Military rank of the United States
This article is about a United States military rank. For other countries that use a similar rank, see
Lieutenant general
.
In the
United States Armed Forces
, a
lieutenant general
is a
three-star
general officer
in the United States
Army
,
Marine Corps
,
Air Force
, and
Space Force
.
A lieutenant general ranks above a
major general
[Note 1]
and below a
general
. The
pay grade
of lieutenant general is O-9. It is equivalent to the rank of
vice admiral
in the other United States
uniformed services
which use
naval ranks
. It is abbreviated as
LTG
in the Army,
LtGen
in the Marine Corps, and
Lt Gen
in the Air Force and Space Force.
Statutory limits
[
edit
]
Rank flag
of a lieutenant general in the United States Army. The flag of a lieutenant general of the
Army Medical Department
has a maroon background; the flag of a
chaplain
(lieutenant general) has a purple background.
Flag of a United States Marine Corps lieutenant general.
Flag of a United States Air Force lieutenant general.
Flag of a United States Space Force lieutenant general.
[1]
The
United States Code
explicitly limits the total number of generals that may be concurrently active to 231 for the Army, 62 for the Marine Corps, and 198 for the Air Force.
[2]
For the Army and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the service's active duty general officers may have more than two stars.
[3]
Some of these slots can be reserved by statute. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the
Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
.
[4]
The President may also add three-star slots to one service if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services.
[3]
All statutory limits may be waived at the
president
's discretion during time of war or national emergency.
[5]
Appointment and tour length
[
edit
]
The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office to which it is linked, so the rank is temporary. Officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank.
[6]
Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, which is usually set by statute.
[6]
Lieutenant generals are nominated for appointment by the president from any eligible officers holding the rank of brigadier general or above, who also meet the requirements for the position, with the advice of the
Secretary of Defense
and the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
.
[6]
The nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the
Senate
before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank.
[6]
The standard tour length for most lieutenant general positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute.
Extensions of the standard tour length can be approved, within statutory limits, by their respective service secretaries, the Secretary of Defense, the president, or
Congress
but these are rare, as they block other officers from being promoted. Some statutory limits under the U.S. Code can be waived in times of national emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by an act of Congress but this is extremely rare.
Retirement
[
edit
]
Other than voluntary retirement, the statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Lieutenant generals must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer.
[7]
Otherwise, all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday.
[8]
However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a three-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 there is a finite number of three-star slots available to each service, typically one officer must leave office before another can be promoted.
[9]
Maintaining a three-star rank is a game of musical chairs; once an officer vacates a position bearing that rank, they have 60 days to be appointed or reappointed to a position of equal or higher importance or involuntarily retire.
[6]
Historically, officers leaving three-star positions were allowed to revert to their permanent two-star ranks to mark time in lesser jobs until statutory retirement, but now such officers are expected to retire immediately to avoid obstructing the promotion flow.
History
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
January 2023
)
|
During the
Quasi War
with France, President
John Adams
promoted
George Washington
to lieutenant general. The next person to receive a regular promotion to the rank was
Ulysses S. Grant
over sixty years later, before the end of the American Civil War.
[10]
On February 28, 1855, President
Franklin Pierce
nominated
Winfield Scott
to be
breveted
lieutenant general, effective March 29, 1847, as an honor for his capture
Veracruz
and
San Juan de Ulua
, during the
Mexican?American War
.
[11]
The grade was re-established by a vote in
House of Representatives
on 1 February 1864, with 96 for and 41 against.
[12]
On June 1, 1888, the rank was merged with
General of the Army
and discontinued.
[13]
Modern use
[
edit
]
An Army or Marine Corps lieutenant general typically commands a
corps
-sized unit (20,000 to 45,000 soldiers for an Army Corps and a similar number of Marines for a Marine Expeditionary Force), while an Air Force lieutenant general commands a large
Numbered Air Force
consisting of several wings or a smaller USAF Major Command (MAJCOM) such as the
Air Force Special Operations Command
or the
Air Force Reserve Command
. Additionally, lieutenant generals of all services serve as high-level staff officers at various major command headquarters and
The Pentagon
, often as the heads of their departments. In 2014 five women were serving as lieutenant generals in the US Army.
