3-32. The land component commander or Army forces commander is normally assigned a large portion of the joint operations area land mass as his area of operations. With this assigned geographic space comes authority and responsibility to accomplish assigned missions within it. The land component commander becomes the supported commander for all operations within his area of operations. The joint special operations commander may be designated a supporting commander to this land component commander or Army forces commander for missions conducted in that specific area of operations. This supported and supporting relationship does not have to include command relationships—it can primarily focus on requirements for coordination of operations. Thus a higher echelon, such as special operations joint task force, can retain operational control of its subordinate elements while those elements coordinate their activities in a supported commander’s area of operations so interdependence is maintained.