Today's Air Force commanders face a wide-range of issues, many of which involve complex statutes, laws, regulations, and rules. Our commanders must deal with challenging legal matters ranging from military justice to environmental law to operations law. To assist commanders with these formidable tasks, we've created this helpful volume, The Military Commander and the Law. This deskbook contains a series of papers that give commanders a head start on the wide array of issues they will handle. Each article is intended to give a commander the basics in the law on any given subject. The papers are not intended to make the commander a legal expert or to resolve specific questions relating to any unique problem. Lance W. Lord Lieutenant General, United States Air Force Commander, Air University