[14]
After the close of the Second World War, generals were normally promoted permanently to brigadier general and major general, with temporary promotions to lieutenant general and general to fill senior positions as needed. In theory, a general vacates their three or four-star rank at the termination of their assignment unless placed in an equal ranking billet.
Douglas MacArthur
, who served as a four-star general and Army Chief of Staff, reverted to two stars after his CoS tour ended but chose to stay on active duty in the United States Army.
The practice of using lieutenant general and general grades as a temporary rank continues, with the President and the Department of Defense creating temporary or indefinite three- and four-star assignments, with a fixed term of office, with the approval of the Senate. Even with the temporary status, such officers are also almost always granted permanent retirement in the last grade they held with the satisfactory completion of at least two or three years in grade.
Famous lieutenant generals
[
edit
]
Historic
[
edit
]
Listed in order of receiving the rank:
World War II
[
edit
]
- Frank Maxwell Andrews
,
U.S. Army Air Forces
, commander of U.S. Forces in the
European Theater
, killed in an air crash
- Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.
, commander of
U.S. Tenth Army
, posthumously promoted to General
- Jimmy Doolittle
, U.S. Army Air Forces, leader of the
Doolittle Raid
on Japan in World War II and commander of the U.S.
Eighth Air Force
,
Twelfth Air Force
and
Fifteenth Air Force
, later promoted to
general
,
U.S. Air Force
, after retirement
- Hugh Aloysius Drum
, commander of
U.S. First Army
- Lucian Truscott
, commander of the
U.S. Fifth Army
- Ira C. Eaker
, U.S. Army Air Forces, commander of U.S.
Eighth Air Force
, later posthumously promoted to general in 1986
- Delos Carleton Emmons
, commander of the Hawaiian Department
- Lloyd Fredendall
, commander of
U.S. Second Army
- Leslie Groves
, who ran the
Manhattan Project
and oversaw
The Pentagon
design and construction.
- Millard Harmon
, U.S. Army Air Forces, commander of
Army Air Forces
Pacific, lost during plane flight
- Thomas Holcomb
,
U.S. Marine Corps
,
Commandant of the Marine Corps
during the first half of World War II, later promoted to general on retirement
- William S. Knudsen
, director of production, Office of the Under Secretary of War. The first civilian to enter the Army at that rank.
[15]
- Lesley J. McNair
, commander of
Army Ground Forces
, later posthumously promoted to General
- Richard K. Sutherland
, chief of staff to
General of the Army
Douglas MacArthur
, present on the
USS
Missouri
(BB-63)
for the
Empire of Japan's surrender signing
.
- George S. Patton
, commander of
U.S. Third Army
, later promoted to General
- Joseph Stilwell
, Commander of the China Burma India Theater and later Deputy Allied Commander in China.
1950s through 1980s; Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War
[
edit
]
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller
,
U.S. Marine Corps
, the most decorated Marine in
Marine Corps
history (only Marine ever to be awarded the
Navy Cross
five times)
- Lewis Blaine Hershey
, head of the
Selective Service System
1940?70, lieutenant general 1956?70, then promoted to general, retired 1973 at age 79.
- Edgar S. Harris Jr.
, former chief of staff and vice commander in chief of the
Strategic Air Command
and former commander of the
Eighth Air Force
.
- Robert Sink
, former commander of the
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
(
Band of Brothers
), the
XVIII Airborne Corps
and the
Strategic Army Corps
.
- Hal Moore
, former commander of the
1st Cavalry Division
- Eugene Forrester
, commander of
United States Army Pacific
(Western Command) from 1981 through .1983
- Julius W. Becton Jr.
, former commander of the
VII Corps
in Europe, director of the
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance
in the United States Agency for International Development (US AID), and Director of
FEMA
from 1985 to 1989
- William Eldridge Odom
, head of the
National Security Agency
under president
Ronald Reagan
, outspoken opponent of the
Iraq War
and
warrantless
wiretapping
of US citizens.
- Thomas P. Stafford
,
U.S. Air Force
,
NASA
astronaut, flew on
Gemini 6A
,
Gemini 9
,
Apollo 10
&
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1979 as deputy chief of staff, research development and acquisition, Headquarters USAF,
Washington D.C.
