High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The following list presents the Rank and Insignia of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces from 1980, until 1999. In the far left, ranks are those that follow traditional Western military ranks, in the center are the Spanish name ranks in italics, and in the far right are the rank insignia. A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military competencies that reside in a nation-state's executive, head of state or government. Often, a given country's commander-in-chief need not be or have been a commissioned officer or even a veteran, and it is by this legal statute that civilian control of the military is realized in states where it is constitutionally required.