How to Apply to U.S. Coast Guard

14 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 8 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • The Coast Guard hires through five distinct channels that do not overlap: active duty enlisted, active duty officer, Reserve, civilian federal employee, and Auxiliary volunteer. Pick the right channel before investing time.
  • Active duty military applications go through gocoastguard.com and a recruiter; civilian applications go through usajobs.gov. There is no unified application portal.
  • MEPS medical screening is the single most common attrition point for enlisted candidates. Documentation of past injuries, prescriptions, and mental health history prevents delays and strengthens waiver requests.
  • Federal-style resumes on USAJOBS must be three to seven pages with full position detail. Private-sector two-page resumes fail federal qualification screening.
  • The Specialized Experience statement in every USAJOBS posting is a legal qualification threshold, not a soft preference. Your resume must demonstrate one year of that exact experience.
  • Officer tracks weigh composure, ethical judgment, and mission knowledge above technical credentials. Memorizing the Commandant's strategic priorities and current operations is mandatory preparation.
  • Background investigations are thorough and the culture does not tolerate concealment. Candor about past mistakes is almost always a better path than omission.
  • Physical fitness and swim qualification are non-negotiable for operational roles. Train before enlisting or commissioning rather than after.

About U.S. Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is one of the six armed services of the United States and the only military branch housed within the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime, shifting to operational control of the Department of the Navy during declared war or when directed by the President. Headquartered at the Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building on the St. Elizabeths West Campus at 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE in Washington, DC, the Coast Guard traces its lineage to the Revenue Cutter Service founded in 1790, making it the oldest continuous seagoing service in the United States. The service operates with roughly 42,000 active duty members, about 7,000 reservists, approximately 8,700 civilian employees, and a volunteer Coast Guard Auxiliary of around 21,000 members who support search and rescue, boating safety, and administrative functions without serving as armed combatants. Admiral Linda L. Fagan became the 27th Commandant of the Coast Guard in June 2022, making her the first woman to lead any branch of the United States Armed Forces, and her tenure is reshaping how the service recruits, retains, and modernizes for what leadership calls Force Design 2028. The Coast Guard carries eleven statutory missions organized under two broad headings: homeland security missions, which include ports, waterways, and coastal security; drug interdiction; migrant interdiction; defense readiness; and other law enforcement, and non-homeland-security missions, which include marine safety; search and rescue; aids to navigation; living marine resources; marine environmental protection; and ice operations. On any given day the Coast Guard saves roughly ten lives, assists more than sixty people in distress, seizes significant quantities of illicit drugs bound for the United States, interdicts migrants at sea, conducts hundreds of port security and vessel boardings, and maintains thousands of aids to navigation from buoys in the Intracoastal Waterway to LORAN towers in the Arctic. The organizational structure divides operational authority between two area commands, Atlantic Area headquartered in Portsmouth, Virginia, and Pacific Area headquartered in Alameda, California, which in turn command nine districts that cover every coastline, the Great Lakes, the inland rivers, and US territories in the Caribbean and Pacific. The service fields a fleet of more than 240 cutters, roughly 200 fixed and rotary wing aircraft, and over 1,600 boats, and it operates two of the three United States heavy icebreakers, with the Polar Security Cutter program under construction at Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Pascagoula to replace the aging Polar Star and expand Arctic access as great-power competition shifts northward. Recent years have brought both pressure and opportunity. Like every American military service, the Coast Guard missed its recruiting goal in fiscal year 2023 but substantially closed the gap in fiscal year 2024 through incentive bonuses, expanded scholarships under the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative, a streamlined medical waiver process, and an overhauled recruiter training pipeline. Operations tempo has grown with sustained Red Sea deployments of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, new Indo-Pacific partnerships under Operation Blue Pacific, expanded counter-narcotic patrols in the Eastern Pacific, and the long-running response to migration surges along the Florida Straits and Rio Grande. For job seekers, the Coast Guard offers something unusual among federal employers: a mission portfolio that blends military service, maritime law enforcement, humanitarian rescue, scientific research, engineering, and environmental stewardship, combined with a small-service culture in which individual contribution is visible up the chain of command and assignments rotate across geography and specialty every three to four years.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Decide which pathway fits: active duty enlisted, active duty officer (Academy, O

    Decide which pathway fits: active duty enlisted, active duty officer (Academy, Officer Candidate School, Direct Commission, or College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative), Reserve, civilian employee, or Auxiliary volunteer. Each has a distinct application channel and the paperwork is not interchangeable.

