Kevin C . Kiley Major General ( Ret . ) Kevin C . Kiley ( born October 18 , 1950 ) was the 41st Surgeon General of the United States Army and commander of the U . S . Army Medical Command , Fort Sam Houston , Texas . He was commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command twice , from 2002 to 2004 , and as acting commander , March 1 – 2 , 2007 . He submitted his request to retire from the U . S . Army on March 11 , 2007 , in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal , and was removed from his nominative billet as a Lieutenant General . Pending retirement , he was assigned to a temporary billet at the General Officer Management Office at the Pentagon in the grade Major General . His retirement in the grade of Major General was subsequently approved . Biography . Education . Kiley was born in Pennsylvania on October 18 , 1950 , and graduated from the University of Scranton with a bachelor ' s degree in biology . He received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine , Washington D . C . He served a surgical internship and then an obstetrics and gynecology residency at William Beaumont Army Medical Center , El Paso , Texas . He is also a graduate of the U . S . Army War College , Carlisle Barracks , Pennsylvania . He is a board - certified OB / GYN and a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . Work . His first tour was with the 121st Evacuation Hospital in Seoul , South Korea , where he was the chief of OB / GYN services . He returned to the residency training program at William Beaumont Army Medical Center and served as chief of the Family Planning and Counseling Service . He then served as assistant chief of the department of OB / GYN . He was assigned as the Division Surgeon of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum , New York . He then assumed command of the newly activated 10th Medical Battalion , 10th Mountain Division , serving concurrently in both assignments . He returned to William Beaumont Army Medical Center , where he first served as the assistant chief , then chair of the department of OB / GYN . In November 1990 , he assumed command of the 15th Evacuation Hospital at Fort Polk , Louisiana , and in January 1991 , he deployed the hospital to Saudi Arabia in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm . Upon his return , he was assigned as the Deputy Commander for Clinical Services at Womack Army Medical Center , Fort Bragg , North Carolina . He assumed command of the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and what is now the U . S . Army Europe Regional Medical Command in Landstuhl , Germany , serving concurrently as the Command Surgeon , U . S . Army Europe and 7th Army . Kiley then assumed the duties of Assistant Surgeon General for Force Projection ; Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations , Health Policy and Services , U . S . Army Medical Command ; and Chief , Medical Corps . His next tour was as Commander of the U . S . Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston , where he continued as Chief of the Medical Corps . Kiley served as commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and North Atlantic Regional Medical Command twice , from 2002 to June 2004 , when Maj . Gen . Kenneth L . Farmer Jr . took command ; and for a single day as acting commander , March 1 – 2 , 2007 ( " See " Walter Reed Army Medical Center Controversy , " below " ) . In a public statement following his retirement submission on March 11 , 2007 , Kiley said : " I submitted my retirement because I think it is in the best interest of the Army . I want to allow Acting Secretary Geren , General Schoomaker , and the leaders of the Army Medical Command to focus completely on the way ahead and the Army Action Plan to improve all aspects of Soldier care . We are an Army Medical Department at war , supporting an Army at war - it shouldn ' t be and it isn ' t about one doctor . " Maj . Gen . Gale S . Pollock assumed the post of Acting Army Surgeon General . Since his approved military retirement , Doctor Kiley has remained a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology , and secured a position with the Albany Medical Center in New York where he continues to see patients . Awards . Among his awards and decorations are the Distinguished Service Medal , Defense Superior Service Medal , Legion of Merit ( three oak leaf cluster s ) , Bronze Star , Defense Meritorious Service Medal , Meritorious Service Medal ( two oak leaf clusters ) , Army Commendation Medal , the " A " professional designator , the Order of Military Medical Merit and the Expert Field Medical Badge . Walter Reed Scandal . In February 2007 , " The Washington Post " and " Army Times " ran a series of articles about the shoddy conditions maintained at Walter Reed Army Medical Center . Then - Army Sec . Francis J . Harvey had appointed Kiley to return to Walter Reed as acting commander , replacing his original successor at the post , Maj . Gen . George W . Weightman , who had been fired by Harvey that day . On the same day , the " Post " reported that Kiley had been aware of the issues at Walter Reed from his command in 2003 . Further reports surfaced that during a visit in 2004 to Walter Reed by Congressman Bill Young and his wife Beverly Young , a soldier was witnessed sleeping in his own urine . Beverly Young , after being ignored by a nurse over the issue , went to Kiley ' s office to complain . She was quoted on the incident stating : Kiley called the " Post " ' s reporting " a one - sided representation " and " yellow journalism at its worst . " In his testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March 2007 , Kiley blamed junior officers for the conditions at Walter Reed .