Editing Military rank (section)

==== General, flag, and air officers {{anchor|General, Flag, or Air Officers}}====
{{main|General officer}}
Officers who typically command units or [[formation (military)|formation]]s that are expected to operate independently for extended periods of time (i.e., [[brigade]]s and larger, or [[flotilla]]s or [[Squadron (naval)|squadrons]] of ships), are referred to variously as [[general officer]]s (in armies, marines, and some air forces), [[flag officer]]s (in navies and coast guards), or [[air officer]]s (in some [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] air forces).

General-officer ranks typically include (from the most senior) [[general]], [[lieutenant general]], [[major general]], and [[brigadier general]], although there are many variations like division general or (air-, ground-) force general.

Flag-officer ranks, named after the traditional practice of showing the presence of such an officer with a flag on a ship and often land, typically include (from the most senior) [[admiral]], [[vice admiral]] and [[rear admiral]]. In some navies, such as [[Canadian Forces Maritime Command|Canada's]], the rank of [[Commodore (rank)|commodore]] is a [[flag rank]].

In the [[Royal Air Force|United Kingdom]] and most other [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] air forces, [[air officer|air-officer]] ranks usually include [[air chief marshal]], [[air marshal]], [[air vice-marshal]] and [[air commodore]]. For some air forces, however, such as those of [[RCAF|Canada]], [[United States Air Force|United States]] and many other air forces, general officer rank titles are used. In the case of the [[United States Air Force]], that service was once part of the U.S. Army and evolved as a separate service in 1947, carrying over its extant officer rank structure. Brazil and Argentina use a [[Brigadier#Officer rank in Latin America|system of general officer ranks based on the term brigadier]].

In some forces, there may be one or more superior ranks to the common examples, above, that are given distinguishing titles, such as [[field marshal]] (most armies of the world, notably excluding the United States) or general of the army (mainly the United States because "marshal" is used as a peace officer's designation), [[fleet admiral]] ([[U.S. Navy]]), [[Marshal of the Royal Air Force]], or other national air force. These ranks have often been discontinued, such as in Germany and Canada, or limited to wartime or honorific promotion, such as in the United Kingdom and the United States.

In various countries, particularly the United States, these may be referred to as "star ranks" for the number of stars worn on some rank insignia: typically one-star for brigadier general or equivalent with the addition of a star for each subsequent rank. In the United States, five stars has been the highest rank regularly attainable (excluding the [[United States Marine Corps rank insignia|marines]] and [[U.S. Coast Guard|coast guard]], which have traditionally served as branches of the navy in times of war and thus under the command of a fleet admiral). There also exists the specialty ranks of [[General of the Armies of the United States]] and [[Admiral of the Navy]] which at their inception were considered senior four star officers but came to be considered [[six-star rank]] after the creation of five star officers. To date only one officer has held a six star rank in his lifetime, [[John J. Pershing]]. [[George Washington]] was posthumously promoted to the post in 1976. Additionally, [[George Dewey|Admiral George Dewey]] was promoted to admiral of the navy but died well before statute made it senior to an admiral of the fleet upon the latter's inception.

Some titles are not genuine ranks, but either functions assumed by generals or honorific titles. For instance, in the [[French Army]] ''[[général de corps d'armée]]'' is a function assumed by some ''[[Major General|généraux de division]]'', and ''[[Marshal of France|maréchal de France]]'', which is a distinction denoting the most superior military office, but one that has often neutered the practical command powers of those on whom it is conferred. In the [[United States Navy]], a [[Commodore (USN)|commodore]] currently is a senior [[Captain (naval)|captain]] commanding a [[Squadron (naval)|squadron]], air group, or air wing that is too small for a [[rear admiral]] to command, although that name has historically been used as a rank. The title (not rank) of commodore can also indicate an officer who is senior to a ship's captain (since only the ship's commanding officer is addressed as captain while under way). Marine captains are sometimes referred to as major to distinguish themselves while shipboard, although this reference is not employed in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.