The Medical Corps of the United States Navy is a staff corps consisting of military physicians in a variety of specialties. It is the senior corps among all staff corps, second in precedence only to line officers. The corps of commissioned officers was founded on March 3, 1871.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is any of a series of United States federal laws specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense. The first NDAA was passed in 1961. The U.S. Congress oversees the defense budget primarily through two yearly bills: the National Defense Authorization Act and defense appropriations bills. The authorization bill is the jurisdiction of the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee and determines the agencies responsible for defense, establishes recommended funding levels, and sets the policies under which money will be spent. The appropriations bill provides funds.
In the United States Navy, commissioned officers are either line officers or staff corps officers. Staff corps officers are specialists in career fields that are professions unto themselves, such as physicians, lawyers, civil engineers, chaplains, and supply specialists. For example, a physician can advance to become the commanding officer (CO) of a hospital, the medical hospital on a hospital ship or large warship, or a medical school; or the Chief of the Medical Corps or of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. A supply officer can become the CO of a supply depot or a school, or the head of the Naval Supply Systems Command, etc.
The United States Department of Defense is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the U.S. government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces. As of November 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense is the second largest employer in the world after India, with over 1.4 million active-duty service personnel, including soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardians. The Department of Defense also maintains over 778,000 National Guard and reservists, and over 747,000 civilians, bringing the total to over 2.91 million employees. Headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the Department of Defense's stated mission is "to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security".
The judge advocate general of the Navy (JAG) is the highest-ranking uniformed lawyer in the United States Department of the Navy. The judge advocate general is the principal advisor to the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations on legal matters pertaining to the Navy. The judge advocate general also performs other duties prescribed to him under 10 U.S.C. § 8088 and those prescribed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) is an agency of the United States Department of the Navy that manages health care activities for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. BUMED operates hospitals and other healthcare facilities as well as laboratories for biomedical research, and trains and manages the Navy's many staff corps related to medicine. Its headquarters is located at the Defense Health Headquarters in Fairfax County, Virginia. BUMED has 41,930 medical personnel and more than a million eligible beneficiaries.
Adam Mayfield Robinson Jr. is a United States Navy vice admiral who served as the 36th Surgeon General of the United States Navy (2007–2011).
Raquel Cruz Bono is a retired vice admiral in the United States Navy, and the former director of the Defense Health Agency. She is Chief Health Officer for Viking Cruises and a Senior Fellow for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 is a United States federal law which specifies the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) for Fiscal Year 2014. The law authorizes the DOD to spend $607 billion in Fiscal Year 2014.
United States Space Force rank insignia are used to indicate the rank and status of the United States Space Force officers and enlisted personnel. Equivalency between the military services is indicated by associated NATO code and pay grade.
Clinton Forrest Faison III is a retired vice admiral (VADM) in the United States Navy. He served as an officer in the Medical Corps and as the 38th Surgeon General of the United States Navy, and is currently the interim Provost of Northeast Ohio Medical University.
Bruce Lindsley Gillingham is a retired United States Navy rear admiral and orthopedic surgeon who last served as the 39th surgeon general of the United States Navy from 2019 to 2023. As surgeon general, Gillingham was dual-hatted as the 43rd chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and was responsible to the United States Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations and director of the Defense Health Agency for all health and medical matters pertaining to the Navy and Marine Corps.
Michael L. Cowan was an American navy admiral who served as the 34th Surgeon General of the United States Navy.
The James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 is a United States federal law which specifies the budget, expenditures and policies of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal year 2023. Analogous NDAAs have been passed annually for over 60 years.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 is a United States federal law which specifies the budget, expenditures, and policies of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal year 2024.
Although four-star officers appeared in organizations like the Continental Army before the United States of America was founded in 1776, the legislative history of four-star officers in the United States uniformed services began in 1799, when Congress authorized the grade of General of the Armies of the United States for former president George Washington, who was commanding the forces being raised for the Quasi-War with France as a lieutenant general but died without being promoted.
Modern four-star officer appointments are governed by the unified officer promotion framework established by the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) of 1980, as amended.
