Noncombatant 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.
- United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (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 U.S. Navy uniforms, except that the commissioning devices, buttons, and insignia reflect their specific service. Uniformed 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, PHS Officers are covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act and the Service Members Civil Relief Act (formerly the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act). Furthermore, all seven Uniformed Services are subject to the provisions of 10 USC 1408, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA).
Both noncombatant uniformed services (PHS & NOAA) consist of commissioned officers only and have no warrant ranks or enlisted ranks. 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; it adopted a military model of organization in 1871.
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