2004 indian ocean earthquake and tsunami 2005 – more than 2,000 phs officers deployed to set up field hospitals and render aid and assistance to evacuees and responders in the wakes of hurricane katrina, hurricane rita, and hurricane wilma. 2006 – 2006 kiholo bay earthquake 2007 – medicine contamination in panama 2008 – phs-2 rapid deployment force deployed pre-landfall to louisiana in advance of hurricane gustav. it became the first standing phs team to set up and run a federal medical station. the team and 200 patients rode out the hurricane in alexandria's riverfront center. rdf-1 and rdf-3 deployed pre-landfall in advance of hurricane ike to set up federal medical stations in college station, texas, and baton rouge, louisiana, respectively. 2008 – hurricane ike 2009 – 2009 samoa earthquake and tsunami 2010 – haiti earthquake; deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico. 2011 – 2011 japan tsunami and earthquake 2012 – hurricane sandy. 2014 – 2014 american immigration crisis of unaccompanied minor children. 2014–2015 – ebola outbreak response including ebola virus epidemic in liberia—ebola field hospital for health workers at harbel near monrovia 2016–present – great plains region of the indian health service. 2017–present – hurricane maria, hurricane irma, and hurricane harvey 2019–present – covid-19 pandemic in addition to disaster response, the commissioned corps frequently partners with the united states navy on health diplomacy missions. commissioned corps officers have been part of the navy's pacific partnership (in the pacific basin) and operation continuing promise (in the caribbean and western atlantic) since 2007. such missions are often carried out on one of the navy's commissioned hospital ships (usns mercy (t-ah-19) and usns comfort (t-ah-20)), though other ships, such as the amphibious assault ship uss bataan (lhd-5), have also been used. the command staff of the phs deployed team(s) is deployed for the entire mission duration (often three months), while operational personnel serve one month aboard, meeting and departing the ships at the ports of call during the mission. ready reserve corps the affordable care act (aca), signed by president barack obama on 23 march 2010, established the ready reserve corps of the public health service commissioned corps as the new surge capacity for the u.s. public health service commissioned corps. the ready reserve corps is intended to fulfill the need for additional commissioned personnel on short notice to assist regular corps personnel for both routine public health and emergency response missions during involuntary calls to active duty. the ready reserve corps replaced the former reserve corps, which had active and inactive components. all former reserve corps officers who were serving on extended active duty on 23 march 2010 were converted to regular corps officers. the same legislation also abolished the inactive reserve corps (irc) on 23 march 2010, and consequently the commissions of the existing 10,000 commissioned corps irc officers. the irc had consisted of inactive reservists voluntarily activating to provide over 3,000 active-duty days annually for routine and public health emergencies including during hurricane katrina and other emergency response missions, and in providing surge capacity for numerous shortages in isolated and hardship underserved areas. inactive reservists also played roles in the humanitarian shipboard training missions with other uniformed services. a ready reserve corps working integrated project team was convened in april 2010 to propose policy concepts, a strategic framework, and a budget. it submitted its final report in june 2010. as of late 2010, the directives and policies to implement the ready reserve awaited secretarial decisions. however, due to a technical error, the aca failed to include statutory authority for pay and benefits, preventing the ready reserve corps from being activated. efforts to pass legislation to correct these errors picked up in late 2019. funding was finally approved through the cares act, passed on march 18, 2020, in response to the covid-19 pandemic. the first officers were expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2021. the ready reserve has three main components. the selected ready reserve (selres) consists of officers who are required to train periodically and must be prepared for voluntary or involuntary active duty mobilization within 24 hours to respond to an urgent or emergency public health care need. the individual ready reserve (irr) consists of officers who have had military and/or usphs commissioned corps training; they are not required to participate in training or other usphs commissioned corps activities, but are subject to involuntary recall to active duty under certain circumstances. the retired reserve consists of members who accumulate 20 or more years of qualifying service and have reached age 60. ranks and insignia main article: united states public health service commissioned corps officer rank insignia phscc combination cap devicephscc cap, collar, and sleeve devicephscc lapel pin (for civilian dress)u.s. public health service commissioned corps insignia the commissioned corps adopted naval ranks