I don’t think most American realize the Coast Guard is one of the Armed Forces. They even sometimes do combat duty. Coast Guard petty officer Douglas Munro (posthumously) received the Medal of Honor for heroism while piloting a Higgins boat at Guadalcanal in WWII.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Albert_Munro
Good post. I asked Grok to detail overseas service by Coast Guard members:
The United States Coast Guard members serve overseas regularly.
- Deployments occur ongoing in regions like the Indo-Pacific and Arctic.
- Recent examples include 2025-2026 operations.
- Cutter Midgett completed a 76-day deployment in Oceania in early 2025.
- USCGC Stratton joined Quad Sail in the Pacific in July 2025.
- Forces support Indo-Pacific exercises like RIMPAC.
- Icebreakers challenge foreign vessels in the Arctic in 2025-2026.
- Personnel conduct maritime security boardings in international waters.
- The Coast Guard maintains a global presence on all seven continents.
- Last major combat deployment was during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003+).
Ongoing missions include law enforcement and international partnerships.