OP,
You're asking a good question and are absolutely right to make the choice based off of your actual active duty service rather than your four years at a SA. The SAs are all rather similar and follow a very similar construct - the only major difference between USCGA and USNA is the size. My question to you is what are you passionate about and what type of mission are you looking to carry out?
As
@CrewDad mentioned, the Navy (being under the Department of Defense) is combat and homeland defense oriented. I'm not an expert on the Navy or SWO path so I'll let others chime in there. In the Coast Guard, we carry out primarily humanitarian missions. There are 11 missions the CG focuses on:
Port & Waterway Security
Drug Interdiction
Aids to Navigation
Search & Rescue
Living Marine Resources
Marine Safety
Defense Readiness
Migrant Interdiction
Marine Environmental Protection
Ice Operations
Law Enforcement
https://www.gocoastguard.com/about-the-coast-guard/discover-our-roles-missions
https://www.uscga.edu/subspecialties/
I'd urge you to take a look at the links above. Explore each of the missions and the types of jobs that are offered. The second link breaks down the officer specialties you can get involved in, there are way more than I knew about when I started at CGA in 2010. What do you think when you explore the links? Does anything call out to you? The thing that I love most about the CG is that our missions are being carried out 24/7, we are always acting in response to or in preparation for an actual event, and our missions all revolve back to people. With only five years of active duty completed, I have taken part in or supported every single mission on that list. I spent my first two years on a 270-foot cutter, patrolling for roughly 2.5 months at a time in all areas of the Western Hemisphere. I spent time in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Eastern Pacific. The main missions I experienced were migrant interdiction, drug interdiction, a little living marine resources, and search and rescue. I have friends that have served onboard icebreakers and sailed from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica, breaking ice so that maritime commerce is not restricted or conducting scientific research. I have classmates that work in Bahrain onboard 110-foot patrol boats in support of CENTCOM and the Navy units stationed there, conducting security patrols and training foreign Coast Guards and Navies on different techniques. One of my co-workers now came from the Maritime Security Response Team, the counter-terrorism and counter-piracy arm of the CG. There are plenty of options to choose from.
As you are interested in cutters, you'll go underway your first two years in a training billet as a Deck Watch Officer or Engineering Officer in Training. Following that tour, you can complete for Command billets where, at 24/25 years old, you will serve as the Commanding Officer or Executive Officer of an 87-foot patrol boat, 110-foot patrol boat, or 154-foot Fast Response Cutter. Later, you can serve as the Operations Officer on a medium endurance cutter and set a goal to eventually Command one. In between these underway tours, you can explore other specialties mentioned in the second link I posted, attend grad school, or apply for special assignments and joint duty positions working in places like the White House, Capitol Hill, or the Pentagon.
The Coast Guard is a small service and the officer corps is the smallest percentage of that service. Every officer knows someone that knows you for the most part and it can help make your unit feel like your family. It also means that you cannot hide or slip under the radar. You have to perform and perform well. Officer promotions are like a pyramid, the higher you go, the less spots there are to fill and getting one of those spots is more competitive. As a small service, JOs are given a large amount of responsibility very quickly, whether that's in the amount of people you lead, the missions your entrusted to carry out, or the value of the property your charged with taking care of.
Your time as a JO will be tough no matter what service you choose, it's designed to be that way for a reason. Each individual's JO experience boils down to your Command and your work climate. The CG and the Navy both have units that have great climates and more negative climates. In the more negative environments, you'll learn lessons on how you don't want to lead. In the positive climates, you'll be challenged in a different way because the Command wants to make sure you can meet the standard. Both climates can be valuable learning experiences if you allow them to be, and the corporate world is the same. I have seen and experienced both types of climates. My time in the CG has not been 100% positive, but I have learned and grown from all of my experiences.
As
@rjb said, this is a decision you have to make alone. So, do your research, continue to ask questions, consult your friends/mentors/parents and then go with what your heart and mind tell you. You will not be successful unless your passionate and committed, so don't let someone on an anonymous forum determine for you what that means.