Sun Tzu

I’m not referring to a someone that is in a status of active duty at the time of application. Their obligation is to what their duty calls for. I’m referring to a person that is veteran; honorably discharged that is a civilian. While not impossible it would be difficult for me to see a coup occurring as such.

Looking at the Federalist papers the Founding Fathers intended that the Chief Executive would provide civilian control of the military; he, as an official elected to a civilian position, not a general or an admiral, would exercise overall direction of those forces, in the manner of the English Kings. But unlike the King of England and other monarchs, he would not have the power to initiate war. The American President's function as Commander in Chief, in the words of Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 69 , "would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first general and admiral. . . ."

The framers of the Constitution in their wisdom create a system of checks and balances on the military, on the Congress, and on the Executive Branch, even while according the elected President a resoundingly prestigious military title.

Never believing; or DESIRING on a permanent scale; that the military would become a huge part of the national government, an institution that would require a full-time operational leader, they provided no elaboration in the Constitution of the President's powers as Commander in Chief, nor anything about qualifications that he should possess.
The states were concerned about losing the power of state presiding power vs federal power. Very different than what the republic has actually become.

Here are the stats:
12 presidents did not serve in the military---John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Van Buren, Polk, , Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, FDR and Clinton. Cleveland actually paid someone to fight in his place during the Civil War which was legal and not all that unusual at the time--a kind of pay as you go family deferment).
Of the 30 who served all were officers but James Buchanan who was a Private.
3 rose to the highest rank
General of the Army (5 Stars) - Washington, Grant and Eisenhower
5 Major Generals (2 Stars)
4 Brigadier Generals (1 Star)
3 Colonels
1 Lt Colonel
7 Majors (Navy=Lt. Commander)
2 Captains
4 1st Lieutenants (Navy - Lt. JG)
Andrew Jackson was the youngest to enlist. He joined the South Carolina militia at 13.
23 served in the Army, 6 in the Navy and 1in the Air Force.
15 saw action in combat.
2 pilots - 1 submariner.

George W. Bush: served as a pilot in the Texas National Guard with the rank of lietenant. ------this has some controversy

Bill Clinton: none.

George H. W. Bush: served in the United States Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant (junior grade). He was the youngest pilot in the navy during World War II (age 19). He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Ronald Reagan: served as a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve; served in the United States Army during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. He was barred from combat because of poor eyesight.

Jimmy Carter: served in the United States Navy (1946-1953), attaining the rank of lieutenant senior grade.

Gerald Ford: served in the United States Navy during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander. He earned 10 battle stars.

Richard Nixon: served in the United States Navy during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander.

Lyndon B. Johnson: served in the United States Navy during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander. He earned a Silver Star.

John F. Kennedy: served in the United States Navy during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He earned a Purple Heart for his courage in the PT-109 incident.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: attended West Point; served in the United States Army (1915-1948; 1951-1952), attaining the rank of five-star general, and was Supreme Allied Commander in World War II.

Harry S. Truman: served in the Missouri National Guard (1905-1911; 1917); served with the 129th Field Artillery (1917-1919), attaining the rank of major.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy(1913-1920) by President Wilson

Herbert Hoover: none.

Calvin Coolidge: none.

Warren G. Harding: none.

Woodrow Wilson: none.

William Howard Taft: none.

Theodore Roosevelt: served as a member of the New York national guard (1882-1885); served as commander of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Spanish American War, attaining the rank of colonel.

William McKinley: served with the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War, attaining the rank of brevet major.

Benjamin Harrison: served with the 70th Indiana Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War, attaining the rank of brigadier general.

Grover Cleveland: none. He was drafted during the American Civil War, but paid $150 for a substitute (a legal option under the terms of the Conscription Act of 1863).

Chester A. Arthur: served in the New York State militia (1858-1862) and fought in the American Civil War, attaining the rank as quartermaster general.
James A. Garfield: served in the American Civil War, attaining the rank of major general.

Rutherford B. Hayes: served in the American Civil War with the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, attaining the rank of major general.

Ulysses S. Grant: attended West Point; served in the Mexican War and the American Civil War, attaining the rank of General of the Army, the first since Washington to do so.

Andrew Johnson: served in the American Civil War, attaining the rank of brigadier general.

Abraham Lincoln: served in the Black Hawk War, attaining the rank of captain, but was reprimanded twice and re-enlisted as a private.

James Buchanan: served in the War of 1812.

Franklin Pierce: served in the Mexican-American War, attaining the rank of colonel.

Millard Fillmore: None.

Zachary Taylor: served in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican-American War, attaning the rank of major general. He became a national hero because of his achievements in the Mexican-American War.

James K. Polk: served in a militia cavalry regiment, attaining the rank of colonel.
John Tyler: served in the War of 1812, attaning the rank of captain.

William Henry Harrison: served in the U.S. Army (1791-1798, 1812-1814), attaning the rank of major general in the War of 1812 and became a national hero after his success at the Battle of the Thames.

Martin Van Buren: none.

Andrew Jackson: served at the age of 13 with the Continental Army (1780) during the American Revolution as a messenger, and was held as a prisoner of war (the only U.S. president to do so); served in the War of 1812, attaining the rank of general and became a national hero after his success at the Battle of New Orleans.

John Quincy Adams: none.

James Monroe: served in the Continental Army (1776-1778) during the American Revolution, attaining the rank of major. Monroe was among those who crossed the Delaware with Washington.

James Madison: served in the Orange County militia of Virginia (1775) during the American Revolutionary War, attaning the rank of colonel.

Thomas Jefferson: Apparently commanded a Virginia militia regiment in 1789.

John Adams: none.

George Washington: served in the Virginia militia (1752-1758), attaining the rank of colonel; served as commander in chief of the Continental Army (1775-1783) during the American Revolutionary War, with the rank of general. (Washington was a Major General at the time of death - in 1976, Gerald Ford posthumously appointed Washington as General of the Armies of the United States and specified that he would forever rank above all officers of the Army, past present and future.)

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To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.- Stephen Hawking