The United States, through its various departments gives nursing service to many people. The several thousand nurses employed serve in public health units and in government controlled hospitals in the United States and its possessions. Their duties are to care for the defenders of our country in peace-time and during war, for the disabled ex-service men and women, for the civilian employees on transports, for the merchant seamen during war, for coast guard and life saving personnel, for light house keepers and other government officers and for the Indians who are wards of the Government. A nursing department has also been created within the Federal Children's Bureau. It functions under the provision of the Social Security Act, aiding with the development of' the programs of maternity and child health as well as those for the care of disabled children.