The battalion commander has a staff

The battalion commander has a staff to help him exercise command; this staff consists of the personnel needed to perform command and control and supporting functions. The commander cannot give up his command responsibilities to his staff—rather, he achieves his goals by wisely using the unique abilities of his staff and subordinate commanders. Functional responsibilities and interrelationships of staff elements must be clearly defined and made into an SOP. Within functional elements of the staff, personnel are held responsible for accomplishing tasks assigned to them, and for coordinating their work with other staff elements according to established procedures. Command and control responsibilities and the duties of the staff are described in Appendix B. (Chapter 8 provides more information about the S1 and S4.