General officer
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.[a]
"General" redirects here. For other uses, see General (disambiguation).
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel.[1]
The adjective general had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction.
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Some countries (such as the United States) use the general officer ranks for both the army and the air force, as well as their marine corps; other states only use the general officer ranks for the army, while in the air force they use air officers as the equivalent of general officers. They use the air force rank of air chief marshal as the equivalent of the specific army rank of general. This latter group includes the British Royal Air Force and many current and former Commonwealth air forces—e.g. Royal Australian Air Force, Indian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Nigerian Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, etc.
In most navies, flag officers are the equivalent of general officers, and the naval rank of admiral is equivalent to the specific army rank of general. A noteworthy historical exception was the Cromwellian naval rank "general at sea". In recent years in the American service there is a tendency to use flag officer and flag rank to refer to generals and admirals of the services collectively.