Major general (abbreviated MAJGEN) is a senior rank of the Australian Army, and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of major general. It is the third-highest active rank of the Australian Army (the rank of field marshal not being held by any currently serving officer), and is considered to be equivalent to a two-star rank. A major general commands a division or the equivalent.
Major general is a higher rank than brigadier, but lower than lieutenant general.[a] Major general is the equivalent of rear admiral in the Royal Australian Navy and air vice marshal in the Royal Australian Air Force.
The insignia for a major general is the star (or 'pip') of the Order of the Bath (despite membership of the Order no longer being awarded to Australians), above a crossed Mameluke sword and baton.[b]
The MAJGEN insignia of Order of the Bath (pip) above a crossed sword and baton, with the word 'Australia' at the bottom.
The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) is an organization founded on 29 May 1948 for peacekeeping in the Middle East. Its primary task was providing the military command structure to the peacekeeping forces in the Middle East to enable the peacekeepers to observe and maintain the ceasefire, and as may be necessary in assisting the parties to the Armistice Agreements in the supervision of the application and observance of the terms of those Agreements. The command structure of the UNTSO was maintained to cover the later peacekeeping organisations of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).