concept development and experimentation, joint training, joint interoperability and integration for the various commands of the Armies of the Southern Cross (ASC). The JFC commander is responsible as the primary conventional force provider for the ASC's combatant commanders and is responsible to enhancing their capabilities to implement the UEG's strategy. The JFC develops joint operational concepts, tests these concepts through rigorous experimentation, educates joint leaders, trains joint task force commanders and staffs, and recommends joint solutions to the all components of the ASC to better integrate their warfighting capabilities.
The benchmark of JFC's efforts is to create effects in the battlespace in support of campaigns designed and conducted by the combatant commanders in pursuit of UEG-approved policy goals.
Land Forces Command (LFC): The LFC is responsible for personnel readiness, policy, planning and training of the ASC's land forces for the combatant commanders to utilize. LFC is an administrative position and has no operational command authority over ASC land forces.
Aerospace Command (AC): The AC is responsible for personnel readiness, policy, planning and training of the ASC's aerospace forces for the combatant commanders to utilize. The AC is an administrative position and has no operational command authority over ASC aerospace forces.
Civil Defense Authority (CDA): The CDA is responsible for personnel readiness, policy, planning and training of the ASC's civil defense forces for the combatant commanders to utilize. The CDA is an administrative position and has no operational command authority over ASC civil defense forces.
Combat Commands
Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS): Operational command of the ASC is exercised by Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC), which is currently located in Monument City. The Chief of Joint Operations, currently General Emerson, controls all operational deployments and most exercises.
There are, currently eight unified commands, each responsible for a geographical Area of Responsibility (AOR). Each geographical command combines aerospace, sea, and land operations for their AOR. Each unified command is commanded by a combatant commander (CCDR). CCDRs were created in order to have a local supreme commander who could exercise unified command and control across service boundaries, ideally eliminating or diminishing interservice rivalries. CCDRs reported directly to the Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS), and through him to the Supreme Commander of the ASC.
