(PLA) theater commands are joint operation commands that hold extensive control over the PLA Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Rocket Force, and the Strategic Support Force. Theater commands are defence-orientated tactical, political, and bureaucratic organizations entrusted to operate in different geographic areas of China. They are responsible for developing strategies, tactics, and policies specific to their respective areas, and they are directly in charge of responding to security threats within their assigned regions. Under each theater command, the Army theater headquarters are responsible for the tactical operations inside the theater and are capable of conducting joint operations with support from other service branches. In parallel to the theater commands, the PLAGF General Staff Department, the headquarter of the Army, holds the dual chain of commands to its units in peacetime, managing administrative tasks and duties. In wartime, it's likely that theater commands will hold the exclusive—command authority over the Army components. Under the theater commands, each provincial-level government has a correspondent military district (MD) with the same dual chain of command structure as the theater command system. Military district army headquarters are military organs primarily responsible for provincial conscription and demobilization assignments, command of local Militia troops, and command of certain border defense units. Under the military districts are local commands, which provide the lowest level of military service including meeting recruitment quotas, veteran service, border security checks, and national defense education in their respective county, city, and municipal administrative regions. Aside from the standardized command structure, several military district units are directly subordinated to the Army headquarters, usually in areas PLAGF leaderships deemed sensitive, including Beijing, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang. The predecessor to the theater command, the military region, was replaced by the current structure after the 2015 reform. Branches of service The People's Liberation Army Ground Force has standing regular army and reserve force. Although conscription is employed in China by law, mandatory military service has not been implemented since 1949 as the People's Liberation Army has been able to recruit sufficient numbers voluntarily. Chinese militia is not a component of the People's Liberation Army, however, they could provide a certain degree of reserve function, which was indicated by "Militia Military Training and Evaluation Outline" released by the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department in 2007. PLAGF branches of service () are composed of infantry (including mechanized infantry), tank, artillery, air defense, aviation, military engineering,