# Is it required that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff be an O-10? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-required-that-the-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-be-an-o-10/246157 "2004-05-20T11:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-required-that-the-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-be-an-o-10/246157/21 "2004-05-21T14:06:22Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The Commandant of the Marine Corps is NOT subordinate to the CNO. Both report to the Secretary of the Navy. > > Org chart here: > [http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/organization/org-sec.html](http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/organization/org-sec.html) Great, thanks for the correction. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-required-that-the-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-be-an-o-10/246157/22 "2004-05-21T14:26:55Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Another nitpick: O-8 is _not_ a rank. It is a pay grade. Pay grades do not tell you who is higher than whom. Two people may be of the same pay grade but if they have different ranks then the rank tells you who is higher. True. The remaining noncorrespondence of an O- grade with a single nominal rank these days is O-10, who can be the 5-star GoA/GoAF/FADM or the 4-star regular GEN/ADM, or the extraordinary “General of the Arm **ies** of the US”, which was only used for Pershing (who never wore more than his 4 stars anyway) and posthumously for George Washington. (Though you can – or could? – have the situation of “frocked” officers, who were given the appurtenances of a higher rank while still getting paid at the lower scale temporarily. And before the 1980s, Rear Admiral (Upper Half) and Rear Admiral (Lower Half) wore the same 2 stars but were split along pay-grades O8 and O7; at the end of the 80s they were formally reshuffled so each grade corresponded to distinct 1- and 2- star flags) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-required-that-the-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-be-an-o-10/246157/23 "2004-05-21T15:35:40Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > … General of the Air Force (the only one ever, by the way) Hap Arnold was “promoted” to that rank in June of 1949. The nitpick with him was that he was already a General of the Army, having achieved that rank in 1944. Consider it more of a lateral promotion, as the Air Force didn’t even exist as a separate entity until 1947. In addition, I suspect Arnold’s WWII rank was a temporary, wartime rank which was then made permanent when the Air Force was formed. During WWII there were two separate organizations, the United States Army (USA) which was the regular army, and the Army of The United States (AUS) into which _everyone_ was put at the onset of the war. This allows US Army officers to be promoted to high rank in the AUS while still retaining their USA rank. For example, our squadron Operations Officer was an AUS Major while retaining his USA rank of 1st Lieutennant. During the war there is a great need for officers and when the war ends the regular army would be left with all Colonels and no Lieutenants without such a provision for temporary ranks. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-required-that-the-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-be-an-o-10/246157/24 "2004-05-21T18:55:07Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > and when the war ends the regular army would be left with all Colonels and no Lieutenants Added to the fact that infantry lieutenants tended to be put into positions in which they are more likely to be killed than anyone else, either above or below them in rank. Imagine it being your job to stand up in a firefight and scream at everyone else to get moving? That one has “easy target” written all over it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-required-that-the-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff-be-an-o-10/246157.md?page=1)