The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has both military and law enforcement duties.

Title 14 states that the Coast Guard is part of the armed forces at all times, making it the only branch of the military outside the Department of Defense.

[11] The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, along with the NOAA Commissioned Corps, operate under military rules with the exception of the applicability of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which they are subject only when militarized by executive order or while detailed to any component of the armed forces.

The militia that later became the National Guard was first formed in the Colony of Virginia in 1607 and is the oldest uniformed military force founded in the New World.

When acting under federal direction, the National Guard is managed by the National Guard Bureau, which is a joint Army and Air Force activity under the Department of Defense,[13][14][15] with a 4-star general[13][14] from the Army or Air Force appointed as its top leader.

Uniformed officers of the PHSCC and NOAA Corps are paid on the same scale as members of the armed services, with respective rank and time-in-grade.

[16] Because they are commissioned officers, they can be classified as prisoners of war (POW) under the Geneva Conventions if captured by a belligerent entity.

The PHSCC traces its origins to a system of marine hospitals created by An Act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, passed by Congress in 1798; it adopted a military model of organization in 1871.

While the chances a Maritime Service officer being captured by an enemy is virtually impossible, they would be classified as POWs under the Geneva Conventions if they were.