Clone trooper commanders, also called clone commanders, were clone troopers bred on Kamino for leadership roles in the Grand Army of the Republic or they worked themselves up in battle. They fought in the galaxy-wide conflict known as the Clone Wars.
Sometimes, however, smaller regiments and battalions were led by clone commanders, like Commander Cody, who led the 212th Attack Battalion. When Jedi needed a group of clone troopers, no matter what size, a clone commander would usually join the group to assist the Jedi Generals.
Clone marshal commander - He commanded an entire corps of 36,864 soldiers along with a Jedi General.
Senior clone commander - He commanded a legion of 9,216 soldiers along with a Jedi General and is subordinate to the clone marshal commander.
Clone regimental commander - He is in command of a regiment of 2,304 soldiers and is under the orders of a senior clone commander.
Clone battalion commander - He is in command of a battalion of 576 soldiers and is under the orders of a clone regimental commander.
They all wore the same yellow color markings and badges of rank in the form of four yellow dots on their left armor breastplate on their Phase I armor.
A clone commander in Phase I armor.
Clone commanders received flash-training to fulfill their advanced roles and were also bred with extra capacity for autonomy, tactical thinking, and coordination. In combat, they were often assigned to field command centers but participated with their fellow clone troopers in combat if the situation required it. Their equipment training included the standard clone trooper armor as well as blasters such as the heavy blaster rifle.
After success with Advanced Recon Commandos, some ARCs, like Alpha-17, returned to Kamino to retrain clone commanders with ARC skills, making the commanders more independent than they once were. After the commanders were trained, they earned the title "ARC commander," then returned to their legion to train their best clones and assistants in their new skills. Their new, independent training led to distinct personalities among the commanders.
In the beginning of the Clone Wars, the clone officers were distinguished by yellow markings on their armor and helmets. The retrained ARC commanders often added more items to their armor, like ARC trooper kamas and pauldrons. Commanders would also don other peripherals like macrobinoculars or Commander Bacara's cheek plating. Some commanders allowed their best troops to also wear ARC armor.
In Star Wars: Battlefront II, clone commanders are shown as Galactic Marines with a shoulder-mounted chaingun and a probe droid.
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