Uniformed services of the United States

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The United States has seven uniformed services as defined by Title 10 of the United States Code:

Five of these comprise the armed forces, four of which are within the Department of Defense. The Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement duties, and is now under control of the Department of Homeland Security; however, Title 14 of the U.S. Code states that the Coast Guard is part of the military at all times. It is therefore the only branch of the military not under the control of the Department of Defense, at least in peacetime; during war, control of the Coast Guard passes to the Navy if Congress declares war or at the request of the President.^[1] The Commandant of the Coast Guard reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. The commissioned corps of the US Public Health Service and NOAA Commissioned Corps operate under military rules with the exception of the applicability of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which they are subject when militarized by executive order or while detailed to any component of the armed forces.^[2]

1 Armed forces
- 1.1 Military
2 Uniformed Services
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Armed forces

The United States Armed Forces comprise five of the seven uniformed services.

[edit] Military

[edit] Uniformed Services

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps (NOAA Corps) is a uniformed branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is under the Department of Commerce.
Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHSCC) is the uniformed personnel system of the United States Public Health Service, which is under the Department of Health and Human Services.

Commissioned officers of NOAA and PHS wear uniforms that are derived from Navy uniforms, except that the commissioning devices, buttons, and insignia are unique. Uniformed services officers of NOAA and PHS are paid on the same scale as members of the armed services with respective rank and time-in-grade. Additionally, NOAA Corps officers and PHS Officers are covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act and the Service Members Civil Relief Act (former the Soldier and Sailors Civil Relief Act).

Both uniformed service consist only of commissioned officers and have no enlisted ranks, although the Public Health Service will be introducing warrant officers later in 2006. (Public Health Services has historically has had a Warrant Officer Corps. The Warrant Officer Corps is derived from Title 42 of the U.S.C.)

Commissioned officers of the Public Health Service and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can be militarized by the President of the United States. Statutory authorization to militarize the Public Health Service is under Title 42 U.S.C. (Based on rank, commissioned officers of the Public Health Service (USPHS) and NOAA can be classified as Category III, IV, and V under the Geneva Convention). The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (a predecessor to NOAA) originally began commissioning its officers so that if captured while engaged in battlefield surveying, they could not legally be tried as spies. The Public Health Service (PHS) traces its origins to a system of marine hospitals created "for the relief of sick and disabled seamen" by the U.S. Congress in 1798 and they adopted a military model of organization in 1871. ^[3] ^[4]