Brigadier general (United States) Brigadier general (United States) In the United States Armed Forces, brigadier general (BG, BGen, or Brig Gen) is a one-star general officer with the pay grade of O-7 in the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. The rank of brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral (lower half) in the other uniformed services (the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, as both Armed Forces and Uniformed Services; and the Public Health Service and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, as Uniformed Services). The NATO equivalent
Lieutenant colonel (United States) case with George A. Custer, who was a lieutenant colonel in the regular army, but held the brevet rank of major general. The 20th century saw lieutenant colonel in its present-day status although, during the 1930s, many officers again found the rank to be terminal as the rank of colonel was reserved for only a select few officers. In the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps (USMC), a lieutenant colonel typically commands a battalion/squadron-sized unit (300 to 1,200 Soldiers/Marines), with a major as executive officer (XO) and a command sergeant major/sergeant major (USMC) as principal NCO or