Luke Rocks asked:
I’ve always wondered how officers in the military come to acquire the rank of General, as in 4 stars. What traits do they have in common? I’ve seen many people spend 20 years or more to acquire a rank and be unable to move beyond it.
8 Responses to 'How exactly does one acquire the rank of General in the United States?'
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ya gotta have connections. plus im sure the position has to open up.
well gen is only appointed by the president and it takes many years of applying and recomendation by ppl and skilland how much time and combat andsticky situations you have seen.
A lot of the “right” command slots and alot of ol’ boy networking a a whole lot of the right “career track box checking.”
Each person in the military is evaluated for their promotions as soon as they are elegable, and there is need. With Generals, it is a bit different than most ranks, many times you have to have a certain billet to obtain a certain rank. It varies from service to service and with each person.
Army Perspective:
Only a very small percentage of officers make the rank of General (even 1 star)…I want to say it is less than 1%.
Anyway, it really depends on what you do in your career. You need to make sure that you groom yourself for the right assignments right off the bat…want to do a good job in your first (company level) command position, so that you can be selected below zone for Major, which will put you on the right track for higher field grade ranks. Once you are promoted to Major you want to get selected quickly for Command and General Staff College (or other intermediate level education school, depending on branch of service) and try to be selected for the follow on year of advanced military study. From there, you will go back out to the field and work within your branch for a couple of years…you want to try to get positions that will get you noticed and get you good OERs. Hopefully you will get picked up for Lieutenant Colonel quickly, and you will get selected for Battalion Command…this is important. After your Battalion command, you want to get into a position where you can get “Joint” experience (i.e. working in a command position where you have other services under your command)…sometime after that you will need to get picked up for the Army War College or similar school, and finally Brigade command (typically when you are a Colonel). Perhaps during your Brigade command you will get your joint experience out of the way. When all that is done, and if you get good recommendations and perhaps even know the right people, you may get selected for 1-Star rank…
After making 1-star, the whole ballfield changes, and I don’t have enough experience in the Army to comment on it.
In addition, it’s important to keep in mind that there are more slots for General Officers in the combat arms than in any other career field, thus if you make the decision early in your career that you want to make General Officer rank, you probably should be in the combat arms branches. There are Generals in all branches, even medical and Chaplain Corps, but many more of them in the Combat Arms.
Like in any other job: know the right guys, bend over a lot, work your **** of, don’t argue with the boss.
You need balls! Mostly, a common trait is being able to send the men you love, and love you back, to their deaths. Think of it like sending your beloved Retriever to its death. Yea, hits hard…
Big tongue and the ability to provide good felatio