  2. 2
    For active duty enlisted, start at gocoastguard

    For active duty enlisted, start at gocoastguard.com and request a call from a recruiter or locate an office through the recruiter locator. Initial phone screening confirms age (17 to 31 for active duty enlistment, with 17-year-olds requiring parental consent), US citizenship or lawful permanent resident status, high school diploma or GED, and absence of disqualifying legal or medical history.

  3. 3
    Take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, which is free and

    Take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, which is free and administered at a Military Entrance Processing Station, or MEPS, or at many high schools. A minimum Armed Forces Qualification Test score of 40 is required for enlistment, though competitive ratings such as Intelligence Specialist, Information Systems Technician, and Avionics Electrical Technician demand line scores substantially higher.

  4. 4
    Complete the MEPS process, which takes one to two days and includes a comprehens

    Complete the MEPS process, which takes one to two days and includes a comprehensive medical exam, drug and alcohol screening, background questions, and administrative in-processing. Expect to arrive the night before and stay in a contracted hotel. Medical disqualifications are the single largest source of attrition at this stage; come prepared with full documentation of past injuries, surgeries, prescriptions, and mental health treatment.

  5. 5
    Sign the enlistment contract and select a rating, also known as a military occup

    Sign the enlistment contract and select a rating, also known as a military occupational specialty, based on ASVAB scores, medical qualifications, security clearance eligibility, and current service needs. The Coast Guard uses a Delayed Entry Program in which recruits wait from weeks to many months for a boot camp seat.

  6. 6
    Report to Training Center Cape May in New Jersey for eight weeks of basic traini

    Report to Training Center Cape May in New Jersey for eight weeks of basic training. Cape May is the only Coast Guard boot camp, graduating roughly 4,000 recruits per year, and its curriculum blends seamanship, weapons, damage control, firefighting, small-boat handling, physical fitness, and Coast Guard history.

  7. 7
    For officer candidates pursuing the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connectic

    For officer candidates pursuing the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, apply through the Academy admissions office between the summer before senior year of high school and the March 1 deadline. Admission is direct and requires no Congressional nomination, unlike the other service academies. The acceptance rate hovers near 15 percent and the class size is about 300 cadets.

  8. 8
    For Officer Candidate School, apply as a college graduate with a four-year degre

    For Officer Candidate School, apply as a college graduate with a four-year degree from an accredited institution. Selection panels run roughly twice per year. Reporting to OCS, held at Leadership Development Center in New London, requires a passing Officer Aptitude Rating test, medical qualification, and successful panel review of the complete application package including three letters of recommendation, motivational statement, transcripts, and a detailed resume.

  9. 9
    For the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative, apply while enrolled at a

    For the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative, apply while enrolled at a partner institution in your sophomore or junior year. Accepted students receive tuition, fees, stipend, and active duty pay and benefits during the remaining college years in exchange for a service obligation after commissioning through OCS.

  10. 10
    For Direct Commission, which brings licensed attorneys, physicians, engineers, a

    For Direct Commission, which brings licensed attorneys, physicians, engineers, aviators, and select other professionals in at an appropriate officer grade, submit a professional application through the Direct Commission Officer program office. Competitive packages cite board certifications, bar admissions, flight hours, professional engineering licenses, or advanced degrees.

  11. 11
    For Reserve enlistment and reserve officer programs, the process parallels activ

    For Reserve enlistment and reserve officer programs, the process parallels active duty but includes a drilling obligation of one weekend per month and two weeks per year, with periodic activation for contingencies, hurricanes, and port security operations. Apply through gocoastguard.com or contact a Reserve recruiter directly.

