2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 30B - United States Armed Forces Members Protection Act (§§ 714 — 714j) › § 714-1 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning stated hereinbelow:
(a) Armed Forces Reserve Components.— Shall mean the Army National Guard, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 1001, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7). It also includes such persons in the Individual Ready Reserve when their reactivation is so ordered after having been released as provided in 10 U.S.C. §§ 10144, 1234.
(b) State security emergency.— Shall mean any unforeseen and sudden dangerous situations for state security, declared as such by the Governor, that occur within the state territorial limits.
(c) Domestic national security emergency.— Shall mean any unforeseen and sudden dangerous situations for national security, declared as such by the President of the United States, that occur within the territorial limits of the United States.
(d) International national security emergency.— Shall mean any unforeseen and sudden dangerous situations for national security, declared as such by the President of the United States, that occur outside of the United States borders.
(e) Competitive exam.— Shall mean the exam or exams that an employer gives to certain persons who aspire to a specific employment position within an organization to determine the capability of each of the applicants to perform the functions of said position including, but without being limited to the administration of written, verbal, theoretic, and practical exams, psychological or qualification evaluations, among others.
(f) Active Forces.— Shall mean the regular full-time component of the United States Uniformed Services.
(g) Armed Forces.— Shall mean the five (5) armed components of the United States Uniformed Services: the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard together with their Reserve components as described in subsection (a) of this Section, including the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard when activated by the President of the United States, as provided in 10 U.S.C. § 101, 32 U.S.C. § 101. The members of the other two unarmed uniform services, to wit, commissioned officers and warrant officers of the Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHS) are included in this definition upon their mobilization, activation, and integration into the Armed Forces by the President of the United States. For the purposes of this chapter, the civilian employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are included, as well as activated employees of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) as support to the uniformed services.
(h) State Guard.— Means the voluntary military body organized at state level by different U. S. jurisdictions, among which is Puerto Rico, to serve as the authorized military. It provides security support and renders health services to the National Guard in activations directed by the Governor, or substitutes the National Guard, in whole or in part, if it were to be activated by the President of the United States. It provides the Governor with a trained force always available to address domestic security emergencies and to perform disaster management duties in the face of situations originating solely within state territorial limits.
(i) Disaster management.— Shall mean those security, rescue, and support works conducted in a region declared as disaster zone by the President of the United States or in a foreign territory.
(j) Service member.— Shall mean any member in functions of those components and corps included in subsections (a), (f), (g), and (h) of this section.
(k) Humanitarian missions.— Shall mean those missions abroad to aid populations with health and infrastructure problems that threaten the existence of human life in said areas.
(l) Peacekeeping and stabilization missions.— Shall mean those missions abroad to enforce compliance with international commitments and agreements for the cease of hostilities, as well as to separate and harmonize conflicting factions to keep order and enable the rebirth and development of a country after the conclusion of an insurrection or civil war.
(m) Service.— Is that rendered when managing a disaster, international or domestic national security emergency, humanitarian missions, peacekeeping and stabilization missions or as part of a war effort in one or more theaters of operations.
(n) Uniformed Services.— Shall mean the seven uniformed services of the United States: the Army; the Navy; the Air Force; the Marine Corps; the Coast Guard; the Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps as provided in 10 U.S.C. § 101(5)(A)(B)(C).
(o) Theater of operations.— Shall mean a region scenario of active military operations where, after the beginning of hostilities, combat support is provided, and combat operations and support works are performed outside of the combat zone in areas designated as such by the President of the United States; it includes both combat zones and communications zones (noncombat).
(p) Disaster zone.— Shall mean a region declared as such by the President of the United States where security, rescue, and rescue support, and facility construction works are conducted.
History —Aug. 28, 2003, No. 218, added as § 2 on Mar. 18, 2010, No. 26, § 1.