General (U.S.)
| General |
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|---|---|
Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force four-star insignia of the rank of general. Style and method of wear may vary between the services.
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Rank flag of an army general; the Marine Corps equivalent has 4 stars in a circular manner; the Air Force equivalent has a blue background rather than red.
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| Country |
 United States
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| Service branch | |
| Abbreviation | GEN or Gen |
| Rank | Four-star |
| NATO rank | OF-9 |
| Non-NATO rank | O-10 |
| Next higher rank | |
| Next lower rank | Lieutenant general |
| Equivalent ranks | |
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, general (abbreviated as GEN or Gen) is a four-star general officer rank, 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 does not have an established grade above general. General is equivalent to the rank of admiral in the other uniformed services. Since the grades of General of the Army and General of the Air Force are reserved for wartime use only, and since the Marine Corps has no five-star equivalent, the grade of general is currently considered to be the highest appointment an officer can achieve in these three services.
The United States Code explicitly limits the total number of general officers (termed flag officers for the Navy) that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army, 61 for the Marine Corps, 198 for the Air Force, and 162 for the Navy. No more than about 25% of a service's active duty general or flag officers may have more than two stars, and statute sets the total number of four-star officers allowed in each service. This is set at 7 four-star Army generals, 9 four-star Air Force generals, 2 four-star Marine Generals, and 6 four-star Navy Admirals.
Several of these slots are reserved by statute. For example, the two highest-ranking members of each service (the service chief and deputy service chief) are designated as four-star generals. For the Army the Chief of Staff and the Vice Chief of Staff are four-star generals; for the Marine Corps, the Commandant and the Assistant Commandant are both four-star generals; and for the Air Force, the Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff are four-star generals. In addition, for the National Guard, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau is a four-star general under active duty in the Army or Air Force.
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