What does a General have to do to go from three stars to say four? Is there a written test for this or credentials or what?
Definitely no test or credentials. She’s got to get the people above her (e.g., Sec’y of Defense, Sec’y of her service, Chief of Staff of her service, Chair of the Joint Chiefs, the President) to like her a whole lot.
(Its kind of like becoming the Sec’y of Defense: no test, no credentials; it’s who you know.)
It’s just like a promotion in any other job. You’ve got to convince those doing the picking that you deserve it.
For generals, Congress also gets to have a say. Although they pretty much rubber stamp you if your recommended, unless you did something really stupid (there was a guy that was accused of sex harrassment that Congress pretty much vetoed).
Promotions to the grades of E7 or above, including officers, are approved by Congress.
One star – Brigader
Two stars – Major General
Three stars – Lt. General
Four stars – General
Five stars – General of the Armies – none living only Eisenhower, Bradley, MacArthur, Marshall and (Hap Arnold for Air Force). Fleet Admirals, King, Leahy ?, Nimitz, Halsey
The highest ranking military officers in U.S. history were General Peshing and George Washington, not in that order, although I can’t say how many stars they wore, but it wasn’t more than four. I don’t know whether this is a matter of courtesy or how its figured, but when I was interested in this a few years back and did my internet research, that’s what I came up with.
There are only promotion boards to the rank of 0-8 (2-star general/admiral). (The formal names of these ranks are Major General and Rear Admiral (Upper Half)).
Beyond that, the rank comes from the billet (job) you hold. In other words, a 2-star general/admiral (O-8) can be selected as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs by the President, and will immediately pin on 4-stars (O-10). As mentioned, these promotions must be approved by the Senate, but only for ranks of 0-4 and above (not E-7 as mentioned previously).
Here is some additional officer promotion info:
It’s for the Navy, but all of the service’s promotion procedures are similar.
Before anybody picks any nits…
Switch “promotion board” in my previous post to “selection board.”
Officers above the rank of Colonel/Captain (O-6) are “appointed” by the President, not “promoted.”
Huh?
The sites I read a few years back on General Pershing said this. This would mean that Eisenhower would still have been considered subordinate to them if they were still serving, regardless of the number of stars. No, I don’t know why.
Pershing was promoted (or appointed, or whatever) “General of the Armies”, but never actually wore more than four stars. During WWII, MacArthur and the rest were promoted to “General of the Army”, at least partly to be on par with Field Marshals and whatnot from other countries. This was five stars. Theoretically, Pershing’s rank would be higher than theirs, despite the insignia that he wore. Not that it really matters, as there has never been another “General of the Armies”.
I think Washington was posthumously given the same rank, so he’d always be first.
Thanks waterj2.
Wow!
You got this all solved without the aid of Bluesman
I’m Amazed. :eek:
Correcto. Congress did so in 1976
Washington’s official U.S.Army personnel list rank in his lifetime was Lieutenant General (3 stars). Congresss authorized the creation of the GotA rank at the time but he died before he could be appointed.
Thereafter, there were no Lt. Generals until the Civil War – Winfield Scott (as separation rank); Grant, Sherman and Sheridan who went on to be the first 3 “full” Generals, which at the time was the same as the General-of-the-Army lifetime post. No one else was promoted past 2 stars until after the Spanish-American War. Similarly the Navy had no officer past the rank of Commodore until the Civil War. Farragut and Potter were the first “full” Admirals, under similar terms as the generals. In 1899 Admiral Dewey was appointed “Admiral of the Navy”, similar to a Fleet Admiral.
Only upon achieving World Power status in the 20th. Century did the US military require multiple 3- and 4- star officers.
A five-star general salutes to a four-star general? (I know, I know, it’s more complex than that.)
It’s a True/False Test.