A major ranks higher than a lieutenant, so why does a lieutenant general rank higher than a major general?
94522
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.military.moderated/browse_thread/thread/4740e994cec144cf/619cf5676294a2a5?lnk=st&q=why+is+lt+general+higher+than+maj+general&rnum=1&hl=en#619cf5676294a2a5    this should help
312456
I believe that in the U.S. Army the highest rank attainable is a four star general. There are probably more than one four star generals at this time; however, only one of them is the Joint Chief of Staff.\nIn the Marine Corps. the highest rank is the five star general and their title is Commandant of the Marine Corps.  Jose
270502
When I was in the armed forces, the Canadians & us (the U.S.)equated an Army Captain with a Naval Lieutenant.\n\nPS In the U.S. Navy there's also a Lieut. Junior Grade (JG) equal to an Army 1st Lieut & a Navy Ensign equal to an Army 2nd Lieut. If memory serves, these used to go by "sub" & "acting sub" in the Canadian Navy. Of course this was \nsome years ago.\n\nPSS Ensign is not slang. It is an official rank.
375788
This site answers your question very well.\n\nhttp://homepages.shu.ac.uk/~acsdry/ranks.htm
825813
What is the connection between a lieutenant governor and a lieutenant in the army? In the etymology of the word lieutenant, at least, the connection lies in their holding a place; that is, the word lieutenant is from an Old French compound made up of lieu, "place," and tenant, "holding." The word in Old French and the borrowed Middle English word lieutenant, first recorded near the end of the 14th century, referred to a person who acted for another as a deputy. This usage has survived, for example, in our term lieutenant governor, the deputy of the governor and the one who replaces the governor if need be. In military parlance lieutenant appears by itself as well as in compounds such as first lieutenant and second lieutenant, which muddy the water a bit, but the original notion of the word in military usage was that the officer it referred to ranked below the next one up and could replace him if need be. A lieutenant in the U.S. Army could thus step into the shoes of a captain.\n\nA commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard that is above lieutenant junior grade and below lieutenant commander.\nb. A first lieutenant.\nc. A second lieutenant.\nd. One who holds the rank of lieutenant, first lieutenant, or second lieutenant.\n2. (lf-tnnt) A commissioned officer in the British and Canadian navies ranking just below a lieutenant commander.\n3. An officer in a police or fire department ranking below a captain.\n4. One who acts in place of or represents a superior; an assistant or deputy:
230264
A lieutenant is always higher than a sergeant in any organization.
72645
It all depends on what you mean by "better." The officer corps are the managers of the military and are granted that rank by the President (at least indirectly). Usually they are better educated, normally requiring a college degree. Have completed some sort of military training such as Officer Candidate School, the Military Academy or ROTC. This is followed by several months, typically, of training in their branch of service. The pay for officers and the breadth of their responsibilities are normally greater than those of NCOs.\n\nIf the officers are the brains of the military, NCOs are the backbone. They are more specialized in their jobs and typically have less overall responsibility. However, they have worked up through the ranks and know how things work. For this reason, they supervise soldiers on a day-to-day basis to ensure objectives of 'management' are met.  They will typically have more experience than the newly commissioned lieutenant and the wise officer will solicit their input. Personally, I had more fun and a lot less politics as an NCO.\n\nAnother category, between NCO and Officer, is Warrant Officer. This is a highly specialized individual normally with expert technical skills but lacking a normal commission. Examples may include some pilots.  I haven't been one of these, but that seems the way to go ;-)
940263
There are several branches of the military with several different ranks (like army/navy/marine corps/air force/etc.)\n\nFirst resource states:\nArmy Ranks are broken down by enlisted and officer.\n\nEnlisted Ranks\n  E-1 Private\n  E-2 Private\n  E-3 Private First Class\n  E-4 Specialist\n  E-5 Sergeant\n  E-6 Staff Sergeant\n  E-7 Sergeant First Class\n  E-8 Master Sergeant\n  E-8 First Sergeant\n  E-9 Sergeant Major\n  E-9 Command Sergeant Major\n  E-10 Sergeant Major of the Army\n\nWarrant Officer Ranks\n  W-1 Warrant Officer 1\n  W-2 Chief Warrant Officer 2\n  W-3 Chief Warrant Officer 3\n  W-4 Chief Warrant Officer 4\n  W-5 Master Warrant Officer 5\n\nOfficer Ranks\n  O-1 Second Lieutenant\n  O-2 First Lieutenant\n  O-3 Captain\n  O-4 Major\n  O-5 Lieutenant Colonel\n  O-6 Colonel\n  O-7 Brigadier General\n  O-8 Major General\n  O-9 Lieutenant General\n  O-10 General\n  O-10 General of the Army (wartime rank)\n\nI could paste the rest in this answer, but what I will do is give you some website resources to read up on the other forces of the military.  See below resources.
