Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey signed an agreement establishing the San Antonio Military Health System, an office for overseeing clinical, educational, and business operations for all military medical treatment facilities in the San Antonio region. Maj. Gen. Byron Hepburn, 59th Medical Wing commander at Lackland AFB, Tex., has been named the first director of SAMHS, which is slated to open Sept. 15, according to Lackland officials. Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Caravalho, the Brooke Army Medical Center commander, will be SAMHS’ deputy director. The services will rotate the two positions biennially. Under changes mandated by BRAC 2005, the Air Force and Army are consolidating medical services in the San Antonio area, with the San Antonio Military Medical Center, formerly BAMC, for inpatient services and Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center for outpatient services. (Lackland report by Linda Frost)
Happy Birthday US Air Force: 78 Today
Sept. 18, 2025
Seventy-eight years ago today, on Sept. 18, 1947, Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson swore in Stuart Symington as the first ever Secretary of the Air Force, and the Air Force officially became the first new military service since the Revolutionary War.
