I’m not sure what you mean. The president is not in the military. He is the civilian authority the military answers to.
We can (and have) discussed this in GQ till we’re blue in the face…
The discussion usually goes something like
President to General: Do this!
General: Is that an order?
Discuss: by what/which authority CINC or President is that to be answered, and by whom?
I’m just throwing my 2cents to OP, and this old standby is on deck again.
too tired to fix metaphors…
As I understand it, “Is that an order?” or “And that’s an order!” are phrases which are never actually used in the military. If your lawful superior tells you to do something, that’s an order, and everyone knows it.
Yes, in fact we had a thread exactly on those words being said in the Oval Office (not even by the President, I don’t think) under somebody’s administration, and how shocked the other people in the room were. Can’t remember, though.
Command is a very specific word that has a more limited meaning than you seem to be using. Just because I was in charge of someone does not mean that I was in command of them. In between my two company commands I was a Battalion logistics officer (aka S4). That first command I was responsible for Headquarters and Headquarters Company with military justice authority for the unit which included the S4 Section. When I was S4 they actually worked for me day to day. I didn’t have military justice authority over them anymore, though. Being someone’s first line leader is not synonymous with having UCMJ authority over them.
Now I’ve seen that the President and SECDEF can operate as convening authorities for courts martial. Without digging for a cite and any nuance that gives POTUS a role typically associated with senior officers under MCM (Manual of Courts Martial) I’ll just assume that level of authority. That’s still less powerful than it might seem. There’s the notion of exerting unlawful command influence that’s also part of the system. To reach past the COCOM level would require some justification (like previously published policy retaining authority for certain types of cases or personnel of certain rank) or allowing every intervening commander their role in disposing of the violation without exerting that pesky unlawful influence.
Just charging in like a proverbial bull in the china shop, with full weight of command authority, can also severely limit the ability to later pursue action under UCMJ. It’s a dynamic that doesn’t exist in the civilian justice system.
Interesting. Thanks.