The Public Health Service Foreign Duty Award is a decoration of the United States Public Health Service presented to members of the

United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant s ...

Commissioned Corps. It recognizes service outside the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and its

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

Criteria

The PHS Foreign Duty Award is awarded to officers who serve on permanent or temporary assignment to a foreign duty station, excluding training assignments.Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service: Commissioned Officers’ Awards Program Types of Recognition & Awards Criteria Accessed 9 November 2022
/ref> For purposes of the award, a "foreign duty station" is defined as a duty station that lies outside the

and its

and specifically excludes duty stations in any

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

, the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

, or any area formerly encompassed by the

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994. The Imperial Japanese South Seas Mandate had been seized by the U.S. during the Pacifi ...

, including the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...

, the

Republic of the Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 ...

, the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...

, and the

Republic of Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, w ...

. An officer qualifies for the award by meeting either of the following criteria: * Completion of 30 or more consecutive days or 90 non-consecutive days on a foreign duty station ashore. * Completion of 30 or more consecutive days on an assignment to a ship which operates in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

and calls at foreign ports during the assignment period. There are various restrictions on how days of service on a foreign duty station can be calculated to qualify an officer for multiple awards of the Foreign Duty Award: * Duty for 30 or more consecutive days qualifies an officer for one award, but any consecutive days beyond 30 during the same assignment do not count toward a second award. An officer must return to the United States for at least 30 days before beginning a new foreign duty assignment of 30 or more consecutive days that would qualify him or her for a second award. * When calculating the number of days spent on a foreign duty station, duty for 30 or more consecutive days may not be combined with other, non-consecutive days of service to calculate 90 days of service. The 30 or more consecutive days would qualify an officer for one award of the Foreign Duty Award, but qualification for a second award based on 90 non-consecutive days would have to be based on a set of 90 non-consecutive days that does not include any of the 30 (or more) consecutive days. * Qualification for an award based on an assignment to a ship must be based on 30 or more consecutive days. Ninety days of non-consecutive shipboard service do not qualify an officer for the award.

References

{{Reflist United States Department of Health and Human Services Foreign Duty Award United States service medals

Criteria

See also

References