Good advice above.

A few comments...in addition to providing college funds, enlisting will certainly give you a leg up for selection as a CG officer (assuming you are otherwise qualified) my wife used to screen CG officer candidates, so that is from the horse's mouth.

Also I think that ANY kind of enlisted service will be helpful when applying for ANY offocer program. Several reasons...

1. They know that you have at least some idea what you are getting into.
2. You are not a complete flake, and can handle military training and duty.
3. Your service record will reassure tham that you are not a problem child or attitude case (if not, don't bother applying for commissioning)
4. You will be able to get an endorsement/recommendation from one or more serving senior officers, including your CO. You really need a recommendation from an officer, and this will be better than a letter from your great-uncle Joe who was a Captain in the national guard in the 1950's.
5. You can get a lot of insight into how the military works, and assure yourself that this is something you really want to do.

Also...unlike the active duty branches, the Air National Guard units hire people themselves and they really like to get to know you first. If you have a local unit in mind that would be your first choice, you might consider enlisting there. Just make sure they are not downsizing, converting to UAV's, etc.


With that said...If you a stellar candidate (good grades, tech major, clean record, perfect health, athlete, extracurricular/community activities, good test scores) then do not enlist if it will delay your degree and application for officer.

One m ore thing...if you REALLY want to be a USCG officer, join the CG. But if you really want to fly, look at all of the other service EXCEPT the CG. The reason for this is that the CG does not (with one possible exception) award flight training slots until AFTER you complete OCS. This means that you are commissioned and committed to however many years of service before you find out if you even get to go to flight school. Also the USCG reserve does not train pilots off the street, they only hire previously rated military pilots (from any branch).

The other service will give you a "flight guarantee" of one form or another. Also your odds are much better if you apply for everything. As others have said, be persistent.