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Marine Corps Brigadier GeneralO-7 General Officer, U.S. Marine Corps |
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Marine Corps Ranks » Brigadier General Rank • BGen Pay • BGen Rank History • Promotion Information
Marine Corps Promotion to O-7 Brigadier General
A Brigadier General is a General Officer in the United States Marine Corps at DoD paygrade O-7. This page describes how the Marine Corps determines who is eligible for the promotion list to Brigadier General.
A Flag rank is a political appointment, first recommended by other Flag-rank Officers within Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC), then to the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), then sent to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and then to the Senate Armed Service Committee for final approval. There are only 60 permanently available Flag positions within the USMC for thousands of Marine Colonels, so the chances of being promoted from O-6 to O-7 is extraordinarily small. Of the 60 billets, 45 are for BGens or MajGens.
Once an Officer is selected for Flag rank, their career is in the direction of the same groups that promoted them. The number of stars a General has depends entirely on what job they were selected for. Typical Flag assignments last anywhere from a few months to five years, at which point the Flag Officer rotates to a new billet, or by not being selected, is forced to retire. There are a number of mandates limiting terms for each Flag rank, with the end goal of preventing extremely long tenures.
Want to learn more? Read about the Marine Corps' Brigadier General rank on Military-Ranks.org.