Major general

Major general is a military rank, the equivalent of which is used by the service organizations of many civilizations. As a traditional army flag officer grade, major general is a junior level general rank of a fighting organization, traditionally between the grades of brigadier and lieutenant general. In comparison to naval ranking systems, this rank is equivalent to the naval rear admiral rank.

This grade exists in some form in many cultures' rank arrangements, such as Earth's United States armed forces, and the militaries of the United Kingdom and Germany. The US Army, Marine Corps and Air Force all signified major generals with the insignia of two five-pointed stars.

Many wonder why major general is considered inferior to lieutenant general when major is superior to lieutenant. The reason is major general was originally derived from the army grade sergeant-major and was originally "sergeant-major general". Eventually the "sergeant" was dropped from the title.

In the World War II-era German armed forces, a major general, called Generalmajor, wore an insignia of tripled oak leaves on the uniform lapel. An officer of this rank was briefed by Vosk in an alternate timeline where Nazis invaded the USA. (ENT: "Storm Front")

The Generalmajor was played by actor Christopher Neame.

Dr. Beverly Crusher once convinced Geordi La Forge to attempt to sing "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General", a song from the 19th century operetta The Pirates of Penzance. (TNG: "Disaster")

External Links

• Insignia of United States Military Officers

This chart shows only general equivalencies based on the ranks used by many governments on Earth, as well as the rest of the galaxy.