The Surgeon General

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/09/2020 at 23:19 • Filed to: None

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With all this coronavirus stuff going on, the US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, has been on TV an awful lot. He wears what looks like a US Navy uniform, so I thought I’d read about his service. Turns out he’s not in the Navy at all, nor has he ever served in the military. And that’s normal.

The Surgeon General is part of the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, which is one of eight uniformed services of the United States: U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Coast Guard, USPHS Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. According to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! :

Along with the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is one of two uniformed services that consist only of commissioned officers and has no enlisted or warrant officer ranks, although warrant officers have been authorized for use within the service. Officers of the commissioned corps are classified as noncombatants, unless directed to serve as part of the military by the President or detailed to a service branch of the military. Members of the commissioned corps wear the same uniforms as the United States Navy, or the United States Coast Guard (when assigned to the Coast Guard), with special PHS Commissioned Corps insignia, and hold naval ranks equivalent to officers of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. Commissioned corps officers typically receive their commissions through the commissioned corps’s direct commissioning program.

. . . .

The Surgeon General reports directly to the Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Health; the Assistant Secretary of Health may be appointed to the rank of admiral if he or she is also a serving uniformed officer of the commissioned corps.

Well, there you go. Interesting.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > ttyymmnn 04/09/2020 at 23:23

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That is true, too bad he has to dress up like a squid!

-Marine

ttyymmnn > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 04/09/2020 at 23:27

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415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > ttyymmnn 04/09/2020 at 23:29

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The next Surgeon General. 

facw > ttyymmnn 04/09/2020 at 23:38

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Yep it’s weird little thing, especially the ranks, but I guess it works for them.

ranwhenparked > ttyymmnn 04/09/2020 at 23:45

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Also, the Foreign Service and its predecessors once was an additional uniformed service as well, until the practice was abolished completely in the 1930s (having been kind off and on with uniforms for several decades previously).

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 00:10

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Some of these PHS guys were training and staying in the barracks near us at Camp Bullis while we were there for AT one year. That unit was mostly doctors and dentists who did the corps thing on a basis not similar to armed reserve military service. As a Marine, it was always weirds to see overweight, middle-aged guys going around wearing uniforms.

LastFirstMI is my name > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 02:42

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Then why isn’t he the Surgeon Admiral?

Kiltedpadre > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 06:24

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As a random, unrelated factoid I learned that my wife’s uncle was a Dr that worked as an assistant to Surgeon General C Everett Coop. For those old enough to remember the name, he’s the one that looked like he might have been a cousin of Colonel Sanders.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 08:47

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What's his position on caviar?

My bird IS the word > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 08:51

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Navy dress uniforms need an update imo

ttyymmnn > LastFirstMI is my name 04/10/2020 at 09:17

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Because the “general” part is not a rank, it’s an adjective.

ttyymmnn > Kiltedpadre 04/10/2020 at 09:19

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He was the first SG that I remember. I was 16 when he started, but that’s also when I started paying attention.

09GT - now boosted > ttyymmnn 04/10/2020 at 12:16

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My father was in the Army and then the USPHS, achieving the rank of Captain (Navy equivalent, not Army). He retired with a sweet military pension and DOD benefits.  I have very fond memories of going to the USAF museum in Dayton almost monthly while my mom shopped at the base exchange.

ttyymmnn > 09GT - now boosted 04/10/2020 at 12:25

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That’s cool.  The USAF Museum is like Valhalla for me.