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Wikipedia / Air Force Medical Command

The Air Force Medical Command is a Direct Reporting Unit of the United States Air Force, colocated at Falls Church, Virginia, with the Defense Health Agency. It is commanded by the surgeon general of the United States Air Force and provides command and direction for Air Force medical units.

The organization was first organized as the Air Force Medical Operations Agency in July 1992, as a companion to the Air Force Medical Support Agency. This dual management continued until June 2019, when the two agencies were combined as the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency. Starting in 2023, the Air Force began combining elements of its surgeon general's staff with the agency with this agency to take full control of Air Force medical units, achieving initial operational capability in March 2025.

Components

As of January 2026, the Air Force is in the process of moving all medical units into the command. Currently, the structure is as follows:

Medical Readiness Command-Alpha

59th Medical Wing, at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

359th Medical Wing, at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

Medical Readiness Command-Bravo

79th Medical Wing at Falls Church, Virginia

Mission

The Air Force Medical Command mission is to generate medically ready forces, provide installation support, and improve its partnership with the Defense Health Agency to optimize health care delivery.

History

In 1992, the Air Force Medical Operations Agency was formed from the flight medicine department of the Air Force Office of Medical Support, which became the Air Force Medical Support Agency. Though it originally cared for operational matters under the direction of the Surgeon General of the United States Air Force, the agency moved to a more proactive approach, managing population health rather than episodic care to improve the health and lives of Air Force members and their families. The agency expanded to optimizing medical resources, radiation protection, aerospace medicine, and clinical service.

On 28 June 2019 the split responsibility for medical services ended, as the Air Force Medical Support Agency's functions were consolidated into the agency, which was redesignated the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency (AFMRA). The fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act required the Air Force to establish a readiness focused medical organization. Activating AFMRA streamlined Air Force medical organization from a dual focus on health benefit delivery and readiness performed by two agencies, to one focused on readiness. The organization oversaw medical readiness programs, expeditionary medical capabilities and mission support requirements. It also assisted the Air Force surgeon general in developing policy to support Air Force major commands and base-level unit missions.

The Air Force determined to posture the Air Force Medical Service to better serve installation commanders and the medical readiness of airmen and guardians. The initial step was to reform the Air Force Medical Readiness Agency to transform elements of the office Air Force Surgeon General as Air Force Medical (Agency), which achieved initial operational capability in October 2023. This would lead to the formation of Air Force Medical Command as a Direct Reporting Unit aligned with the Secretary of the Air Force’s readiness priorities. “This alignment will improve the Air Force’s ability to generate medically ready forces, provide installation support, and improve our partnership with the Defense Health Agency to optimize health care delivery,” according to Lt Gen Robert Miller, the Air Force surgeon general. The implementation will take place in phases. The Air Force surgeon general serves as the command's commander.

In August 2024, the unit was redesignated Air Force Medical Command and two subcommands were organized the following month. With the activation of six of the planned seven medical wings in March 2025, the command reached initial operational capability. Personnel began transferring in to the new command in a process that will extend over two years as old medical units assigned to Major Air Commands are inactivated and replaced by new units assigned to AF Medical Command's new wings.

Lineage

  • Established as the Air Force Medical Operations Agency and activated on 1 July 1992

  • Redesignated Air Force Medical Readiness Agency on 28 June 2019

  • Redesignated Air Force Medical on 1 October 2023

  • Redesignated Air Force Medical Command on 15 August 2024

Assignments

  • United States Air Force, 1 July 1992 – present

Status

  • Field Operating Agency, 1 July 1992

  • Direct Reporting Unit, 15 August 2024 – present

Stations

Components

  • Medical Readiness Command-Alpha, 15 September 2024 – present

  • Medical Readiness Command-Bravo, 15 September 2024 – present

Awards

References

Notes

  1. Explanatory notes

    Citations

Bibliography