Re: General Patraeus going against Obama on U.S. Troop withdrawal and thanks President Bush for having Brass Balls

I wouldn't be too concerned Travis. We have plenty generals who are
more than capable of getting the job done when/if necessary.
---

There have been 214 four-star generals in the history of the U.S.
Army.
Of these, 200 achieved that rank while on active duty in the U.S.
Army; eight were promoted after retirement; five were promoted
posthumously; and one (George Washington) was appointed to that rank
in the Continental Army, the U.S. Army's predecessor.
Generals entered the Army via several paths:
137 were commissioned via the U.S. Military Academy (USMA),
39 via Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at a civilian
university,
16 via direct commission,
12 via Officer Candidate School (OCS),
7 via ROTC at a senior military college, one via the Army National
Guard (ARNG), one via the aviation cadet program, and one via
battlefield commission.

In the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. 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.

U.S. Code of law explicitly limits the total number of four-star
officers that may be on active duty at any given time.
The total number of active duty general officers is capped at
230 for the Army,
208 for the Air Force,
60 for the Marine Corps.
For the Army, Navy, and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the
service's active duty general or flag officers may have more than two
stars, and statute sets the total number of four-star generals allowed
in each service. This is set at 7 four-star Army generals, 9 four-star
Air Force generals and 2 four-star Marine generals.

***
There are currently 40 active duty four-star officers in the uniformed
services of the United States:
11 in the Army,
4 in the Marine Corps,
11 in the Navy,
13 in the Air Force,
1 in the Coast Guard,
and none in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

***
The total current number of all generals of 1, 2, and 3 star ranks in
all services is around 1,000.

(If anyone can find a more accurate number, please post it because it
doesn't seem like it's public information).
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Remember, the real hard asses are 1, 2, 3 star generals.
i.e. Patton...or...
"We're surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these
people and killing them." — November 1950, during Chosin Reservoir
campaign - Chesty Puller

4 and 5 star generals have political agendas.
1, 2, and 3 star generals have military agendas.

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