The Coast Guard Is 236 Years Old. Here's Its History — and Why Its Veterans Still Get Asked If They're 'Really' Veterans.

Published Aug 3, 2026, 4:25 PM EDT

It's the oldest continuous seagoing service in the U.S. and the only armed force that answers to Homeland Security instead of the Pentagon.

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Published Aug 3, 2026, 4:25 PM EDT

The United States Coast Guard turns 236 years old this Aug. 4 — older than the Navy's current organizational form, older than the Marine Corps as a permanent standing force and older than the country's income tax by more than a century. It's also, by a wide margin, the least understood branch of the U.S. military, in ways that go beyond people simply not knowing what it does day to day.