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[Maklak]

I can't find it anywhere with a quick search, but some people insist on having some useless military commander, who doesn't even have his own squad, and never sees the battlefield. Why? What are the benefits compared to making him leader of the rirst squad?

[andrewas]

There (was/is?) a bug, if the commander died you might wind up unable to create new captains, which would cripple your military sooner or later.

[Wastedlabor]

You can't see skills when naming the commander, so people may pick any dwarf at random. It's not like it matters that much.

[nightwhips]

Unless you're thinking of the captain of the guard? People have a non-military COTG because that dwarf dispenses justice. If your legendary armorer pissed of the mayor by violating a mandate, a fully armed COTG from the military may smash his brain through his skull with a mace or something. If you make your COTG fat and weak had give her a balsawood flail or something, and never let them train, the results won't be so bad.

[Linkeron]

On the emergency military setup page in the wiki, it does specify you assign the commander role to some who will NOT be partaking in battle 'preferably your doctor if you have one.'

[mendota]

On the emergency military setup page in the wiki, it does specify you assign the commander role to some who will NOT be partaking in battle 'preferably your doctor if you have one.'

Do you have a link? I can't seem to find that page.

[Linkeron]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Attack

"2) In the nobles menu, assign a "militia commander". Select a dwarf you don't plan to use for this skirmish - maybe your Doctor, who you never want on the battlefield. When you do that, you'll notice a new position appears at the bottom, 'militia captain.'"

[Werdna]

There (was/is?) a bug, if the commander died you might wind up unable to create new captains, which would cripple your military sooner or later.

I recall this being the 'reason' behind it as well.  (Edit: looks like it was reported as bug 638 and fixed in 31.05)

[Loud Whispers]

Basically you want to avoid the hassle of replacing the militia commander.

Militia commander gone = Military unusable until you have a new one

[darkflagrance]

Though the main reason to not send your military commander into battle is due to inconvenience, I've had my militia commander KIA many times and been able to finish the siege with the rest of the surviving militia units, allowing me to promote another soldier to replace him. Therefore, I would say this is not really a critical or necessary thing to do, just a very minor efficiency hack.

[Nameless Archon]

Alternatively, it might be seen as making "militia commander" a primarily showpiece appointment in your forts. He gets first pick of the armor and weapons, but he's a symbol, rather than a fighter. "General Urist McShowpiece (Ret.)"