ES, it gets irritating at times, but there's a good reason for it. It maintains the military's position as serving authority, not being the authority. It avoids someone like Gen. Patton or MacArthur strutting on stage at a political convention and taking the reins of the civilian government and maintaining their standing in the military...........A la Libya, Pakistan, or any other military run country.

(Actually, MacArthur's candidacy may BE the reason that little part of the UCMJ exists........Ike was no one's fool)