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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 Medical Affairs
- Dental
- Active Duty Dental Program
- Previous Active Duty Dental Plan Member Portal
- Family Coverage: TRICARE Dental Program
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- Immunizations
- Periodic Health Update
- PHU FAQs
- Deployment Health Assessments
- Medical Waiver Program
- Smoking Cessation
- Medical Affairs FAQs
- About Personnel & Career Management
- 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)
- 2021 USPHS Awards Process Flowchart (PDF, 702kb)
- FAQs
- May 2022 Officer Awards
- 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
- Transcripts FAQs
- Extramural and Intramural Training FAQs
- Officer Leave and Absence Request FAQ
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
- Veteran Health Administration (VHA) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Practice Hours
- Link to list of Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairs (PDF, 19kb)
- 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
- Force Readiness Information
- Link to list of Chief Professional Officers (CPO) (PDF, 348kb)
- Link to list of Liaisons (PDF, 266kb)
- Promotion Board Recommendations
- Not promoted? Now What?
- FAQs
- Board Composition and Scoresheet FAQs
- Officer Promotion Packet Verification System (OPPVS) Timeline & 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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Readiness and Deployment Branch
Deployment and Readiness Awards
Crisis Response Service Award (CRSA)
The CRSA recognizes an officer’s direct participation in a Corps deployment to a designated domestic response. An officer must meet the force readiness standards to be eligible for the CRSA (See Manual Circular 377, “Force Readiness Standards”, PPM 06-004, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, PPM 07-001, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, and PPM 07-007, “Extension of PPM 07-001”). An officer may receive only one award of the CRSA for participation in the same crisis response. Officer must participate in a domestic Corps deployment, that is:
- A natural or man-made disaster that is determined to be a crisis-response with eligibility for CRSA by the Surgeon General
- Deployment period is not less than 7-days
- Deployment is away from the officer’s regular duty station and
- Deployment participation is performed in designated PHS uniform
Global Response Service Award (GRSA)
The GRSA recognizes an officer’s direct participationin a Corps deployment to a designated non-domestic or international response. An officer must meet the force readiness standards to be eligible for the GRSA (See Manual Circular 377, “Force Readiness Standards”, PPM 06-004, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, PPM 07-001, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, and PPM 07-007, “Extension of PPM 07-001”). Eligibility for the GRSA is retroactive to 1 October 2004. An officer may receive only one award of the GRSA for participation in the same response. Officer must participate in a non-domestic Corps deployment that is:
- A natural or man-made disaster that is determined to be a crisis response with eligibility for the GRSA by the SG
- Away from the officer’s regular duty assignment
- Officer must be deployed for not less than 7 days and
- Officer must be deployed in the designated PHS uniform, unless exempted by the SG.
Response Service Award (RSA)
The RSA recognizes an officer’s direct participation in a Corps deployment to a designated public health need or National Special Security Event. An officer must meet the force readiness standards to be eligible for the RSA (See Manual Circular 377, “Force Readiness Standards”, PPM 06-004, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, PPM 07-001, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, and PPM 07-007, “Extension of PPM 07-001”). An officer may receive only one award of the RSA for participation in the same response.
Officer must participate in a Corps deployment that is classified as one of the following:
- An all-hazards public health emergency as declared by the President or Secretary
- An urgent public health need as determined by the Secretary or the ASH or
- A National Special Security Event (e.g., Winter Olympics)
- Officer must be deployed for not less than 7 days
- Officer must be deployed in the designated PHS uniform, unless exempted by the SG.
To meet this service award criterion the event must:
- Not be designated as a CRSA or GRSA response; and,
- Be designated a Corps deployment with eligibility for the RSA by the Secretary, ASH, or SG;
National Emergency Preparedness Service Award (NEPA)
Decision Memorandum by the Acting ASH dated 20 February 2014, established the Ebola Campaign Medal and Expeditionary Attachment, reinstated the National Emergency Preparedness Service Award and clarified guidelines for the Global Health Campaign Medal.
The NEPA recognizes officers who have served a minimum of two consecutive years as an active member on a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Corps managed response team.
Additional eligibility criteria for the NEPA may be defined by the SG and officer must meet the force readiness standards to be eligible for the RSA (See Manual Circular 377, “Force Readiness Standards”, PPM 06-004, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, PPM 07-001, “Extension of Manual Circular 377”, and PPM 07-007, “Extension of PPM 07-001”)
The award of the NEPA may be retroactive to 19 December 2006. Only one NEPA may be awarded during an officer’s career and subsequent award devices are not authorized. Therefore, officers who were awarded the NEPA under former eligibility criteria are not authorized an award of an additional NEPA for service on a Corps managed Tier 1 or Tier 2 response team.
Last Updated: 6/2/22