WHERE YOU CAN SERVE

There are approximately 46,000 active duty Coasties currently serving. If you choose to join their ranks, you may find yourself hanging from a helicopter to save a boater in the Atlantic, running down drug runners off the Florida coast, or stopping polluters from ruining our inland lakes.

As a Coastie, you could be flying in a helicopter over a hurricane disaster area or sailing in a cutter guarding the New York harbor. You could be cruising in a high-power Defender Class boat in the Pacific or breaking through an ice-ladened port in Alaska.

If you become a Coastie, know that you will serve where your Coast Guard skills are most needed.

If you choose to become a reservist, you'll usually serve close to home; however, you may get deployed when necessary. In general, reservists live within 100 miles of their Coast Guard Reserve unit.