Major general Major general Major general (abbreviated MG, Maj. Gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparently confusing phenomenon whereby a lieutenant general outranks a major general while a major outranks a lieutenant. In the Commonwealth and the United States, it is a division commander's rank subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the navy rank of rear admiral,
General of the Armies appoint Douglas MacArthur to the rank of "General of the Armies" and have this position be considered a six-star general rank. The proposal for MacArthur's promotion to a new rank was begun on July 23, 1945. The Army draft for the promotion specified three key points regarding the renewed proposal for General of the Armies: At the beginning of August 1945, a member of MacArthur's staff drew a single sketch of a five star general insignia superimposed in its center with a sixth star of rank. This sketch was the first known design for a "six star general" insignia, but