As a retired O-5, I’d luv to go around saying I was a “high” ranking officer, but there’s no use fooling myself. There is actually a big difference between an O-5 and an O-6. For the purpose of characterization, I would label an O-6 as a “high” ranking officer. Though, in practice, I would say Major General or above without reservation. You need a Presidential nod to become an Lt General or above—so they are in a whole different league. Believe it or not, officers who retire as one-star generals often consider themselves failures because they never got that 2nd star. According to one, that was like the military telling him they made a mistake by making him a general in the first place. Go figure.