The Air Force, the only service opposed to creation of a Unified Medical Command, saw its arguments get strafed, rocketed and bombed during a Sept. 6 meeting of the Defense Business Board, a group of outside management experts that advises Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The board unanimously recommended that Rumsfeld immediately appoint a task force to oversee establishment of a Unified Medical Command by Jan. 1, 2007, a year sooner than Defense officials had planned.
The command would take charge of all direct-care health services of the Army, Navy and Air Force. It would streamline medical logistics, purchasing, information technology, research and development, facility operations, and the education, training and assignment of medical personnel. |