What's the difference between Coast Guard and Navy? What makes it different from other branches of military?

uscgensign

Good luck on your future career. Hope this info below helps.

What makes us different is we as a military branch are the only one that has federal law enforcement as a mission, amongst other missions. As for which Officer ascencion route, since I am an officer, I reccomend OCS. I didnt mess with military during my undergrad days. It kept me focused on school. However ROTC or Academies like WestPoint or Coast Guard Academy are great options, just not what I did.

Looking at the answers posted many people just dont know us. We're a very small highly selective branch of the US Military (30k active 15k reserve). Its amazing how many of our sister services are not educated about us. We still get doubletakes when in Iraq they look at our name tapes and it says US Coast Guard. Or when we pull up in US Coast Guard Cutter.

YES we are combat oriented.
YES we are a military branch.

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I've supplied some facts below since this is a FAQ
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First look at our first Iraq battle fatality... Scroll down to the bottom of the page... Look at what he gave for the Country and the Coast Guard
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/nbbruckenthal.htm

Coast Guard Battle Streamers:
http://www.uscg.mil/History/faqs/BattleStreamers.asp

Coast Guard at War:
http://www.uscg.mil/history/h_militaryindex.asp

Also study up on our Medal of Honor recipient. He saved a detachment of Marines in WW2.
http://www.uscg.mil/history/people/MunroDouglasIndex.asp

It isn't we dont have a battle history, it's just we do a poor job about tooting our horn like the other branches. You will never hear us brag about being "strong" or "the few the proud". All that you need to know about us is we are and will be your Guardian. Be it fighting to save you on our Coasts or fighting for you in Iraq, we're always there.

The five uniformed services that make up the Armed Forces are defined in 10 U.S.C. Â§ 101(a)(4):

â€œ The term "armed forces" means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. â€

The Coast Guard is further defined by 14 U.S.C. Â§ 1:

â€œ The Coast Guard as established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times. The Coast Guard shall be a service in the Department of Homeland Security, except when operating as a service in the Navy. â€

Coast Guard organization and operation is as set forth in Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Bottom line: "We guard more coasts than you think"

Jesse

Mabuhay!

"The United States Coast Guard (USCG)" is a branch of the "United States Armed Forces" In addition to being a military branch at all times, it is unique among the armed forces in that it is also a maritime law enforcement agency (with jurisdiction both domestically and in international waters) and a federal regulatory agency. While The " The United States Navy (USN) is the "sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces" As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than 3,700 aircraft. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest combined. The U.S. Navy also has the world's largest carrier fleet, with 11 in service and one under construction..

uscg_recruiter

OK, first - The Coast Guard IS one of the 5 branches of the military. We're not "military like", any more than the Army is like the military.

second - We are Dept of Homeland Security, have been since 2003. I don't know why people who don't know what they are talking about feel they have the right to answer questions and pass out misinformation.

third - Many of our larger ships travel the world, in spite of popular belief, and inter-service rivaly jokes, we don't just hug the coast.

fourth - getting information on yahoo ask is a very hit or miss proposition as evidenced by much of the bs you've seen just to your question.

If you want to know about the Coast Guard, check out the list of websites I've provided or call a recruiter.

johntrottier

The US Navy is a branch of the US Military, the same as the Army or the Air Force and is under the Defense Department
The US Coast Guard is under the Treasury Department and is not controlled from Pentagon. This changes in time of war, when the Coast Guard come under military control.
The Navy takes care of what happens out in the "blue water". The Coast Guard handles what happens in coastal waters.
The Coast Guard is organized along military lines, and some of their vessels are armed. All Coast Guard vessels carry small arms and are authorized to use deadly force if the situation warrants.

The main jobs of the Coast Guard is the policing of our shore lines, providing search and rescue off our shores and enforcing maritime law

The job of the US Navy is to project power across the seas, as commanded by the Commander in Chief

If you want to be an officer in either service, ROTC is the way to go.

darthjuku

The U.S. Navy, the worlds greatest navy, patrols the oceans of the world, keeping the international waters safe for all who chose to brave her. The Coast Guard patrols U.S. controlled waters, saving seafarers who have gotten lost or in trouble, and taking down drug runners, preventing them from bringing their poison to our shores.

As a veteran, I can tell you that both are trained to use a variety of weapons, to include guns, as a back up or if enemy forces attempt to take over your ship.

I hope this helps.

EDIT: In regards to the USCG recruiter who said that every one else's posts are "bs", I believe that I have painted the Guard in a positive light due to the fact that I have worked with several and have great respect for that branches service to our country and it's service men and women.
That being said, if I had met that uptight a$$hole, I'm sure that I would have an entirely different opinion of them. Please do not think that all of the Coast Guard service peoples are so defensive and stuck with such an inferiority complex that they believe that any one who says any thing, regardless of how positive the intent was, is attacking his character.

ps. there are only 4 branches of the military, homeland security is not one of them.

Edit ( again ); It has been brought to my attention that I miss spoke of the coast guard, much to my chagrin. Please allow me to explain.

In my initial post, I stated the basic difference between the U.S. Navy and the coast guard as I understand them, posting what I thought to be a positive light for both services. I then was accused by another poster of spreading b.s.

I then defended my position, stating that I have great respect for the coast guard and there service men and women for their valuable service, then advised the asker not to think that all the service peoples in the coast guard were so uptight, I thought most were great people. I then stated that HOMELAND SECURITY was not a branch of the military.

Since said posting I was proven wrong. I have recently been accosted by other C.G. personnel who apparently were offended by what I posted. So I will admit that I was apparently wrong on not 1, but 2 points.

1. According to research, yes the coast guard is a branch of the military. I would like to point out however that what I posted was that HOMELAND SECURITY was not a branch of the military, which is true, but, the coast guard is a branch of the military so all you caosties can stop e-mailing me to demand an appology.

2. I also stated that the poster who referred to my initial posting as b.s. was a rare anomaly, that the service peoples of the coast guard were great people. Due to the recent demands for apologies about my previous postings I can say that apparently, I was wrong. Coast guard service people are uptight insecure crybabies.

Again I apologize.

The Navy is the sea portion of the Department of Defense. They do what their name says and the Marines fall under them. The Coast Guard falls under the Department of Transportation and does a lot of work guarding our borders and rescue work in the sea. Each of those branches can give you a more detailed description on their web page. ROTC is a good idea if you know you are going to join since your college is paid for and all you have to do is give Uncle Sam their time back.

coastguardsmen bm

umm darthjuku just so you know the united states coast guard is a military service branch and just so everyone else knows it is part of DHS and also the USCG goes around the world and are stationed on navy vessels because as stated in title 14 no DOD branch of service can not board any foriegn vessel the USCg also provides port security for the navy both in the united states and on foriegn soil the USCG also were the ones driving the landing craft dropping off the marines during D-Day so for those of you that feel you have to down grade the United States Coast Guard you better get your facts straight before making false accusations

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