Surgeon General of the United States Army

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

Surgeon General of the United States Army
Incumbent: LTG Eric B. Schoomaker Since: December 11, 2007
First	Benjamin Church, Jr.
Formation	March 13, 1813
Website	Official Website

The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD). By policy, the Surgeon General (TSG) serves as Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) as well as head of the AMEDD. His (or her) office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) and are located in Falls Church, Virginia.

By law, the Surgeon General may be appointed from any of the six officer branches of the AMEDD. However, to date appointed and confirmed Surgeons General have always been medical corps officers (military physicians). Since 1959, TSG has been appointed in the grade of Lieutenant General.

Duties

As a Commanding General, TSG provides advice and assistance to the Chief of Staff, Army (CSA) and to the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY) on all health care matters pertaining to the U.S. Army and its military health care system. He or she is responsible for development, policy direction, organization and overall management of an integrated Army-wide health service system and is the medical materiel developer for the Army. These duties include formulating policy regulations on health service support, health hazard assessment and the establishment of health standards. TSG is assisted by a Deputy Surgeon General.

History

Congress established the Medical Service of the Continental Army on July 27, 1775 and emplaced a "Chief physician & director general" of the Continental Army as its head at that time. The first five “surgeons general” of the U.S. Army served under this title. An Act of May 28, 1789 established a "Physician general" of the U.S. Army (only Doctors Richard Allison and James Craik served according to this nomenclature). An Act of March 13, 1813 cited the "Physician & surgeon general" of the U.S. Army. This nomenclature remained in place until the Medical Department was established by the Reorganization Act of April 14, 1818. (Physicians assigned to the U.S. Army were not accorded military rank until 1847.)

Surgeons General of the U.S. Army and their precursors

No.	Name	Dates of Tenure	Military Rank
1	Benjamin Church, Jr	July 27, 1775–October 16, 1775	None
2	John Morgan	October 16, 1775–January 1777	None
3	William Shippen, Jr.	April 11, 1777–January 17, 1781	None
4	John Cochran	January 17, 1781–1783	None
	VACANT	1783–1792	--
5	Richard Allison	1792–1796	None
	VACANT	1796–August 1, 1798	--
6	James Craik	August 1, 1798–June 15, 1800	None
	VACANT	June 15, 1800–June 11, 1813	--
7	James Tilton	June 11, 1813–June 15, 1815	None
	VACANT	June 15, 1815–April 18, 1818	--
8	Joseph Lovell	April 18, 1818–October 17, 1836	None
9	Thomas Lawson	October 17, 1836–May 15, 1861	Brigadier General (Brevet)
10	Clement Finley	May 15, 1861–April 28, 1862	Brigadier General
11	William Alexander Hammond	April 28, 1862–August 18, 1864	Brigadier General
12	Joseph K. Barnes	August 18, 1864–1882	Brigadier General
13	Charles H. Crane	1882–1883	Brigadier General
14	Robert Murray	1883–1886	Brigadier General
15	John Moore	1886–1890	Brigadier General
16	Jedediah Hyde Baxter	1890	Brigadier General
17	Charles Sutherland	1890–May 30, 1893	Brigadier General
18	George Miller Sternberg	May 30, 1893– June 8, 1902	Brigadier General
19	William H. Forwood	June 8, 1902– September 7, 1902	Brigadier General
20	Robert M. O'Reilly	September 7, 1902–January 14, 1909	Brigadier General
21	George H. Torney	January 14, 1909–December 27, 1913	Brigadier General
22	William Crawford Gorgas	January 1914–1918	Major General
23	Merritte Weber Ireland	1918–1931	Major General
24	Robert U. Patterson	1931–1935	Major General
25	Charles R. Reynolds	1935–1939	Major General
26	James C. Magee	1939–1943	Major General
27	Norman T. Kirk	1943–1947	Major General
28	Raymond W. Bliss	1947–1951	Major General
29	George E. Armstrong	1951–1955	Major General
30	Silas B. Hays	1955–June 1959	Major General
31	Leonard D. Heaton	June 1959–1969	Lieutenant General
32	Hal B. Jennings	1969–October 1973	Lieutenant General
33	Richard R. Taylor	October 1973–1977	Lieutenant General
34	Charles C. Pixley	1977–1981	Lieutenant General
35	Bernard T. Mittemeyer	1981–1985	Lieutenant General
36	Quinn H. Becker	1985–1988	Lieutenant General
37	Frank F. Ledford, Jr	1988–1992	Lieutenant General
38	Alcide M. Lanoue	1992–October 1996	Lieutenant General
39	Ronald R. Blanck	October 1996– September 22, 2000	Lieutenant General
40	James B. Peake	September 22, 2000 – July 8, 2004	Lieutenant General
41	Kevin C. Kiley	September 30, 2004–March 12, 2007	Lieutenant General (retired as Major General)
(Acting)	Gale Pollock	March 12, 2007–December 11, 2007[1]	Major General
42	Eric B. Schoomaker	December 11, 2007–	Lieutenant General

• Note: The AMEDD Museum at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas has a display on the Army Surgeons General including images of all of them except Dr. Richard Allison.

Agencies and programs within the OTSG

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Military Vaccine Agency (MILVAX)
• Borden Institute

References and notes

1. ^ MG Pollock, a U.S. Army Nurse Corps officer, served as Acting Surgeon General for nine months after LTG Kiley resigned in the wake of the 2007 Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal. (Army News Release)

See also

Library and Museum of the OTSG, Washington, D.C.; Hand-colored photo, 1887.

• Library of the Surgeon General's Office, now the National Library of Medicine
• Medical Corps (United States Army)
• Surgeon General of the United States Navy
• Surgeon General of the United States Air Force

External links

• OTSG Portal
• The Surgeons General of the U.S. Army and Their Predecessors at the Office of Medical History, OTSG Website

Coordinates: 38°50′36″N 77°07′01″W / 38.843456°N 77.116861°W / 38.843456; -77.116861