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Marine Corps Major GeneralO-8 General Officer, U.S. Marine Corps |
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Marine Corps Ranks » Major General Rank • MajGen Pay • MajGen Rank History • Promotion Information
History of the Marine Corps Major General Rank
A Major General is a General Officer in the United States Marine Corps at DoD paygrade O-8.
"Sergeant-Major" was a Flag rank from the 1500s to the 1800s. It turned into "Sergeant-Major-General", then "Major General". Major became an independent field-grade rank in Napoleon's Army, and Sergeant-Major became a senior Enlisted rank.
Want to learn more? Read about the Marine Corps' Major General rank on Military-Ranks.org.
History of the Marine Corps
As far back as the Revolutionary War, Marines were known as Naval Infantry, and were assigned to ships to repel boarders, assault land-based targets, and discipline unruly Sailors. In WWI and WWII, Marines very successfully augmented Army units in war theaters throughout the world, with their most brutal and historic fighting on islands in the Pacific. In contrast with the Army, the Marines were not originally made to be self-sufficient to fight land wars for long periods of time. Doctors, Chaplains, and Medics who deploy with Marines are all Navy Sailors.