Uniformed services of the United States
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The United States has seven uniformed services, five military and two civilian.
Military services
- United States Army
- United States Navy
- United States Marine Corps
- United States Air Force
- United States Coast Guard
Other uniformed services
- NOAA Commissioned Corps - a uniformed branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), formerly the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
- Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
Members of the NOAA Corps and Public Health Service Commissioned Corps wear uniforms closely resembling those of the U.S. Navy. They are paid on the same scale as members of the military and wear similar insignia of rank. Both of these services consist only of commissioned officers, and have no enlisted ranks.
The distinction between a commissioned officer of a non-military uniformed service and a civilian is important under the laws of war. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (a predecessor to NOAA) originally began commissioning its officers so that if captured while engaged in battlefield surveying, they could not legally be tried as spies.
—US Code:Title 5.Part III.Chapter 21. S 2101