jrs7911

[jamesonontherocks]

Tell me more about the US Public Health Corp. What do you do?
I'm a PA and an opportunity came up last week that if I were to take, I would have to join the Corp. I had never heard of it and started doing a bit of research into it, but like most government things, the website gave a lot of information but nothing that answered questions. Please, give me details!

[jrs7911]

I am a biomedical engineer working at the Food and Drug Administration.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. I always tell anyone who asks me for my opnion to ask a few others, because I really love and don't really see the downside of joining.

As a PHS Officer, you serve two chains of command. For example, I have obligations to the Public Health Service, which include being deployable, networking and mentoring other officers, and wearing the uniform, and to the Food and Drug Administration, which includes supporting their mission, completing my required work and continuing education in my area of expertise.

Here is the stuff most people are interested in:
--You are on call for deployments every 5 months. Deployments are typically two weeks and are generally in response to natural or man-made disasters that result in some sort of public health impact. There is no gaurantee that you will be deployed. I have been AD for 6.5 years and have been deployed twice -- I volunteered for our annual 4th of July deployment in Washington, DC (PHS mans health stations around the Mall) which was a one day assignment, and I was called for a two week assignment in response to the Haiti earthquake. I am one of those officers who wants to be deployed.
--The benefits are the same as those who work for the military, as we are an uniformed service. The pay is the same as the Officer pay scale for the other services as well. We do not have an enlisted corps.
--We wear the Navy uniform with different insignia/devices to indicate that we are PHS. You may have seen pics of the Surgeon General in her uniform, she is PHS.
--Assignments are not done by PHS. I have known some officers to stay in the same position of years, as their are no limits on the length of time you stay in the position (unless you want to get promoted). You have to apply for a new position to PCS.
--We do have fitness standards, but they are pretty easy to pass. I can provide you the link for our Annual Physical Fitness Test. The APFT isn't required, you can also do the Presidential Challenge, which six weeks working out 5 times per week for at least 30 minutes per day. The activities are logged on the website and you would be meet requirements to be deployable.


Please feel free to ask any questions you have. I will answer anything (really even if it is unrelated to PHS!).