Actually US Army doesn't have a permanent 3 and 4-star general
also. All 3/4 Star generals go back to 2 stars once their 3- or
4-star appointment expires.
However there are some exceptions where the 4 star general get
to keep the 4 stars as an honourary practice. As such where the
service personnel retires upon the end of the 4-star post.
In the case of Singapore, the SAF provides for a 4-star GEN
rank. But I have seen no documents yet as to when this rank will be
utilised.
And no, we are not the only country without a 4-Star rank.
Israeli forgoes the 3-star LG rank. And other than the Royal
Family, the highest rank in Brunei is COL (not sure about now).
Basically, at the top level, the Rank is mainly a "locally
recognised" status, but when dealing with foreigners it is thier
Position that matters. E.g., Chief of Defence Forces LG Quek would
been deem 'equivalent' to Chairman of the Joint Chief of staff GEN
Mullen.
However i added the ' ' to equivalent as it is not a directly
comparable position.
My own personal theory as to when SAF will use 4-star rank is
during which times our reserves battalion are fully mobilised. When
that happens will we have 1 to 2 corps sized strength. Thus
justifying the need for a GEN.
At the moment, our army is just division level usually headed by
BGs.
