General Officer Commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth (and some other) nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division. A general officer heading a particularly large or important command may be called a General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C).
The equivalent term for air force officers is Air Officer Commanding (AOC).
Famous quotes containing the words general, officer and/or commanding:
“I never saw any people who appeared to live so much without amusement as the Cincinnatians.... Were it not for the churches,... I think there might be a general bonfire of best bonnets, for I never could discover any other use for them.”
—Frances Trollope (1780–1863)
“When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“The blues women had a commanding presence and a refreshing robustness. They were nurturers, taking the yeast of experience, kneading it into dough, molding it and letting it grow in their minds to bring the listener bread for sustenance, shaped by their sensibilities.”
—Rosetta Reitz, U.S. author. As quoted in The Political Palate, ch. 10, by Betsey Beaven et al. (1980)