Uniforms

The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. Every officer is required to own a Service Dress Blue Uniform, Summer Whites, Service Khakis and Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) Woodland Camouflage. Your duty station (job site) may prescribe you to wear various uniforms or uniform accessories. Uniforms are available through several sources:

Start Here:

Bethesda NEX Uniform Center
National Navy Medical Center
Building #2
Room 1402B
8901 Wisconsin Ave.Bethedsa, MD 20889
301-295-1489

Navy NEX (official uniform supplier of the Navy and USPHS)
(800) 368-4088

AAFES (Army sweater and Woodland BDU’s)
(800) 527-2345 phone

PHS Officer Supply and Device Center (insignia, covers, t-shirts, nametags, memorabilia, and plaques)
1770 Physicians Park Drive
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70816
(225) 756–3793 voice

For uniform questions, e-mail the Corps uniform helpdesk at phsccuniform@hhs.gov.

Ranks and Insignia

The Commissioned Corps is an elite all commissioned officer organization. Each officer is assigned rank upon call to active duty. The grades are coded with the letter “O” signifying the word officer, followed by a digit in the range of 1-1O. Grades have formal designations within the Commissioned Corps, however, when referring to commissioned officers, they traditionally are referred to by the equivalent U.S. Navy ranks. The exception to this is that the proper titles and abbreviations of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Surgeon General, and Deputy Surgeon General are always those of the U.S. Public Health Service. Officers holding grades above O-6 are referred to as flag grade officers. View how the the ranks and grades of the Commissioned Corps [PDF 1.5 MB] compare to the other six uniformed services of the United States.