in order to impose military discipline on the doctors of the service, and their medical titles correspond with their service rank and pay grade. the service uses officer ranks and service titles interchangeably when referring to the grades of its officers. the commissioned corps uses the same commissioned officer rank structure as the united states navy and coast guard: from ensign to admiral (o-1 through o-10). commissioned corps officers are typically appointed via direct commission and must complete a two-week officer basic course (obc) before entering active duty. commissioned corps officers receive the same pay and benefits as other members of the uniformed services. they cannot hold a dual commission with another uniformed service but inter-service transfers are permitted via 10 u.s.c. § 716. the commissioned corps is authorized to use warrant officer ranks w-1 to w-4 but does not currently use these ranks. unlike their united states armed forces counterparts, commissioned corps officers do not require their rank appointments and promotions to be confirmed by the united states senate, and only require approval from the president. officers serving as assistant secretary for health and the surgeon general however, do require senatorial confirmation due to their status as senior federal officials. uniformed services pay gradespecial gradeo-10o-9o-8o-7o-6o-5o-4o-3o-2o-1officer candidate/cadet united states public health service admiral vice admiral rear admiral rear admiral(lower half) captain commander lieutenant commander lieutenant lieutenant(junior grade) ensign abbreviation adm vadm radm rdml capt cdr lcdr lt ltjg ens title assistant secretary for health surgeon general deputy surgeon general orassistant surgeon general assistant surgeon general director senior full senior assistant assistant junior assistant nato codeof-10of-9of-8of-7of-6of-5of-4of-3of-2of-1of(d)student officer rank flags flag officers of the commissioned corps are authorized to use rank flags. when the department of health and human services assistant secretary for health is a commissioned corps admiral, he or she is authorized use of the flag of the assistant secretary for health as a four-star rank flag. the commissioned corps vice admiral serving as surgeon general of the united states uses the flag of the surgeon general as a three-star rank flag, while the commissioned corps rear admiral serving as deputy surgeon general uses the deputy surgeon general's flag as a two-star rank flag. other commissioned corps rear admirals use a two-star assistant surgeon general flag, and commissioned corps officers at the rank of rear admiral (lower half) use a one-star assistant surgeon general flag. flag of the assistant secretary for health(admiral) flag of the surgeon general of the united states(vice admiral) flag of the deputy surgeon general of the united states(rear admiral) flag of a 2-star assistant surgeon general(rear admiral) flag of a 1-star assistant surgeon general(rear admiral (lower half)) officer specialty rates the members of the commissioned corps number over 6,000 officers in 11 professional categories: dentist dietitian engineer environmental health officers health services basic and applied science dental hygiene healthcare administration health information technology medical laboratory science optometry physician assistant podiatry public health psychology social work nurse medical officer pharmacist scientist therapist (including physical, occupational, speech, respiratory) veterinarian the health services officer (hso) category comprises over 50 allied health specialties, including audiology, social workers, physician assistants, optometrists, statisticians, computer scientists, dental hygienists, medical records administrators, medical technologists and others. uniforms service dress bluessummer whitesservice khakisoperational dress uniformu.s. public health service commissioned corps uniforms commissioned corps officers wear uniforms similar to those of the united states navy and the united states coast guard with special public health service insignia. their service dress blues, summer whites, and service khakis are modeled after the navy's, and their operational dress uniform was modeled after the coast guard's. when attached to another uniformed service, a commissioned corps officer is subject to the grooming standards of that service for uniform appearance. because of the close relationship between the commissioned corps and the coast guard, a commissioned corps officer is on assignment with the coast guard is required to wear the same service uniforms as commissioned coast guard officers, although still wearing the insignia of the commissioned corps to identify them. march of the united states public health service like the other u.s. uniformed services, the u.s. public health service has a march and accompanying lyrics. composed by retired u.s. coast guard senior chief musician george king iii in the late 1980s, the lyrics are as follows: the mission of our service is known the world around in research and in treatment no equal can be found in the silent war against disease no truce is ever seen we serve on the land and the sea for humanity the public health service team