  12. 12
    For civilian employment, search usajobs

    For civilian employment, search usajobs.gov using keywords such as Coast Guard, USCG, or specific occupational series like 0301 Miscellaneous Administration, 0801 General Engineering, 0855 Electronics Engineering, 2210 Information Technology, or 1811 Criminal Investigator. Create a USAJOBS profile, upload a federal-style resume, and apply to individual postings with tailored responses to the Specialized Experience statements and any Occupational Questionnaire self-assessments.

  13. 13
    For the Auxiliary, apply through a local flotilla, complete the New Member Cours

    For the Auxiliary, apply through a local flotilla, complete the New Member Course and background check, and begin logging volunteer hours in boat crew, vessel examinations, public education, or administrative support. The Auxiliary is unpaid, open to US citizens age 17 and older, and does not require military service or prior maritime experience.

Resume Tips for U.S. Coast Guard

recommended

For active duty applications, the recruiter will help you prepare a personal sta

For active duty applications, the recruiter will help you prepare a personal statement and background worksheets rather than a traditional resume. Be scrupulously accurate. Any omission of arrests, prior military service, financial delinquency, tattoos, foreign travel, or drug use that is later discovered during background investigation is grounds for immediate separation and, in some cases, federal charges for making false official statements.

recommended

For Officer Candidate School panels, write a one to two page resume that is legi

For Officer Candidate School panels, write a one to two page resume that is legible at arm's length. Lead with your college degree and GPA, then ROTC, JROTC, Sea Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, or athletic leadership. Include any merchant marine credential, private pilot certificate, scuba certification, firefighter experience, EMT license, or foreign language qualification because these map directly to Coast Guard missions.

recommended

Use concrete numbers

Use concrete numbers. Selection panels read stacks of packages and quantified claims stand out: led 14-person research team, operated 28-foot vessel in waters up to sea state 4, managed 2.3 million dollar capital project, supervised 40 summer camp counselors, qualified in all four phases of small boat operations.

recommended

Quantify physical fitness if it is strong

Quantify physical fitness if it is strong. OCS and the Academy care about push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, run times, and swim ability. Bring your most recent scores to the panel rather than leaving evaluators to guess.

recommended

For civilian USAJOBS applications, write a federal-style resume of three to seve

For civilian USAJOBS applications, write a federal-style resume of three to seven pages. Each job entry must include employer name, full address, supervisor name and phone number with permission-to-contact answer, start and end dates to the month, hours per week, pay plan and grade or annual salary, and a detailed narrative of duties and accomplishments.

recommended

Mirror the language of the job announcement

Mirror the language of the job announcement. USAJOBS uses an automated screening layer followed by HR specialist review against the Specialized Experience statement. Paraphrasing is fine; contradicting the announcement's terminology is fatal. If the posting says project management, do not write project coordination.

recommended

Answer the Occupational Questionnaire honestly but do not undersell

Answer the Occupational Questionnaire honestly but do not undersell. Most Coast Guard civilian postings screen on a cutoff score, often 85 or 90 out of 100, and applicants who rate themselves too modestly fall below the cut even when their resume supports a higher rating. Back every self-rating with a resume bullet that demonstrates the claim.

recommended

Claim veterans preference correctly if eligible, attaching DD-214, VA disability

Claim veterans preference correctly if eligible, attaching DD-214, VA disability letter, and SF-15 as appropriate. Missing documentation is the most common reason preference is denied.

recommended

For officer programs, tailor the motivational statement to Coast Guard missions

For officer programs, tailor the motivational statement to Coast Guard missions. A generic service-to-country essay that could have been submitted to the Army reads as unserious. Reference specific missions you have studied, cutters whose operations you have followed, or personal experience with Coast Guard rescue or inspection activity.

recommended

Do not photoshop or inflate

Do not photoshop or inflate. Coast Guard background investigators interview neighbors, former employers, teachers, and roommates, and the service pulls credit reports, court records, and social media. The culture rewards candor; it will not forgive deception.

