Editing General officer commanding

{{Short description|Army title in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
'''General officer commanding''' ('''GOC''') is the usual title given in the armies of the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] (and some other nations, such as [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]) to a [[general officer]] who holds a command appointment.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bowyer|first=Richard|title=Dictionary of Military Terms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2SyST6KUJMC&pg=PA6|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-57958-156-5|page=41}}</ref>

Thus, a general might be the GOC [[II Corps (United Kingdom)|British II Corps]] (a [[Three-star rank|three-star]] appointment) or GOC [[7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)|British 7th Armoured Division]] (a [[Two-star rank|two-star]] appointment).

==GOC-in-C==
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 Bullock (British Army officer)|George Mackworth Bullock]] replaced the late Lieutenant-General Sir [[Walter Kitchener|Frederick Walter Kitchener]], through the [[Second World War]], the military office was titled ''General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bermuda''.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=1913 |title=HART'S ANNUAL ARMY LIST, SPECIAL RESERVE LIST, AND TERRITORIAL FORCE LIST, FOR 1913,(BEING THE SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL VOLUME) |url= |location=London |publisher=JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON |page=116 |isbn=}}</ref> GOC-in-Cs are usually one rank higher than a GOC with GOCs of [[corps]]-level formations reporting to them.

==Usage in the Indian Army==
===General Officer Commanding-in-Chief===

The army commanders who head the training and operational [[Indian_Army#Command_structure|commands]] of the [[Indian Army]] hold the title of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, abbreviated as GOC-in-C.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Official Home Page of the Indian Army |url=https://indianarmy.nic.in/site/formTemplete/frmtempsimple.aspx?MnId=TqWSDHmc2ua6KzgEgvgO7w==&ParentID=RuQ+vVM57FirJYXrHRLBHA== |website=www.indianarmy.nic.in}}</ref> There are seven appointments currently:

* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command]]
* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command]]
* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command]]
* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command]]
* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Command]]
* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command]]
* [[General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Army Training Command]]
===General Officer Commanding===

Higher military commanders of the Indian Army who are in command of operational formations, such as a division or corps, or of static formations, such as subarea or Area, are also freferred to as General Officers Commanding or GOC; examples being GOC 12 Corps, GOC 3 Infantry Division, GOC Dakshin Maharashtra and Goa Subarea, GOC Uttar Bharat Area, etc.

==Equivalent term in other services==
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 officer|commanding general]] (CG).

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Indian military appointments]]
[[Category:British military appointments]]