Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships in armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command – the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command constructs an important component for organized collective action.
Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2009–2014). His final United States Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army (1999–2003). Shinseki is a veteran of two tours of combat in the Vietnam War, in which he was awarded three Bronze Star Medals for valor and two Purple Hearts. He was the first Asian-American four-star general, and the first Asian-American Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
General Charles Pelot Summerall was a senior United States Army officer. Summerall commanded the 1st Infantry Division in World War I, was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1926 and 1930, and was President of The Citadel between 1931 and 1953.
David A. Christian is an American who served in the United States Army as a sergeant, lieutenant, and captain during the Vietnam War. While serving as a lieutenant in South Vietnam, he was wounded in action seven times and awarded several medals including the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism. He is best known for his veterans' advocacy efforts.
Albert "Al" Bryant Jr. is a retired United States Army brigadier general, best known for service as the Chief of Western Hemisphere Operations during and in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and for his tenure as the Assistant Division Commander of the 4th Infantry Division at the time of the division's detection and capture of deposed Iraqi president Sadaam Hussein. Bryant also served as the Deputy Commander of Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the United States Army's Armor School.
Ulysses Simpson Grant III was a United States Army officer and planner. He was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Army and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.
Evelyn Patricia Foote is a retired US Army brigadier general. She served from 1959 to 1989, rising to the rank of brigadier general in 1986, and holds many firsts for women in the U.S. Army.
Gale S. Pollock is a retired United States Army major general who served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army from October 2006 to March 2007, and also as chief of the Army Nurse Corps. She became acting Surgeon General of the United States Army for nine months following the 20 March 2007 retirement of her predecessor, Kevin C. Kiley, due to fallout from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal.
Lieutenant General Peter Francis Leahy, is a retired senior officer of the Australian Army, whose military career culminated with his appointment as Chief of the Army from 2002 until 2008. He has been director of the National Security Institute, University of Canberra, since October 2008.
The Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States (MOFW) is one of the oldest veterans' and hereditary associations in the nation with a membership that includes officers and their hereditary descendants from all of the Armed Services. Membership is composed of active duty, reserve and retired officers of the United States Armed Services, including the Coast Guard, National Guard, and allied officers, and their descendants, who have served during one of the wars in which the United States has or is engaged with a foreign power.
Douglas MacArthur, United States Army General began his career in 1899, served in three major military conflicts and held the highest military office of the United States and of the Philippines during that service.
Arnold E. Resnicoff is an American Conservative rabbi who served as a military officer and military chaplain. He served in Vietnam and Europe before attending rabbinical school. He then served as a U.S. Navy Chaplain for almost 25 years. He promoted the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and delivered the closing prayer at its 1982 dedication. In 1984 the President of the United States spoke on his eyewitness account of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. After retiring from the military he was National Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee and served as Special Assistant to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, serving at the equivalent military rank of Brigadier General.
Claude Birkett Ferenbaugh was a United States Army lieutenant general. He served as the operations officer of the U.S. II Corps in Africa during World War II and commanded the 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War.
Edward Thomas Williams (1901–1973) was a Lieutenant General in the United States Army. He gained prominence as chief of artillery for the Third United States Army in Europe during World War II, commander of the United States Army Field Artillery Center, and commander of the Fourth United States Army.
Robert Milchrist Cannon was a United States Army Lieutenant General. He was notable for his World War II service in the China Burma India Theater and his command of Sixth United States Army.
Frank Thomas Hines was a United States military officer and head of the U.S. Veterans Bureau from 1923 to 1945. Hines took over as head of the Veterans Bureau after a series of scandals discredited the agency. He was considered a "man of stern honesty." In response to the scandals, the field service was "centralized to establish strict controls and accountability."
General Francis D. Vavala is a retired Army National Guard officer who served as the Adjutant General of the State of Delaware. He received the promotion in February 1999 after the retirement of Major General George Hastings. In January 2017, Vavala was promoted to lieutenant general in the Delaware Militia. In April 2017, Vavala was promoted to general, in the Delaware Militia, in honor of 50 years of service. He is the first Delaware National Guardsman to achieve four-star rank and one of the very few American service members to have risen from Private to 4 Star General.
Linda L. Singh is a retired major general of the Maryland Army National Guard.
Delfin Negrillo Lorenzana is a retired Philippine Army general serving as the Secretary of National Defense in the Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte. He served in the Philippine Army from 1973 to 2004.
