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
Colonel general translated as "lieutenant general") and junior to that of "daejang" (usually translated as "general"). This rank is typically held by the commanding officer of units along the Korean DMZ and the North Korean security zone at Panmunjom. It is also the rank held by the KPA Pyongyang Defense Command's commanding general. The rank of colonel general () did not exist in Imperial Russia and was first established in the Red Army on 7 May 1940, as a replacement for the previously existing (, "army commander of the second rank"). During World War II, about 199 officers were promoted to colonel