General of the Army is a five-star general officer and is the highest possible rank in the United States Army. General of the Army ranks immediately above a
General and is equivalent to a Fleet Admiral and a General of the Air Force; there is no established equivalent five-star rank in the other four uniformed services. Often referred to as a five-star general, General of the Army is reserved for war-time use only and the grade is not currently in use by the Army.
There have been no officers appointed to the rank of General of the Army since Omar Bradley. The rank of General of the Army is still maintained as a rank of the U.S. military, and could again be bestowed, during a time of war, pending approval of the United States Congress. Current U.S. military policy is that General of the Army, General of the Air Force, and Fleet Admiral are ranks only to be used when a commander of U.S. forces must be equal to or of higher rank than commanders of armies from another nation.
Following the Gulf War of 1991, there were rumors that President George H.W. Bush was considering conferring the rank on Colin Powell and H. Norman Schwarzkopf in recognition of their services, but he never did.[citation needed]
In the 1990s, the Defense Department gave indication that the office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would possibly one day be a position worthy of five-star rank. This would be problematic in that with the appointment of United States Marine Corps Generals as Chairman, there is no current five-star USMC rank. Congressional sources indicated that there were no plans to promote any modern-day general officers to the rank of General of the Army.