ATS System: USAJOBS (civilian) and Coast Guard Recruiting Command workflow (military)

Civilian Coast Guard roles are posted exclusively on USAJOBS, the federal government's central hiring portal operated by the US Office of Personnel Management. USAJOBS uses a multi-stage process: profile-based resume, Occupational Questionnaire self-assessment, and HR specialist review against a legally defined Specialized Experience statement, followed by a certificate of eligible candidates forwarded to the hiring manager under Category Rating rules. Military applications flow through Coast Guard Recruiting Command and are tracked in the internal Direct Access personnel system; there is no public-facing applicant tracking portal for active duty or reserve enlistment beyond the gocoastguard.com recruiter request form.

  • Build a complete USAJOBS profile before applying. Upload up to five resumes and required documents in advance; a rushed application under deadline pressure often misses an attachment and is disqualified at the eligibility stage.
  • Write to the Specialized Experience statement. Every competitive federal posting lists one or more paragraphs describing the exact work and level required at the next grade down. Your resume must demonstrate one year of that experience; anything less disqualifies you regardless of overall merit.
  • Include month and year for every position and specify hours per week. USAJOBS screening treats a job listed without an end date as ongoing, and missing hours defaults your claim to 20 hours per week, which halves your qualifying time.
  • Do not use a private-sector two-page resume. Federal screeners need granular task and accomplishment detail to verify qualification and they will not infer. Four to six pages is normal for a qualified applicant with ten years of experience.
  • Claim all eligibilities you qualify for under Hiring Paths: veterans, military spouse, persons with disabilities, Peace Corps alumni, federal employee, CTAP or ICTAP displaced employee. Each opens additional certificates.
  • Respond to the Occupational Questionnaire in one sitting and save often. A timeout wipes responses. Match self-ratings to resume bullets; if you rate yourself expert in a competency, the narrative must show it.
  • Check USAJOBS application status weekly. Status moves through Received, Reviewed, Referred, and Selected or Not Selected; Referred means you made the certificate and your package is with the hiring manager, which is the point to prepare for interviews.
  • For military applications, the gocoastguard.com inquiry form triggers a recruiter call typically within 48 to 72 hours. If you do not hear back, call the Recruiting Command toll-free line. Persistence is expected and rewarded; the service tracks recruiter response times.

Interview Culture

Coast Guard interview culture varies sharply by track but shares a core expectation: the service wants people who can operate under pressure on small teams, make decisions with incomplete information, and show up again the next day. For enlisted applicants, the formal interview is a recruiter conversation and later a rating counselor session at MEPS. Both are assessments of candor, maturity, and fit rather than technical skill. Recruiters are graded on accession quality, not volume, and they will pass on candidates who seem to be applying because they could not find other work. Show that you have researched specific ratings, understand what life at a small boat station or aboard a cutter actually looks like, and can articulate why you want the Coast Guard rather than the Navy. Officer Candidate School panels run a formal, structured interview with three to five evaluators, usually a mix of senior officers and a senior enlisted member. Expect questions on leadership experience, ethical scenarios, awareness of current Coast Guard operations, and your plan for the twenty weeks of OCS if selected. Panels weigh composure and situational judgment heavily; a wrong answer delivered with conviction and learning can outscore a correct answer delivered tentatively. Academy admissions includes a candidate interview with a local admissions partner, a member of the Coast Guard who volunteers to evaluate applicants. The tone is conversational but the report carries real weight. Dress in a suit, arrive early, bring questions that demonstrate you have read the current Commandant's strategic priorities, and be ready to discuss why a service academy rather than a civilian college plus ROTC. Civilian interviews under federal Category Rating are legally structured. Hiring managers are trained to ask the same behaviorally anchored questions to every candidate on the certificate, take contemporaneous notes, and score against a predetermined rubric. The Star method, situation, task, action, result, is the expected response format. Bring examples with specific dates, measurable outcomes, and clear attribution of your personal contribution versus team effort. Federal managers cannot legally ask about marital status, family plans, age, religion, or disability unrelated to essential job functions, and they will steer away from those topics. Across all tracks the cultural signal is quiet competence. The Coast Guard prides itself on doing a large mission with a small force, and the service is suspicious of self-promotion and of people who seem to be collecting credentials. Demonstrate that you have thought about the role, understand the commitment, and are ready to do the work.

