After the Civil War ended in 1865, the term Regular Army was used to denote an officer's permanent rank only when a brevet commission had also been received. Such was the case with George Custer who was a brevet major general of volunteers and a brevet Regular Army brigadier general while holding the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army. If no brevet rank was held, the officer was simply referred to by his permanent rank and the suffix "USA". Enlisted personnel could not hold brevet ranks and were all considered simply as United States Army personnel.