2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FIVE - Internal Security (§§ 1 — 3356) › Subtitle 2 - Military Matters (§§ 2001 — 3051s) › PART II - Services Outside Puerto Rico (§§ 3001 — 3017) › Chapter 222 - Professional Combatant Act (§§ 3011 — 3017) › § 3011 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning stated below:
(a) Components of the Armed Forces Reserve.— 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 Cost Guard Reserve (U.S. Code Title 10, Sec. 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 from active duty under U.S. Code Title 10, Sec. 10144.1234.
(b) State security emergency.— Shall mean any unforeseen or sudden dangerous situation for national security that occurs within the state territorial limits, declared as such by the Governor.
(c) Domestic national security emergency.— Shall mean any unforeseen and sudden dangerous situation for national security that occurs within the territorial limits of the United States, declared as such by the President of the United States.
(d) International national security emergency.— Shall mean any unforeseen and sudden dangerous situation for national security that occurs outside of the territorial limits of the United States borders, declared as such by the President of the United States.
(e) Active Forces.— Shall mean the regular full-time component of the United States Uniformed Services.
(f) Armed Forces.— Shall mean the five (5) armed components of the United States Uniformed Services: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, as well as the Reserves of each one of these, as described in subsection (a) of this section, including the National Guard, whether the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard, when activated by the President of the United States under U. S. Code Title 10, Sec. 101, U. S. Code Title 32, Sec. 101. The members of the other two unarmed uniformed 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 (PHS) Commissioned Corps, 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 are included, as well as activated employees of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) as support to the uniformed services.
(g) 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.
(h) 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.
(i) Service member.— Means any member in functions of those components and corps included in subsections (a), (f), (g), and (l) of this section.
(j) 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.
(k) 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.
(l) Uniformed Services.— Shall mean the seven (7) 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), and the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps, as provided in U.S. Code Title 10, Sec. 101 (5)(A)(B)(C).
(m) 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 also includes both combat zones and communications zones (noncombat).
(n) 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 —Jan. 20, 2010, No. 8, § 2.