What U.S. Coast Guard Looks For

  • Mission alignment that is specific, not generic. Candidates who can name the cutters operating in their home district, articulate the difference between Marine Inspection and Marine Safety, or describe a recent Coast Guard operation they have followed stand out against applicants offering boilerplate service-to-country language.
  • Physical readiness for operational roles. Enlisted accessions must pass the initial fitness assessment at boot camp and swim qualifications. Officer candidates must pass semi-annual fitness assessments for the duration of their career. Applicants with documented injuries should address them directly with their recruiter before investing in MEPS.
  • Clean legal record or a well-documented path to a waiver. Coast Guard screens against civilian arrests, military misconduct, and financial delinquency. Minor offenses may be waivable; undisclosed offenses almost never are.
  • US citizenship for commissioning and for most civilian roles that require security clearance. Lawful permanent residents can enlist but cannot commission. Dual citizenship requires disclosure and may require renunciation for certain specialties.
  • Technical and scientific aptitude for rated and specialized positions. High ASVAB line scores open the most competitive ratings; STEM degrees open the most competitive officer specialties including cyber, engineering, aviation, and intelligence.
  • Maritime or aviation experience when relevant. Merchant marine credentials, sailing, commercial fishing, scuba, private pilot certificates, and competitive swimming all signal cultural fit and practical readiness.
  • Language proficiency that matches operational needs. Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, and Haitian Creole are particularly valuable for counter-narcotics, Indo-Pacific partnerships, Red Sea operations, and migrant interdiction.
  • Federal service experience for civilian roles. Prior federal employment, contractor experience with federal agencies, or military service substantially strengthens USAJOBS applications because the candidate is already familiar with federal processes, classification, and culture.
  • Evidence of followership before leadership. Coast Guard culture values people who can take orders well, support peers in small teams, and build competence before claiming authority. Applications that describe solo heroics without acknowledgement of mentors, teammates, and institutional support signal a poor cultural fit.
  • Willingness to accept geographic assignment. Active duty members rotate every three to four years across the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Bahrain. Applicants who signal strong geographic constraints are steered toward Reserve or civilian roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between joining the Coast Guard active duty and becoming a civilian Coast Guard employee?
Active duty members are uniformed military, subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, movable on orders, and serve under a fixed enlistment or commissioning contract. Civilian Coast Guard employees are federal workers hired under Title 5 or Title 10, represented by unions in many positions, work a fixed geographic assignment, and do not deploy on cutters or aircraft in operational capacity. A civilian civil engineer at a Coast Guard Yard and an active duty lieutenant commander doing facilities work might have similar technical duties but their legal status, benefits, career progression, and mobility are fundamentally different.
Can I join the Coast Guard with a misdemeanor or felony on my record?
It depends on the offense, the time elapsed, and your candor. Single minor offenses such as traffic violations and certain misdemeanors are often waivable through the moral waiver process. Multiple misdemeanors, drug possession convictions, violence-related offenses, and any felony require substantial review and are frequently non-waivable. Sealed or expunged records must still be disclosed; the Coast Guard has access to adult records regardless of state expungement. The single worst response is to omit an offense hoping it will not surface. Background investigators find almost everything and omission itself becomes the disqualifier.
How competitive is the Coast Guard Academy compared to the other service academies?
The Coast Guard Academy admits approximately 15 percent of applicants, comparable to West Point and the Naval Academy, but with one critical structural difference: admission requires no Congressional nomination. Applicants compete purely on academic record, leadership, fitness, and interview. Median SAT scores are in the 1300 range and incoming class sizes are around 300 cadets. The Academy is the smallest of the service academies and the curriculum emphasizes engineering and marine operations alongside the standard military professional development track.
What is the service commitment after Officer Candidate School or the Academy?
Coast Guard Academy graduates commit to five years of active duty service after commissioning. OCS graduates commit to three years of active duty service. Direct Commission officers typically commit to three years. Pilots incur an additional flight training obligation, usually eight years from the date of winging. College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative participants commit to three years of active duty after commissioning through OCS, in addition to any CSPI service period. Breaking commitment is possible only through narrow paths such as medical separation or hardship discharge.
