Surgeon General of the United States Air Force

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This article is about the senior physician in the U.S. Air Force. For the head of the U.S. Public Health Service, see Surgeon General of the United States. For other uses, see Surgeon General (disambiguation).

The Surgeon General of the United States Air Force is the senior-most Medical Service officer in the U.S. Air Force. In recent times, this has been a Lieutenant General who serves as head of the United States Air Force Medical Service (AFMS). The Surgeon General is usually the senior Medical Corps officer, but acting surgeons general have been from other branches of the medical service.

In September 1947 the combat elements of the Army Air Forces separated from the U.S. Army, forming the United States Air Force. But a few Air Force support functions, such as medical care, remained U.S. Army responsibilities for the next two years. Starting in 1948, the Air Force and the Air Surgeon, Maj. Gen. Malcolm C. Grow (1887-1960), began to convince the U.S. Army and the administration of President Harry S. Truman that the Air Force needed its own medical service. In the summer of 1949, Air Force General Order No. 35 established a medical service with the following officer personnel components: Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps, Medical Service Corps, Air Force Nurse Corps, and Women’s Medical Specialist Corps.

[edit] List of Surgeons General of the United States Air Force

No.	Name	Dates of Tenure	Military Rank
1	Malcolm C. Grow	July 1, 1949–November 30, 1949	Major General
2	Harry G. Armstrong	December 1, 1949–June 30, 1954	Major General
3	Dan C. Ogle	July 1, 1954–November 30, 1958	Major General
4	Oliver K. Niess	December 1, 1958–December 1, 1963	Major General
5	Richard L. Bohannon	December 2, 1963–November 30, 1967	Lieutenant General
6	Kenneth E. Pletcher	December 1, 1967–April 30, 1970	Lieutenant General
7	Alonzo A. Towner	May 1, 1970–July 31, 1972	Lieutenant General
8	Robert A. Patterson	August 1, 1972–July 31, 1975	Lieutenant General
9	George E. Schafer	August 1, 1975–July 31, 1978	Lieutenant General
10	Paul W. Myers	August 1, 1978–July 31, 1982	Lieutenant General
11	Max B. Bralliar	August 1, 1982–July 31, 1985	Lieutenant General
12	Chesney, Murphy A.	August 1, 1985–July 31, 1988	Lieutenant General
13	Miller, Monte B.	August 1, 1988–July 31, 1991	Lieutenant General
14	Sloan, Alexander M.	August 1, 1991–July 11, 1994	Lieutenant General
*	Buethe, Robert A. (Acting)	July 12, 1994–September 25, 1994	Major General
15	Edgar R. Anderson, Jr.	September 26, 1994–November 14, 1996	Lieutenant General
16	Charles H. Roadman II	November 15, 1996–October 10, 1999	Lieutenant General
*	Wyrick, Michael K. (Acting)	October 11, 1999–October 31, 1999	Major General
17	Paul K. Carlton, Jr.	November 1, 1999–October 14, 2002	Lieutenant General
18	George P. Taylor	October 15, 2002–July 31, 2006	Lieutenant General
19	James G. Roudebush	August 1, 2006– Present	Lieutenant General