Just remember with all the generals and/or admirals, a person holding the Medal Of Honor out ranks them all. They all have to salute the medal holder.

I look at the ranking system this way:

Lieutenant Captain

Major Lieutenant Colonel Colonel

Brigadier Major General, Lieutenant General General

Almost like any other system that has evolved over centuries, it is a bit arcane.

Best
Les

I did not know that....wonder how many MOH there are today?

What about a thoroughly modern major general?

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One of my former co-workers was a vet that served in Vietnam. Great guy. He never had to see combat, as he worked in the mail office. He had a new Lieutenant fresh from officers training, but zero experience. The Lieutenant was a Barney Fife type and wanted everything 100% by the book.

The Lieutenant decided he liked his dress uniform, and he ordered all the men in the office to wear dress uniforms the next day. There was one sergeant that requested to be excused from that. The Lieutenant refused to have an exception. So the next day everyone showed up in dress uniforms. The office was all stunned to see one Sargent with a medal of honor around his neck. They they all grinned from ear to ear as the jerk Lieutenant had to salute the lowly sarge several time that day. For some reason they never had dress up day again. That sergeant was typical of many heroes and did not like to bring attention to himself, he was just waiting for his enlistment to end so he could muster out and go back to work in the civilian world.

I cheated and Googled a bit to supplement my dim knowledge. My understanding is that US military ranks are an amalgamation of British and European ranks, and have been modified to fit American tastes and needs over the centuries. What it has meant to be a "General" has evolved over the years and the US has expanded the general ranks (so to speak) a few times, particularly relating to the Civil War and WWII.

The use of combined name ranks, like Sargent-Major and Lieutenant Colonel was common in history. What we now call "Major General" was originally called "Sargent-Major General" and what we call "Lieutenant General" was originally called "Lieutenant Colonel General". Over the years the names were shortened. The US originally only had 1 star and 2 star generals, so Major General was senior to Brigadier General. When they expanded the rank to three stars, Lieutenant (Colonel) General was the natural name for the rank, which evolved to be called Lieutenant General, even though majors are senior to lieutenants.

^^^^ LOL...makes perfect sense...now I know why FUBAR was SNAFU sometimes too :D

Thanks, that makes some sense.

One of my friends growing up on base was the son of a warrant officer. That kinda blew my mind back then as well. He was above all the enlisted men, but below a commissioned officer. There are no Warrant officers in the Air Force now.

My dad even admitted the real operation of the military was done by the guys with stripes all over their arms. We just called them super sergeants. They were the ones that knew how to get something actually done.

What always amazed me when I was in the Army was how special General Officers were treated. I worked in a General Staff Section, and one of our many duties was to help organize the public and post appearances of the commanding general (Maj. GEN Hutchinson if I remember correctly) and his assistant commander - a Brigadier. As a lowly private and later on specialist, One of my duties was to take his jacket and guard it at these affairs. The staff car would park in front with all of the accompanying staff cars after. He would come in with a gang of officers around him and after him. As I would step up and ask, "Can I take your jacket, sir," a bunch of those around him would be tearing at his jacket to take it off. We sort of got to where we would give each other a faint, wry smile. My company was a post company with a wide array of sections - officers' and enlisted personnel and pay records, procurement, nuclear weapons maintenance, etc., etc. One was to maintain and assist visiting senior officers. It was interesting to hear some of the stories from the guys that maintained the houses and served them when they visited.

Important post-WWII 20th Century question: Which general has the best golf course on his base?


Important 21st Century question: Which general has the best enviro-friendly restored ecosystem on his base?

And boy does the entourage expect respect themselves. I've had the honor of helping out in a briefing to a 4-star where none of the crew was welcome. They sure weren't excited to wait in the hall for half an hour! Some seemed to have had the pleasure before but more than one was mighty crusty.

Then there were jello shots with a LtGen...

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Thanks for that vid....cleared things up fer sure :D...

I did not realize that the early advancements in officers' rank were somewhat automatic and based upon years of service...live & learn :).