Geographic Combatant Commands

Definition/Scope: The Unified Command Plan establishes combatant commanders' missions and geographic responsibilities. Combatant commanders directly link operational military forces to the Secretary of Defense and the President. The Secretary of Defense deploys troops and exercises military power through the combatant commands. Six combatant commands have areas of responsibility. They are the geographic combatant commands. Each geographic combatant command has (or will have) an assigned ASCC. For doctrinal purposes, these commands become “theater armies” to distinguish them from the similar organizations assigned to functional component commands. The geographic combatant commands and their theater armies are—U.S. Northern Command (U.S. Army, North—USARNORTH), U.S. Southern Command (U.S. Army, South—USARSO), U.S. Central Command (U.S. Army, Central—USARCENT), U.S. European Command (U.S. Army, Europe—USAREUR), U.S. Pacific Command (U.S. Army, Pacific—USARPAC), U.S. Africa Command (U.S. Army, Africa—USARAF) AS OF Dec 2008 implementation date was still pending.

Used For:

Combatant Command

Acronym:

GCC

Broader Terms:

DoD Commands
Unified Command Plan

Narrower Terms:

US Africa Command, Combatant Command, AOR/GEO/Unified
US Army, North, Combatant Command, GEO
USARCENT
USAREUR
USARNORTH
USARPAC
USARSO

Related Terms:

FORSCOM
Functional Commands
SDDC
Unified combatant command
USASMDC/ARSTRAT
USASOC