The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States...
Incidentally, that last phrase ("when called...") has been held to apply only to the last clause ("the Militia"; nowadays the National Guard). For the Army and Navy, the President is always CinC.
OTOH, I think it's only been since Reagan that the military and President have traded salutes, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Yes, it's only a symbol, but symbols are important, and the military is supposed to be always subservient to the civil authority, and that means the President is not a military officer. (It doesn't mean a military person can't be President, just that the office of President is not supposed to directly be a military position, even though the President can give the generals orders.) I guess that's a bit convoluted, but I hope you understand what I mean.
As I recall, the only President who was even close to being an active field military commander was Washington in the case of the Whiskey Rebellion.
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OTOH, I think it's only been since Reagan that the military and President have traded salutes, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Yes, it's only a symbol, but symbols are important, and the military is supposed to be always subservient to the civil authority, and that means the President is not a military officer. (It doesn't mean a military person can't be President, just that the office of President is not supposed to directly be a military position, even though the President can give the generals orders.) I guess that's a bit convoluted, but I hope you understand what I mean.
As I recall, the only President who was even close to being an active field military commander was Washington in the case of the Whiskey Rebellion.