14 U.S. Coast Guard Facts to Know Ahead of Trump Speech

President Donald Trump will deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Wednesday morning in New London, Connecticut, in hist first major address at a U.S. military service academy.

The president of the United States traditionally delivers a commencement address at one of the federal military academies each year on a rotating basis, and Trump’s speech at the Coast Guard Academy marks his first as commander-in-chief. Former President Barack Obama spoke to the Coast Guard Academy in 2011 and 2015, while former President George W. Bush spoke there in 2003 and 2007.

“And over time, we’ve really become a unique service regarding our military branches for what we do.”

“Every commencement is a special occasion, but it is particularly memorable when the president presents our future leaders with their commissions,” Academy Superintendent Rear Adm. James E. Rendon said in an April press release. “We are also grateful for the opportunity to highlight our academy and our mission to develop leaders of character for the Coast Guard and the nation.”

Starting with the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, six presidents have delivered at least one commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, including Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. That is every president since Johnson except for Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.

Both Johnson and George H.W. Bush delivered just one address to the academy during their first year in office, while Reagan gave his during his eighth and final year in office. Clinton gave the first of his two addresses during his third year in office. Neither George W. Bush nor Obama delivered their first of two addresses during their first year in office.

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The U.S. Coast Guard is unique among the country’s five armed service branches in that it does not fall under the Department of Defense’s jurisdiction. Instead, the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security and the leadership of Secretary John Kelly.

“I think we have a legacy that many Americans are not aware of in just how varied it is and the origins of it, that we did not start as a typical military service, like an army or a navy,” Lisa Novak, the public affair officer in the media relations branch at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, told LifeZette. “And over time, we’ve really become a unique service regarding our military branches for what we do.”

The Coast Guard was first created as a branch of the Treasury Department, at Alexander Hamilton’s request in 1790, as the Revenue Marine service. The branch became known as the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in the 1860s before merging with the U.S. Life-Saving Service in 1915. As the oldest continuing seagoing service in the country, the Coast Guard took part in every major U.S. war since its inception in 1790.

“A lot of people tend to think of the Coast Guard as being very close to home … If you live in a lot of the areas with a large body of water like the Gulf, the Coast Guard is a very familiar sight,” Novak said. “And a lot of people don’t realize that we do have operations with other countries and we can be sent out.”

According to the its website, there are currently 40,992 active duty service members in the U.S. Coast Guard, with 7,000 in reserve. That total grows to 87,569 with the addition of civilians and auxiliaries. The fundamental mission of the coast guard is to protect “our nation’s maritime safety, security and stewardship.” The Coast Guard protects 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline and waterways while safeguarding an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 4.5 million square miles crossing nine time zones.

“Everything we do is for protection and security of the United States and its citizens.”

Novak noted that even though she has worked in the government “for a long time” and has been in the Coast Guard for about nine years, she is still “learning things every day” about the Coast Guard and its operations.

The Coast Guard was the first military service branch to open up all of its positions to women. Novak also noted that one of the most interesting aspects of the Coast Guard that many Americans don’t know is that the branch is a member of the the intelligence community and has broad law enforcement and regulatory powers.

“A lot of people wonder why it doesn’t come under the Defense Department. But they don’t know those particular details where we have arrest powers,” Novak said. “So when we do interdict drug smugglers, traffickers, anything like that, we have arrest powers where other military branches do not because that would be martial law. So that’s why we’re not under DOD.”

On an average day, the Coast Guard conducts 45 search and rescue missions and saves 10 lives, according to statistics on its website. The branch seizes 874 pounds of cocaine and 214 pounds of marijuana, and interdicts 17 illegal immigrants, on average, each day.

“We work with other federal agencies, like Customs and Border Protection, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce regarding fisheries, marine mammals, border security. All sorts of things,” Novak said. “So in addition to working with our DHS partner agencies, we expand too with other situations.”

“Everything we do is for protection and security of the United States and its citizens, whether that’s enforcing commercial fishing regulations in a time like World War II, or engaging in military conflict,” Novak added. “It’s a very, very broad spectrum.”

The Coast Guard has offered the U.S. a myriad of inspiring heroes over the centuries. One of the branch’s most renowned veterans was Douglas A. Munro, a signalman first class of the U.S. Coast Guard. Munro is the only member of the Coast Guard to have been awarded the Medal of Honor. He died at age 22 during the Battle of Guadalcanal when he led a rescue mission to evacuate Marines on the beach under heavy Japanese fire.

After the majority of Marines had been rescued, a final contingent was trapped. Munro maneuvered his vessel so that he could cover the final groups as they evacuated.

“In doing so, he exposed himself to greater enemy fire and suffered his fatal wound,” the Coast Guard’s website read. “At the time it was reported that he had remained conscious long enough to utter his final words: ‘Did they get off?'”

Munro was also awarded the Purple Heart posthumously for his heroic actions.

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“Our headquarters building is named for him,” Novak said of Munro. “One of the significant factors in his name being a Medal of Honor recipient is that it shows the Coast Guard was involved in World War II overseas.”

Another notable Coast Guard hero is Seaman Apprentice William Ray Flores, whose heroic actions led to his posthumous receipt of the Coast Guard Medal, the branch’s highest non-combat award. The Coast Guard also named one of its Sentinel-class cutters after him.

Flores died at age 18 after a Coast Guard cutter collided with an oil tanker in 1980. Flores threw life jackets to his fellow crew members as the cutter sank and ultimately used his belt strap to keep a lifejacket locker door open so more jackets could float out to the crew members.

“I am convinced that William Flores saved my life by his selfless act that night,” said retired Lt. Cmdr. John Ryan, according to the Coast Guard’s blog. Ryan was gravely injured when the cutter capsized on top of him.

“As I struggled, suddenly a life jacket from the locker that was on the main deck came floating up to me,” Ryan said. “That quiet young man that I was impressed with from the first time I met him will forever be a hero in my eyes. I have never forgotten him and never will. It is a fitting tribute to his heroism that a cutter will bear his name.”

As the Coast Guard Academy welcomes Trump to its 2017 graduation ceremony, Novak said she hopes the American people remember that the branch is “working both here and abroad to protect America, the homeland, and our interests overseas 24/7.”