Everything about General United States totally explained
In the
United States Army,
United States Air Force, and
United States Marine Corps, general is a
four-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above
lieutenant general and below
General of the Army or
General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps doesn't have an established grade above general. General is equivalent to an
admiral in the other
uniformed services. Since the grade of General of the Army and General of the Air Force are reserved for war-time use only, and since the Marine Corps has no five-star equivalent, a four-star general is currently considered to be the highest promotion an officer can achieve in these three services.
Statutory limits
U.S. Code of law explicitly limits the total number of four-star generals that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 302 for the Army, 279 for the Air Force and 80 for the Marine Corps. For the Army and Air Force, no more than 16.3% of the service's active duty general officers may have more than two stars, and no more than 25% of those may have four stars. This corresponds to 12 four-star Army generals, 11 four-star Air Force generals and 3 four-star Marine generals.
Some of these slots are reserved by statute. For the Army and Air Force, the
Chief of Staff and the
Vice Chief of Staff are both four-star generals; for the Marine Corps, the
Commandant and the
Assistant Commandant are both four-star generals.
There are several exceptions to these limits allowing more than allotted within the statute. A four-star officer serving as
Chief of Staff to the President, or as
Chairman or
Vice Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn't count against his service's general or flag officer cap. An officer serving in one of several joint positions doesn't count against his service's four-star limit, but he does count against his service's limit on officers with more than two stars; these positions include the commander of a
unified combatant command, the commander of
U.S. Forces Korea, and the deputy commander of
U.S. European Command (but only if the commander is also the
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe). Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add four-star slots to one service if they're offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the President's discretion during time of war or national emergency.
Appointment and tour length
Four-star grades go hand-in-hand with the positions of office they're linked to, so these ranks are temporary. Officers may only achieve four-star grade if they're appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, which is usually set by statute. The nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the
Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank. and all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a four-star officer's retirement until the officer's 66th birthday and the President can defer it until the officer's 68th birthday.
General officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since only a finite number of four-star slots are available to each service, typically one officer must leave office before another can be promoted. Maintaining a four-star rank is a game of musical chairs; once an officer vacates a position bearing that rank, he's 60 days to find another job of equal importance before he must retire. The Secretary of Defense may reduce this requirement to two years, but only if the officer isn't being investigated for misconduct. Officers who don't meet the service-in-grade requirement revert to the next highest grade in which they served satisfactorily for at least six months. It is extraordinarily rare for a four-star officer not to be nominated to retire in grade, or for such a nomination not to be confirmed by the Senate unanimously.
Four-star officers typically step down from their posts up to 60 days in advance of their official retirement dates. Officers retire on the first day of the month, so once a retirement month has been selected, the relief and retirement ceremonies are scheduled by counting backwards from that date by the number of days of accumulated leave remaining to the retiring officer. During this period, termed transition leave or terminal leave, the officer is considered to be awaiting retirement but still on active duty.
History and origins
Further Information
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