Colonel (United States) Colonel (United States) In the United States Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, colonel () is the most senior field grade military officer rank, immediately above the rank of lieutenant colonel and immediately below the rank of brigadier general. It is equivalent to the naval rank of captain in the other uniformed services. The pay grade for colonel is O-6. The insignia of the rank of colonel, as seen on the right, is worn on the officer's left side (a mirror-image version is worn on the right side, such that the eagle always faces forward to the wearer's front; the
Colonel general some post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States armies (for example in Belarus), there are no generals of the army or marshals, and so colonel general is the highest rank, usually held by the minister of the defense. The corresponding naval rank is admiral, which is also denoted by three stars. Colonel general ("generalöverste") has also been a senior military rank in Sweden, used principally before the 19th century. The Syrian Arab Army uses the rank of colonel general ( ""Imad-awwal"عماد أول) only for the senior-most rank of the army beneath that of field marshal. Usually, only defence ministers have held this