AC Coast Guard Applicants and Accessions

As with the other Armed Services, the USCG has entrance standards for age, physical fitness, maximum number of dependents, citizenship status, moral character, and mental ability to include minimum scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). In the following sections various demographic characteristics of USCG active component enlisted applicants and accessions along with similar overall DoD figures and civilian comparisons are reported.

In FY 1998, a total of 7,999 individuals without prior military experience applied to serve in the USCG. The distribution of FY 1998 USCG and overall DoD Active Component NPS applicants' race/ethnicity by gender is shown in Table 8.1. Eighty-two percent of the USCG applicants were male (Appendix Table E-2), of whom 74 percent were White, 7 percent Black, 14 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent "Other." For female applicants, approximately 72 percent were White, 12 percent Black, 11 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent "Other." Additional statistics on applicant characteristics (e.g., age, education levels, AFQT scores, and marital status, by gender and race/ethnicity) are contained in Appendix E, Tables E-1 through E-4 for the USCG and Appendix A for the overall DoD.

Of the 7,999 individuals who applied for service in the USCG, a total of 3,552 actually accessed. This number represents a 44-percent accession-to-applicant ratio. The distribution of race/ethnicity by gender for FY 1998 Coast Guard and overall DoD Active Component NPS accessions is shown in Table 8.1. Eighty-five percent of USCG NPS accessions were male (Appendix Table E-6), of whom 81 percent were White, 5 percent Black, 9 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent "Other." Of the female USCG accessions, 79 percent were White, 6 percent Black, 8 percent Hispanic, and 6 percent "Other." Overall, USCG accessions were slightly more likely to be White and male than accessions in DoD as a whole. The percent of USCG accessions who were Black is approximately one quarter of the figure for the overall DoD.

Table 8.1. Race/Ethnicity by Gender of FY 1998 USCG and DoD Active Component NPS Applicants and Accessions, and Civilians 18–24 Years Old (Percent)
Race/Ethnicity	Coast Guard			DoD
Race/Ethnicity	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
NPS ACTIVE COMPONENT APPLICANTS
White	73.9	72.2	73.6	62.6	53.0	60.4
Black	7.3	11.5	8.0	20.1	30.0	22.3
Hispanic	13.6	11.0	13.1	10.8	10.0	10.6
Other	5.3	5.3	5.3	6.5	7.1	6.6
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
NPS ACTIVE COMPONENT ACCESSIONS
White	81.1	79.1	80.8	65.5	55.0	63.6
Black	4.9	6.2	5.1	17.1	28.4	19.6
Hispanic	8.6	8.3	8.6	10.6	9.7	10.4
Other	5.3	6.4	5.5	6.3	6.9	6.4
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Non-Institutionalized Civilians 18–24 Years Old
White	Black	Hispanic	Other	Total	Male	Female
65.9	14.2	15.0	4.9	100.0	50.1	49.9
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. Also see Appendix Tables A-3 (Applicants for Active Component Enlistment by Race/Ethnicity, Service, and Gender) , B-3 (NPS Active Component Enlisted Accessions by Race/Ethnicity, Service, and Gender), E-2 (Coast Guard Applicants for Active Component Enlistment by Race/Ethnicity and Gender), and E-9 (Coast Guard NPS Active Component Enlisted Accessions by Quality, Gender and Race/Ethnicity).