Can I pick where I will be stationed?
Not initially. Enlisted recruits receive orders to their first unit based on rating needs, physical qualifications, and fleet gaps, not personal preference. Officer ensigns and lieutenants junior grade select from an available list in order of class ranking or assignment priority. After the first tour, members submit preferences through a formal assignment process and often get one of their top five choices, but all Coast Guard assignments are needs of the service first. Reserve and civilian roles are tied to a specific geographic unit and do not rotate, which is often a decisive factor for applicants weighing military versus civilian paths.
How long is the application process for civilian Coast Guard jobs on USAJOBS?
Plan on 90 to 180 days from initial application to entry on duty for competitive federal positions, though high-demand cyber and engineering roles sometimes move faster and positions requiring security clearance upgrades can run beyond a year. The USAJOBS posting typically closes after five to fifteen days, HR specialists qualify candidates within three to five weeks, hiring managers review referred applicants and conduct interviews over another four to eight weeks, and tentative offer through background investigation and final start date adds another six to twelve weeks. Patience is mandatory; candidates who drop out of other processes often lose the federal offer as well.
Is the Coast Guard Auxiliary a path to active duty or a federal job?
No, not directly. The Auxiliary is a uniformed volunteer organization that supports Coast Guard missions without carrying arms or performing law enforcement duties. Auxiliarists gain operational experience in boat crew, vessel examinations, public education, and aviation observation, which strengthens a later application to active duty, Reserve, or civilian roles, but Auxiliary service does not substitute for military service, does not create a retirement benefit, and does not guarantee placement anywhere else in the service. Many members join the Auxiliary because it is the right fit in itself, not as a stepping stone.
What are the age limits for joining?
Active duty enlisted applicants must be between 17 and 31 years old at the time of enlistment, with 17-year-olds requiring parental consent. Reserve enlistment extends to age 39 in most ratings. Officer Candidate School applicants must generally commission before their 32nd birthday, though waivers are available for certain specialties and prior military service. The Coast Guard Academy admits candidates who are at least 17 and have not reached their 23rd birthday by July 1 of the year of entry. Civilian federal hiring has no upper age limit; age-based discrimination in federal employment is prohibited under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
What happens if I fail boot camp at Cape May?
Recruits who cannot meet the physical, academic, or conduct standards at Training Center Cape May may be set back to an earlier training week to repeat material, placed in a rehabilitation company for remedial work, or separated entirely with an uncharacterized discharge. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of recruits do not graduate with their original company. The most common reasons are injury, swim qualification failure, and failure to adapt to the training environment. Separation from boot camp does not prevent a later application after the underlying issue is resolved, though the service carefully evaluates repeat applicants.
How does the Coast Guard reserve commitment work alongside civilian employment?
Coast Guard reservists serve one weekend per month and two weeks of annual training per year, typically at a local reserve unit. Federal law under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, protects reservists from workplace discrimination based on military service and requires civilian employers to grant unpaid leave and reinstate reservists to equivalent positions after active duty. Employers may not count reserve duty against performance evaluations or use it as a basis for termination. Reservists are also eligible for partial retirement benefits after 20 qualifying years, Tricare Reserve Select health insurance at subsidized rates, and Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits triggered by qualifying mobilizations.

Open Positions

U.S. Coast Guard currently has 8 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 8 open positions at U.S. Coast Guard

Related Resources

Similar Companies

Sources

  1. Go Coast Guard — Official Recruiting Website —
  2. United States Coast Guard — Official Website —
  3. USCG Civilian Jobs —
  4. USAJOBS — The Federal Government's Official Employment Site —
  5. United States Coast Guard Academy Admissions —
  6. Coast Guard Officer Candidate School —
  7. College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) —
  8. US Coast Guard Auxiliary —
  9. Training Center Cape May — Coast Guard Boot Camp —
  10. Admiral Linda L. Fagan — Commandant of the Coast Guard Biography —
  11. Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPS) —
  12. Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) —