The position of Commander is a special appointment given to officers leading a military force. Given the most state of the art command and control systems, these officers direct and lead their forces.
Originally, "Commander" was a naval rank above a Lieutenant Commander and below a Captain; which equals to a Lieutenant Colonel in Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Currently, Commanders often answer directly to Generals in the chain of command.
With the advent of a mobile combat force and the EVA interfaces, with real time feeds and highly precise command interfaces, Commanders have been able to command massive forces simultaneously. Their role has been crucial in modern conflicts since the Great World War II.
Field commanders of the Allied Forces, such as the famed Field Commander A9, with their skill, cunning and a primitive, yet effective EVA interface, were able to push back the enemy to Moscow and win the war for the Allies, even though the USSR used their versions of the EVA interface and had similarly skilled commanders.
The importance of a commander rose even further, as the EVA was upgraded and used by both sides in the First Tiberium War. This time, weapons of mass destruction were linked directly to the command console, allowing the commander to deploy tactical strikes anywhere on the field of battle.
Also, some processes were completely automated, allowing to minimize the amount of command staff needed and maximize a commander's tactical thinking opportunities.
The EVA system was slowly becoming an automated administration system, to the point that to command a massive force in the Second Tiberium War, commander McNeil needed only two crewmembers (Chandra and Brink) and commander Slavik practically none (Oxanna Kristos was his second-in-command propaganda officer).
In the Third Tiberium War, the command interface was perfected to the point where the commander's presence near the frontline wasn't needed, as high speed uplinks guaranteed that he would be able to sit on the other side of the planet and still command his forces with deadly precision.
Another notable capability of Commanders is the rapid building of forward bases. With the development of the MCV, Commanders could create a base near the front line.
This would allow rapid deployment or construction of units, gathering of resources, and available support. However, not all Commanders are capable of building bases, some often relying only on the forces procured or given at the start of a mission.
GDI also uses the additional ranks of Battle Commander and Forward Battle Commander. Unlike Commanders, Battle Commanders are sent to close to the front line, much like Commanders during the Second Tiberium War. Occasionally, they will even lead their forces into battle.
The recently revealed Forward Battle Commander controls special elite forces, leading his forces directly on the ground while fighting alongside their forces. They are able to call for reinforcements and orbital strikes. The Scrin use the term Foreman to designate their equalvalant of a Commander.
Historically, extremely successful and brilliant Commanders found themselves on the fast track to promotion. Such cases could be found in the USSR during the Second Great World War, and Nod during the First and Third Tiberium Wars (the balance of power in Nod often shifting quickly).
- Allied Commander (Red Alert 3)
- Futuretech Commander
- Giles Price
- Lissette Hanley
- Warren Fuller
- Douglas Hill
- Lydia Winters
- Soviet Commander (Red Alert 3)
- Oleg Vodnik
- Nikolai Moskvin
- Zhana Agonskaya
- Vera Belova
- Imperial Commander
- Shinzo Nagama
- Kenji Tenzai
- Takara Sato
- Naomi Shirada (ranked as an Admiral)
- Michael McNeil (later Battle Commander during TWIII)
- Anton Slavik
- Firestorm Taskforce Commander
- Nod Commander (Firestorm)
- GDI Commander (TWIII)
- Nod Commander (TWIII)
- Foreman 371
- Forward Battle Commander Ricardo Vega
- Commander Parker