Requests for assistance may be in response to any of the following:

Corps deployment is defined as a directed, temporary assignment of officers from their assigned duties within HHS OPDIVs or HHS STAFFDIVs and non-HHS organizations, as applicable, authorized by the President or Secretary in response during a time of war or in response to:

1. A national emergency as declared by the President;
2. A public health emergency as declared by the President or HHS Secretary;
3. An urgent public health need:
   1. A critical staffing shortage of health care and public health personnel within a facility or program administered by an OPDIV or STAFFDIV of non-HHS organization that threatens the health and safety of the affected population;
   2. A crisis response is a situation presenting a significant threat to the public health of a State, Tribe, or local community, and available local resources are inadequate to respond; or
4. A National Special Security Event declared by the Secretary of Homeland Security, is of national significance, requires special security, and is coordinated at the national response level.

Once the mission requirements are determined, RedDOG will match the requirement against the qualifications of response teams and members on that month’s rotational ready roster.

All officers on extended active duty (active duty period in excess of 120 days) must meet and maintain readiness standards. These standards include, but are not necessarily limited to:

1. current medical examination;
2. current certification in Basic Life Support for healthcare providers or ARC CPR/AED for the professional rescuer;
3. Successful completion of all required training modules;
4. Annual physical fitness test;
5. current professional license/certification/registration appropriate for the professional discipline;
6. current immunizations;
7. Record of the height/weight standards and body mass index;
8. Having all required uniforms; and
9. Any additional standards necessary to meet the basic level of readiness as defined by the ASH or his/her designee.

Responsibility for obtaining the necessary physicals, training, inoculations, uniforms and meeting any other readiness standards rests with the individual officer.

Responsibility for assuring that documentation reflecting an officer’s readiness level rests with the individual officer.

All officers are REQUIRED to ensure that RedDOG is able to contact them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please ensure your information is updated in the “RedDOG Self Service” application in the Officer Secure Area (OSA) of CCMIS. The RedDOG Self-Service application is the ONLY official resource to update and provide contact information.

Readiness training is based upon the capabilities found to fulfill the mission and anticipated response requirements (e.g., the knowledge, skills, and preparedness of response teams). The purpose of the training is to ensure that the qualifications of the Commissioned Corps response members selected for deployment are appropriate to the task at hand.

Sets of knowledge, skills, and preparatory experiences are required for Corps officers in all deployment roles. These are related to core public health principles, deployment to field conditions, health emergencies and federal response.

For more information about training, please visit the RedDOG Training webpage.

Basic Readiness Checklist

Deployment Preparation Plan Information