Following a week of availability and liberty, Badger departed Sasebo on 29 May 1972 and, on 2 June, joined guided missile cruiser USS Sterett (CG-31) on the middle sea-air rescue (SAR) station in the Gulf of Tonkin.

During that assignment, the ocean escort joined five other American ships in providing gunfire support for operations carried out in Military Region II by the South Vietnamese Army's 22d Division.

Badger provided plane guard services for the carrier as she made her final air strikes of the war and then escorted Hancock to Subic Bay, arriving there on 15 September.

After four days in port, the destroyer escort put to sea and shaped a course for Yokosuka, Japan, where she made an overnight stop on 22 and 23 September before setting sail for the United States in company with Hancock.

Normal west coast operations out of Long Beach occupied her time until 9 July, the day she got underway for her new home port, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

On the 9th, Badger departed Subic Bay in company with destroyer escort USS Brewton and ammunition ship Kiska bound for the Persian Gulf and the CENTO Exercise MIDLINK '73.

The task group stopped at Guam for fuel on 28 April but, immediately after completing the operation, continued on to Subic Bay where, after a short diversion to the South China Sea to assist in the evacuation of Vietnam, they arrived on 4 May.

En route back to Subic Bay, she received orders diverting her to assist in the recovery of the American container ship SS Mayagüez that had been seized by the Cambodians.

After pausing at Guam for fuel on 29 March, the warships pulled into Subic Bay on 4 April and spent the rest of the month alternating exercises in the local operating area with periods of upkeep in port.

With the exception of a three-day period at sea in the local operating area, she spent the remainder of June in upkeep and preparations for an extended cruise to the Indian Ocean.

The task group exited the Indian Ocean via the Strait of Malacca on 29 August and headed for the Gulf of Siam where it joined units of the Thai Navy for Exercise Sea Siamex X.

Badger and the task group remained in the Indian Ocean through the end of the year and into 1981 conducting intensive training of all types including multilateral exercises with Allied navies.

Iran's release of the American hostages occurred on 19 January 1981, but Badger and the task group to which she was assigned, continued training evolutions in the Indian Ocean for eight weeks thereafter.

After completing a COMPTUEX, a READIEX, and a naval gunfire support requalification, Badger returned to Hawaii on 21 March and began a month of preparations for overseas movement.

During the forenoon watch on 17 September, however, Badger's embarked SH-2F helicopter from HSL-37 (Detachment 2) went down at sea; USCGC Munro, however, promptly rescued the four-man crew from the water.

That journey began on 23 October and included participation in Exercise Battle Week 84-1 followed by a visit to nearby Apra, Guam, before Badger finally managed to return home on Armistice Day 1983.

Post-deployment leave and upkeep and holiday standdown, broken only by a brief period underway on 20 and 21 December to escort USS Swordfish as she operated locally, kept Badger in port at Pearl for the rest of 1983.

On the 20th, Badger stood out of Pearl in company with USS Joseph Strauss and Amphibious Squadron (PhibRon) 5 for six weeks of drills and exercises in the waters along the west coast.

Travelling with the Carl Vinson task group, she participated in a series of training evolutions conducted in such diverse places as the Marianas, in the Philippine Sea, and in Japanese waters.

Badger completed her part in the exercises early in December and, after a visit to Yokosuka, Japan, set out on the voyage back to Hawaii on the 13th in company with Joseph Strauss.

After six weeks of getting ready, Badger stood out of Pearl Harbor on 2 August and joined the Orient-bound task group built around USS Kitty Hawk) the next evening.

The exercise-filled, 17-day passage to the Philippines ended on the 19th at Subic Bay where Badger began five days of repairs and meetings before heading to duty in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea on 24 August.

Along the way, she and USS Horne parted company with the task group to transit the Malacca Strait and conduct Exercise MERLION 85 with units of the Singapore Navy on 29 and 30 August.

Early in October, she made a five-day port visit at Mombasa and then sailed back to the Arabian Sea, where she completed a tender availability alongside USS Ajax at Al Masirah Island.

Reaching Pearl Harbor on 12 December 1985, Badger spent the rest of that year and the first weeks of 1986 in port engaged, at first, in post-deployment and holiday standdown and, later, carrying out a six-week availability.

Early in June, she put to sea to participate in a phase of the multinational exercise RIMPAC 86 and then returned to Oahu on the 14th to prepare for an extended training cruise to the west coast.

Badger finally took up a more active schedule late in May with helicopter landing qualifications on the 20th and 21st and evolutions at sea during the last days of the month in connection with her material readiness inspection.

Badger completed the repairs on 24 September, carried out the usual trials and examinations in October, and resumed normal training missions out of Pearl Harbor early in November.

Late in March 1990, however, Badger undertook a new mission when she embarked a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment to carry out drug traffic interdiction operations.

The former warship performed her last service for the Navy on 22 July 1998 at which time she was sunk as a target during the United States Third Fleet exercise RIMPAC 98 at 22°51′06″N 160°33′00″W / 22.85167°N 160.55000°W / 22.85167; -160.55000 ("USS Badger (FF-1071)").