Entries in the following list of four-star generals are indexed by the numerical order in which each officer was promoted to that rank while on active duty, or by an asterisk (*) if the officer did not serve in that rank while on active duty. Each entry lists the general's name, date of rank,[1] active-duty positions held while serving at four-star rank,[2] number of years of active-duty service at four-star rank (Yrs),[3] year commissioned and source of commission,[4] number of years in commission when promoted to four-star rank (YC),[5] and other biographical notes (years of birth and death are shown in parentheses in the Notes column).[6]
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2007–2009.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2009–2012.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2012–2014.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2014–2016.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2016–2018.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSINDOPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2018–2020.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSINDOPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2020–2024.
Commander, Pacific Air Forces/Air Component Commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command/Executive Director, Pacific Air Combat Operations Staff (COMPACAF/AIRCDRUSINDOPACOM/EXDIRPACOPS), 2024–present.
Retired Air Force Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is pinned with his fourth star on 10 December 1998.
The modern rank of general was established by the Officer Personnel Act of 1947, which authorized the President to designate certain positions of importance to carry that rank. Officers appointed to such positions bear temporary four-star rank while so serving, and are allowed to retire at that rank if their performance is judged satisfactory.[31] The total number of active-duty four-star generals in the Air Force is limited to a fixed percentage of the number of Air Force general officers serving at all ranks.[32]
Within the Air Force, the chief of staff (CSAF) and vice chief of staff (VCSAF) are four-star generals by statute. Other four-star generals occupy positions of designated importance; historically, these have included the commanders responsible for strategic bombers and nuclear missiles (SAC/STRATCOM); tactical air combat (TAC/ACC); air transport (MAC/TRANSCOM); North American aerospace defense (NORAD); the Air Force formations in Europe and the Pacific; and other training, readiness, and materiel organizations.
The Air Force also competes with the other services for a number of joint four-star positions, such as the chairman (CJCS) and vice chairman (VJCS) of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other joint four-star positions have included unified combatant commanders and certain NATO staff positions.
The following list of Congressional legislation includes major acts of Congress pertaining to appointments to the grade of general in the United States Air Force.
Authorized president to designate, subject to Senate confirmation, Air Force officers to have the rank of general while assigned to positions of importance and responsibility.
Capped Air Force positions with ranks above major general at 15 percent of the total number of general officers serving on active federal military duty, of which not more than 25 percent to carry the rank of general.
Authorized president to designate positions of importance and responsibility to carry the grade of general, to be assigned from officers on active duty in any grade above colonel, subject to Senate confirmation, who revert to their permanent grade at the end of their assignment unless it was terminated by
assignment to another position designated to carry the same grade,
up to 180 days of hospitalization, or
up to 90 days prior to retirement [reduced to 60 days in 1991 (105Stat.1354)].
Capped, except during war or national emergency, Air Force officers in grades above major general at 15 percent of all general officers on active duty, of whom not more than 25 percent to serve in the grade of general.
Authorized three- and four-star officers to retire in the highest grade held on active duty, at the discretion of the president and subject to confirmation by the Senate, with no time-in-grade requirement [changed in 1996 to certification by secretary of defense and three-year time-in-grade requirement (110Stat.292)].
Capped Air Force officers in the grade of general at 9, exempting from caps the chief of the National Guard Bureau and up to 20 generals assigned to joint duty [joint-duty cap repealed in 2016, effective December 31, 2022 (130Stat.2100), and lowered in 2021 to 19 (134Stat.3563)].
The Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AFROTC) is one of the three primary commissioning sources for officers in the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, the other two being the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and Air Force Officer Training School (OTS). A subordinate command of the Air University within the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), AFROTC is aligned under the Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. The Holm Center, formerly known as the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools (AFOATS), retains direct responsibility for both AFROTC and OTS.
Officer Training School (OTS) is a United States Air Force and United States Space Force commissioning program located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
United States military seniority is the method by which the United States Armed Forces determines precedence among commissioned officers, in particular those who hold the same rank. Seniority is used to determine assignments, tactical commands, promotions and general courtesy. To a lesser extent, historical seniority is used to recognize status of honor given to early United States military leaders such as inaugural holders of certain ranks or those officers who served as leadership during major wars and armed conflicts.
In the United States military, a general is the most senior general-grade officer; it is the highest achievable commissioned officer rank that may be attained in the United States Armed Forces, with exception of the Navy and Coast Guard, which have the equivalent rank of admiral instead. The official and formal insignia of "general" is defined by its four stars.
In the United States Armed Forces, a lieutenant general is a three-star general officer in the United States Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
References
↑ Dates of rank are taken, where available, from the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force registers of active and retired commissioned officers, or from the World Almanac and Book of Facts. The date listed is that of the officer's first promotion to general.
↑ Positions listed are those held by the officer when promoted to general. Dates listed are for the officer's full tenure, which may predate promotion to four-star rank or postdate retirement from active duty.
1 2 The number of years of active-duty service at four-star rank is approximated by subtracting the year in the "Date of rank" column from the last year in the "Position" column. For those presently in their position, values are as of 2020[update]. Time spent between active-duty four-star assignments is not counted, nor is time spent on special duty as an unassigned general of the Army or general of the Air Force.
1 2 The number of years in commission before being promoted to four-star rank is approximated by subtracting the year in the "Commission" column from the year in the "Date of rank" column.
↑ Notes include years of birth and death; awards of the Medal of Honor, Congressional Gold Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, or honors of similar significance; major government appointments; university presidencies or equivalents; familial relationships with other four-star officers or significant government officials such as U.S. Presidents, cabinet secretaries, U.S. Senators, or state governors; and unusual career events such as premature relief or death in office.
↑ Appointed Commander, Military Airlift Command (COMAC), effective 12 September 1972; died in air crash, 9 Sep 1972; posthumously promoted to general with date of rank 16 August 1972.
↑ Transferred from Signal Corps Reserve, 1920; resigned, 1930; recalled 1940; reverted to inactive reserve, 1946; retired as lieutenant general, Feb 1959; advanced to general on the retired list, 4 April 1985.
↑ Retired as major general, Aug 1947; advanced to lieutenant general on the retired list, 29 June 1948; advanced to general on the retired list, 26 April 1985.
Air Force Association (May 2006), "USAF Almanac 2006"(PDF), Air Force Magazine, 89 (5), archived from the original(PDF) on 10 July 2007
Cole, Ronald H.; Poole, Walter S.; Schnabel, James F.; Watson, Robert J.; Webb, Willard J. (1995), The History of the Unified Command Plan, 1946–1993(PDF), Washington D.C.: Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, archived from the original(PDF) on 27 November 2007, retrieved 9 May 2007
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