The generalized elastic model encompasses several linear stochastic models describing the dynamics of polymers, membranes, rough surfaces, and fluctuating interfaces. While usually defined in the overdamped case, in this paper we formally include the inertial term to account for the initial diffusive stages of the stochastic dynamics. We derive the generalized Langevin equation for a probe particle and we show that this equation reduces to the usual Langevin equation for Brownian motion, and to the fractional Langevin equation on the long-time limit.