October 3, 2005

TO: All Commissioned Officers

FROM: United States Surgeon General

SUBJECT: Readiness of the Corps

As you know, over two and a half years ago the Commissioned Corps was directed by the Office of Management and Budget to attain a very high level of readiness. At the time of that message in January 2003, only 23% of the Corps met readiness requirements. The progressive OMB goals were that 30% of the Corps should meet readiness requirements by October 1, 2003. We reached that goal. Next we were to hit 50% by October 1, 2004. We did that as well. And finally, we were required to hit 70% by October 1, 2005.

That’s a pretty remarkable goal – to triple the number of officers who met Basic readiness – and to do it while steadily increasing the requirements to meet that standard.

Literally thousands of you accepted that challenge. And literally hundreds of you acted as encouragement to your peers in moving them toward this goal. The Chief Professional Officers, the Professional Advisory Committees, and the Agencies all took part. And with that kind of effort, how could we not succeed!

It is my pleasure to inform you that 71.5% of the Commissioned Corps meet Basic readiness today, and stand ready to deploy to address the urgent public health needs of the American people. See the attachment for a breakdown as to category and agency.

Thank you for your dedication. I am proud to stand with you.

Sincerely,

Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S.

VADM, USPHS

United States Surgeon General