abstract
| - The General Staff of the Imperial Military Service is the military staff of the Imperial Service of the Barrayaran Imperium. It is the central organ of the Service administration and oversees operational management of the forces under the High Command. The Imperial Military Service has both a General Staff and and a separate staff for each formation. The staff is organized by functions, with each directorate and operating agency overseeing an area. Working with the staffs of each of the services, the Operations Command drafts plans for strategic operations for the High Command. When the headquarters of the High Command approves the plans, the General Staff issues them to operational commanders as High Command directives. The General Staff Academy is responsible for training officers for the General Staff. The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the Emperor, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The current Chief of the General Staff is General Lord Nikolai Pierre Vordarian. The General Staff is always a relatively small, but elite body. Only few officers are permanently assigned to the General Staff, described in official returns as "of the General Staff" at any time; most were attached to the General Staff from their parent units, although usually for several years at a time, and are listed as "on the General Staff. When the General Staff is required to take the field during major campaigns, it remains a small but effective body: in such occasions, the General Staff is divided between the central General Staff and the general staff reinforcements to formations staffs. The Chief of the General Staff and is also the technical superior of all general staff officers. General Staff is located in Vorbarr Sultana on Pobeda Avenue in the Military District, at the Imperial Service Headquarters.
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