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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">General officer commanding</span></span>
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<b>General officer commanding</b> (<b>GOC</b>) is the usual title given in the armies of the <a href="United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a> and the <a href="Commonwealth_of_Nations" title="Commonwealth of Nations">Commonwealth</a> (and some other nations, such as <a href="Republic_of_Ireland" title="Republic of Ireland">Ireland</a>) to a <a href="General_officer" title="General officer">general officer</a> who holds a command appointment.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Thus, a general might be the GOC <a href="II_Corps_(United_Kingdom)" title="II Corps (United Kingdom)">British II Corps</a> (a <a href="Three-star_rank" class="mw-redirect" title="Three-star rank">three-star</a> appointment) or GOC <a href="7th_Armoured_Division_(United_Kingdom)" title="7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)">British 7th Armoured Division</a> (a <a href="Two-star_rank" class="mw-redirect" title="Two-star rank">two-star</a> appointment).
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="GOC-in-C">GOC-in-C</h2></div>
<p>A general officer heading a particularly large or important command, such as <a href="Middle_East_Command" title="Middle East Command">Middle East Command</a> or the <a href="Allied_Armies_in_Italy" title="Allied Armies in Italy">Allied Armies in Italy</a>, may be called a <b>general officer commanding-in-chief</b> (<b>GOC-in-C</b>). The governor of the <a href="Imperial_Fortress" class="mw-redirect" title="Imperial Fortress">Imperial Fortress</a> colony of <a href="Bermuda" title="Bermuda">Bermuda</a> was also appointed <a href="Commander-in-chief" title="Commander-in-chief">commander-in-chief</a> of the disproportionately-large <a href="Bermuda_Garrison" title="Bermuda Garrison">Bermuda Garrison</a>. From 1912, when Lieutenant-General Sir <a href="George_Bullock_(British_Army_officer)" title="George Bullock (British Army officer)">George Mackworth Bullock</a> replaced the late Lieutenant-General Sir <a href="Walter_Kitchener" title="Walter Kitchener">Frederick Walter Kitchener</a>, through the <a href="Second_World_War" class="mw-redirect" title="Second World War">Second World War</a>, the military office was titled <i>General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bermuda</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> GOC-in-Cs are usually one rank higher than a GOC with GOCs of <a href="Corps" title="Corps">corps</a>-level formations reporting to them.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Usage_in_the_Indian_Army">Usage in the Indian Army</h2></div>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief</h3></div>
<p>The army commanders who head the training and operational <a href="Indian_Army#Command_structure" title="Indian Army">commands</a> of the <a href="Indian_Army" title="Indian Army">Indian Army</a> hold the title of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, abbreviated as GOC-in-C.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> There are seven appointments currently:
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<ul><li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_Central_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command</a></li>
<li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_Eastern_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command</a></li>
<li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_Northern_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command</a></li>
<li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_Southern_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command</a></li>
<li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_South_Western_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Command</a></li>
<li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_Western_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command</a></li>
<li><a href="General_Officer_Commanding-in-Chief_Army_Training_Command" class="mw-redirect" title="General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Army Training Command">General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Army Training Command</a></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="General_Officer_Commanding">General Officer Commanding</h3></div>
<p>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 referred to as General Officers Commanding; examples being GOC 12 Corps, GOC 3 Infantry Division, GOC Dakshin Maharashtra and Goa Subarea, and GOC Uttar Bharat Area.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Equivalent_term_in_other_services">Equivalent term in other services</h2></div>
<p>The equivalent term for naval officers is flag officer commanding and that for air force officers is <a href="Air_officer_commanding" title="Air officer commanding">air officer commanding</a>.
In the case of flag and air officers heading a large or important command, the term is flag officer commanding-in-chief and air officer commanding-in-chief.
</p><p>In the <a href="United_States_Armed_Forces" title="United States Armed Forces">United States Armed Forces</a>, the equivalent is <a href="Commanding_officer" title="Commanding officer">commanding general</a>.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">
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</style><cite id="CITEREFBowyer1999" class="citation book cs1">Bowyer, Richard (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=U2SyST6KUJMC&pg=PA6"><i>Dictionary of Military Terms</i></a>. Taylor & Francis. p. 41. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-57958-156-5</bdi>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation book cs1"><i>Hart's Annual Army List, Special Reserve List, and Territorial Force List, for 1913, (Being the Seventy-Fourth Annual Volume)</i>. London: John Murray. 1913. p. 116.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://indianarmy.nic.in/site/formTemplete/frmtempsimple.aspx?MnId=TqWSDHmc2ua6KzgEgvgO7w==&ParentID=RuQ+vVM57FirJYXrHRLBHA==">"The Official Home Page of the Indian Army"</a>. <i>www.indianarmy.nic.in</i>.</cite></span>
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