General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment.
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).
From 1912, when Lieutenant-General Sir George Mackworth Bullock replaced the late Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Walter Kitchener, through the Second World War, the military office was titled General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bermuda.
The army commanders who head the training and operational commands of the Indian Army hold the title of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, abbreviated as GOC-in-C.[3] There are seven appointments currently: 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.
In the United States Armed Forces, the equivalent is commanding general (CG).