Each one of the four men around the conference table had already heard from his civilian boss.

If his civilian bosses disagreed with his decisions, or their results, they could always replace him.

Wartime military commanders and their civilian bosses have not always seen eye to eye.

The enemy, as the Admiral saw it, was not an alien power but his own well-meaning civilian bosses.

His civilian boss had put him in for a Presidential Commendation.

Ezra Stone told his civilian boss that it would be impossible to get 110 men out of blackface in time for the next number.

However ... you see, I feel our civilian bosses are setting us up.

This leaves the military arguing against decisions made by their civilian bosses, a common practice that is likely to increase as military budgets get tighter.

The civilian bosses are supposed to provide coolheaded restraint.

While the conduct of the war has provoked the critics, tensions between officers and their civilian boss began long before Iraq.