General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment.[1]
Thus, a general might be the GOC British II Corps (a three-star appointment) or GOC British 7th Armoured Division (a two-star appointment).
A general officer heading a particularly large or important command, such as Middle East Command or the Allied Armies in Italy, may be called a general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C). The governor of the Imperial Fortress colony of Bermuda was also appointed commander-in-chief of the disproportionately-large Bermuda Garrison. From 1912, when Lieutenant-General Sir George Mackworth Bullock replaced the late Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Walter Kitchener, through the Second World War, the military office was titled General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bermuda.[2] GOC-in-Cs are usually one rank higher than a GOC with GOCs of corps-level formations reporting to them.
The army commanders who head the training and operational commands of the Indian Army hold the title of GOC-in-C.[3] There are seven appointments currently:
The equivalent term for naval officers is flag officer commanding (FOC) and that for air force officers is air officer commanding (AOC).In the case of flag and air officers heading a large or important command, the term is flag officer commanding-in-chief (FOC-in-C) and air officer commanding-in-chief (AOC-in-C).
In the United States Armed Forces, the equivalent is commanding general (CG).