Originally Posted by Jakebeth
I was under the impression that despite his uniform, the SG was technically a civilian. Anyone know if that's right or not? (I meet CE Koop once, and he said something about his status in this way, but I don't recall exactly what it was...)
My (extremely limited) understanding is that the the Uniformed Services include the Armed Services (Army, Navy, etc.) and the Public Health Service. The Surgeon General is the head of the Public Health Service, but is not military per se. I do know that the public health corps officers are commissioned and can be ordered to reposition or deploy, and can be retained by a stop-loss order (can't quit their jobs) so I guess they're not military but they aren't totally civillian either.