How about a General question!

[GH85Carrera]

We were watching a movie the other night, about WW2 and they mentiond a LT. General and I tried to explain to my wife that the LT General outranked a Major General, and then I got to doubting my memory.

Dad was an Air Force officer, so we saw a lot of officers, but not many Generals.

If a one star general is a Brigadier general,
and a 2 star general is a Major general,
and a 3 star general is a Lieutenant general (wait a Lieutenant outranks a Major?)
and a 4 star general is just a general? No special term, just General?

The 5 star generals were only for WW2 to keep the British from getting upset taking orders from an equal rank officer and there are no 5 star officers now. And one bit of trivia, a 5 star general can never retire, that are active duty until death.

The only 6 star generals were George Washington and John J. Pershing and they never got the stars to wear, just an honorary thing.

So why no special name for a 4 star general?

And how did a LT outrank a major?

The burning question of the day!

[Crowbob]

I think you should keep your questions private.

[RWebb]

the easy way is to just count the stars

but to continue in the same vein (history clogs up logical categories)....

a Rear Admiral

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by RWebb

the easy way is to just count the stars

but to continue in the same vein (history clogs up logical categories)....

a Rear Admiral

The plot of the movie had a phone call from a Major General, they did not even say how many stars that is. My wife asked how many stars is a major general and it got me to thinking. And thus a question to the brain trust.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

I think you should keep your questions private.

Hey...he's asking a major question.

[Crowbob]

Then he needs some corporal punishment!

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The plot of the movie had a phone call from a Major General, they did not even say how many stars that is. My wife asked how many stars is a major general and it got me to thinking. And thus a question to the brain trust.

was it a Modern Major General?

[Crowbob]

I think it was Major Major.

[Geneman]

SOUNDS like an oral discharge to me .... dON"T sneeze on me!!!

[javadog]

You do have the order correct. Five star generals are still a theoretical possibility. Last one was Bradley, but the president can give a fifth star to whomever he chooses.

[PorscheGAL]

Don't know the answer for you questions

but

mnemonic for remembering the stars is Be My Little General

[KFC911]

What about the Surgeon General?

[MRM]

General manager.

[rattlsnak]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

Don't know the answer for you questions

but

mnemonic for remembering the stars is Be My Little General

That is correct and 5 star general do still happen but only under active war time campaign.

[craigster59]

In the Army it was "Be My Little Girl". I know it sounds like a Navy thing, but it was an easy way to remember the order of stars.

[sc_rufctr]

Your best!



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_(United_States)

[Norm K]

Silly, perhaps, but one of my Drill Instructors, Sgt Lamunyon, way back in 1975 told the platoon this: you need to remember only two: that Brigadier is the lowest and plain old General is the highest. Then just order the others by the number of syllables and you've got them all. It worked for me when my both brain and body were being tested like never before.

_

[GH85Carrera]

We lived on base and Hickam AFB in 1969 and 1970. As a kid, there are lawns to mow 12 months per year. One of the Generals houses that I mowed was a interesting man. Like all kids I preferred cash, but he wanted to write me a check. So he invited me into his study. On the wall was a African spear that looked cool. He said he was speared with it. He had joined the Army Air Force as a private, but he already had a private pilots license. He was a rare pilot non officer. He said he carried a letter from his General stating he was not to be arrested for impersonating an officer while wearing sergeant stripes and pilot wings. He was still arrested regularly, so they promoted him to an officer. On one mission they landed in a savanna in Africa for some reason I don't remember. The local folks did not like that and came running out throwing spears and arrows. They hurried back on board but he got stuck with a spear. Obviously he survived and was a rare individual to go from private to general. Of course the Army Air corp became the Air Force.

I was just a stupid kid and he was an amazing man to me, and dad was shocked when I told him about the story. He said he was a great officer, but not known as the friendly type.

[KFC911]

I have a private question...

[flatbutt]

But does it Warrant our attention?