Post-Cold War
[
edit
]
- Thomas L. Baptiste
, deputy chairman, NATO Military Committee, Brussels, Belgium.
- David Barno
,
USA
(Ret): former commander of
Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan
during the
War in Afghanistan
- Carol A. Mutter
,
USMC
(Ret): first woman to be promoted to lieutenant general (1 September 1996)
[16]
- Claudia J. Kennedy
,
USA
(Ret): first woman to be promoted to lieutenant general in the United States Army (17 June 1997)
- Ricardo Sanchez
,
USA
(Ret): former commander
U.S. V Corps
, former commander of US ground forces in
Iraq
- Samuel V. Wilson
,
USA
(Ret):
Ranger Hall of Fame
,
Delta Force
co-founder, former commander of the 6th
Special Forces
: former Deputy to director,
Central Intelligence Agency
, former director of the
Defense Intelligence Agency
, former President of
Hampden-Sydney College
- John B. Sylvester
: former deputy chief of staff for
NATO
in
Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Mark Hertling
- Jack Bergman
, USMC (Ret):
US Congressman
, former commander
United States Marine Corps Reserve
- Susan Helms
,
United States Air Force
(Ret): former commander
14th Air Force
and former NASA astronaut
- Michael T. Flynn
,
USA
(Ret): former
Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
(2012-2014) and
National Security Advisor
(2017)
- H. R. McMaster
,
USA
:
National Security Advisor
(2017-2018)
- Nina M. Armagno
,
USSF
: first Director of Staff, Space Staff (Since 2020)
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Pawlyk, Oriana (August 27, 2020).
"Space Force Was Set to Announce Its New Rank Structure. Then, Congress Stepped In"
.
Military.com
. Retrieved
October 21,
2020
.
- ^
10 USC § 526. Authorized strength: general and flag officers on active duty
- ^
a
b
[1]
10 USC 525. Distribution of commissioned officers on active duty in general officer and flag officer grades.
- ^
[2]
10 USC 528. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions: military status; exclusion from distribution and strength limitations; pay and allowances.
- ^
[3]
10 USC 527. Authority to suspend sections 523, 525, and 526.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
[4]
10 USC 601. Positions of importance and responsibility: generals and lieutenant generals; admirals and vice admirals.
- ^
10 USC 636. Retirement for years of service: regular officers in grades above brigadier general and rear admiral (lower half).
- ^
10 USC 1253. Age 64: regular commissioned officers in general and flag officer grades; exception.
- ^
[5]
DoD News Briefing on Thursday, June 6, 1996. Retirement of Admiral
Leighton W. Smith Jr.
- ^
Stilwell, Blake (May 5, 2022).
"Why Ulysses S. Grant Might Be Getting a Promotion Soon"
. Retrieved
August 4,
2023
.
- ^
Richardson, James D.
(1903).
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents
. Vol. V. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Literature and Art. pp. 305?306.
- ^
"Revival of the Grade of Lieutenant-general"
.
The New York Times
. Washington. February 2, 1864. p. 5
. Retrieved
December 27,
2022
.
- ^
"How many U.S. Army five-star generals have there been and who were they?"
.
history.army.mil
. U.S. Army Center of Military History. January 31, 2021
. Retrieved
December 27,
2022
.
- ^
Army finance officer attains historic third star (2014-08-13)
- ^
"Knudsen the Only Civilian To Enter Army at His Rank"
,
The New York Times
, p. 9, January 17, 1942
.
- ^
Patricia Tracey
,
VADM
,
USN
(Ret), was the first woman to be promoted to three-star rank (vice admiral, the Navy rank equivalent to lieutenant general, both being the
military grade of O-9
), on 13 May 1996.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The rank of major general originally began as
sergeant major general
, in the
British Army
, and was junior to the rank of lieutenant general. Over time, "sergeant" was dropped and by the late 17th/early 18th century it had been shortened to major general. It was first used in the newly formed
Continental Army
of the
United Colonies
(soon to be United States) on 17 June 1775, assigned to
Artemas Ward
and
Charles Lee
– second and third in command to Lt. General (rank at that time, as commander of the Continental Army)
George Washington
. As a result, the rank of lieutenant general continues to be senior to major general, even though the rank of
major
has always been senior to the rank of
lieutenant
.
External links
[
edit
]