779051
MI officers are no different than infantry. They fight in the war just as hard as the infantry.
498784
Name Number of personnel Number of subordinate units Officer in charge \nCorps 30,000+ 2 divisions Lieutenant General \nDivision 10,000–20,000 2-3 brigades Major General \nBrigade 2000–5000 2+ battalions Brigadier \nBattalion 300–1000 2–6companies Colonel \nCompany 150–300 3–6 platoons Captain \nPlatoon 30–40 n/a Lieutenant
61459
My dear lady, the Army is the largest branch of the military. But bigger is not always better. \nRemeber Army stands for AINT READY for MARINES YET!!!!!\n\nHOORAH!!!!!\nUSMC 4 LIFE
524095
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant%5Fgovernor. You'll find the answer on this site, just click the link.
1058574
1 star - brigadeer general\n2 stars - major general\n3 stars - lieutenant general\n4 stars - general\n5 stars - general of the army.\n\n4 stars is usually the highest rank attained in the US military.  a 5 rank of 5 stars takes a special act.  I believe Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was the last 5 star general in the US army.  (there was some talk in the 1990's of giving Gen. Colin Powell and Gen. Norman Swartzkoff a fifth star - it hasn't happened though it still could, even post-retirement)\n\nGenerals are promoted by special appointment.\n\nUsually an officer is well advanced in his/her career before obtaining the rank of General\n\nBY THE WAY:\nHere's a trivia for you\n\nThe youngest general ever in US military history was Gen. George Armstrong Custer.  He was a brigadeer general at age 23.  It is no longer possible to advance that high at such a young age.
993096
It's origins began in the middke ages. The reason a lt. Gen out ranks a major general is because a major gen used to be called a sgt major general.
1103252
Remember "Be My Little General!"  an Ancronym for remembering Generals for lowest to Highest.\n\n      Be = Brigadier General (1 star)\n\n      My = Major General (2 Stars)\n\n      Little = Lieutenant General (3 Stars)\n\n     General = General (4 Stars)\n\nthen there is General of the Armies (5 stars) not used in today's army\n\nThat's the top of the Army Rank Food Chain.\n\nRemember there are three rank structures in the Army.\n\nCommisioned Officers, Warrent Officers, and Enlisted Men\n\nHere is the rest of the Ranks, listed highest to lowest\n\nO-6 Colonel\nO-5 Lieutenant Colonel\nO-4 Major\nO-3 Captain\nO-2 First Lieutenant\nO-1 Second Lieutenant\n\nCW-2 to CW-5 Cheif Warrent Officer\nWO-1 Warrent Officer\n\nE-9 Sergeant Major / Command Sergeant Major/ Sergeant Major of the Army\nE-8 Master Sergeant / First Sergeant\nE-7 Sergeant First Class\nE-6 Staff Sergeant\nE-5 Sergeant\nE-4 Specialist / Corporal\nE-3 Private First Class\nE-2 Private Second Class\nE-1 Private \n\n\nReference link below for pictures of all other ranks
355748
In today's military establishment, there are close to 900 people in uniform with the rank of Brigadier General or above!  This number includes Admirals and I don't have a breakdown of their numbers.
966028
Your lost hero.  \n\nFact is the Soldiers in the military are more educated than the Civilian sector.\n\n99.9 percent of the enlisted forces have at least a high school education, 73.3 percent have some college, 16.2 percent have an associate’s degree or equivalent semester hours, and 4.7 have a bachelor’s degree.\n\nWhat’s more, over 85 percent of field grade officers have advanced degrees – 70.7 percent have master’s degrees, 12.1 percent have professional degrees and 2.5 percent have doctorate degrees.\n\n\nI have two degrees.  How many do you have?