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- Travel, PCS and Transportation
- Important Regulation Changes
- Travel & Transportation Entitlements Summary
- Permanent Change of Station (PCS)
- Temporary Duty (TDY)
- Junior COSTEP Travel Information
- Official Travel Forms
- Household Goods Officers
- Transportation
- Government Travel Charge Card
- Table of Frequently Used Acronyms
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
- Links
- Travel and Transportation Allowances FAQ
- About Officer Support
- Awards-Officer Awards Program
- Nominations Procedures and Forms
- Eligibility to Receive Awards
- Approval Levels
- Types of Recognition & Awards Criteria
- Non-PHS Awards
- Write-Up (Narrative) Guidance & Tips
- List of OPDIV Awards Coordinators (PDF, 67kb)
- List of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- FAQs
- COER
- DEERS Information (PDF, 139kb)
- Important Information Regarding DEERS and ID Cards During COVID-19 (PDF, 57kb)
- eCORPS Information
- Education Benefits Overview
- FAQs
- Forms
- Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)
- eOPF FAQs
- eOPF Status
- FAQs Practice Hours and Special Pay Changes
- Licensure
- Officer Leave and Absence Request FAQ
- Promotions
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
- About Policy
- Commissioned Corps Issuance System
- Equal Opportunity
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Political Restrictions
- Promotion Ceremony Protocol (PDF, 126kb)
- SGHG Drill and Ceremonies Manual (PDF, 3.39mb)
- Uniform Specifications
- PHS Hard Shoulder Boards and Sleeve Insignia (Male and Female) (PDF, 828kb)
- PHS Soft Shoulder Marks (Unisex) (PDF, 324kb)
- Medical Requirements for Promotion
- RedDOG Force Readiness Information
- Link to list of Chief Professional Officers (CPO) (PDF, 348kb)
- Link to list of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- Link to list of Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairs (PDF, 19kb)
- Promotion Board Recommendations
- Not promoted? Now What?
- FAQs
- Promotion, Readiness and Compliance FAQs
- Permanent Promotion Eligibility Chart
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- Visit CDC.gov for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Public Health Updates
As Public Health Service Officers and America’s Health Responders, we stand ready to preserve public health and national security during national or global health emergencies. Our mission is to be out the door as soon as requested, as this is an “all hands on deck” situation. All Corps officers were placed on involuntary deploy or "alert" status effective Wednesday, March 25, 2020, irrespective of the 'on-call month' status. Under Commissioned Corps Directive 121.02, "Deployment and Readiness," as directed by Assistant Secretary for Health, Commissioned Corps Headquarters will deploy Commissioned Corps officers assigned to HHS OpDivs/StaffDivs, either voluntarily or involuntarily and without supervisory approval, who are not considered mission critical, for deployments, under the current National Emergency. Mission critical requests sent to CCHQ are not final until the request is approved by the CCHQ Director as per the POM 821.76 ”Deployment Procedures”. An officer with a non-HHS organization may be deployed in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement/Understanding between the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the non-HHS organization.
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Frequently Asked Questions
PHS Flags and Official Corps Seal
The flags and official seal help enhance the prestige of the Corps, provide a symbol of identity, and are the physical manifestation of the trust Americans have in the Corps and officers’ own belief in our Corps’ values.
Flags for our Corps’ leaders establish a symbolic weight to these positions that goes beyond the individuals who temporarily occupy them. They symbolize the leadership roles of the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (PDASH), Surgeon General (SG), Deputy Surgeon General (DSG), and Assistant Surgeon Generals (ASGs).
Leaders at different levels fulfill different roles and accomplish different projects. It would not be right to standardize their individual accomplishments down to a generic one-size-fits-all flag.
Each official pays for his or her own flag in the same way that officers pay for their own uniforms and decorations of rank. In some cases, an agency or office may purchase flags that remain the property of the agency or office.
Flag rank officer may either be provided a flag by the agency the officer works for or may be required to purchase one. In the latter case, the flag is the property of the officer and can be taken with him/her when he/she leave the agency. An officer should inquire with his/her respective agency regarding the exact protocol and/or procedure as it relates to flag rank flags.
Not when they change jobs, unless they purchased it with their own funds. The flag honors the position, not the person. When the person no longer holds a specific office, the honor of the flag goes to his/her successor. However, when an ASH, PDASH, SG, DSG, or ASG retires, the government may present the appropriate flag to the officer upon the occasion of retirement.
Flag rank officers can fly their flag in their office and, in conjunction with the U.S. Flag and the PHS Flag on occasions of ceremony, in auditoriums or conference rooms, or on similar occasions, provided that, on any of these occasions, (1) the officer is present, and (2) he/she is the senior flag officer present. In addition, An officer occupying a position of Division Director or above, and an officer in charge of field stations or activities, may display appropriate Indoor Flags (e.g., U.S. Flag and the PHS Flag) in his/her office, in conference rooms, auditoriums, buildings and lobbies.
Also, if a post’s Officer-in-Charge is a Corps flag rank officer, the flag pertaining to that rank shall be displayed. When the Officer-in-Charge is of the flag rank and is absent from the post, the flag of the next flag rank officer present shall be displayed. However, if an officer(s) of higher rank(s) visit the post, the post flies the flag of the highest ranked officer present.
The Corps authorizes flag rank officers to display their flags on automobiles on occasions of ceremony, when participating in parades, or when performing official visits to stations and activities under their jurisdiction.
The number of stars on the flags correspond to the officer’s rank. The Assistant Surgeon General’s Flag has two designs. One has one star while the other has two because some ASGs are Rear Admirals Upper-Half (O-8) and some are Rear Admirals Lower-Half (O-7).