The United States Unified Medical Command was a proposed Unified Combatant Command within the United States Department of Defense. The plan was rejected in December 2006 due to heavy resistance from Air Force Surgeon General Lieutenant General James G. Roudebush, who cited mission and cultural differences among the services as justification for keeping medical assets separate. The unified command would have merged the medical assets of the United States Navy, Air Force, and Army and reduced the duplication of effort that currently exists.