The highly selective nature of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps means that candidates typically enter the program with a hefty set of credentials. But neither their professional expertise nor their fervent desire to promote the health and safety of the public can prepare them for the duties and responsibilities of an uniformed officer.
That’s why the first step for all USPHS Commissioned Corps hopefuls is the Officer Basic Course (OBC), which provides them with the fundamental principles of leadership and command they’ll need as they move into positions at one of nearly two dozen Federal agencies. During the two-week course, they become intimately acquainted with the protocols, courtesies, and traditions associated with uniformed service, and receive training in the essentials of leadership, duty readiness, career development, and efficient utilization of resources.
Besides learning in a traditional classroom setting, these future officers take part in team-building exercises that help them put their new knowledge into practice in situations reflecting real-world challenges they are likely to encounter while serving at the Federal agency to which they’ve been assigned. Physical-fitness training is also a daily component of the course.
Prior to 2009, one of the modules of the OBC was the Independent Officer Training Course (IOTC), which had to be completed in order to earn the Commissioned Corps Training Ribbon signifying they were prepared for their first detail. In a move to more effectively utilize training time, the Division of Commissioned Corps Training and Career Development eliminated the IOTC and established a temporary Transitional Officer Basic Course that absorbed the key parts of its curriculum. The program is now simply called the Office Basic Course, and its completion is all that is required to earn the Commissioned Corps Training Ribbon.