Photographs of the members of a unit's military chain of command should be prominently displayed in every battalion within the military. In order to follow proper protocol, chain of command photos must be displayed in a certain order. Military protocol is governed by the Department of Defense. The protocol regarding the display of command photos is the same regardless of branch.
Organize the first set of military command photos by order of precedence and rank as governed by the military's command policy. Start a pile of photographs with the company first sergeant on the bottom. Add the company commander, the command sergeant major and the battalion commander in that order. Place a photograph of your brigade sergeant major and your brigade commander on top of the pile. Finally, place a photograph of your division command sergeant major and your division commander atop the others. These photographs will comprise the bottom row of the photographic display.
Set aside a photograph of the current Secretary of Defense. Place a photograph of the Secretary of the Army on top of the Secretary of Defense's photo. On top of that, place photographs of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and the Sergeant Major of the Army.
Place a photograph of the President of the United States in a separate location.
Spread your photographs out in the proper order. The photographic display will be shaped like a triangle and will have three rows. The top row contains one box. The center row contains five boxes. The bottom row contains eight boxes. The uppermost photograph will be of the President of the United States. The photographs in row two appear in this order, from left: Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and the Sergeant Major of the Army. Row three, from left, will appear in this order: division commander, division command sergeant major, brigade commander, brigade command sergeant major, battalion commander, battalion command sergeant major, company commander and company first sergeant.
