I can't seem to find an actual answer to this on the internet.

>>33086451
idk about coast guard but as far as navy goes commander is the lowest.

>>33086855
An O-5? That doesn't seem right. I mean an O-5 usually commands an attack sub or a destroyer, and that's a pretty big command. It seems like an O-4 would do something like a minesweeper.

To get to O-5 you need to be in probably 6-8 years at least, don't you?

If that's your attitude then you're going nowhere mate...

No-one's gonna bother investing in training you up to command a warship if you plan on quitting straight after your first command.

Most officers don't command a ship during their career, officers with so little commitment to the service just won't make the cut.

>>33086949
I don't plan on going anywhere in the Navy, I don't want to make a career out of it. I just want to spend a few years doing my part for the military, and just thought it would be cool to have a small command by the end of it. Even if, like I said, it was just some tiny patrol craft or something.

It doesn't bother me that I won't. Like I said, I just can't make a career out of the military because of how absolute shit the pay is.

>>33086451
I served on a small Coast Guard buoy tender (A WLI to be exact) and our CO was a CWO3 the XO (or XPO as the CG calls them) was a BMC, and the Engineer "Officer" was an MKC.
And while not as common in the Navy, there are officers holding command billets in pay grades BELOW O-5 (Commander).

>>33087153
Is it more common to see senior enlisted/warrant officers or junior officers in command of something small like a buoy tender or whatever?

>>33087153
To add to my post, I've served in both the Navy (86-90) and the Coast Guard (94-98) and in all honesty, if you want a lot of responsibility early in your career, the CG is the only way to go. While the bulk of the Navy spends a significant amount of their time training, the Coast Guard is always out on missions, regardless of unit, they are performing some task, be it search and rescue, drug and migrant interdiction, fisheries and treaty enforcement, even ice breaking or a dozen other things, they are always on station and on task.

>>33087345
Thanks for the info, I'll definitely give the CG more thought then. Although I don't think the Coast Guard has a ROTC program. I'm guessing they have an Officer Candidate School like all the other branches, right? I was kinda hoping to have the military help with my education a bit but if not that's fine too.

>>33087236
Depends on location, mission, and unit size. The 5 small ice breakers on the Great Lakes are commanded by O-3's (LT in the CG or Navy), the XO is an O-2 (LTJG), but the one large one (The Mackinaw) has a full commander (O-5) as a CO. So yes most smaller cutters are commanded by junior officers and warrants, other types of commands such as small boat stations. are given to senior enlisted such as Chief, Senior and Master Chief Petty Officers (E-7,8, and 9's)

>>33087449
No ROTC, but a lot of different ways to earn a commission, more than most of the other branches. OCS is at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

Sorry for the lack of a hotlink for this:
CG OCS Page http://www.uscga.edu/subsites/ldccourses.aspx?id=2764

Recruiting website: https://www.gocoastguard.com/
And no, I'm not a recruiter, its just a good branch, full of professional, motivated people.

>>33087675
Thanks senpai. I've always had a lot of respect for the Coasties. The Navy gets all the prestige but I think I'd rather be a part of something where I know I'm actually making a difference, rather than having to wonder if I am

>>33086451
When I was in the CG, there were a few enlisted OIC Afloat billets. The USCGC Pt. Ledge had a BMCM as OIC. That's an E-9 commanding an 82 foot patrol boat.

The 82s have all gone away now, from what I've seen the 87 and 110 foot WPBs tend to be commanded by O-2s and O-3s.