Interesting that he addresses any military members at all let alone addresses them as "military leaders". While heads of the military typically attend they are usually simply a fixture and to be seen but never 'heard' as they are intended to play an impartial role in our governmental structure.

What I also find interesting, if not notable, is that he addresses them as "military leaders" rather than the "Joint Chiefs of Staff" as members of his cabinet if indeed he did have a proper cabinet.

To my knowledge, SOTU speeches typically do not call out the JCS or any military members that attend as part of their official government duty. I have however seen where individual or former members of the military may be honored during the speech but the JCS would not be as again they would be serving in their official capacity.

My understanding is that JCS are advisors to the president and would fall under the umbrella of the presidents "cabinet". Willing to be corrected on that assessment since I am not 100 on that. But if indeed they are members of the cabinet he appears to be addressing them as separate and apart of his cabinet.

If my assessment is correct it appears that the military is indeed operating outside of the control of the executive and lends credence to the theory that the military is in control and operating under a COG scenario.

Feel free to correct or clarify on any of my points since I am but a mere mortal.

As an aside: either a glaring typo exists or exists as intended and deserves a bit more attention.

"Draft: 3/4/8 a.m. 12:45 p.m. Camp Prep"

Appears to be a date and time format yet does not fit a current date and am also puzzled as to why 'a.m.' was used prior to an apparent 'p.m.' time stamp. Could also simply be a file designation.