General ( United States ) In the United States Army , United States Air Force , and United States Marine Corps , general is a four - star general officer rank , with the pay grade of O - 10 . General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force ; the Marine Corps does not have an established grade above general . General is equivalent to the rank of admiral in the other uniformed services . Since the grades of General of the Army and General of the Air Force are reserved for war - time use only , and since the Marine Corps has no five - star equivalent , the grade of general is currently considered to be the highest appointment an officer can achieve in these three services . Statutory limits . The United States Code explicitly limits the total number of generals that may be on active duty at any given time . The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 302 for the Army , 279 for the Air Force and 80 for the Marine Corps . For the Army and Air Force , no more than 16 . 3 % of the service ' s active duty general officers may have more than two stars , and no more than 25 % of those may have four stars . This corresponds to 12 Army generals , 11 Air Force generals and 3 Marine generals . Some of these slots are reserved by statute . For the Army and Air Force , the Chief of Staff and the Vice Chief of Staff are both generals ; for the Marine Corps , the Commandant and the Assistant Commandant are both generals ; for the National Guard , the Chief of the National Guard Bureau is a general under active duty in the army or air force . There are several exceptions to these limits allowing more than allotted within the statute . A four - star officer serving as Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not count against his service ' s general or flag officer cap . An officer serving as Chief of the National Guard Bureau does not count against his service ' s general officer cap . An officer serving in one of several joint positions does not count against his service ' s four - star limit , but he does count against his service ' s limit on officers with more than two stars ; these positions include the commander of a unified combatant command , the commander of United States Forces Korea , and the deputy commander of United States European Command but only if the commander of that command is also the Supreme Allied Commander , Europe . Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit , including the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency . The President may also add four - star slots to one service if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services . Finally , all statutory limits may be waived at the President ' s discretion during time of war or national emergency . Appointment and tour length . Four - star grades go hand - in - hand with the positions of office to which they are linked , so these ranks are temporary . Officers may only achieve four - star grade if they are appointed to positions of office that require the officer to hold such a rank . Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office , which is usually set by statute . 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 , under the advice and / or suggestion of their respective department secretary , service secretary , and if applicable the Joint Chiefs of Staff . For some specific positions , statute allows the President to waive those requirements for a nominee who he deems would serve national interests . The nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank . The standard tour length for most four - star positions is three years , bundled as a two - year term plus a one - year extension , with the following exceptions : Note : Extensions of the standard tour length can be approved , within statutory limits , by their respective service secretaries , the Secretary of Defense , the President , and / 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 . Four - star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare . Retirement . Other than voluntary retirement , statute sets a number of mandates for retirement . A four - star general must retire after 40 years of service unless he or she is reappointed to serve longer . Otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday . However , the Secretary of Defense can defer a four - 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 career paths of junior officers . Since only a finite number of four - star slots are available to each service , typically one officer must leave office before another can be promoted . Maintaining a four - star rank is a game of musical chairs ; once an officer vacates a position bearing that rank , he or she has no more than 60 days to be appointed or reappointed to a position of equal importance before he or she must involuntarily retire . Historically , officers leaving four - 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 . To retire at four - star grade , an officer must accumulate at least three years of satisfactory active duty service in that grade , as certified by the Secretary of Defense and confirmed by the Senate . The Secretary of Defense may reduce this requirement to two years , but only if the officer is not being investigated for misconduct . Officers who do not meet the service - in - grade requirement revert to the next highest grade in which they served satisfactorily for at least six months . It is extraordinarily rare for a four - star officer not to be nominated to retire in grade or for such a nomination not to be confirmed by the Senate unanimously . Four - star officers typically step down from their posts up to 60 days in advance of their official retirement dates . Officers retire on the first day of the month , so once a retirement month has been selected , the relief and retirement ceremonies are scheduled by counting backwards from that date by the number of days of accumulated leave remaining to the retiring officer . During this period , termed transition leave or terminal leave , the officer is considered to be awaiting retirement but still on active duty .