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Title 10, Armed ForcesRelease 119-102

§671 Members Not to Be Assigned Outside United States Before Completing Training

Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART II — PERSONNEL › CHAPTER 39 — ACTIVE DUTY › § 671

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Members cannot be sent to active duty on land outside the United States or its territories until they finish their service’s basic training. If the nation is at war or a national emergency is declared by Congress or the President, basic training must last at least 12 weeks, except for a specific health-care exception. The military secretaries may set shorter training for members who are professionally credentialed in medical jobs and serve in health-care specialties, using rules those secretaries write. The Secretary of Defense’s rules cover all military departments, and the Secretary of Homeland Security writes rules for the Coast Guard when it is not part of the Navy. Such shorter periods may be set even if they conflict with section 4(a) of the Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. 3803(a)).

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §671

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)A member of the armed forces may not be assigned to active duty on land outside the United States and its territories and possessions until the member has completed the basic training requirements of the armed force of which he is a member.
(b)In time of war or a national emergency declared by Congress or the President, the period of required basic training (or its equivalent) may not (except as provided in subsection (c)) be less than 12 weeks.
(c)(1)A period of basic training (or equivalent training) shorter than 12 weeks may be established by the Secretary concerned for members of the armed forces who have been credentialed in a medical profession or occupation and are serving in a health-care occupational specialty, as determined under regulations prescribed under paragraph (2). Any such period shall be established under regulations prescribed under paragraph (2) and may be established notwithstanding section 4(a) of the Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. 3803(a)).
(2)The Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, shall prescribe regulations for the purposes of paragraph (1). The regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense shall apply uniformly to the military departments.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 67150 App.:454(a) (words between semicolon and proviso of 6th par.).
June 24, 1948, ch. 625, § 4(a) (words between semicolon and proviso of 6th par.); restated
June 19, 1951, ch. 144, § 1(d) (words between semicolon and proviso of 6th par.), 65 Stat. 78. The words “four months of basic training or its equivalent” are substituted for the words “the equivalent of at least four months of basic training”. The words “who is enlisted, inducted, appointed, or ordered to active duty after the date of enactment of the 1951

Amendments

to the Universal Military Training and Service Act [June 19, 1951]” and “at any installation located” are omitted as surplusage.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2016—Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 114–328 substituted “(50 U.S.C. 3803(a))” for “(50 U.S.C. App. 454(a))”. 2002—Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 107–296 substituted “of Homeland Security” for “of Transportation”. 1993—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–160, § 511(1), inserted “(except as provided in subsection (c))” after “may not”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–160, § 511(2), added subsec. (c). 1986—Pub. L. 99–661 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: “No member of an armed force may be assigned to active duty on land outside the United States and its Territories and possessions, until he has had twelve weeks of basic training or its equivalent.” 1975—Pub. L. 94–106 reduced minimum period of basic training from four months to twelve weeks.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2002 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 107–296 effective on the date of transfer of the Coast Guard to the Department of Homeland Security, see section 1704(g) of Pub. L. 107–296, set out as a note under section 101 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 671

Title 10, Armed Forces

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102