Coast Guard
Coast Guard reports largest increase in enlisted in more than 30 years
Stars and Stripes
November 7, 2025
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Jorge Orozco Alba reenlists on the ice during Coast Guard Cutter Healy’s deployment in the Arctic Ocean, Oct. 1, 2025. The service on Friday said it beat its recruiting goals for fiscal year 2025 by a large margin, adding over 5,000 enlisted service members to a force already tens of thousands strong. (Chris Sappey/U.S. Coast Guard)
The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday announced it blew past its recruiting goals for the fiscal year with the addition of 5,204 enlisted service members, the highest figure since 1991.
The Coast Guard’s goal for FY 2025 was 4,300 enlistees, meaning the actual results were 121% of the target, the service said in a news release.
The figures come amid the opening of seven new recruiting offices in the fiscal year.
The service said it also beat goals for its count of officers and reservists, albeit less dramatically. The 777 service members added into the reserve force and the 371 newly commissioned officers made for 104% and 101% of the respective targets.
This fiscal year is the second in a row in which the Coast Guard met its enlisted recruiting goal and the third consecutive year it has met its reservist goal. The number of new officers commissioned is the largest on record, according to the release.
The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force have similarly all reported meeting recruiting goals for the fiscal year.
Despite its recruiting success in FY 2024, the Government Accountability Office in May of this year said the Coast Guard remains short staffed, having lost more enlisted service members in recent years than it has recruited.
The Coast Guard aims to grow its force by 15,000 members by FY 2028 as it grows and modernizes its fleet. It received a record funding boost from Congress in July toward those ends. It counted over 39,000 active-duty members in FY 2024.