How to Become an Army General

A four-star Army General ranks above a Lieutenant General but below a five-star General. However, the General of the Army rank is only used during wartime. According to U.S. Code there can only be 302 active duty Generals at any one time. Generals must retire after 40 years of service.

Instructions

• 1

  Start at the bottom, enlisting in the Army as a private or do ROTC training in college (and even Junior ROTC in high school) to gain experience and rank prior to enlisting. Put in the hours and take on responsibilities and opportunities to work your way up.

• 2

  Prepare to work hard. The Army looks for people who can lead and handle pressure well. Although they train you to become this way, it would behoove you if you zeroed in on these characteristics prior to joining the Army.

• 3

  Make decisions quickly and accurately. People's lives depend on a General's decision making and proving to those who decide to promote you to the rank of General need to feel that you are able to make decisions.

• 4

  Gain command experience. A General leads soldiers and not a few but thousands. Therefore, delegating and making sure the job at hand is done and done correctly is more than an understatement of what a General's job is overall.

• 5

  Become an expert in all fields of the Army, such as Personnel, Intelligence, Operations, or Logistics. A General not only needs to know what he needs to do, but what the Army does as a whole.