Wow. I'll say that even in the Army, famous for its bloat, there are arguably fewer than 12 links (following the legal chain of command) between the lowest rank

Wow. I'll say that even in the Army, famous for its bloat, there are arguably fewer than 12 links (following the legal chain of command) between the lowest ranking private and the President of the United States... Private -> Team Leader -> Squad Leader -> Platoon Leader -> Company Commander -> Battalion Commander -> Brigade Commander -> Division Commander -> Corps Commander -> Combatant Commander -> SECDEF -> POTUS Of course we also pad that with a lot of senior enlisted advisors, executive officers, chiefs-of-staff, deputy commanders, etc. who can effectively be additional buffers between each echelon.